Breaking Shadows (Darkness Falls Book 2)

by Melissa Sinclair

  “It is. A bit. It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t suspend my rules if I find the right man. I just don’t have the time to search.” Her eyes were locked on his, trying to read him in a way he couldn’t figure out. “Anyway, I need to get going. See you around?”

  “Yeah. I mean, of course.” He turned to walk to his car before spinning around to remind her once again the message from Kara. “Don’t forget your lunch plans or Kara will blame me.”

  “How could I have forgotten? You just reminded me a few minutes ago.” She looked frustrated with herself and then shook her head and smiled, though it didn’t look genuine. “Thank you for the reminder.” As he turned to walk away, her hand caught his wrist, and he turned to look at her. “Ethan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I, um, I meant what I said.”

  “About?” he asked, genuinely confused.

  “About suspending my rules for the right guy.”

  Once Quinn was in her car and Ethan had walked away, she lifted her hands to the steering wheel. She was still shaking. What in the ever-loving-world had she been thinking? There was no way he could have misinterpreted what she had said. The fact was she wasn’t sure if she was reading his signals right or not. She wanted him to be interested in her, didn’t she? Of course, she did, even if it made things complicated. After all, she wasn’t really able to date. Although, that wasn’t really true—she was able to date. She just wasn’t in the position to commit.

  That didn’t mean that she couldn’t date him, did it? She could have fun and then move on. Who was she kidding? That wasn’t who she was. She couldn’t just give him a good time without getting invested in him, and he was the kind of guy she wanted to be invested in, but she knew he had a reputation of loving and leaving. Which would play well into having fun and running, if she were that kind of person. She really didn’t believe that he was as much a player as the rumors said, though. Sure, she wasn’t naïve. She knew the man had dated plenty of women. He looked like Alexander Skarsgård, for Pete’s sake. He could probably just gaze at a woman, and her panties would combust, fall off, or magically disappear. Or maybe just hers would.

  Lowering her head to her steering wheel, she jumped when the horn sounded. With a deep sigh, she lifted her head, started her car, and backed out of her spot. She had a little time until lunch, and she needed to run a quick errand. She had barely enough time to get that done before she had to be there. She pulled into her parking spot with a minute to spare and dashed toward the restaurant.

  “Quinn!”

  Kara’s voice from behind her had her turning around to greet her friend.

  “I’m sorry, I was running behind.”

  “Me too,” she said, and she seemed slightly out of breath.

  “Did you run here from the hospital?” Quinn asked, amused.

  “I didn’t find a parking spot like you did, so I had to park a couple blocks away. I had an appointment run late, and I was worried I would be late, so I ran the two blocks. I guess I’m a little out of shape. How embarrassing,” she said, laughing.

  “I get it. I haven’t had time to really condition myself recently, and I’m not a newlywed.” With a roll of the eyes, Kara smiled her adorable grin at her.

  “First, there is no way you are out of shape. Not when you run that many miles a week and teach martial arts to the people at the center. Second, we are hardly newlyweds anymore.”

  It was Quinn’s turn to roll her eyes at her friend.

  “Right, you sure behave like you are, though.” Kara looped her arm through Quinn’s and marched them into the restaurant.

  “Are you sure you have time to sit down? I mean, you work in the ER.”

  “I have extra staff on today. The new interns are rotating through, too. Lots of extra hands today. This group is pretty impressive. I’m hoping at least one or two decide to practice ER medicine and that they stick around. We could use them.” She attempted a smile, but it fell short.

  “That bad?”

  “Just that shorthanded. Therefore, today is a good day. And I’m hungry, so let’s eat.”

  They found a table and ordered. The conversation flowed like normal until Quinn decided to pry into that morning.

  “So, how are things with you and Mr. Hot Detective? I mean, you both seemed a little off this morning. Did you have your first marital fight?”

  With a chuckle, she shook her head and took a drink of her water, and Quinn couldn’t help but note that Kara looked like she wanted to avoid the question.

  “Kara? Seriously, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing. Caleb is just protective.”

