An ambulance pulled up. The paramedics hooked up an IV and loaded Jeremy onto a stretcher. I saw them talking on their phones and relating Jeremy's injuries to someone on the other end.
"Where are they taking him?" I tried to push past the policeman by me.
"Pill Hill." The policeman caught my arm.
"I'm going with him." I tried to shake him loose and get to Jeremy.
The policeman held me back. "Are you related to him? His wife?"
I shook my head, hating myself for telling the truth. "His date."
"Sorry. That's not enough. You can't go with him. There's not room. Let them do their jobs. They'll take care of him. Are you up to driving? Do you have a way to get to the hospital?"
I shook my head. "My car isn't here. Our rides." I'd forgotten about the rides we'd called for. "We called for rides."
The officer gently took me by the arm. "Don't worry about that. I'll give you a ride to the hospital. We'll finish getting your statement there." He guided me toward a waiting patrol car with its lights flashing.
I strained to see them loading Jeremy into the ambulance.
The officer helped me into the seat and closed the door behind me. I was cold and shaking. In shock. But there was something I had to do.
As the police car pulled away from the curb, I called Ashley.
She picked up immediately. "Crystal. You didn't have to give me a safe arrival call. I hope you called your friend Anna. You're lucky. She's very diligent—"
"This isn't a safe arrival call. I'm on my way to the hospital." I took a deep breath. I had to concentrate to form words. "Jeremy's been shot."
There was stunned silence on her end. Crazily, the need to comfort her gave me courage. I explained, briefly, the words tumbling out, and told her where they were taking him.
"I'll meet you there," she said.
"Call his friends? His family?" I said. "Let them know." I wiped my eyes. "I'd do it myself." My voice went flat. "I don't have their numbers. I don't really even know their names."
"You bet," she said. "Hang on. We'll all be there soon."
* * *
They looked me over at the hospital and gave me something for nerves. Otherwise, I was fine. They released me. The police finished taking my statement in a private consultation room. While I was giving the officer a description, he received a call. The guy they'd taken into custody at the scene had confessed. They'd picked up his accomplices. Their friend, the guy the police had arrested at the scene, had ratted them out.
The officer gave me a brief rundown on what would happen next, and escorted me to the waiting room. "Do you have someone you can call to sit with you? I'll stay until someone arrives."
I hadn't called anyone for myself, besides Ashley. I didn't see her in the waiting room. I was surprised. I expected her to be there for Jeremy, not me. It was early Saturday morning. The lobby was fairly full, busier than one would expect for the early hour. Three men and a woman sitting in a group of chairs near reception caught my attention. Two men faced me. An auburn-haired man and a woman had their backs to me.
The two men facing me looked up as I stepped into the lobby. One was a big guy—very tall, stocky, not fat, but buff and in shape, just big. The other was well built and had the distinctive bearing of a former military guy. The military guy looked at his phone, squinted, looked at me, and showed his phone to the big guy. The big guy looked at the phone and me and nodded.
The big guy stood, saying something to the auburn-haired guy. The auburn-haired man turned in his seat to face me in unison with the woman. She was very pretty, and amazingly put together for the hour.
My mouth nearly popped open. My eyes went wide. What was Connor Reid, the famous Scottish actor who played Jamie, doing here? And then it hit as the big guy approached me—these were Jeremy's friends. The guy who looked like Connor gave them away.
The big man took a step toward me.
The woman seated next to the Connor lookalike put a hand out and stopped the big guy. "You'll scare her away, Dylan. She's had enough of a shock as it is without a big dude like you hovering over her." She stood and made her way through the aisle to me. "Crystal?"
I nodded, trying to remember her name. Trying to remember what Jeremy had called her. Wishing I'd met her before.
She extended her arms to me. "I'm Blair, Jeremy's friend." She pulled me into a hug. "It's all right. It's going to be fine." She pressed me tightly. When she released me, she smiled. "Come. Meet the gang."
She pulled me along to meet the men. The military one stood. The auburn followed.
"This redhead is my husband Austin."
He nodded. "Nice to meet you."
