Deadly Proposal (Hardy Brothers Security Book 4) (3 page)

“Let’s go,” Mandy whispered, breaking the kiss.

“Tell me one thing,” James said.

“What?”

“What is your bra situation?”

Mandy cocked an eyebrow suggestively. “You’re going to have to find that out on your own.”

James practically raced her to the parking lot, pulling up short when he realized they had two vehicles to consider instead of one. Mandy pulled her keys from her clutch and moved toward her Ford Focus. “I’ll meet you at home?”

She was only twenty feet from him, but the distance was already too much for James to bear. “Why don’t we ride together?”

“Because then we’ll have to come and pick up the car tomorrow,” Mandy said. “That seems like a real waste when we could have a naked Saturday.”

She had a point. Still … .

“What if I just bring you to work on Monday,” James offered. “Then we wouldn’t be wasting anything.”

Mandy was at the driver’s side door of the car, her key in the lock. She stilled. “Are you sure?”

“Honestly? I want to figure out the bra situation before we get home,” James said. “We can’t do that in separate cars.”

Mandy smiled, taking a step away from the car. “Okay. I don’t want to hear any complaints Monday morning.”

“You won’t hear a peep from me,” James promised.

Mandy started moving in James’ direction, the smile on her face small and warm. James decided he was going to solve the bra conundrum before he loaded her into his Explorer. A bright flash of light and a thunderous explosion interrupted his reverie.

As he was flying backwards, James only had a brief moment to register what was happening: Her car had exploded!

James hit the ground. Hard. His ears were ringing, the ambient sounds of the night muffled from the noise of the explosion. He shook his head, trying to force the dark edges threatening to creep into his mind away. He could not lose consciousness. Not now.

James tried to stand, but his legs were wobbly. After trying – and failing – a second time, he resigned himself to crawling. The wreckage of Mandy’s car was scattered, leaving the two vehicles parked on either side mangled.

James scanned the ground, looking for any sign of his beloved blonde. His gaze finally fell on a shiny piece of a fabric. He recognized it as her purse, and nudged himself in that direction. The purse was charred on one end; meaning fire had actually touched it.

James fought the urge to panic. She had to be here somewhere.

That’s when he saw her. Well, he saw a mass of blonde hair, to be exact. James ignored the broken glass and hot metal in his path as he crawled the five feet that separated them.

She was lying prone on the ground, blood soaking into the blonde locks he loved so much. Her eyes were closed, and there was a dark gash on her cheek. James moved around her, pausing before he tried to touch her. If she was dead, he would never get over it. If he lost her … .

James pulled himself together and pressed his fingers to the pulse point on her neck. He cried out in relief when he detected the faint beat of her heart. He reached underneath her, pulling her to him so he could cradle her in his lap.

It didn’t take long for emergency personnel to arrive. James was still in a weird limbo, so he slapped away the first set of hands that reached for her. That’s when another figure knelt down next to him. It was Sophie.

“James.”

He didn’t answer.

“James!”

James shifted his cloudy gaze to Sophie’s worried brown eyes.

“You have to let them help her,” Sophie said, tears running down her face. “Please.”

James loosened his grip, remaining on the ground and watching helplessly as she was loaded onto a gurney and rushed toward a waiting ambulance. “Where are they taking her?”

His voice was dull, flat. His eyes weren’t much different. Sophie was worried he was nursing a few injuries of his own.

“Will you let them look you over?”

James finally focused on Sophie. “I need to go with her. She needs me.”

“You’ll go with her,” Sophie said. “You’ll be in the ambulance right behind her.”

“She can’t be alone,” James argued, trying to get to his feet and toppling over again. “She can’t be alone.”

“They’ve already taken her, James,” Sophie said. “She’s on her way to the hospital. They’ll take care of her there.”

“I need to be with her.”

“You’re going to be with her,” Sophie said. “I promise.” She glanced over at the paramedic who was inching closer to James. “Be careful. He’s in shock or something. His eyes are unclear and he seems confused.”

“If he was close to that explosion, it’s a miracle he’s even alive,” the paramedic replied. “I’m sure his bell is rung.”

A glance at the still burning shell of the car told Sophie the paramedic was right. “Just be careful with him.”

“You know him?”

“We’re family.”

