Page 130 of The Lucky Heart (Jamison Valley 3)
“Pax, what’s going on?”
He shook his head and looked back to his feet. “I fucked up.”
I wanted to press further but he was shutting down and I had to get to Lis inside. “All right. Stay put and I’ll be back in a few.”
I rushed to the doors, and the second the glass doors slid open, Felicity was in my arms. My hands traveled down her arms and up her back, searching for an injury. I pushed her away so I could inspect her face and when I saw it was unharmed, just scared, I pulled her close again. “You’re okay?”
She nodded and buried her face deeper, clinging to the sides of my shirt with all her might.
“Talk to me.”
“Derrick almost killed Khloe today.”
My whole body jerked. “What?”
She took a step back and opened her mouth to explain, but I held up a finger. “Come on.” I grabbed her hand and led her to the waiting room to sit. Three sheriff’s deputies stood outside one of the ER rooms while Jess and Milo talked to the doctor. We sat down on one of the wider seats and I tucked her into my side.
“Okay. What happened?”
She took a deep breath and started explaining, starting with Paxon’s flashback and tackling her at the cemetery, then recanting everything that happened when they’d arrived at her house.
“Derrick was a split second away from punching me. A split second. I can still see his fist coming at me.” She shuttered and burrowed closer. “But then Paxon was there. He was all over Derrick in a rage. I’ve never seen anything like it before, Silas. Two hits and Derrick was unconscious, but no matter what I said, Pax wouldn’t stop punching him. I kept hitting Pax’s back, grabbing at his arms, but he just kept pummeling Derrick’s face.”
My arm banded around her tighter when her eyes filled with more tears.
“There was so much blood,” she whispered. “It was so violent. I didn’t know what else to do so I stun-gunned Paxon. Then I called 9-1-1 and I just had to stand there, staring at all of these unconscious people.”
“You did just the right thing, Lis.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t feel like it. I should have thought of it sooner. What if Derrick doesn’t make it? What’s going to happen to Paxon if he dies? I should have done it sooner.”
“Hey,” I stopped her, “you did the right thing.”
Her blue eyes locked with mine. She was close to unraveling.
“Khloe still hasn’t woken up yet,” she said. “The other guys that attacked us are in jail. One of them threatened to sue me.”
“It’ll all be okay. We’ll get through it,” I promised. We would get through this.
Sliding one arm under her legs, I threw them over my thighs. Then I reached around her back and pulled her completely onto my lap.
“Can we stay until Khloe wakes up?” she asked.
“Of course.”
Stroking her hair, I held her close and took a few deep breaths, letting the panic from earlier subside. The hospital buzzed with activity behind us, but we just sat and held one another.
“Did you already give your statement?” I asked.
“Yeah. I was talking to Milo when you called. What were you doing in town?”
“Picking up boxes.”
I had come into town after my confrontation with Dad and gone straight to the hardware store for boxes. I’d originally planned to stay at her place tonight, but now that her place was a crime scene, I wasn’t sure where we’d go. Maybe the motel. Maybe the farmhouse with Jess and Gigi. If
she wanted to camp out in the back of my truck, that would be fine. I’d take her wherever she wanted to go as long as we were together.
“Why do you need boxes?”