  “Well, yeah, he has a reason to be, and you deserve some protection as long as it isn’t overbearing.”

  “No, nothing like that. He’s worried because I haven’t slept much.”

  “No offense, but you can tell. You look wrung out. Any chance you can take a vacation?”

  “Not right now, too shorthanded. Hopefully soon, though. Anyway, enough about that. Let’s talk about Ethan,” she said with a sly smile on her face.

  “What about him?” Quinn threw back at her.

  “Oh, come on. You aren’t fooling anyone. We all see the sparks flying. So, what’s going on between the two of you?”

  “Nothing, really. We’re friends. He’s your brother.”

  With a burst of laughter, the Kara she had been used to since Caleb came into the picture peeked through.

  “Well, if you are waiting for me to object, you will be waiting a while. I’m completely okay with the two of you exploring things. You’re both big kids and responsible. I’m pretty sure you can explore without jeopardizing your friendship.”

  Quinn opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, and nothing came out. The waiter brought their food, and she thanked the food gods for the timing. With single-minded attention, she focused on her food and changed the subject to the center. Which was safe territory for them both. She knew that she hadn’t pulled one over on Kara, but a subtle, yet obvious, truce had taken place, and they had both gone to their corners waiting for the next round. After all, neither seemed to want to discuss the two men for the moment. As they walked outside, Quinn took a deep breath and looked over at her best friend.

  “I feel like a walk. How about I walk you to your car?”

  “But you’re parked right there,” she said, pointing to Quinn’s car in front of the restaurant.

  “Just the same, I feel like a walk. It isn’t that far.”

  Before Kara could argue, they headed to her car. Quinn didn’t know why, but she had a weird feeling and didn’t want to leave Kara alone until she was safely in her car and on her way back to work. Call it a sixth sense, but she felt eyes on her and didn’t want Kara in the line of those eyes. She had been through far too much as it was. Judging by the sideways glances Kara was giving her, she hadn’t fooled her with the lame excuse of wanting to take a walk. They had rounded the corner to the street where Kara’s car was parked when a noise caught her attention, and with barely a second’s hesitation, Quinn had thrown Kara to the ground just as a car came careening around the corner and jumped the curb. Quinn jumped out of the way, barely avoiding being hit before the car tore off.

  8

  “Son. Of. A. Bitch. That hurt,” Quinn muttered as she rolled to her knees, swaying with pain from her dive to the pavement.

  Her left wrist and shoulder were screaming at her, and her knee was on fire. Suddenly remembering that Kara had been with her, Quinn lurched to her feet and swung around looking for her. About two feet away, Kara was on her knees and climbing to her feet. She was rubbing her hip, and her face was ghostly pale.

  “Crap. Kara, are you okay? I’m so sorry for shoving you like that!” There was a ringing in Quinn’s ears, and she was aware she was talking louder than she needed to be.

  “I’m fine. Just a little dazed. What the hell was that driver thinking coming around the corner that fast? If you didn’t have such good reflexes, he or she wo
uld have hit us both!” Kara was talking really fast while she continued to rub her hip and looking around.

  “I don’t think it was an accident.” She tried to modulate her voice, finding that where a minute ago, it had been too loud, now it was too calm because she was pretty sure that if it had been only Kara walking, the car wouldn’t have tried to hit them.

  “You don’t think…?” She paused, thought a moment, and then obviously reconsidering, she looked at Quinn with a terrified look on her face. “Quinn, you think that was on purpose, don’t you?”

  “I don’t think it was a coincidence. Gah, my wrist hurts, and my shoulder and knee are on fire.”

  “We need to get you looked at.”

  “We both need to get looked at,” she said, and she was in serious need of a place to sit. She crumpled to the ground; the pain was suddenly too much.

  “You’re right. Can you make it to my car? It’s right there.” Quinn knew the moment that Kara realized she wasn’t really in any shape to get up, not yet, at least. She crouched by her and looked her over. “You fractured your wrist, and your shoulder is already swelling. Your knee has a wicked abrasion. Did you hit your head at all?”