GRADY
and Finn pushed their way into Mercy East hospital at a run. Sophie’s call had been hard to understand at first, sirens drowning out her first attempt to relate the evening’s events.

When he finally grasped what she was saying, Grady snapped into action. It had only taken the brothers eight minutes to make a twenty-minute drive across town. Now they were on a hunt to find their brother. It didn’t take long.

“I want to see her now!”

Grady bypassed the scared-looking receptionist at the front desk and moved toward the voice. He found his brother standing in the middle of the lobby, hands on hips, arguing with two men in scrubs as they tried to restrain him.

“Sir, Ms. Avery’s injuries are severe,” one of the men said. “She’s being treated in the ER right now. We can’t have you in there.”

“I don’t care what you want,” James seethed. “She needs me, and I need to be with her.”

“Sir … .”

Grady put a tentative hand on James’ shoulder, causing his brother to swivel to see who would dare touch him. He let out a sigh when he saw Grady. “Tell these assholes that I need to be with her.”

Grady glanced at the two men. He wasn’t sure if they were nurses or doctors, but he understood the worried glances they were exchanging. James was coming across as deranged.

“James, have you been checked out?”

“I’m fine.”

Given the ashen color of his features, and the three layers of grime hiding potential injuries, Grady had his doubts. “You need to be checked out … and cleaned up.”

“Mandy was right there when the car exploded,” James said. “She was closer. I’m fine.”

“We need to make sure of that,” Finn interjected. “We need you to be at your best. She’s going to need you at your best.”

James shook his head. “I need to see her now.” His voice broke as tears spilled from his eyes. “I can’t … I can’t do this. I can’t lose her.”

“I know,” Finn said. “We can’t lose you either. So, you’re going to let these nice men check you out, and then we’re all going to sit here and wait. You can’t save her from this. We have to let them do their jobs.”

“What if it was Emma?” James pressed.

“If it was Emma, I would like to think I would know my limitations,” Finn said. “I’m not a doctor, and neither are you. What Mandy needs right now is a doctor. What she’s going to need when they’re done is you.”

James pushed the heel of his hand against his forehead, still fighting the logic behind Finn’s words. “But … .”

“But nothing,” Grady said firmly. “You’re going to be checked out, and Finn is going to go with you. I’m going to stay right here. The minute they update me on Mandy’s condition, I’ll find you.”

James’ eyes were red, the mixture of smoke and tears making them burn. “You’re going to wait right here?”

“I’m going to wait right here,” Grady promised. “I won’t leave this spot.”

James finally acquiesced, letting Finn and the two men lead him down the hallway and toward an examination room. Once he was sure that James was being taken care of, Grady let the worry he’d been fighting off get a foothold.

If Mandy died, his brother would join her. It might not be physically, but it would certainly be emotionally. He would never recover from this.

Even with that realization, Grady couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the situation. The mere idea that he might never see Mandy again, hear her snarky mouth, listen to her infectious laughter … it was too much to fathom.

He sank into one of the lobby chairs, dropping his head into his hands. This couldn’t be happening.
Why was this happening?
Everyone had just gotten to a place where they were truly happy. How could one night shatter an entire family?

Grady stirred when he felt a hand on his shoulder, finding Sophie’s concerned face looking down at him when he glanced up.

“Is she … ?”

Grady shook his head, pulling Sophie down onto his lap and sinking into her warmth. She wasn’t big on public displays of affection, but he was beyond caring. He needed her right now. He needed her strength. “We don’t know yet. They’re still working on her.”

“Where is James?”

“Finn managed to talk him into being checked out,” Grady said. “They’re doing it now.”

“Do you think he’s okay?”

Grady shrugged. “Physically or emotionally?”

“Physically,” Sophie said. “I know he’s not okay emotionally. I was the first one to get to him after the explosion.”

Grady shuddered. “Were you there?”

“No. I was inside. You couldn’t miss the sound. You know me. I thought it was a gang bombing or something. I ran out to see what was going on.”

Grady pressed his face into her chest as she wrapped an arm around his shaking shoulders. “You ran outside because you thought it was a gang bombing? Are you trying to kill me?”

