“Stop it, Greer,” Ginny demanded, seeing what he was trying to do and scooting away from him. “Gavin can drive me to the hospital.” Ginny reached out to place a fingertip onto his cheek. “You can’t help yourself, can you? That’s why you’ve been so fanatical about getting everyone in town vaccinated, because you didn’t trust yourself not to break and then heal them if any one of them got sick.” Ginny’s lips trembled when Greer let his guard slip and she was given a rare insight of the man within. “How many have you already healed?”
Greer turned his head away to tug his loose britches up. “I ain’t—”
“Greer, don’t lie,” Ginny said softly. “You’re skin and bones, and your hair is getting greyer every time I see you.”
“Holly ain’t the best cook in the county—”
“I’m not buyin’ it.” Ginny shook her head at him. “Thank you for trying. You took my pain yesterday. Let Train and Dr. Price fix me today. Give yourself a break. The rate I’m going, I’ll probably need you tomorrow.”
“Let me see her,” Train said from behind Greer.
Greer didn’t immediately step away. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.” Ginny leaned forward to place a light kiss on Greer’s cheek. “Holly’s a lucky woman.”
Greer gave a shit-eating grin. “I tell her that all the time. Going to invite you to dinner so you can tell her yourself. She don’t believe me when I tell her.”
Ginny gave Greer a misty smile. “I think she does, Greer. I really thinks she does.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Train set his medic bag on the hood when Greer moved away. “Sorry, brother.” Train carefully began examining her arm. “I got distracted, and she slipped out of the house.”
“What was so damn important that you came outside?” Gavin grumbled by her side.
Sheer willpower kept Ginny from flinching away when Train slowly tried to straighten her arm. “I was getting Trudy her pot stickers—”
At a curse behind Train, Ginny poked her head around him to see Dalton.
“I mean, I was getting them for Sex Piston.”
“Where are they?” Dalton exploded.
Ginny jumped. Trudy had never mentioned Dalton had anger issues. “In the back seat.”
Gavin sent him a scorching glare. “Don’t yell at her.”
Dalton lowered his voice to a reasonable tone. “I meant the girls.”
“In the dining room.”
Dalton stalked off.
“Don’t forget to take the pot stickers,” she reminded him.
Both Train and Gavin placed themselves in front of Ginny.
Ginny rolled her eyes at them, stretching her neck so she could look between the two men to make sure Dalton retrieved the pot stickers.
The slam of the car door answered the question for her.
“Dalton,” Ginny called out when she saw him heading toward the house with the large carton of Chinese takeout. “At least let her have a couple before you throw them out.”
“Be quiet,” Gavin hissed.
Ginny was about to take exception to Gavin’s rudeness when Viper and Knox placed themselves beside Train and Gavin. From their fierce expressions aimed at Dalton, Ginny had to think twice about saying anything more to her brother-in-law.
The slam of the front door had the men around her relaxing.
“I’m going to call Zoey and get her to call Dalton. Trudy didn’t tell me Dalton had such a bad temper.”
Gavin gave her a narrowed-eyed stare that had her scooting away from him.
“Train, what distracted you that Ginny was able to slip out?”
“She told me that Killy is pregnant.”
Ginny hastily ducked her head, trying to divert Gavin’s attention. “How’s my arm?”
“Seems to be a strain.” Train opened his bag and took out a box. Pulling out a sling, he put it on her. “You need an X-ray to make sure.”
“Congratulations, brother.” Viper and Knox both slapped Train when he was done adjusting the sling.
“Thanks.” Train grinned. “I was giving Killy hell for not being the first one in the garage when the shots went off. Sorry, brother, I fucked up.”
While Gavin didn’t give Train good wishes on the pregnancy, he did say, “Not your fault. I should have given you and the others the heads-up that Ginny has a tendency to get her ass in trouble.”
Ginny gaped at him. “You’re blaming this on me?”
“You wouldn’t have been hurt if you stayed inside the house. I told you to stay in there before I left the house. You promised me you would stay out of trouble for a month. I asked for two days and got less than two hours.” He turned to the other man. “She good to go, Train?”
“Yes.”
Gavin lifted her into his arms as Train took his bag and went back into the house.
Walking by Greer, Gavin stopped. “Forget the Escalade. Go to the car dealership and pick out any vehicle you want.”
“Can’t do that. I was just doing my duty, wasn’t I, Knox?” Greer shoved his hands in his back pockets as he rocked back and forth on the heels of his boots.
Knox remained silent.
“Wasn’t I?” Greer yelled out as if Knox was ten feet away instead of a couple inches.
Knox stomped over to Greer. “Ginny’s damn lucky you didn’t kill her. The gun could have gone off when you shot him.”
“No, it couldn’t have. He was out of bullets.” Greer smirked.
“How in the fuck do you know that? He had his back to you; you couldn’t see his gun, much less know how many bullets he had left.”
“I just knew.” Greer shrugged.
Knox was so angry that his eyes nearly bulged out of his eyes. “You just knew?”
“Yeah.”
Knox walked over to the dead gunman, picked up the gun, opened the chamber, and then clicked it closed. “You can have your job back. And take your pick of the Escalades. I’ll write it off as overtime.” Knox sounded like he wanted to have a good cry.
Ginny buried her face in Gavin’s shoulder to keep from laughing as Gavin moved to carry her toward the sheriff’s Bronco.
Ginny raised her head when she realized Gavin wanted to leave. “I need to go in to say good-bye to everyone.”
“I’ll text Dalton when we get to the hospital. You’re not going into that house for a while.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not safe.”
“I don’t see why not.”
“Then look around.”
“They were here to kill me?”
Dalton’s lawn had a line of men handcuffed and on their knees. She had counted four bodies being loaded into the coroner vans, as a white sheet was placed on the one on the ground.
“Yes.”
“Dalton’s never going to let me visit Trudy again, is he?”
“Not in this lifetime.”
“Gavin, I can walk.” Ginny stopped Gavin when he would have lifted her from Knox’s vehicle.
Remaining close, he watched every move she made as she got out and they walked toward the hospital entrance. “I’ll register you in. Go ahead and have a seat.”