Page 41 of Tyler

“Hurt me? God, Ty, it’s not me I’m worried about. It’s not me he almost killed…”

Her stomach rolled and she fought to keep from bringing up her breakfast. “I almost got you killed twice now.”

“Hey, hey. That’s not true. Get those thoughts out of your head,” he said, cupping her face. “This is all Meyers’ doing, not yours.”

“But it was me he tried to kill both times, not you. And now you’re hurt because of me. And could’ve been—”

“Piper. I’m fine,” he insisted, but God, he was awfully pale. “It’s just a couple of broken bones.”

She inhaled. “What do you mean a couple? I thought you said it was your shoulder?”

Which was bad enough, especially since it had barely finished healing since the explosion he was in last year.

“Pretty sure I can add a rib or two to that list, but I’ll be fine,” he rushed to say.

Her chest squeezed tightly at the pain she could only imagine he was in. Pain that was her fault, no matter what he said.

Rylee, Dex, Mac, and Hunter arrived right before two ambulances.

Tears were in Rylee’s eyes as she hugged her brother then her. “I’m so glad you’re both okay.”

“I’ll be better when Meyers is off the streets,” Ty muttered, giving a pointed look to Hunter. “In the meantime, keep Piper safe. Pretty sure I’ll be in the ER awhile.”

“Don’t worry,” Mac reassured. “We’ll take care of this guy. You two go to the hospital and let them do their thing.”

Piper found it interesting that Mac said “We’ll take care of this guy” instead of the sheriff will. Either way, she didn’t care, as long as Ty didn’t get hurt ever again.

Everyone moved back and allowed the paramedics to work on them. Piper answered questions while her vitals were taken, her body and mind working on automatic.

“Can’t Piper come with me?” Ty asked when they loaded him onto a gurney.

“No. Sorry. One patient per ambulance. She’s going to get her own chariot.” Tanner smiled at her. He was the same paramedic from last week, and Piper had since discovered he was also a firefighterandmarried to the sister of one of her friends from the Poconos. “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure she meets up with you.”

“Piper,” Ty said, holding out his hand.

Everyone watched as she walked over to him. She took his hand, and his fingers closed around hers. “Make sure you find me there, okay? Don’t leave without me.”

How had he known she’d been contemplating that?

She inhaled. She didn’t want to add to the anxiety manifested in the darkness of his gaze. “Okay.” She squeezed his hand. “I’ll see you there.”

That seemed to dispel some of his misgivings. He gave her hand one last squeeze before he was forced to release her so they could load him into the ambulance.

Piper arrived in herchariotonly a few minutes behind Ty. But it was several hours before she was released, and Rylee had whisked her to her brother.

Apparently, the one visitor per patient rule didn’t apply to Ty or his association with ESI and the sheriff, because half of ESI was around as was Gabe.

“We got Meyers,” he told her. “You don’t have to worry anymore.”

“Why’d he do it?” Carter asked.

The sheriff frowned. “Don’t know yet. I’ve got my guys questioning him now.”

“If that doesn’t work out, give us a call,” Mac said, his gaze serious and dark.

Gabe’s mouth quirked. “Not gonna happen, Mac. I’ll get the answers out of him.”

The tension was palpable until Rylee cleared her throat. “If you guys aren’t done, then take it outside. Ty has enough on his plate.”

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