  “I don’t think so.” Quinn blinked several times as Kara checked her eyes, saying they were equal and reactive.

  “Shit, there is no way we can keep this quiet from Caleb and Ethan.” Kara cursed softly.

  “I seriously doubt it, not if my wrist is broken. I can pretend you weren’t with,” Quinn said. But no sooner were the words out of their mouths than they heard sirens coming. They were close and coming fast. Simultaneously, Quinn became aware of a man quickly approaching her. Without thinking, she hopped to her feet, pain be damned, taking a protective stance in front of Kara.

  “Are you two ladies all right?” The man was out of breath as he approached, holding a cell phone to his ear. “I saw the whole thing from a block away. I called 911.”

  Two things came to her mind at the same time: The man in front of her was not a threat, but rather a very elderly man who was being a Good Samaritan followed by, there was no way that Caleb and Ethan weren’t going to find out that Kara was with her. In fact, she was sure they already knew. The call had gone over the radio system, and the two men would have figured out that this was right by the restaurant they were going to for lunch. Along with the description that the man in front of her had surely given to the 911 operator, there was just no chance they hadn’t put it together or at least weren’t going to check it out to make certain.

  “Damnation!” Quinn bit out and judging by the look on Kara’s face, she had deduced the same thing. “Thank you for coming to our aid, but we’re fine. She’s a doctor, and we’re going to just head on over to her work and get checked out.”

  “Young lady, that car tried to run you down. I saw the whole thing, that wasn’t an accident. Not by a long shot.” He paused. “What? Yes, they are both responsive. The blonde says the brunette is a doctor.”

  Hellfire, the good Samaritan definitely had given them a description. The operator on the phone certainly wouldn’t have given out a description over the radio, though. Right? The sirens were close. Within a few seconds, she saw the ambulance coming down the road looking for them. Mr. Samaritan stood on the road and waved it down. Good grief, could the guy be any more helpful?

  “Yes, they’re here now. Yes. All right, thank you for responding so quickly.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Samaritan—I mean, what was your name?” Quinn managed to ask, tripping over the words as she saw the unmarked squad car that was most definitely familiar to her pull up along with another marked car.

  As it was, Quinn was going to have to explain this to the first responders. She really didn’t want to have to tell Caleb and Ethan that she had let her guard down with the most important woman in both their lives and almost got said woman killed. Drawing in a breath and sucking it up, she squared her shoulders and waited for the barrage of questions that were going to be aimed at her.

  “Samuel Cumbers.”

  “Excuse me?” Quinn asked, distracted by the two exquisite displays of male testosterone getting out of the car in front of her. One zeroed in on Kara and the other on her. Gulp. Clearly, Ethan had been tasked with reprimanding Quinn.

  “My name. It’s Samuel Cumbers.”

  “Yes, yes. Of course. Thank you, Mr. Cumbers for coming to our aid,” she babbled while shaking his hand, but her eyes never left Ethan’s.

  Except Ethan didn’t look mad; neither did Caleb. Both men looked terrified. Of course, that made sense. Kara was their sister and wife, respectively. The call on the radio must have been horrifying and then to see that it was her and not some other woman must have been a terrible shock.

  “Listen, Ethan, let me explain–” Her words were cut off when he roughly pulled her into his arms. She sucked in air as excruciating pain engulfed her, but she was overwhelmingly relieved that he wasn’t yelling at her. Suddenly, he released her, and she almost toppled over.

  “Shit, Quinn, I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. Can we get that medic over here?” he barked over his shoulder. With his shouted order, one medic ran to Kara and one to her.

  “I’m fine. Kara checked me over. No worries.”

  “The hell you are. You obviously have a fractured wrist, judging by the angle of your arm. Not to mention the bloody knee you’re sporting.” He paused and looked at Caleb who was tending to Kara, and Quinn was shocked at how scared he looked. As bad as he had when Kara had been kidnapped. “How’s she doing, bro?”

