Page 133 of Hurry Up And Wait

I pulled out my phone as I ran downstairs and out the door. “IKE!”

“She’s in the hospital,” he said calmly. “She’s okay, but?—”

I didn’t listen to another word he said. I ran for my truck and was on the road in less than five seconds. Horrible images filtered through my mind, all of them ending with her in a bloody heap on the ground. If this was the senator, I was going to kill him. Father or not, he was dead to me.

Why hadn’t anyone called me? Had the alarms not gone off at her house? And why the fuck hadn’t IKE contacted me as soon as he found out something was wrong? I skidded to a stop in front of the ER, then bolted from my truck, desperate to see her.

The lobby was empty aside from a few patients who were waiting to be seen. I ran to the front desk, but IKE was there a second later,jerking his head at me to follow him. He was so calm and collected, and I was losing my shit.

“How is she?”

“She’s going to be fine. She has a concussion and they’re keeping her overnight, but otherwise, she’s fine, considering.”

I grabbed him by the suit jacket and spun him around. “Considering what?” I snapped.

His eyes slowly shifted to where I held him, and then he glared at me. “Remove your hand.”

But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Not until I knew what happened. “Tell me why the fuck my girlfriend is in the hospital when you were supposed to be watching her,” I snapped.

In a flash, he grabbed my hand and twisted it back, shoving me against the wall. “Your girlfriend? Suddenly, she’s your girlfriend? I wonder what your fiancée would have to say about that.”

“I asked you to look out for her,” I hissed. “Was that too fucking hard?”

Guilt flashed in his eyes, but he quickly wiped it away and stepped back. “I thought it was your job to protect her. But I guess you were too busy fucking another woman.”

“I wasn’t fucking anyone. I was doing a job, which is over now, thankfully.”

“Just in time,” he said, his lips curling in a snarl. “I wonder if she cares that the job is over, or if it’s too little, too late?”

“I don’t give a fuck what you think happened. I was on a job. That’s it. I fucking asked you to watch her for me, and she’s in the hospital now. Tell me why the fuck that happened!”

He calmly took another step back, straightening his suit. “Her ex took Riley. She was on a date with Bowie and Shawn ran them down. Bowie’s still in surgery.”

I shoved my fingers through my hair, a little shocked Shawn took it so far. “Is Riley okay?”

“She will be. Shawn took her and used her to get Isla out of the house.”

“And you let her go,” my nostrils flared in anger.

“No, she told me she saw him outside. The fear in her eyes…I thought it was real. I left her inside while I checked it out. That’s when she ran. I had to get her tracking information from Rae, and by the time I got to the farmhouse, he lured her to…He was fucking choking her.”

My eyes filled with tears at the thought of that fucker wrapping his hands around her throat. And I wasn’t there. I was too fucking busy finishing things with the senator, and while I was gone, he made his move. He tried to fucking kill her.

“I got a shot off, hit him in the shoulder, but he fled out the back door.”

“You didn’t hunt him down?” I snapped.

“Call me crazy, but it seemed more important to make sure your girlfriend and her sister were okay. Should I have made a different choice?” he bit out.

No, he shouldn’t have. “What about evidence?”

“None. Not a single fucking thing. He called her from a burner. His voice was scrambled. And the police haven’t found a single hair to place him at the scene. He was wearing a mask. I can’t even identify him.”

“Fuck!” I spat, punching the wall, earning me a glare from a nearby nurse. The security guard was already headed toward me. He was going to throw me out if I didn’t get my shit together.

“Rae is running down leads right now.”

“And why the fuck didn’t anyone call me?” I snapped. “I should have been the first fucking call!”