Expecting to feel the cat’s jaws and claws tearing into her legs at any second, she let out a cry of relief when Ben reached down, grasped her arm, and yanked as she continued to climb. Then someone else grasped the waistband of her pants and the two hauled her up the rest of the way, while another shot fired out.
“Don’t shoot him,” she yelled, rolling onto her butt. She made to stand, but Ben set a restraining hand on her shoulder.
“Relax. He’s not. It’s just another warning shot.”
She released a breath and slump onto her back on the ground. That’s when she first noticed the pain in her shoulder.
“Just lie still while we check you out,” he said, looking all imposing standing over her in his ACUs and stern green gaze.
She sat up again and glanced around. “Where’s Tyler?”
“I’m right here,” the little boy said, throwing himself at her and holding tight. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
She drew back and smiled. “And I’m glad you’re okay, too.”
He glanced down at his hands. “I’m sorry. I know I wasn’t supposed to be up here alone, but I waited all week to hike with my dad. All week! And when I came home today and he wasn’t here, I went myself.”
She brushed a tuft of hair off his forehead. “Your dad had to work.”
“But he’s always working,” he whined. “This was supposed to be our time.”
“I know. It’s tough. My mom worked two jobs when I was growing up. I didn’t see her a lot, either. And it was just the two of us, too.”
He shook his head and slouched. “It’s not fair.”
“I know that, too.” She pulled him close for another hug. “But when I got older, I realized why my mom was always working. It was for me. So I had a roof over my head, clothes to wear, the video game I played until my eyes were beet red.”
He drew back and smiled. “I do that, too.”
She returned his smile. “Your dad works so hard because he loves you, Tyler. Trust me. He’d love nothing more than to spend his free time with you. He told me that.”
Numerous times.
“He did?” His big brown eyes grew wide.
“Yep.” She nodded and glanced up to meet Ben’s troubled gaze. “Sometimes grownups are forced to work extra that they hadn’t planned.”
His uncle knelt down and set a hand on Tyler’s shoulder. “Your dad wanted to hike with you today, but he had to fill in for Uncle Keiffer.”
“Is he sick again?” The little boy’s brows rose. “He’s been sick a lot lately.”
A shaft of pain skittered through the man’s gaze, then disappeared. “I know, buddy.”
She squeezed Tyler’s hand. “So you see? Your dad wanted to take you on a hike. Next time, wait for him. Okay?”
“Okay.” His little mouth quivered again. “He’s going to be so mad at me. And I just wanted to make him proud.”
“But you do make him proud,” she said automatically. “And every time you listen to him, it makes him even prouder.”
“It does?”
“You bet,” Ben answered, rustling the boy’s hair. “Now, it’s time we let the workers do their jobs and check you both out.”
After Tyler went with one of the patrollers and sat on a fallen log, Phoebe waved the other worker away. “I’m fine. Just worry about Tyler.” Her gaze stayed on the little boy while she spoke to Ben. “I checked him over quick for broken bones, I didn’t notice any. But he is bleeding.”
“So are you.” He got in her face, looking all stern and foreboding. “Your shoulder is bleeding, Phoebe.”
“That explains why it hurts.” As her adrenaline faded, she started to shake, and the throbbing became more insistent.
Someone handed him a blanket, and he wrapped it around her. “It’s just shock. You’ll be okay.”
Good to know.
She wondered briefly if a blanket would work on Niles when he found out she got hurt. No, not when…if…because she wasn’t going to tell him. Ever.
“You need to be checked out, too,” Ben insisted.
She stared him down. “Does that mean my name will show up on paperwork?”
“It’s standard procedure,” he replied. “You were hurt on resort property. They have to be filled out for insurance purposes.”
Dammit.
“Can’t we just say an anonymous stranger? I mean, I’m not even a registered guest here.”
He shook his head. “No. Sorry, we can’t.”