  Caleb didn’t seem to hear him; he was in a war of words with Kara. Words she was only catching parts of, but she definitely did not imagine one word that he said over and over. Baby. Sweet mother of God! It all made sense. The tired, drawn look, and how neither were really part of the conversation that morning.

  “Wait, what?” Ethan said, obviously hearing what she had heard. “What baby?”

  Kara’s head snapped toward Ethan and her, then she whispered something under her breath that sounded like an f-bomb.

  “Kara? Caleb?” Quinn asked, looking bewildered.

  Ethan didn’t know what to do. The person who he had cherished from the moment she had been brought home as a squealing baby was nearly struck down by a car, and apparently, she was pregnant. The woman who had become the center of his universe, whether she knew it or not, was standing shaking like a leaf, barely able to hold herself up and quite nearly tipping over, and now she looked even worse—the blood draining from her face.

  “Well, we, um…we weren’t ready to say anything,” Kara said, looking pointedly at Caleb.

  “You peed on four sticks. I need your cute butt in the ambulance, and I want you completely looked over. You and the baby.”

  Ethan and Quinn had moved a step closer and were completely focused on the conversation that had been happening in tandem to their own. Except Ethan had only thought Quinn had taken a step closer with him. In reality, she hadn’t. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her swaying and was reaching for her, as the medic that had stood to the side when the drama started to play out rushed forward. Ethan was faster and had his arm around her in a nanosecond.

  “Baby? I almost got you and your…your baby killed?”

  Without another word, Quinn slumped against him, the shock of the moment had hit her like a ton of bricks and, alarmingly, she began to cry. Delicate tears slid down her face. When Ethan or Kara cried, they were ugly criers. But Quinn was just gorgeous and heartbreaking. He had never seen her show an iota of weakness. Seeing it now gutted him. With an arm around her waist and her body cradled to his, he gently helped her to sit on the stretcher that the medic had brought over. Both women needed to be looked over, but from first blush, it appeared that Quinn was the more urgent of the two. However, Kara being pregnant was a game changer. With her being thrown to the ground by Quinn, according to the radio chatter, she could have harmed the baby. But that wasn’t Quinn’s fault. In fact, Quinn had prob
ably saved both of them from serious injury or worse.

  “Quinn, there’s nothing you could have done to avoid this.”

  “We both know that isn’t true, Ethan,” she said sadly, and he knew she had put together what he had, that this wasn’t an accident. That she had been targeted for helping rescue Becky Plummer.

  “You’re not responsible. Right now, I need you to go to the hospital. Without an argument.” He was quick to add the last sentence when she opened her mouth to protest. Then he stood from the crouch he had been in and walked toward Caleb, who was hovering over Kara as she was arguing about getting in the ambulance.

  “Ma’am, Dr. Montgomery, I need you to get in the ambulance so we can have you and the baby looked at properly. I’m aware that you appear to only have minor injuries, but we both know that with the fall to the pavement, you need to be looked at.”

  Kara was clearly disgusted. While she was a phenomenal physician, she was a horrible patient, but finally, she listened to reason and grumpily allowed the medic to take her vitals. Ethan took the opportunity to talk to Caleb.

  “You got her, right?” Ethan didn’t even flinch when Caleb sent him a look that could have killed a lesser person.

  “The fuck? Of course—she’s my wife.” On the last word, Caleb’s voice cracked. “And she’s carrying our child.”

  Ethan looked away when he saw the moisture pool in Caleb’s eyes. Not because he thought less of him, but because he knew that he was close to falling apart himself.

  “Listen, we both know this wasn’t an accident. I want to go with Quinn in the ambulance. She’s pretty banged up and really upset. She’s blaming herself.” That revelation got Caleb’s attention. He apparently hadn’t heard her declaration about nearly getting them killed. “But I know I’m not going to get you to separate from Kara.”

  “Not a chance,” Caleb ground out between his teeth.

  “Ease up buddy; you know how Kara gets. You’re going to piss her off, and you won’t get lucky for a month.” Caleb smiled at that thought.