The military one was Cam. The big guy was Dylan. They all studied me closely.
"Sit with us." Blair sat and patted a seat next to her. "We'll be hearing something soon. I expect it will be good news."
"Trust her," Cam said. "Blair's a doctor. She has inside connections. No one will tell us a damned thing, but they sing like a canary to Blair."
She smiled. "I frequently work out of this hospital. I have friends in high places. My little birds, my canaries, say they may even release Jeremy tonight."
"Release him?" My heart pounded. "He was shot. He was bleeding. He was unconscious. I was there. It was horrible."
Cam shook his head. "Probably just a flesh wound. That's what Blair thinks."
Blair put her arm around me. "Wounds often look worse than they are. Trust me. I've done my time in emergency."
Austin shook his head and laughed. "Our hero probably passed out at the sight of his own blood. Jeremy's always been squeamish."
"I don't know," Dylan said. "He did pretty well at your wedding. Held his own in that sword fight."
"There was no' much blood, though, was there?" Austin said in a Scottish accent.
The others laughed with him.
"I would have liked to have been there tonight and taken at shot back at that bastard." Austin looked fierce.
The others agreed.
"You boys are scaring Crystal." Blair put her arm around me.
Dylan, at least, looked contrite. The others, not so much.
Cam just laughed. "If she's going to hang with Jeremy, she'd better get used to us."
Blair sighed and whispered to me, "I'm in the process of taming and training them. Progress, however, is slow. I could use an ally."
"I'm so glad Ashley called you," I said. "I didn't have your numbers."
"Why would you?" Blair said kindly.
"Where is Ashley?" I said, looking around for her. "She didn't come?"
"She went to get coffee." Cam adjusted a bag on the seat next to him. "She thinks we need it."
I stared at them. None of them looked the tiniest bit tired. "We did wake you in the middle of the night—"
"Wake us!" Cam laughed. "It's Friday night. We were awake anyway." He pointed among them. "We were gaming with each other online."
"As usual," Dylan said. "Friday nights we don't go to bed until four or five."
"I was beating their asses, too." Austin sounded regretful.
"We're coders. We're used to all-nighters," Cam said. "We don't need no stinking coffee."
Dylan shrugged. "To be fair, we're already pretty hyped up on energy drinks."
"Which is why we don't need coffee," Austin said.
Cam nodded. "Coffee's for wimps."
I liked Jeremy's friends immediately. They were welcoming and friendly and comforting to be around.
Just then, the doors from the outside into the lobby slid open. A rush of cold air flowed in. Ashley arrived, purse slung over her shoulder, a cup of coffee in one hand, a tray of paper coffee cups in the other. When she spotted me sitting among the group, her face and posture visibly relaxed.
The men gathered around her, looking for their order, and passing the coffee around until each cup found its rightful owner.
When there was just one cup left, Cam turned to me. "How do you like you
r coffee?"
"With milk and foam. No sugar."
He nodded and held the last cup out to me. "That's black. We'll find you some creamer."
I held my hand up. "That's yours."
He pressed the coffee into my hand. "It's yours now. Drink up. I'll see if I can find some creamer."
"Don't bother." Blair took the lid off her cup. "I'll share some of my foam with her." She poured some of her foam into my cup.
They were all so kind. I took a sip of coffee and had to admit that it was comforting.
Ashley gave me a hug. "How are you holding up?"
"I've been better. It was a perfect date until…" I glanced at Blair. "Blair says he'll be all right." I shuddered. "There was so much blood."
"Trust Blair."
Ashley guided me into a seat and sat next to me. "You forgot about Anna again—no check-in."
"Oh, crap." I dug for my phone.
"Don't worry. I took care of it." Ashley took a sip of her coffee. "Still hot." She shook her head and blew into her coffee. "She wants to hear from you later." Ashley studied me. "You had a good time with Jeremy? The date didn't disappoint?"
"The best." I hesitated. "Wait—are we doing a date postmortem right here right now?"
"No." She smiled. "Just curious. I'll want all the details later."