She sighed, then stood, letting the blanket fall at her feet as she adjusted her shirt and brushed away a piece of leaf. “Then, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go. I’m not signing anything.” And with that, she grabbed her strap and her purse, then made her way back to the trail on shaky legs.
“Phoebe. Wait.”
She heard Ben curse and the crackling of brush and heavy footfalls as he apparently rushed behind.
Strong fingers clamped around her arm. “Would you wait?” he said again, bringing her to a halt.
She gasped as a sharp pain radiated up and down her sore shoulder.
“Sorry.” He released her and frowned down. “But, see? You’re hurt.”
Riding out the pain, she slowly exhaled. “I have Band-Aids at home.”
He yanked off his hat with one hand and thrust the other through his short hair, muttering something about stubborn women. “Look, all right. Fine. I’ll keep your name off the reports. Just please let the guys look at you or my brother will kill me, and then Lea will massacre what’s left.”
Her lips twitched at the thought of the big army dude in front of her being more afraid of his fiancée than his broad brother. “Okay. Fine. As long as my name stays out of the reports. I can’t afford for it to hit the papers. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be difficult, but you know what I have to deal with.”
The local papers already did two articles about her because of the show, and that was great, but she didn’t want to give them a reason to do a third.
He nodded as he shoved the hat back on his head and waved his men over. “I do. And it sucks that you can’t even be treated for an injury without worrying about it hitting the news.”
“It’s more than that, though,” she said, letting the men lead her to a nearby rock to sit down and begin their exam. “It’s not me I’m worried about this time. It’s Tyler. They’d hound him, Ben, mercilessly, and I refuse to let that happen.”
Surprise lifted his brow, and while he stared at her, some sort of conclusion or resolution passed through his eyes. She had no idea what it all meant, nor did she care, because her body was starting to really ache. That hot bath and Doctor Who marathon couldn’t happen soon enough.
Ten minutes later, she headed back down the trail with her shoulder bandaged, following Ben with a giggling Tyler on his back. She’d refused the same offer from one of the staff. Not that she doubted the burly man’s ability to cover the distance with her added weight; she was too sore to play piggy to his back.
When she stepped off the trail and into the clearing, she groaned at the sight of a police cruiser and ambulance.
Dammit.
Ben twisted around and shook his head at her. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t call them.”
“I did,” Dennis Wyne said, walking toward them with the officer and paramedic.
Correction, hottie officer and hottie paramedic. Tall, dark, and broad. One with piercing blue eyes, the other with green.
“Tyler, what in the world happened?” his grandfather asked, squatting to look the boy in the eyes. “You told me you were going to the bathroom.”
“Sorry, Grandpa.” The little boy’s lip jutted out yet again. “I did, then went out the door.”
Mr. Wyne pulled him in for a hug and closed his eyes. “Don’t ever do that again, you hear?”
“I won’t, Grandpa. Promise.”
“Not only did you have me worried, but you tampered with trust.” Mr. Wyne drew back to hold the boy’s gaze. “And that’s s
omething that’s hard to put right. Do you understand?”
Tyler nodded, tears creating dirty streaks down his little cheeks.
Just then, Keiffer came rushing out of the resort then stopped dead, his gaze glued to the flashing lights, while his pale face turned ashen.
Ben muttered a curse. “Come on, guys. Help me get him back inside.” He and the two patrol men rushed to his brother, appearing to try to use their bodies to block out the ambulance and cruiser.
Now her chest hurt on top of her aching shoulder.
“Ma’am, what’s your name. Can you tell us what happened?” the handsome cop with MERCER on his name tag stared at her with his keen blue gaze.
Thank God he wasn’t a Broadway fan because he didn’t recognize her.
“I’d rather not say,” she replied, making to walk around him, only to be stopped by the hot paramedic with HOLDEN on the tag on his broad chest.
“So, I’m guessing you have no idea how you hurt your shoulder.” Holden nodded to the bandaged area.
She shrugged her good shoulder. “How’d that get there?”
