Page 48 of No One But You
“Actually….”Maia sounded reluctant to interrupt but did so anyway.“Come to think of it, we might also need the ambulance for Bailey.You know we only have one in town.It might be best to wait.”
Nate turned to Asher.“Is it going to be more difficult for Max to recover if you take an hour or two longer to get him to hospital?”
Asher waffled his hand back and forth.“It’s not impossible, but unlikely.”
“Then I’ll leave it up to you to decide.I’ll let you know when we have her.”He backed away, scowling.“I’m getting fucking tired of kidnapping and assault in my supposedly peaceful town.”
He strode out, and Asher motioned Maia toward the door too.
“Let’s get him set up in the ambulance while we wait for news,” he said.
She nodded and hurried out.
“You good to walk outside?”Asher asked.
I took a step forward and tested the ground with one foot.“I think so, but don’t let go.”
Not only would a fall pose the risk of further injury, but it would be terrible for my ego.
“I won’t.”
True to his word, Asher helped me out of the house and boosted me into the back of the ambulance.I was reluctant to lie down because I was capable of sitting, but he insisted, and I knew that I was already treading on a thin line, so I agreed without too much fuss.
“How long do you think it will take them to find her?”I asked as Asher closed the doors and Maia started the engine.
Overhang Road went on for over fifty kilometers, and we had no idea how far along it they’d gone.
“No more than an hour.”Asher took a seat as Maia pulled onto the road and started navigating through town.“They’ll have sent someone to block off the other end of the road, and there aren’t many places they could go other than straight through.”
“They could take her into the forest,” Maia pointed out, and we both ignored her, although based on Asher’s expression, I could tell he liked that idea as little as I did.
“Is there any way we can find out for sure what’s going on?”I asked because not knowing was awful.I kept recalling Bailey’s limp body on the forest floor and imagining how it would feel to find her like that again but this time with no pulse.
My heart battered against my rib cage, and my mind protested the thought.That couldn’t be allowed to happen.Not to her.Not to my Bailey.
Asher cocked his head for a moment, then pulled his phone from his pocket.“I’ll see if there’s someone at the police station who can give us a blow-by-blow, but if it’s going to interfere with their job, we’ll just have to wait.”
“I know.”I’d rather the police rescue Bailey than indulge my anxiety, no matter how difficult it would be to live with the uncertainty.
Asher made a phone call and spoke to one person and then another.I strained my ears, but I couldn’t hear anything above the thudding of my pulse and the low, too-calm cadence of Asher’s voice.
Eventually, he said, “They’ve turned down a side road.”
“Which one?”I dreaded the answer.
He inhaled deeply, his lips pressing into a firm line.“The one that ends with a cliff.”
I closed my eyes, everything inside me screaming at what that might mean.My stomach dropped, and my fingernails pierced my palms.
“Tell me they’re right behind her.”
Asher didn’t reply.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Reason #12 why Max Braddock is husband material:
He’s stubborn and hardheaded, but in a way that flies under the radar.
