“I’m open to anywhere.”
She scowls. “Are you cold?”
I shake my head and release my arms as I lean back in the seat and my stomach twists. Oh, God, I’m going to throw up.
“You know, I got scared there for a minute… thinking you were like everyone else but now you’re here.” Her smile is wide and happy as she looks over at me. “I never should have doubted you.”
“What do you mean, like the other ones?”
She rolls her eyes. “My ex…”
“Your fiancé?” I ask, remembering the story she told in group not that long ago and she nods, tears filling her eyes.
“You know, he asked me to marry him and then that night, as we were going to his parents’ to share the news, he tells me he’s having second thoughts and maybe we shouldn’t say anything just yet.”
I drop my gaze to my lap and scowl as I try to put all the pieces together. What exactly is she saying? “I’m sorry. That must have been hard.”
“I begged him to just give us a chance, you know? But the more I begged, the more he stood his ground and then he said that he wanted to break up instead so I did what I had to do.”
“What did you do, Lil?” I ask, my eyes snapping up to hers and she shrugs.
“I couldn’t let him leave me.”
Oh my God…
Jesus fucking Christ.
In the three years that I’ve known her, I never would have guessed that she was this unbalanced and I shake my head, wondering how the hell I never saw it. How I never picked up on the fact that, at some point, she fell in love with me?
“You killed him?” I ask as I struggle to draw a breath into my lungs and she shrugs again, her grip on the steering wheel tightening.
“I couldn’t let him just leave me, Piper. Not after everything. Don’t you judge me.”
Holding my hands up in surrender, I shake my head. “I’m not. Just surprised is all.”
“Oh, okay…” Her gaze flicks to the rearview mirror and she hisses a curse. I glance in the side mirror and my heart jumps when I see the Bronco right on our heels.
Oh, fuck, Wyatt, what the hell are you doing?
She glances over at me and I turn, meeting her eyes. Her grip on the steering wheel tightens and she blows out a breath.
“This was all a trick?”
I shake my head. “No, Lil… it’s not a trick but he’s not just going to let me go.”
“I shouldn’t have left the gun,” she growls and I’m suddenly very glad for my quick thinking as I glance at the truck in the side mirror again. When I glance back at her, her eyes are sad and she shakes her head as a tear slips down her cheek.
“I don’t want to do it…”
My brows knit together and my heart sinks as I try to decipher her words. “You don’t want to do what?”
“I won’t let him take you from me…”
My eyes widen and I open my mouth to scream, beg her to rethink her plan but before I can get the words out, she jerks the wheel to the side and the car flies off the road. My head smashes against the window and everything flips upside down just before my world fades to black.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Wyatt
“What the fuck were you thinking, Piper?” I hiss to myself as I press my foot harder against the gas pedal as my chest feels tight and I struggle to pull air into my lungs.
Fuck.
I can’t lose her.
“Where are they headed?” Rodriguez ask over speakerphone and I relay our location to him. As soon as Lillian and Piper walked out of the backyard, I called Detective Rodriguez and told him what was going down. He urged me to just wait for him to get there but there was no way in hell that I was leaving my wife.
Hell no.
“We’re almost there.”
I nod. “Okay.”
The car jerks to the side out of nowhere, flying off of the road and I slam on the brakes, my whole world screeching to a halt as Piper’s car begins flipping through the air. I throw the truck in park, gasping for breath, and jump out as it comes to a stop on the roof, my heart pounding in my ears. Running my fingers through my hair, I stare at it for a second, unable to move before I start running toward it, toward her.
Shaking my head, I pull myself from the memory and stare up at the monitor as Piper’s heart rate steadily tracks across the screen. My knee bounces like crazy as I prop my chin on my hands and stare at it like at any moment, she could crash despite all the doctors telling me she looks good and it’s just a waiting game now. She’s been unconscious for thirty-six hours and while that might not seem like a lot to most people, it has felt like an eternity to me. Although, I suppose it’s better than the total dread that swarmed me as I watched the car fly off the highway.
I shake my head to clear the memory as I turn to look at her bruised face. When I got to the car, it was clear that Lillian had died in the crash but Piper was in and out of consciousness until the ambulance showed up along with Rodriguez and two other patrol cars.
“Hey,” someone says and I glance over at Chance and Storm as they walk into the room and sit in the chairs along the wall. I nod my greeting. “How is she holding up?”
I shrug. “Same.”
“She’ll wake up, man,” Storm assures me and I nod. I know he’s been exactly where I am now but he can’t promise me anything. Chance stands up and walks over to me, clapping my shoulder.
“You need anything?”
“No.”
He sighs. “All right. Call us if you do, okay? Moose and Henn are taking over guard duty for us.”
“I’ll be fine. Go see your wives.”
They walk back out of the room and I release breath as I run my hand through my hair. Blaze ordered everyone to the clubhouse after Veronica showed up and that is all where we’re hunkering down while we try to figure all of this out. I can’t wait to get Piper there, where I know she will be safe.
“Mr. Landry?” someone says and my heart jumps into my throat. Fuck, is it one of the doctors? Do they have more information on her condition? I spin around and scowl at the woman I don’t recognize. She forces a smile to her face. “I’m Dr. Brewer, your wife’s therapist.”
I nod, eyeing her. “And Lillian’s doctor.”
“Ah, yes… that’s why I’m here, actually. I wanted to tell you… well, both of you, how sorry I am. I knew Lillian had some deep seeded trauma but she was reluctant to open up to me and I had no idea that she was so…”
“Unhinged?” I hiss, glaring up at her and she nods.
“Yes. She… hell, I probably shouldn’t be saying this… but she was in another car crash when she was very young and she lost her sister. It… manifested itself with this fear that she would lose everyone she loved and so, she took matters into her own hands. I thought… I thought we were getting somewhere with her but if I had known about her developing feelings for Piper… I would have…”
“It’s not your fault.”
My head whips to Piper and relief rushes over me when I see her green eyes staring back at me and I don’t know how I don’t collapse on the floor.