“Come on, ma’am. What’s going on?” Officer Mercer flipped open his notepad and stared expectantly at her, his blue eyes rimmed with such dark lashes they appeared lined.
She knew many makeup artists who had to work magic to do that to a performer.
“Mr. Wyne called to report his grandson had wandered off unchaperoned, then you both come out of the woods looking like you fought with a bear.”
“Mountain lion,” Tyler corrected, choosing that moment to step close and grab her hand.
The paramedic grumbled under his breath. “Did he hurt you, Tyler? Ma’am?”
“No.” She shook her head. “We just had a disagreement with the ledge.”
Amusement flickered through his green gaze. “Please, let me have a look at you both,” he said, motioning toward the ambulance where another paramedic waited.
She released Tyler’s hand. “You go ahead, hun. Let them check you out.”
“Yes, let Scott check you out,” his grandfather said, coming up behind them.
“Cool.” He smiled, running toward the ambulance ahead of the paramedic and his grandfather.
Once the little boy was out of earshot, she turned to the cop. “Listen, you can talk to Ben. He will tell you everything. I need to keep my name out of reports, especially police reports. So, you don’t see me. I am not hurt. I was never here.”
“Except, I do. You are, and you are,” Officer Mercer stated, still treating her to that same unwavering, stern blue gaze.
She smiled, finding his response funny. Or maybe pain was making her delirious. One of the two. Maybe both. “I understand you’re just doing your job, and I want to continue to do mine. I’m a friend of Ben’s fiancée.”
“Lea.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I’m her neighbor in New York. I’m an actress, and if my name shows up on any police reports or hospital logs you know the press will pick it up. This is not about me. It’s about that little boy over there.” She pointed to Tyler, smiling at something apparently Scott said. “They will swarm down like hornets on him. So, I’ll say this again. I am not here. I cannot talk to you in official capacity.”
He nodded, flipped his notebook closed, then shoved it back into his shirt pocket. “What happened unofficially, Lea’s actress neighbor from New York?”
Her lips twitched and she relaxed as she recounted the events of the past hour. Felt more like seven, but who was counting. By the time she finished, hottie Holden had re-examined, treated and bandaged Tyler’s arm, and Mr. Wyne was signing some kind of paperwork attached to a clipboard.
“If you have more questions, please ask Ben. He was there for most of it. I’ve got to go,” she said, hoping to escape before the paramedic tried to treat her, too.
“Miss Weston.” Holden stepped in front of her before she made it to the sidewalk. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Damn. Apparently, he’d been to Broadway.
His lips quirked into a lop-sided grin. “Yes, I know who you are. My grandmother’s a big fan. Every year, I take her to a show for her birthday.”
“Aw, that’s sweet.”
He shook his head. “Not going to work, Ms. Weston. It’s your turn to get checked out.”
“I’m not here, remember?”
He smiled, his green eyes appearing not quite as amused. “But that bandaged shoulder of yours is here. What do you say I have a look?”
“Thanks, but there’s no need,” she replied. “I’m heading to see the doctor now.”
His gaze narrowed. “Doctor who?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say yes, but she recovered just in time. “Capaldi.”
She held her breath, hoping he didn’t catch on.
Holden cocked his head. “I don’t know him. Is he from out of town?”
She clenched her jaw for a few seconds in an attempt to keep from laughing, but couldn’t stop the grin. “Yes.” More like out of this world. “So, I’d better get going.”
This time, she did make it to the sidewalk, but Tyler called her name. She turned and watched him run to her.
“You’re not leaving, are you?”
“Yes, hun. I have to go. I have…an appointment.” With two pain pills.
“I was hoping you’d be with me when my dad got back from his hike.” He drew in a ragged breath, eyes filling with tears. “He’s going to be so mad at me.”
And me.
She wasn’t supposed to go anywhere near Tyler, and now, when the boy looked at her, he had hero-worship written all over his face.
Ethan was going to kill her.
