Page 52 of Untamed Heart

She pulled back, looking up at me through watery eyes. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m okay,” I attempted to reassure her, but it was like she could see right through my lie. When she unwrapped her arms from around me we both realized she had blood on her hands. A fresh wave of panic washed over me, making my head swim as I dropped to my knees and began inspecting her for any injuries.

“Where are you hurt, little star?”

“I-it’s n-not mine,” she sniffled.

At those three words, the fog of adrenaline finally wore off, and I was able to feeleverything. I reached up and touched my side, pulling my fingers back to find them red with blood.

Shit. That pain in my side wasn’t from my ribs. I’d been stabbed. At some point during our struggle, Adam had managed to pull the knife from his thigh and used it to stab me.

Black spots danced in front of my vision as my knees gave out, sinking to the ground.

“K-Kota?” Cassi cried, the fear in her voice tearing my heart to pieces.

“I’m here,” I promised her through labored breathing. “I’m right here. It’s going to be okay. But what do you say we call for help, yeah?”

She nodded her head frantically as I managed to get the cellphone out of my pocket. I didn’t know how it managed to stay in place through all that, but I’d think more on that some other time. I needed to call for help now, before I lost consciousness.

I had to get us both out of here. That was all that mattered.

I was officiallyoverhospitals. If I never had to step foot in one again, it would be too soon.

“She can’t have coffee, you dummy, she wasstabbedtwo days ago.”

At my sister’s terse voice, I pulled myself back to the present and watched as she and Roe stood toe-to-toe, amid a glare-off.

As soon as Remy found out what had happened, she jumped on the first flight from Oregon. The instant she saw me in the hospital bed, she immediately collapsed into tears and clung to me like I was her lifeline.

I was okay, really. The stab had been mostly superficial. Sure, it hurt like a motherfucker, but it hadn’t hit anything major and had only required minor surgery to repair the wound and fix the lung that had, in fact, deflated.

I was already on the mend, and despite feeling like I’d been run over by a freight train, I was going to be okay.

“It wasonestab wound, Rem,” Roe argued back. “He didn’t poke her full of holes. The coffee isn’t going to pour out ofher like a strainer, for Christ’s sake. My woman said she needs caffeine, and she’s going to get caffeine.”

Remy reared back, “Astrainer?” She huffed in affront, and I went back to tuning them out as they continued to fight. My gaze drifted through the room to my dad, who was sitting in a chair in the corner, a pair of reading glasses on his nose as he held a drowsy Cassi on his lap, letting her flip through one of her books with him.

She’d been a trooper through the whole ordeal. As it turned out, Adam had lied to get a job as a volunteer at the wilderness camp to get close enough to take Cassi when he discovered his threatening photos hadn’t worked. The fact that he’d been stalking me practically the whole time I’d been back in Ashland was more than a little terrifying. Fortunately, I didn’t have anything to worry about. As I’d suspected, he hadn’t survived that fall. I wasn’t sure what it said about me as a person, but I couldn’t find it in me to be bothered that I’d taken his life. It was his or Cassi’s, and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect that little girl.

I was set to be released from the hospital tomorrow, and Roe and I both knew that was when the real healing would begin. Especially for Cassi. She’d been struggling since the incident, nightmares of that day waking her up every night since. And on top of that, she refused to leave my side unless being physically forced by her father once she could no longer keep her eyes opened.

I was worried sick about her, but Roe assured me that everything would be fine, given time. He was such an amazing father; he’d already been in touch with a child therapist to get his little star the help she needed. Sometimes it hurt, how much I loved the two of them.

Feeling my eyes on him, those familiar sea blues came up to meet mine, and he shot me a wink.

Remy and Roe might have been driving me crazy, but Dad was in heaven, having both his girls in one place. Well, not counting the hospital room, of course. I didn’t know what was said between them, but from how they interacted, I could only assume they’d had a talk much like the one I had with Dad weeks ago, because any iciness my sister might have had toward our father when she first got here melted, and yesterday I’d seen her walk right into him for a soothing embrace.

She and Roe might have been fighting like cats and dogs over my welfare, but it wasn’t because they didn’t like each other. They fought like siblings. Like they used to when Roe and I had first gotten together. It might have sounded ridiculous, but they fought with love, and I could see the affection Remy had for him swimming in her eyes.

“For the love of God,” I finally spoke up, putting an end to their bickering. “Willsomeoneplease just give me the damn cup of coffee already? Before I lose my mind?”

Remy snatched the cup from Roe’s hand like a little brat and rushed over to hand it to me before whipping around to stick her tongue out at him.

Cassi giggled at that, the sound lighting up the entire room. Even Remy wasn’t immune to the perfection that was my girl, and in return, she smiled brightly at the little ball of light our father was holding.

“Aunt Remy, are you gonna be here for my birthday party?” she asked, having adopted Remy as family almost as soon as they met. The first time she heard it, Remy practically melted into a puddle on the floor.

“Are you kidding, string bean? I wouldn’t miss it for all the world.”