My boots hit the cement with a thud, my pace picking up with each step. Hadley’s gaze met mine. “Hayes, dial it back a notch.”
I glared at my sister. “What happened?”
“Everly was attacked, but she’s going to be fine.”
“I’m okay, really. Just feeling a little woozy.” Everly tried to smile, but it was wobbly, and her skin was so damn pale.
I didn’t think, I simply moved, slipping my hand into hers and squeezing gently. “Tell me what happened.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket with my free hand and hit my recorder app. I didn’t want Ev to have to recount this over and over.
“I stayed late to finish up some paperwork so it wasn’t hanging over my head this weekend. I locked up and was walking to my SUV when someone grabbed me. I didn’t even hear him coming. I’m usually really good about being aware of my surroundings, but I was looking at the sky. The moon and the stars aren’t nearly as clear in Seattle. I missed them. So dumb.”
I squeezed her hand again. “It’s not dumb, and it’s not your fault.”
Everly’s hand twitched in mine, but I held firm. “I should’ve been paying better attention. But I wasn’t, and it felt like he came out of nowhere. He yanked me hard and covered my mouth with a cloth.”
My gaze met Hadley’s over Ev’s head. Hadley’s normally relaxed expression had hardened to granite. “I’d guess chloroform or something similar. Her vitals are still a little sluggish.”
“Then what happened?” I asked.
“I bit him. Hard.”
I swept my thumb across the back of her hand. “That’s my girl.”
Her fingers gave another twitch, but she didn’t let go. “I was losing my balance, and everything was fuzzy, but I got him with an elbow to the ribs. Then someone yelled from down the street.”
I glanced over to where Sergeant Ruiz was interviewing a couple—I guessed the people who had interrupted the crime.
“I don’t really know what happened next. I guess I fell…”
Hadley removed the gauze pad, and it was soaked in blood. She quickly replaced it with another one, even though Everly winced as she did. “Everly knocked her head pretty good on the pavement. It’s going to need stitches, and she might have a concussion. Whenever you’re done, we’re going to take her to Forest Lake to get checked out.”
One of the few downsides of living where we did was that there wasn’t a hospital close by. We had a good Urgent Care, but we were forty-five minutes away from treatment for true emergencies.
Everly tried to sit up on the gurney but winced. “Hadley, I don’t think I need the Emergency Room. Can’t someone give me stitches here?”
“You’re getting checked out,” I barked.
“Bedside manner, Hayes,” my sister warned.
My back teeth ground together. “You need a doctor to look at you, and probably some x-rays or a CT scan.”
Everly slumped back against the gurney.
“They’ll get you in and out as fast as they can,” Hadley assured her. “You done?” she asked me.
“Just one more question. Did you see the attacker? Anything about him or her at all?”
“Based on size, it was a man. He was behind me the whole time. I never got a look at him.”
“What about his voice? Did he say anything?”
“Nothing—” Her words cut off.
“What?”
“He made a noise when I bit him…but nothing about it was familiar.”
It was all just a little too similar to Cammie’s attempted abduction—and easily could’ve been a crime of opportunity. “Do you usually work this late on Thursdays?”
“No. I normally leave with everyone else.”
One more point in the opportunity column. But I had to ask one more thing. “Do you think this could’ve been Ian?” I wasn’t sure Allen had the strength to overpower Everly. She was much stronger than her size suggested.
Pain danced across Everly’s eyes, and this time, it wasn’t from the gash on her head. “I don’t think so. It’s not his style. Attack me? Sure. But try to kidnap me? That’s not him.”
“Okay. I’ll need to talk to him anyway. I’ll tell him to keep his distance, but you may get blowback.” I hated that there was almost nothing I could do to shield her from it. Nothing legally, anyway.
“I’ll be prepared.”
“I really need to take her in, Hayes.”
“Go.” I forced myself to release Ev’s hand, but it hurt like hell. She looked so damn small and alone on that gurney. “Take care of her.”
“You know I will.”
I looked at Everly. “Text me and let me know what the doctor says. Or if you remember anything else.”
“Okay.”
The single word was soft—quieter than I’d ever heard Ev before. And I had to fight the instinct to climb into the back of the ambulance they were loading her into. Instead, I turned to my officers. The way I could help was to find whoever had done this.
24
Everly
“I’d stay, but I have to head back for the rest of my shift. You going to be okay? Is there anyone you want me to call?”
There was no one. I fought back the rush of tears that wanted to surface with that knowledge. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for everything, Hadley.”
She moved to my purse on the hospital gurney in my ER bay. Riffling through it, she pulled out my phone and handed it to me. “Add me to your contacts.” She rattled off her number, and I plugged it in, even though my vision was still a little blurry. “Call me if you need anything.”
“I appreciate that.”
“No problem.” She patted my leg. “Take care of yourself.”
I nodded and immediately regretted the action. My head thrummed as if a full marching band was practicing inside my skull. I closed my eyes against the light, trying to block out the brightness and the incessant beeping and chatter around me. It helped a little, but it only made me feel more alone.
But that’s what I was, wasn’t I? No one would come running when I called. Maybe Ben, but he didn’t have a cell phone. And asking for help from him would only give him another reason to believe that I couldn’t handle things myself.
I fisted and flexed the hand free of an IV—the one Hayes had held for what seemed like hours. I hadn’t felt alone then. Not with his rough palm pressed against mine, his thumb sweeping back and forth across my skin. I’d felt warm for the first time in forever.
But that warmth didn’t belong to me. Not really. It would belong to some other woman someday—someone who would share his bed and his life. Become a member of his family. It was ridiculous how much that felt like a stab to the heart.
The familiar burn climbed up my throat, but I swallowed it down. I couldn’t break. Not here, and not now.
“Everly Kemper?”
My eyes opened at the feminine voice, and I blinked a few times before taking in the woman at the foot of my bed. She was petite with jet-black hair and golden skin. “I’m Dr. Balicanta.”