Steele was still on his phone, reading something else, then running a hand over his face. "I don't know if this helps or not, but I think we worked out why Bark was giving off the creep vibes."
I almost didn't want to ask. "Why?"
Steele passed his phone over to me. "He is apparently the major contributor to this blog site."
Scrolling the page, I found all kinds of Shadow Grove crimes documented, with heavy emphasis on the crap going on with me and my guys. There was the fire at Wisteria, an article about Steele's car exploding in the SGU parking lot, a ton of gossip and hearsay about Drew's murder... even the video of me punching Scott in the halls of school.
There were a hundred and one theories about my guys and me, ranging anywhere from human trafficking—which wasn't super far from the truth—all the way through to the most popular theory. One that several hundred people had commented their agreement or support on.
Aliens.
I let out a sharp laugh, relief washing over me. "Okay, so Bark isn't a stalker, he's just plain nuts. Good to know, I guess."
"Aliens?" Kody mumbled, sounding outraged as he browsed the comments on his own phone. I handed Steele's to Dallas for him to see too, and he chuckled.
"Aw, come on, this commenter has a valid point," my friend teased, pointing one out to me. The username was @freemadisonkate and the comment was all in shouty capitals.
MADISON KATE PUTS THE EXTRA IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL. SHE'S SO PRETTY, I HOPE ALL ALIENS LOOK LIKE HER! #BEAMMEUP #IWANNABEPROBED
It was absurd enough that I couldn't help but laugh as I handed Steele's phone back to him. "I guess we should have done a better job of hiding the spaceship. People are onto us."
"Fucking morons," Archer growled. "I'm not even remotely green or little."
The humor of the moment quickly extinguished as a doctor in full scrubs came hurrying through the doors of the surgical wing, unhooking his mask from his face. His eyes were on us, and I already knew he was coming to update us on Bree.
Dallas shot out of his seat the second he spotted the doctor, his fear rolling from his skin in palpable waves. "Is she...?" he started, licking his lips to wet them, then trying again. "Is Bree okay?"
The doctor's face was serious, but his small nod was enough. Dallas dropped back into his seat like a puppet with his strings cut, his breath whooshing out of him in relief.
"She's in serious condition, still," the doctor advised, "but she's stable. We’re optimistic."
My pulse thundered in my ears, and a small amount of the tightness in my chest loosened. Still, fresh tears rolled down my face from the sheer staggering emotions talking to Bree's doctor had resurfaced.
Archer scooped me up in gentle arms and lifted me into his lap. His arms linked around my waist as I cuddled into his huge frame, and he murmured soothing nothings in my ear as the doctor continued to outline Bree's injuries.
I only caught bits and pieces of what he was saying. Her leg was broken in three places and needed bolts to stabilize the bones. Her wrist had been crushed and would likely need several more surgeries in the months to come. Probably the most serious was her head injury, which had caused swelling in her brain. They'd done something to relieve the pressure and drain the fluid, the doctor said, and he seemed pleased with how it'd all gone.
The next thing he said saw me startle upright, though.
"What did you just say?" I exclaimed, positive I'd just heard him wrong.
The doctor shot me an uncertain look, then nervously cast his eyes over my guys. He seemed to know who they were and was breaking the rules of confidentiality on account of that.
"I said, the baby seems to be totally fine. It's a miracle, obviously, and she'll be required to remain in the hospital for the duration of the pregnancy so we can monitor the fetal growth closely. But all signs seem positive so far." He reached out and patted Dallas's shoulder in a comforting way, but my friend seemed totally shell-shocked. Stunned.
"She's recovering from the anesthesia now," the doctor continued when he realized Dallas wasn't going to say anything, "so it'll be some time before any of you can see her. Would you like us to call you when it's okay?"
This seemed to shake Dallas out of his trance. "What? No. No, we'll wait here. I mean—" He shot a quick look at me and the guys. "I mean I'll wait here. I'm not leaving."
"We'll all wait," I said firmly, meeting Dallas's panic-filled gaze. "Thank you, doctor. Please let us know as soon as Dallas can go in."
The doctor nodded, assuring us that he would, then left.
"Did you know?" My friend asked me in a broken voice, his eyes accusing.
I shook my head firmly, grateful that my painkillers allowed me that gesture. "I had no clue. None. I can't believe—"
"I'm gonna be a dad," Dallas whispered in total shock.
My best friend's baby almost died today.
Guilt flooded every inch of my body, choking me and rolling my stomach sharply. I scrambled out of Archer's arms abruptly and raced in the direction of the ladies’ room.
Bree had almost died.
Her baby had almost died.
I needed to find out who was behind that attack and make them pay.
45
Kody followed me into the ladies’ room not a minute later, sitting with me on the cold tiled floor as my body trembled and my stomach rolled. I never had been a big vomiter, even when I was sure I would. So eventually I had to accept the fact that I couldn't expel my guilt so easily.
I crawled into his lap as he leaned against the wall and let him wrap me in his comforting warmth for a while.
"We'll get them, babe," he whispered as he stroked his fingers through my tangled hair, gently working the knots out as he found them. "None of those bastards today walked away, but until we find the money behind the hit..."
"They'll keep coming," I finished, already knowing this. "Archer thinks it's one of my relatives on my mom's side." I sat up slightly, peering at him with a small frown. "Are we looking into that more?"
Kody jerked a nod. "Absolutely. And I agree with him... but they're not easy people to find. Even before Arch erased your mom's paper trail, they'd muddied the waters already. When we get home, I'll get Archer to run through all the info we have. There's not much, but maybe you'll spot something we've missed."
I sighed. He probably had a good point; sitting on the restroom floor wasn't the ideal place to start combing through all the clues on who might be trying to assassinate me.
Guilt was still clogging my arteries, but I knew that wouldn't change any time soon. Not until we could hold someone responsible for what'd happened to Bree.
Someone in addition to me, that was. Because if not for me being in her car, this whole day would have ended differently. Maybe Bree and her baby would have been sitting at Grill King, Bree wondering why we’d never showed. And maybe Kody would be the one in a hospital bed.
Ugh. That just made me feel even worse.
I scrambled out of his lap and stood up with a small groan. The aching stiffness was returning to my limbs, and I peered in the mirror. Lifting my shirt, I saw what the doctor had been probing earlier. Mottled purple, black, and blue bruising colored my flesh in a thick line from hip to hip and in a diagonal from my right shoulder, between my breasts, and down to my left hip. No wonder I needed stronger painkillers.