Blair got a text. Her face lit up when she read it. "They're releasing him. He'll be out in a few minutes, just as soon as they process his paperwork." She looked around the group of expectant men. "It was just a flesh wound. As I predicted and was rumored." She put her hand on my arm. "Flesh wounds can cause a lot of blood. No internal organs damaged. The bullet just grazed him. They bandaged him up."
"But…he was hit twice," I said. "I saw it. He only fell when the second shot hit him."
Her grin was lopsided. "Yes, and apparently, that's a good story. One the emergency docs will remember for a long time. His life was apparently saved by a carbon composite coaster he had in his inside jacket pocket."
"Wait." My mouth fell open. "That commemorative coaster the brewery gave him saved his life?"
"Apparently," she said.
"Carbon composites are bulletproof?" I couldn't believe it.
Cam chimed in: "If they're thick enough. A quarter inch of some of them will do it." He grinned at me. "Almost anything will stop a bullet if it's thick enough—fifteen feet or so of water, seven to eight feet of soil. Unfortunately, neither are practical to carry around or wear as armor."
"The miracle is that the thug hit him right in the coaster," Dylan said. "Not a big target."
"Yeah, I doubt our thug was a sharpshooter. A good shot could hit…" Cam and the guys started discussing who could hit what at what distance.
I barely heard them. My thoughts were elsewhere. I just wanted Jeremy to walk through those doors so I could see for myself that he was all right. "I guess Jeremy and the brewery are even now. A life for a life. They each saved one," I muttered to myself.
Cam overheard and started laughing. He pointed at me. "She's clearly one of us."
I turned to Blair. "So Jeremy is out of the woods? He's not hurt?"
"Oh, he'll be hurting. Have you ever seen what a person wearing a bulletproof vest looks like where they've been shot?" She smiled. "I suppose not. But I have. The impact can do a great deal of bruising. He'll be very bruised and extremely sore for a while. I'm convinced the impact shocked Jeremy's system and knocked him over and out."
I paled.
Blair squeezed my arm. "He'll look terrible. But bruises heal."
I winced, but I was grateful for the explanation.
The doors from the hospital into the lobby opened. We turned to look.
Jeremy wasn't walking out—a nurse was wheeling him out in a wheelchair. Walking or wheeling, he looked good to me. My eyes filled with tears.
17
Jeremy
Crystal was waiting for me in the lobby as I was wheeled out. Hers was the face I sought, the first face I focused on, the face that stopped my heart. When she spotted me, her eyes filled with tears. She stood and smiled, lips trembling, hands trembling, and took a step toward me.
Seeing her, I couldn't stop grinning. She was beautiful, even with her sooty, smeared mascara and stained, dirty clothes. Hell, that was my blood she was wearing like a badge of honor.
Cam, Dylan, Austin, Blair, and Ashley were waiting for me too. They got to their feet. But Crystal was the main event, my all. As she ran to me, my friends held back, giving us our moment and our space. I opened my arms to her.
She bent, threw her arms around my neck, and kissed me, gently but thoroughly. "You really are alive."
"You doubted?"
"I worried." She stroked my face. "You gave me a scare."
I brushed a tear from her cheek. "Hey. Don't cry. I'm fine."
"I know you are…"
I glanced up at my nurse and hitched a thumb at him. "I would have proved it and walked out on my own power, but this one is a tyrant."
"Standard procedure," he said.
I shook my head. "I even had a macho strut all picked out and planned."
My nurse shook his head. "I'd like to see you manage that with your bruises. I'd pay good money to see it."
I laughed. "I'd have taken your money gladly, dude."
Crystal stared at me, taking me in. "You're wearing a fresh shirt and jacket."
"Yeah. Those damned police confiscated my shirt and jacket as evidence." I took Crystal's hands and squeezed them, not wanting to ever let her go. "I would have had to be wheeled out naked, but Ashley thinks of everything. She asked the guys to bring fresh clothes for me."
I was, at least, freshly scrubbed, and somewhat drugged-up and sleep-deprived, too. I hoped my eyes didn't look too dilated and creepy. I couldn't stop staring at Crystal. The last thing I needed was to scare her off with a creeper stare now.
