Page 54 of Ridin' Solo
Ace’s voice penetrated my stupor. He and another EMT lifted Oakley off the ground and led her to a gurney. She objected, of course, because she was Oakley and couldn’t just take the easy route.
“Get on the damn gurney, Oakley,” Chief Waldo barked, softening the blow by kissing the top of her head.
Oakley gave him a side-eyed look I’d been on the receiving end of plenty of times, but she let them set her down. The second the wheels started moving, taking Oakley out of the barn, I unfroze. I couldn’t let her leave without me.
“Oakley! I’m coming with you,” I said, rushing to catch up.
Chief Waldo gave me a look I’d see in my head until I died. “I think you’ve done enough, son.”
I swallowed hard, not because I was afraid of the anger pouring off the man in waves, but because I was suddenly nauseous at the thought that all of this had been my fault. Somehow, some way, I hadn’t been there to protect my partner. Maybe if I’d paid more attention when we got the call, or stayed with her instead of splitting up. Maybe if we’d patrolled the outside first, she wouldn’t have been shot.
“Dad!” Oakley admonished him.
Ignoring her father for now, I reached her side and touched her arm as she was led outside. The sun was glaring overhead, making me blink. “He’s right,” I muttered, knowing I had no right to be by her side.
“No, he’s not. We did everything right, and I still got shot. In my calf, by the way. I’m not going to die from a tiny wound.” Oakley shot her dad another look. “Can you give us a second?”
Chief narrowed his eyes at me, but walked a few yards away to chat with Sheriff Locke as he gave orders to the rest of the team. Not once did he take his gaze off the two of us, though. The paramedics looked exasperated, but they didn’t lift Oakley into the back of the waiting ambulance just yet.
“Two minutes,” Ace snapped, then walked around to the front of the rig.
“Listen,” Oakley started, but I cut her off.
“No. I know I need to explain some things to you, and I will, but first you have to get your leg stitched up. Then I promise you, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” I held her hand and she let me, her eyes flitting across my face like she was looking to see if I told her the truth.
She gave a quick nod. “Okay. I trust you.”
I sucked in a huge lungful of air, breathing normally for the first time since we took this damn call. She’d handed me a lifeline and I wouldn’t squander it. “Thank God.”
“Dolby? Wyatt Dolby?” a voice called from the gravel driveway.
My head shot up. Two guys with cameras came running, snapping pictures of Oakley and me as they moved. I’d taken too many hits in too short of a time period. I was numb. Utterly confused and discombobulated from the rapid-fire turn of events. Nothing made sense.
“What the hell?” Oakley muttered, staring in confusion.
“Wyatt Dolby! What are you doing working as a cop? Is this a movie set?” The one guy kept shouting questions even as he held the camera in front of his face.
Sheriff Locke ran over and stood in front of them, blocking their path to Oakley’s gurney. “This is an active crime scene. Unless you’d like to be arrested too, I suggest you get off this property faster than I can snap my handcuffs.”
“Wyatt?” Oakley whispered.
I looked down at her, seeing her eyes clouded over with doubts. Doubts about me. Doubts about us. By me not being honest from the very beginning, she had every reason to doubt everything about me.
“Who. The. Fuck. Is. Dolby?” she enunciated, each word like a shot right through my heart.
I cringed. “That’s me. I’m Wyatt Dolby.”
Her jaw remained harder than granite, but her eyes misted over again and the sight of the tears ripped me apart far more than shouted words ever could.
“Who even are you?” she whispered.
I grabbed her face and held her gently in my two hands, trying to keep her gaze locked with mine as the sheriff pushed the paparazzi off the property.
“You know who I am. I told you I had a rough past, and you said it didn’t matter to you. Yes, I know that guy Jesse who was shooting at us. Yes, I know that guy Ben from a month ago. But that was all in my past. It has nothing to do with us today. I promise you.” She had to believe me. There was no way for me to continue with this new life I’d made for myself if she couldn’t look beyond my sketchy past.
Oakley remained silent for agonizingly long seconds, but staring at me as if she was weighing my character and finding me lacking. Then her hands came up to grip my wrists. For a split second, I hoped she really looked beyond my past. But then she was ripping my hands away from her face, angry words spilling from her lips as a single tear tracked down her cheek.
“It’s not really your past when it shows up here today and shoots me, now is it? I don’t even know the basics of who you are.” She laughed, and the sound made my skin crawl. “Hell, I don’t even know your name!”