“I wasn’t really thinking,” Sophie said. “I certainly wasn’t expecting to find James and Mandy out there. At first … at first I thought she was dead. He was holding her in his arms and she wasn’t moving, and he looked so lost. When I realized she was still alive, I had to talk him into letting the paramedics take her. If he was more in control of himself, I’m not sure he would have let them.”

“He seems a little scattered,” Grady admitted.

Sophie pressed her lips to Grady’s forehead. “She needs to be okay.”

Grady tightened his arms around her waist. “She will be.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because this family won’t survive if she’s not,” Grady said. “James needs her, which means we need her. She’ll pull through.”

Sophie could only hope he was right.

JAMES
couldn’t take much more of the poking and prodding. He’d allowed the two nurses to draw blood, clean up a few shallow cuts, and run a battery of small tests. He was done now.

“I’m fine.”

Finn rolled his neck, the audible crack filling the room. “Let them finish.”

“They’re finished,” James said, jumping down from the gurney. “My ears have cleared and I’m not seeing double. I don’t have a concussion. I didn’t hit my head. I have no internal injuries. I’m fine.”

Finn glanced in the direction of the nurses. “Is he?”

“As far as we can tell, he’s fine.”

“Great,” James said, striding toward the door. “I need to find my blonde.”

Finn sighed as he followed. He was worried what James would find at the end of his journey.

Sophie and Grady were sitting in the lobby when James and Finn returned. Sophie was on her feet, heading in James’ direction, before Grady could stop her. “Are you okay?”

James ignored the question. “Have you heard anything?”

Grady shook his head. “They’re still working on her.”

“They have to know something now,” James argued. “They have to.”

He turned, the receptionist at the desk in his line of sight, when Sophie stilled him with a hand on his arm. “A doctor is coming.”

James turned, meeting the weary countenance of the approaching man with a level gaze. “How is she?”

“You’re here for Ms. Avery?”

“Yes. How is she?” James’ heart rolled painfully. He didn’t want to hear an update almost as much as he needed to hear one.

“She’s stable,” the doctor said, motioning to the chairs. “Let’s sit down.”

The initial relief that washed over him when he’d heard the word “stable” quickly fled. James sat down next to Grady, not looking up as Finn sat down in the open chair on his other side.

“I’m Dr. Fitzgerald,” the man said, introducing himself with a half-hearted smile. “Ms. Avery was brought in with a variety of injuries. She has some bruised ribs, but an X-ray reveals they’re not broken. We got lucky there.

“She has a sprained wrist, and we put it in a soft cast,” he continued. “It should be fine in about ten days. There are some facial lacerations and some other cuts, including a deep one on her back. They’ve all been sewn up, and the one on her face shouldn’t leave a noticeable scar.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” James asked. “Something else is wrong with Mandy, isn’t it?”

Dr. Fitzgerald tilted his head to the side, considering. “Mandy is a very strong woman. I have no idea how she survived being so close to the blast. It was divine intervention, if you believe in that kind of thing.”

There was something else. James knew it. “Then why do you look like you’re about to yank the rug out from under me?”

“During the blast, she was struck in the head by a piece of shrapnel,” Dr. Fitzgerald said. “She definitely has a concussion. We’ve done a MRI and it came up negative – which is a good thing.”

“What’s the bad thing?” Sophie asked.

“We would have hoped that she’d regained consciousness by now,” Dr. Fitzgerald said. “She hasn’t.”

“She’ll wake up, right?” James asked.

“We’re very hopeful,” Fitzgerald replied. “The longer she remains unconscious, though, the bigger the problem that we’re faced with.”

“Meaning?”

“If Ms. Avery doesn’t wake up in the next few hours, we’re going to have some choices in front of us,” he said.

“What choices?”

“Let’s not worry about that until we have to,” the doctor said. “We still have some time. Let’s hope she wakes up on her own.”

James swallowed hard. “Can I see her?”

“Actually, I think that’s a good idea,” he said. “When you go in there, you need to talk to her. If she hears your voice, she’s more likely to want to wake up.”

James got to his feet, ignoring Finn and Grady’s worried stares as they bore into his back. “Let’s go.”

Dr. Fitzgerald led James into a private room, the lights turned low. When James glanced at the ceiling, the doctor answered his silent question. “When she wakes up, she might have an initial sensitivity to light. It’s just a precaution.”