"What do you think?" I nodded toward my shirt. "Do my friends have good taste?"
"Begging for a compliment?" She grinned. "I don't know. You'd look pretty hot bare-chested and bandaged."
"Damn that Ashley."
"At least this way you're warm," she said. "The clean shirt is a nice touch. Very thoughtful of Ashley."
"You credit her for my stylish hospital release look? You've obviously met my friends." I was suddenly nervous about that. The guys could come off a little strong to people who didn't know them.
Crystal nodded. "I have." She glanced back at them. "They're great. And I know Ashley—she leaves nothing to chance, especially fashion."
"Yeah." I nodded. "She's working hard for that bonus Lazer promised her."
Crystal took my face in her hands. "I can't believe it. I hear your commemorative coaster saved your life?"
I grinned. "Yeah. I told you that you should have stepped forward as a hero. Then you'd have one, too. Want to see it?"
* * *
Crystal
And there he was—the man I loved joking again in the face of danger. Well, maybe at the back of danger. "Later." I wiped tears of joy out of my eyes with the back of my hand.
"It's quite the souvenir now." He took my hand. "Hey, don't cry. It's over—"
"I'm sorry," I blurted.
He looked confused. "About what?"
"About hesitating. About not being there for you—"
He frowned. "You did exactly what I wanted. Do you think I wanted you to get shot? More than anything, I wanted, I needed, you to be safe. How else was I going to get another date with you?"
"I have a lot more I'm sorry about." I bit my lip, forgetting again that I'd cut it earlier in the evening. "I'm sorry I didn't realize how short time can be, how little we might have left. I'm sorry I didn't take the chance of a lifetime when you offered it." My heart hammered so loudly in my ears that I could barely hear myself think. I couldn't believe what I was thinking and about to do. "I'm sorry I turned you down."
His face lit up. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
&nbs
p; Behind me, his friends were stone silent.
I nodded. "You promised me you'd ask again."
His expression became serious. His eyes shone. He took both of my hands in his. His voice was loud and clear and unwavering as he said, "Crystal Pruitt, will you marry me?"
I nodded. "Yes." I blinked back tears. "Yes, I will marry you, Jeremy Marino. We are meant to be." I leaned down and kissed him.
The pin-drop silence broke into a roar. The guys crowded around us.
"What the hell just happened?" Dylan said.
"I think you and me have just been made the last two bachelors standing." Cam sounded amused and stunned.
Ashley was shaking her head. "I knew it." She came forward and hugged me. She hugged Jeremy. "I knew of everyone, you'd be the one to break the rules. The quiet ones always do. Congratulations."
Cam came forward with the bag that had been beside him all night. He opened it and pulled a superhero cape out, draping it over Jeremy's shoulders. "Our hero. Once again."
Jeremy laughed. "You remembered my cape, too, man? Thanks." He settled it around him.
I frowned, puzzled.
"It's his favorite cosplay costume," Blair said.
"So, engaged on the second date," Dylan said. "This beats your old man's record, if I remember right."
Jeremy glanced at me.
"I think we have to give it to you," I said. "Neither of us has been home. This is still the same date. Creative accounting aside, second date."
The guys let out a loud round of applause and hoots.
Austin congratulated him. "I always thought Cam would be next."
Jeremy laughed and pulled the coaster out of his pocket. He held it up. "And I always thought no one would ever beat your epic wedding. I mean, sword fights? Maybe no one will, but look at this." He shook the coaster and pointed to a bullet lodged in the center of it. "This has to be the most epic engagement yet."
"I can't believe the police let you keep that," I said.
"I can be persuasive." He grinned and squeezed my hand. "Crystal turned me down earlier." He pointed to the bullet. "I had to get shot to change her mind." He winked at me.
Ashley shook her head vehemently and held her hands up, waving them. "Don't any of the rest of you dare to try to top that. I want you all alive for a very long time."
Mr. Accidental Hero: Jet City Matchmaker Series: Jeremy Page 15
