Page 75 of One More Chance

Simone

“Did you see what happened?” I ask Zara. Kim and Jerome left during the altercation to check on Evie. Lucas is nowhere to be seen in the dimly lit bar, thick with people standing around like pine trees in a dense forest. Even his brothers have vanished.

Zara shakes her head.

When the fight broke out, the brothers switched into Marine mode. Lucas told me to stay put and disappeared into the crowd.

Troy approaches us, frowning. This isn’t his annoyed or confused frown. It’s a frown that sends my heart into palpitations, that leaves horrifying scenarios flashing in my head.

“There’s been an accident.” The comment is directed at me and does nothing to calm my adrenaline tsunami.

“What do you mean an accident?”

“Your grandmother has been in an accident.”

The Maple Ridge police officer’s words pound in my head, and a wave of dizziness crests inside me. Please, please, please not again.

“Come with me.” Troy walks away from us. I follow him, weaving through the bar patrons to the front entrance. We exit the bar.

The night air is a cold kiss on my bare arms. Goose bumps prickle my skin.

Lucas is sitting on the curb a short distance from us. The dark-green T-shirt Kellan was wearing when he arrived at the bar is pressed against Lucas’s temple. Patrick and Garrett are also with them.

The breath I’d been holding rushes out in a whoosh, and I hurry over to the four men.

I crouch in front of Lucas. In the glow of the nearby streetlight, I make out dark stains in the green fabric. Stains that weren’t on Kellan’s T-shirt when he showed up at the bar. Lucas’s faded blue T-shirt is also smeared with blood.

My pulse throbs loudly in my ears, drowning out the noise of the passing vehicles. I touch Lucas’s cheek so I have something to do with my hands. “What happened?”

His eyes look slightly dazed, but from what I can tell, his pupils are evenly dilated.

“I was asking Sebastian what he really wanted the Wakefields’ land for. And the next thing I know, someone hit me on the side of the head.”

Patrick crouches next to me. “I found him unconscious.”

I brush my hand against the one holding the cloth to Lucas’s temple. “We need to get you to the hospital.”

“Police and ambulance are on the way,” Garrett says.

I glance from Patrick to the three men standing. “Any idea who did this?” From what Lucas said, it doesn’t sound like Sebastian was the guilty party.

“No idea. It wasn’t the man Sebastian got into the fight with,” Patrick tells me. “I was escorting him off the property when it happened.”

“Whoever it was, Sebastian can identify him.” Lucas makes a move to stand.

I rest my hand on his thigh, telling him without words that he’s going nowhere for now. The whirring of sirens calls out, growing closer with each second.

“Nice of him to stick around to identify the person,” Kellan grumbles. “Or provide medical assistance.”

“He conned his parents in to buying the Wakefields’ land for his own self-interest. I doubt doing the right thing is high on his to-do list.” Disgust radiates through Lucas’s tone, bleeding into each word.

“Which means he can’t be trusted.” A slight tremble takes over my voice. “We’ve been digging into things we probably shouldn’t. We’ve pissed someone off. We have to stop…we have to stop before one of you is killed.”

Lucas turns to me and gently touches my jaw. “Hey, it’s okay, Trouble.” His tone is as tender as his touch. “Nothing’s gonna happen to us.”

“You don’t know that. You might get killed.”

“And I might end up in the slammer for the next twenty-five years. I can’t sit around waiting for the cops to figure things out. At the rate they’re going, that might never happen.”

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