Page 95 of Hearts of Fairlake

"Hold on, she's winning," Ian said, cocking his head. "Really winning."

Bri appeared at my side, gently taking Amber from my arms and even kissing me on the temple as she murmured her thanks. Sighing, I moved forward to grab Annie, not at all surprised when her swing went wild at the sudden touch. I was ready for that and caught her, pulling her back to leave the moaning Isabelle to whimper in the street.

"Feel any better?" I asked her as Ian and Bennett swooped in to cuff Isabelle.

Annie yanked out of my arm and gave a huff, swiping at her hair in a half-hearted attempt to fix it. "You know what? I do. I never thought I'd ever get to pay her back for that cheap shit."

"God, did we leave Chase unsupervised?" I asked wide-eyed and turned to make my way through the crowd, panicblossoming again. There was no telling what the stubborn idiot would do if there wasn't someone there to make sure he stayed down.

"Ow! You know, that shit is sharp, you know that, right?" I heard Chase complain.

"Chase, I've had one hell of a day, and I am not ready to deal with you being a PITA. Do you understand me? I will drug you so fucking fast right now that Devin will have to hand-feed you for three days," I heard a familiar, if particularly grouchy, voice say.

"You and Annie have the same bedside manner. I hope you know that," Chase said with a huff. "Hey, ow!"

"Ayla, don't touch things, you know better," Kyle said to his daughter as I got through the crowd. Ayla rolled her eyes as she backed up from Chase and sat in the grass. There was a bandage on her side, a bruise on her cheek, and a dark look in her eyes.

"Please tell me that was the sound of them getting her," Ayla said when she saw me.

"Umm, that was actually the sound of Annie going full MMA on her,thenthey got her in handcuffs," I said with a shake of my head.

Ayla's eyes went wide as she stared at me. “I'm sorry, did you just say that Annie...beat her?"

"Beat her is putting it kindly. I'm pretty sure it was felonious assault and arguably attempted murder," I said with a snort. "Never knew she had it in her."

"I did," Kyle, Chase, and Ayla all chimed at once, startling me with the eerie synchronicity.

"Look, I just went through a slasher film. I don't need this weird Children of the Corn thing. Alright?" I told them, resisting the urge to throw in the sign of the cross for added measure.

"Slasher film?" Chase asked, twisting his head around to glare up at me. "What the fuck is that about?"

"I'll tell you later," I told him, pointing when he made to move. "And don't you get up. I'm not hurt, Amber's not hurt, everyone who matters is fine...I think."

"I got knocked silly, and little Miss here is going with Chase to the hospital."

"Like hell, I want to see them draggingheroff, maybe throw in a lougie or three."

Faster than I would have predicted, Kyle spun around and grabbed Ayla by her wrist before she could finish getting up. "No, you're going to sit right there and wait until an ambulance arrives to get you examined. You and your pigheaded father were close to that explosion, and you lost consciousness. I have already gone through a personal hell of almost being forced to watch you and your dad get blown up right in front of me, and you are not going to add any more to my stress. Do you understand? I need you where I know you're safe...and you're probably concussed, sosit."

For a moment, I thought she was going to argue, but the angry expression faded as she sat back in the grass with a heavy sigh. I could also see the guilt stewing in her features, but I could only be glad she had chosen not to fight. It was obvious Kyle was using his job to cope with his thoughts, but that didn't mean he should be pushed any further.

"And how's your PITA?" I asked, kneeling on the grass beside Chase and taking his hand.

Kyle took a deep breath. “Well, from the looks of it, no major arteries were hit, but I can't speak for his organs. We need to get him in quickly, which is going to be fun, getting an ambulance in here with all of these people."

I sighed, squeezing Chase's hand. "I guess there goes our plans for the night."

Chase snorted. “Yeah, well. I'm not surprised. Nothing ever goes according to plan for me."

"What plan?" Ayla asked, wrinkling her nose.

"After all this noise and all these people, a certain someone who certainly doesn't have a romantic bone in his body," I said, glancing toward Chase. "Suggested we have a very late-night picnic tonight. It was going to be the perfect night for it too."

"And then crazy rolled up," Ayla said with a sigh, and I watched as she reached up and fiddled with her ear, undoubtedly turning off her hearing aid to block out the world. Kyle saw it too, and flashed me a grim smile before patting Chase's thigh.

"Bad news about your picnic, but the good news is, you're probably going to be fine and shouldn't be stuck in a hospital bed for too long."

"Oh fuck, I didn't even think about having to stay," Chase groaned. "What about the shop?"

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