She knelt down, careful not to cringe under the keen gazes of Mr. Wyne, hottie cop and hottie paramedic. “Your dad loves you very much, Tyler. And you’re right, he will be mad, but it’s not only because you snuck out, it’s because of all the bad things that could’ve happened to you. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” He nodded, tears rolling down his flushed cheeks again. “I just wanted him to be proud.”
The little guy was breaking her heart. She pulled him close and hugged him tight, ignoring the burning pain in her shoulder. After a minute, she slowly drew back and wiped his tears with her the bottom of her shirt. “You know what will make your dad really proud?”
“What?”
“Taking responsibility for what you did. Admitting you made a mistake. Dads love that.” She winked.
“Really?”
“Yep.” She set her hands on his shoulders and squeezed. “Besides, it’s kind of a ninja Jedi code.”
“Okay.”
She leaned in to kiss his warm cheek. “I’m proud of you, Tyler.” Her heart squeezed tight for the cutie as she stood. “This is something you need to do on your own. You’ve got this.”
With a final nod to his grandfather, she turned and walked away. What she needed to do was run, and fast, because her heart was aching far too much for the son of her ex-lover. Maintaining a distance from the little boy worked both ways. It kept her from forming an attachment to him.
She just hoped it wasn’t already too late.
The sun was just tipping the trees, casting leafy shadows by the time Ethan returned from the hike. He said his goodbyes, bowed out of a few drink offers, and nearly had himself convinced the ominous feeling of foreboding weighing on his shoulders, pinching the nerves in his neck all damn afternoon were all in his head. Just a byproduct of worry over his brother.
After all, he kept checking his phone when he had reception and there had been no missed calls or voicemails or urgent texts. He walked around the back of the resort and through two locked gates to the private area, glad he was at least able to spend a few hours of quality time with his son to make it up to him for missing out on the hike. Maybe let his son annihilate him in a video game, or stay up a little later to watch a few innings of the Mets. Tyler’s choice.
But when he found the fire pit unlit and
vacant, that unease immediately rippled straight up his spine. And when he entered the sliding glass doors to find his father and all three of his brothers sitting around the kitchen drinking coffee with his friends, Scott and Jeremy. Their cop and paramedic uniforms gave him the impression they weren’t there on a social call.
Tyler…
His gaze scanned the kitchen then living room, and his heartbeats stumbled to a halt when he found his son sitting on the couch. The clothes he went to school in that morning were all torn and dirty. Tears stained his pale face, and a bandage covered his right arm from wrist to just above the elbow.
God, he looked so small and frightened Ethan’s heart stopped beating for the damn three-hundred-and-ninety-two hours it seemed to take to reach his son.
“Tyler, are you okay?” He dropped onto the couch and pulled his son close, not really caring about the answer at that moment.
Right now he knew three things: One, he loved his son more than life. Two, he thanked God his son was safe. And, three, he was not going to like the explanation of what happened.
When the tightness around his chest eased enough for him to draw in a breath, he sucked in a deep one, then glanced at the men in the kitchen.
Ah hell. They all wore the same damn worried expression. He was going to have to do this in stages.
Still holding his son tight, he glanced over at Scott. “What’s wrong with Tyler’s arm?”
“He has a long scratch with a few deep parts, but not deep enough to require stitches,” the paramedic replied.
His gaze drifted to Jeremy, but he wasn’t ready to hear why the police were involved. He just couldn’t fathom his son deliberately hurting someone. But he needed to know what the hell was going on.
“Who’s going to tell me what happened?”
Chapter Nine
“I am,” Tyler replied, pushing back to look him in the eyes. “It’s my fault, Dad. I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me.”
He hauled his son in close again and pressed his cheek to Tyler’s hair. “I could never hate you.”
His son nodded then pulled out of his arms to stand in front of him. “I was mad when I got home from school, and you weren’t here like you said you’d be. We were supposed to go hiking up South Ridge Trail.”
Wyne and Song Page 11
