“Sullivan, they’ll have someone there as soon as possible.”
Everyone knows how much this woman means to me. Throwing my radio down, I reach out to check her over. “Shelby, can you hear me?” She groans as I push the hair from her forehead. There’s blood everywhere, and I don’t know what to do first.
“How far away are they?” I scream into my radio. “She’s not conscious.”
“They’ll be there within minutes,” dispatch assures me.
My fear is it won’t be in enough time.
“Hang on for me, Counselor.” I cradle her head in my lap. “I love you.” My voice is hoarse and I feel uncharacteristic tears pool in my eyes, begging the ambulance to hurry up.
Chapter 35
Sullivan
“Where is Shelby?” Menace asks as I stride back into headquarters, going to the equipment room to load up on what I feel I need.
“She’s at the hospital. They’re going to keep her overnight. Concussion.”
I don’t want to speak to him or anyone else. There’s only one thing on my mind and that’s finding Frank.
“Then why aren’t you there with her?” Menace questions.
“I have other things to do.”
“You don’t want to do this.” He grabs hold of my shoulder, stopping me from going any farther.
“You have no idea what I’m about to do.” I throw his hand off me.
“No, I do.” He grabs hold and pushes me back against the wall. “I know exactly how you feel. When Rina was pregnant with Kels, she was held at gunpoint by a fellow teacher. I wanted to run in there and grab her, make sure she was okay, kill the fucker with my bare hands. But I couldn’t.” He holds onto my arm. “I had to be off the case, I was too close. In my anger I wanted to go in there and kill everyone, which wouldn’t have done shit for what really needed to happen. I’m telling you as a man who understands your emotions right now, you need to go to the hospital and stay with her.”
I shake my head. “You didn’t see what she looked like. Blood pouring from her cheek, glass everywhere, bruises all over her face. I can’t let him go and not get retribution.”
“He will get it,” Menace vows. “But it can’t come from you, Sully. It cannot come from you. Trust us to take care of you. To avenge whatever you need us to. Go to the hospital and be with Shelby.”
Sighing, I have to admit I understand what he’s saying, but at the same time I hate it. “If I do anything, I’ll be charged?”
“You will.”
That’s all I have to hear. My identity is a police officer, I can’t be one if I’m charged. In order to be the best man I can for Shelby, I need to be who I am. And above all I’m an officer of the law.
“How is she?” I ask my sister as I enter Shelby’s hospital room.
Rowan responded to the call, thank God, because I’m not sure I would’ve been able to be patient with anyone else while they helped her.
“She hasn’t woken up yet, but she’s responsive when they do tests. Everyone thinks she should come around soon.”
I walk over to the other side of her bed, having a seat in the chair. Her face is bruised, purple and blue standing out in stark relief against the fair color of her skin. “Counselor, I’m so sorry.”
“This wasn’t your fault,” Rowan says softly.
“It was, I should’ve known he’d do something like this. He was fucking escalating.”
“No one could have known. You aren’t a super hero.”
“I’m not, but I keep my family safe, and I couldn’t do it for her.” Reaching over, I grab hold of her hand, squeezing it tightly.
“I knew you would come.” I hear Shelby croak out. “While I was lying there, I kept telling myself you would come.”
“Shhh.” I push her hair back from her face. “Don’t say anything. You need to save your strength.”
“Did you catch him?”
“I didn’t, but they’ve sent a team to hunt him. They wouldn’t allow me to be part of it. I shot at him, but I missed. I was more worried about you.”
“You should never think about me before your safety.”
“Without you, my safety doesn’t fuckin’ matter, Counselor.”
She moans when she turns her head.
“Are you okay?”
“It hurts.”
“You have a concussion,” Rowan explains. “Let me go get the doctor on call to give you some more medicine.”
When Rowan leaves, Shelby looks up at me. “I promised myself while I was lying there, I would tell you if I had the chance. I love you, Sully. I love you so much I almost can’t breathe for it.”
Running my finger down her cheek, I lean in, kissing her softly. “Love you too, Shelby. I’ve never been so scared in my life, and fair warning, I’ll never let you out of my sight again.”
She cries softly. “I’m perfectly fine with that.”
The doctor comes in, and I reluctantly remove myself from beside her, but I know without a doubt that’s one promise I’ll keep to my death.
Two hours later, Cruise comes in wearing his SWAT gear, his gun on his thigh, black soot on his face.
“Did you get him?”
He shakes his head. “Frank Gentry burnt his house down. He was DOA. We just bought his body in.”
Shelby makes a noise in her throat. “I can’t say I’m sorry, but even though he was an ass to Montana, it’s gonna hurt. She lived with him for a long time. Can someone go tell her?”
“I will,” Cruise says. “It’s the least I can do. I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of this, Shelby.”
“I always knew it could happen. Thanks for making sure he won’t be hurting anyone else.”
“Yeah.” I hold out my hand for him to shake. “Thanks for taking care of it for me.”
“With pleasure my brother, you take care of her.”
“Trust me, I will.” I have a seat next to her, and vow right now to make sure she’s safe for the rest of her life.
Chapter 36
Shelby
“This is The Café,” I tell my parents as we make the trip down the sidewalk from my office to the place where most people in town go to eat. They’ve been here for almost two weeks. Since I was brought to the hospital and now that I’m home.
They leave tomorrow, and I finally feel well enough to take them on a tour of Laurel Springs.
“It’s all so quaint.” My mom grins. “I can see why you love this place.”
“It’s not hard,” I admit.
We walk in being greeted by so many people who have becomes friends and family too me in such a short amount of time. Seeing three swivel chairs at the soda fountain free, I lead them to my favorite place to sit. That’s when I notice Ransom, Cruise, and Havoc standing in a group together, cracking up.
“Hey guys.” I wave. “What’s going on?”