Page 119 of The Clover Chapel (Jamison Valley 2)
She would never forgive me for this. And when she left me, it would be completely justified. The end of our relationship was my fucking fault and she had every right to divorce my stupid ass.
“Drinking already?” Dash asked, walking into the Tin Gypsy party room.
I grunted. Yeah, I was drinking already. It was only six o’clock in the morning but today I was getting plastered and passing out. Hopefully before ten.
The party room was where the Gypsies entertained their guests. It housed a fully stocked bar, and for the last four days, it had been my home.
The three-hour trip to Clifton Forge on Monday night had cooled my temper. The minute I had shut off my bike, I’d thought about climbing right back on and going home. Getting on my hands and knees while begging Emmy to forgive me.
But I had been too much of a coward. Too afraid she would say no. So I’d gone straight into the Gypsy clubhouse and had gotten drunk.
A beer was tipped to my lips when my phone rang. Digging it out, I was surprised to see Jess’s name. I had expected Emmy.
“Shit,” I muttered.
Emmy and Gigi had probably gotten together this week and now the Clearys knew all about how much of a prick I was. Jess was probably calling to ream my ass for treating her so badly.
That or something was wrong at the station. I had called a couple of my volunteers and told them I had a family emergency. They were all taking shifts covering the station until Monday.
“Brick,” I answered.
“Where the fuck are you?”
“In Clifton Forge.”
“Get home. Now,” he clipped.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Your wife was almost abducted at four o’clock this morning.”
The second the words registered in my brain, I was off the stool and my beer bottle was flying across the room. It crashed against the brick wall. Glass and foam sprayed over an old worn couch.
I wasn’t drunk but I swayed on my feet and dropped to my ass. Sitting on the concrete floor, I put my head between my knees and tried to breathe but the air wouldn’t stay in my lungs. The pressure in my chest was too tight.
In the background, I could hear Dash talking on my phone to Jess but I couldn’t make out their conversation.
The sound of my heart breaking was too loud.
Standing outside of Emmy’s hospital room, I clapped Jess on the shoulder. “I don’t know how to ever thank you.”
“No thanks needed. I’m just fucking glad it turned out this way and not worse.”
I wouldn’t let myself even think about what could have happened had Jess not saved her.
“Here,” Dash said, handing me a cup of coffee as he joined Jess, Dad and me in the hall. “She still sleeping?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
I didn’t want to be away from Emmy for too long but I had to get some answers. The one-minute update Jess had given me when I’d sprinted through the hospital doors wasn’t enough to appease all of the questions racing through my brain.
After I’d collapsed in the party room, Dash had pulled me off the floor and punched me in the face. I was going to have a shiner but I was glad he’d done it. I’d needed that hit to pull myself together.
Never in my life had I felt so scared or helpless. One phone call and my whole world had come crashing down. I’d spent years running into smoking buildings and burning forests. The fear I’d felt then paled in comparison to the terror of almost losing my Emmy.
That terror had fueled my race back to Prescott.
The three-hour trip from Clifton Forge had taken me two. My bike had never been run that hard. Dad and Dash had been right on my heels the whole way.
