She frowned for a long moment. “I saw Reyes hurt. He’d left the rifle with me, so I was getting out of the car, thinking maybe I’d scare them...”
Parrish glared at Reyes, looking furious again. “Cade grabbed the rifle,” Reyes explained. “My only thought at the time was getting to her.”
Nodding, Parrish turned back to her.
“Delbert told me he’d have the others kill Reyes if I didn’t drop the rifle, so I did.” She briefly closed her eyes. “I didn’t know how to use it anyway.”
“You’re going to learn,” Reyes said. Soon as possible, he’d teach her a hundred different ways to better protect herself. Not that she’d need to, because he wasn’t ever letting her out of his sight.
“I guess he hit me, because I woke up in the car and there was Delbert.” She drew a shuddering breath. “I was so afraid.”
It was torturous for Reyes, seeing her like this. Yet he understood the need to have all the facts. She’d get through them soon, and then he could hold her.
She opened her eyes a fraction. “I knew Reyes had been attacked and I didn’t know if he was—” Her hold on his hand tightened.
“It’s okay, babe.” Reyes wished he could take the discomfort for her.
“It’s not okay. Look at your head.”
Of all the...
“It was a small cut,” Parrish said. “No stitches needed, just a few wound-closing strips. He’ll be fine.”
She swallowed heavily, her eyes growing damp again.
Reyes leaned in to kiss her forehead. “It’s okay, baby. Take your time.”
“I knew I had to do something.”
“To save yourself,” Parrish said with a nod of approval. “And you did.”
“I wasn’t really thinking of me. Not then. I just... I knew I had to somehow send back help for Reyes.” She winced. “I know what I did was stupid. I could have killed myself. When it was happening, though, I couldn’t reason anything out. I just knew I had to fight.”
Reyes lifted her hand to his mouth. He should have been there to fight for her; instead, he’d allowed himself to be taken by surprise.
“They must have been following Jodi.” He kissed her bruised knuckles. “I should have realized.”
Kennedy looked at him for a long time and then gifted him with a slight smile. “Despite what you think and what your father tells you, you can’t prepare for every situation. You aren’t psychic, and you aren’t invincible.”
“But I’ve been trained—”
“No,” Parrish said. “She’s right. Madison sent you after Jodi. Cade and I approved that plan. If you’re in the wrong, we all are, but I prefer to agree with Kennedy. We can only be so prepared.” He got up to pace. “Golly’s brother apparently hired people to watch Jodi. We don’t know why Delbert was on the scene.”
“I know.” Shivering, Kennedy shifted uncomfortably. “He said the other man was real trouble, and so he’d left. Something about not wanting to deal with him anymore because he was too crazy. Delbert called him certifiable.”
“Hmm.” Parrish lightly patted her shoulder. “Thank you for sharing that. If you remember anything else, let us know. Until then, the pain meds I gave you should be kicking in soon. You need plenty of rest.”
“No problem.” She closed her eyes again. “Soon as I warm up, I’m ready for a nap.”
Parrish smiled, but Reyes couldn’t. “We’ll get you to bed in just a minute.”
“When you feel better,” Parrish said, “and I promise you will, stay off the phone and computer, and limit television. Reyes, you’ll want to check on her every couple of hours, just to make sure she’s responsive.”
“We’ll stay here tonight,” Reyes told her.
“Here?” She blinked at him.
“Remember, I have my own suite. It’ll be fine.”
“But...” She glanced at Parrish, then lowered her voice even more. “I want to go home.”
Home. Yeah, with Kennedy in it, his house was a home. The security was all there although the drive would be brutal for her. Just getting to his dad’s had been grueling, especially with the window broken and freezing air blowing in. He hadn’t seen an alternative, though.
“Here tonight,” Reyes insisted, “then we’ll reevaluate tomorrow. Okay?”
“You’ll have privacy,” Parrish assured her as he stood and walked around to Reyes, where he again checked his head.
“Ow, damn, Dad. Leave it alone.”
Rolling his eyes, Parrish gave Kennedy a look. “Luckily he has a hard head, or he might’ve gotten more than a goose egg.”
“It barely slowed me down,” Reyes promised, to ease the frown of concern Kennedy now wore. “I’ve had enough injuries to know a serious one from a nuisance. Once I’d cleaned off the blood, anyone could see I wasn’t badly hurt.” Hell, the biggest ache he felt was in his heart.
A tap sounded at the exam room door, immediately followed by Cade, Sterling and Madison coming in.
Cade said, “I moved your truck into a garage bay so it wouldn’t fill with snow. Tomorrow morning I’ll take it to get the window fixed.”
Normally Reyes would have insisted on doing that himself, but he wouldn’t want to leave Kennedy while she was hurt. “Thanks.”
“I brought Kennedy some clothes,” Madison said. “A few T-shirts, sweatshirt and pajama pants, because she can roll those up. Sorry, but my jeans would be about a foot too long on her.”
“And my butt would never fit,” Kennedy said with a weak smile. “Thank you.”
Sterling whistled softly as she got close. “Damn, girl. You look like you went a few rounds with a UFC champion. Your bruises have bruises.” She gave an exaggerated wince. “Hurt much?”
“Mostly my head, but the meds are helping.”
Sterling took Parrish’s stool. “Did I ever tell you about the time I tried going out a narrow window face-first? I managed to escape a bad situation, but got a chunk of glass stuck in my thigh.”
Lips parting in awe, Kennedy said, “No, but it sounds awful.”
“It was. But hey, it led to Cade and me getting closer, so now it’s a fond memory.” Glancing at Reyes, Sterling nodded to the door, then started her story.
Ah, his opportunity to talk privately with his family. Making sure the blanket covered every part of Kennedy, he softly said, “I’ll be right back.”