Crockett nodded woodenly.
“He was there, and I see this stupid bracelet that had been on Rockett’s wrist when she’d left earlier that night. She had it on in surveillance photos. It was sparkly and bright pink, so it caught my eye. It’s on that man’s wrist. He’s standing there, looking at the house right along with half the neighborhood, when I get there. So I mention it to one of the cops that was there originally, and the cop goes to talk to the guy, who loses his absolute shit and goes fuckin’ nutso on the crowd. He starts hitting anyone that comes close to him. Your stepmother included. She fell, hit her head on the curb, and I heard something crack.”
Crockett inhales swiftly.
“Having seen this from wherever she’s hidden, Rockett comes running out of that guy’s house two down from y’all. Pulls an officer’s gun. Then shoots his ass right there in the middle of the street. Then refuses to drop it herself when she’s told to.” He paused for a breath. “Your father tries to get her to put the gun down, and ends up taking a bullet to the side of his thigh for his trouble.”
“Oh fuck.” Crockett covers her face with her hands. “What else?”
“Long story short, they get the gun from her after she empties the weapon trying to shoot people that come close. Once they get the gun away from her, they take her and put her in a police car in handcuffs. That’s the last that I saw of her. In fact,” he looked around the still swarming with cops neighborhood. “She might be here still. I don’t know.”
“What happened next?” I asked. “Is Zakelina okay?”
That’s when Laric’s face completely closed down. “She was shot by her father, along with the mother. Mother is dead. They brought her out in a body bag. Dad’s dead, too. He killed himself when he realized he wasn’t getting out of this in a good way. Zakelina is hanging on for dear life, but I don’t know for how long. Dad shot her in the jaw, and she lost a whole lot of blood.”
My shoulders slumped.
“But she is alive,” Crockett whispered. “There’s hope.”
Laric nodded once. “There’s hope.”
“God,” she breathed. “What the hell happened tonight?”
“Full moon.” Laric shrugged. “Anyway, your stepmother broke her neck. She’s paralyzed at least. Luckily, they were able to get her onto a gurney and pushed out of the scene by a couple of cops. Paramedics weren’t allowed on scene yet because it wasn’t secure. She was transported to the hospital along with Zakelina in the same bus.”
“The guy. The one that pushed my stepmother?” Crockett paused. “How about him?”
“He’s dead. Your dad drove himself to the hospital,” Laric finished on a disgruntled sigh. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry, man. All that shit just happened so fast. Everything at once. I couldn’t stop any of it.”
I shook my head. “You can’t control everything, man. This was all just a big fuckin’ clusterfuck that I have a feeling you couldn’t have stopped even if you’d had the resources.”
“I was stretched kind of thin,” he admitted. “So were the cops. Right around the time that all this shit happened, a bar out by the lake, one that a few of our guys were at doing some recon, went totally gonzo, too. Trick and Trouper were there and didn’t escape unscathed. I think all three of us need stitches.”
Crockett frowned. “What happened to your face? Why is it bleeding?”
Laric had some gauze pressed to his face, and a fuckin’ ripped t-shirt holding it in place.
“The other dog. Larry. He didn’t do well with the gunfire. He was really, really fuckin’ spooked. And when I tried to get him calmed down, he started shaking to get away, and one of his teeth caught me on the temple,” he explained. “Also, I’m not too sure what your bathroom looks like in your house, Zach. That’s where I stashed him since it was as far away from here that he could get, with a shit ton of closed doors between him and the outside.”
I shrugged. “I don’t care, man. It is what it is at this point.”
Laric grimaced. “This poor dog might not make it.”
With those foreboding words, they were once again a shock to my already abused system.
But still, I took his words and held them close.
Tonight, we’d worry about that other stuff.
Right now, I had a few brothers to patch up, then a little girl to go see at the hospital.
• • •
CROCKETT
I didn’t know what to expect when I got to the hospital where Zach used to work, but I never expected everyone to gush over seeing him.
Apparently, he was a popular doctor that everyone missed, even the director of nursing.
She was the one that came up to us with a smile.
“Zach.” The beautiful blonde walked up and hugged him tight. “Are you okay?”
Zach returned the hug, then held out his hand to me. “Cheyenne, this is Crockett. Crockett, this is a lady that I kind of sort of grew up around. She’s married to a guy that owns a motorcycle shop in town.” He winced. “And she’s also the person that I was trying to refer Zakelina’s mother to.”
Zach had told me this weekend how he knew of an organization that made women, children, and even some men safe again by giving them ways out of their old lives.
He’d been trying to get Zakelina’s mother to take the card for a while now, but she’d refused.
And look where that led her.
Dead, along with her abusive husband, and her daughter barely clinging to life in a hospital with nobody at her side.
That wasn’t fair of me to think, of course. I didn’t know what was going down in their lives. I didn’t know jack shit about anything, actually.
But what I did know was that a little girl named Zakelina, who my Zach had taken a liking to, was barely holding on, and that fucking hurt.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Cheyenne held out her hand, and I shook it. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
My brows rose, and I looked to Zach.
“Not me. You know I’ve been avoiding this particular city for a while,” he said.
Cheyenne started to giggle. “Actually, it was from quite a few people. A lot of the ladies here had a huge crush on Doctor McDark-and-Dangerous. When they heard that he was out of prison, he became a hot topic again. Anything you do or say in this city, or any surrounding cities, is fair game. You’ve been the talk of the ER for a while now.”
I bit my lip. “Ummm, I hope that I live up to their expectations.”
Zach squeezed my hand, not liking hearing that come from my lips.
I rolled my eyes.
“We’re here to check on the little girl that came in with the gunshot wound. Any news on her?” I asked Cheyenne.
Cheyenne looked haunted for a few long seconds.
“She’s in surgery. She was shot through the jaw. Her jaw was shattered. She lost a lot of blood, and so far, she’s still in very critical condition.”
Zach’s eyes closed, and I wanted nothing more than to wrap him up in my arms and squeeze him tight.
I would have had my father not chosen that second to hear us talking and whip the curtain aside and glare at me.