Page 47 of Baby Me

Mike fired his gun over and over. Evie remained hidden until I came to gether.

“Are you sure?” sheasked.

“Trust me. Those bullets won’t reachus.”

My brother finally stopped firing. We ignored his threats as we headed back up the hill to thehouse.

“Are you just going to leave himthere?”

It was a tempting thought to do so. I was done waiting so that someone could rip my happiness away. It was time to ensure no one could ever touch itagain.

“No. We’re going to take him to the policestation.”

“We?”

“Yeah. You’ll be safer with me than on yourown.”

“Okay.”

We stepped over the broken glass on the patio and inside the family room. The place had been flipped upside down. I took in the ripped pillows, torn curtains… and two wild animals sitting by an unconscious body at the frontdoor.

“Oh, my God! Cameron!” I rushed to his side. “Evie, call 911, right now. Cameron’s phoneis—”

“I got my own.” She dialed the number, and I took Cameron’s pulse. He was breathing on his own, but his pulse was weak. I checked underneath his soaked shirt. Half of his surgical wound had been rippedopen.

“Evie, help me get him to thecouch.”

“What’s wrong with him?” sheasked.

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how he gothere.”

“Is he going to beokay?”

“I hope so.” We carried Cameron to the couch and waited for the ambulance. I held his hand and stroked his hair as Evie kept lookout by the front door. We locked the bear and the lynx in the bathroom, and I called Silvia on Evie’s phone to tell her about theanimals.

“Evie, I’m going to need you to go to the hospital withCameron.”

“Kate,but—”

“I can’t do anything for him at the moment except to ease his worry that Mike and Aaron Cortez won’t follow us any longer. I have a feeling that he came up here because he wanted to protect me. He risked his life for me, and I don’t ever want him to have to risk it again. You’re his close friend, and I trust that you’ll look out for him. I’ll come to the hospital as soon as I’m able to. Call Jax and Brook and tell them about their brother. Can you do that forme?”

“Yeah, of course Ican.”

“Okay.”

I left the house before the ambulance arrived and hiked down the hill. There I waited behind a tree to watch them wheel Cameron into the ambulance. Once Evie gave me a thumbs-up that his vitals were stable, I hiked into town to see my supplier, Gary. Leaving Cameron on his own, not knowing whether he would actually survive, was one of the most difficult decisions I’d ever made, but it was the right one. I wouldn’t let anyone baby meagain.

Chapter 12

Kate

Pullingan armed man out of a hole without being shot could be tricky unless you had the right help, which I did; and unless you knew you could outsmart a very smart son of a bitch, which I did aswell.

“What are you doing up there, Kate? Ready to give up?” Mike called out from within the trench, and I motioned for Gary and George to stay a safe distanceaway.

“I’d rather see you rot in that hole than a jail cell, but I think there’s a way we can both get out of this unscathed,” Ireplied.

“If you think you’re getting out of here alive, you’re wrong,” he calledout.

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