latched on to it and scrambled up into the nearest seat. She glanced back and saw Hank closing the distance. “Hurry,” she pleaded.
“Tonya!”
She glanced left, panic-stricken, but that wasn’t Hank calling her. Jake Foster sped toward her. He seemed dead set on stopping them before it was too late, but impatience to get the doors shut hurtled through her. Moments later Jake reached the back of the ambulance and tossed an object at her. She caught it in midair. A phone. “It’s Seth’s cell,” he told her. “I want to be able to call. Keep it on. Tell him I’ll clean out my truck if he needs a ride home from the hospital!” He disappeared as the doors slammed shut in his face. She shoved the phone in her back pocket and let a relieved breath escape her.
The EMT looked at her funny. She ignored him and glanced at Seth. He still looked awful and she thought he might have lapsed back into unconsciousness. Within seconds they were moving. Through the back window, she saw Hank standing still, watching them, the frown on his face shouting his displeasure.
And Tonya knew, whatever she did, she’d better not wind up within her ex’s grasp ever again.
Because this time he wouldn’t just leave her for dead—he would finish the job.
Seth stirred, then pushed himself into a sitting position on the gurney and winced as his leg throbbed. Intense anger burned through him. Two months back on the circuit and he found himself injured again. This was not how he’d planned to spend his Thursday evening.
“Hey, hey, no sitting up.” The paramedic on his left frowned at him. Seth ignored him but closed his eyes until the surge of dizziness passed. When his head stopped spinning, he opened his eyes and the EMT shrugged. “Okay, then, sit up. How do you feel?” The man bent over him, concern knitting his brow.
“Like I’ve been trampled by a bull.” He waved a hand. “I’m fine.” He gestured to his splinted leg. Someone had split the denim from hem to midthigh. “Is it broken?”
“Don’t think so, just a very nasty bruise. You’re fortunate you weren’t hurt worse.”
He grunted. “I’ll give God—and Tonya—the credit.” Fatigue swept over him. He turned his head and his gaze collided with a pair of sky blue eyes. Eyes that he’d not been able to get out of his head from their very first encounter. “Tonya? What are you doing here?”
The paramedic frowned. “You said to let her come.”
“I did?” He didn’t remember that...but okay. He lifted a brow in her direction and was intrigued at the flush that darkened her cheeks. But what really caught his attention was the haunted skittishness in her eyes. He reached out and clasped her fingers in his. “I’m glad you’re here.”
The flush deepened. From the corner of his eye he saw the EMT relax a fraction. The blood-pressure cuff tightened on his arm. “Why did I pass out? Am I bleeding anywhere?”
“No, sir. Probably passed out from the pain.”
“Right.” He remembered the pain. Vividly. “That pain wasn’t as bad as my break, though.” Close, but not quite.
“That’s a good thing.”
“Which hospital are we heading for?”
“Vanderbilt University.”
He nodded and leaned back, fighting the pain and the nausea. But he didn’t let go of Tonya’s hand. He liked the feel of her fingers in his. It helped him focus on something besides the throbbing in his leg.
When the ambulance pulled to a stop, he blinked the fog from his mind and tried to focus. They’d given him something for the pain and he felt groggy. Tonya’s worried face kept going in and out of focus.
They wheeled him into the emergency department and he lost his grip on her hand. “Tonya?”
“I’m here.” She slipped her hand back in his.
“Ma’am? You’re going to have to wait in the waiting room.”
“No.” He didn’t want her to leave, and while that shocked him, right now he didn’t care. He tightened his grip. At least, he thought he did. “Stay. Let her stay.”
They must have decided to listen to him. Tonya followed them back into the room.
* * *
She paced the floor, her gaze constantly going from a now-sleeping Seth to the small window in the door to check the hall. They’d rolled him to X-ray about thirty minutes after they’d been shown to the room and she’d been a nervous wreck until they’d returned. She slipped up to his side and covered his hand with hers. Even though he was pale and still, his strength was evident. She wanted to trace his square jaw and full lips. He had cheekbones a lot of women paid good money for. She allowed a faint smile to cross her lips. He had a good reputation in the bronc-busting world, and she had to admit every time he turned those smiling blue eyes in her direction, her knees went a little weak. She pushed a dark curl from his forehead and sighed when he didn’t stir.
The nurse had explained Seth was on some powerful painkillers. “He’ll be a bit loopy, dear,” she’d said and checked his vitals one more time.
Tonya had nodded as she tried to decide what to do. She’d thought about slipping out of the hospital and disappearing, but where would she go? Home wasn’t an option. Hank knew where she lived. He’d threatened her family once four years ago and she wouldn’t give him the opportunity to do it again. She shuddered. It hadn’t been proved, but she knew he’d been the one to run her youngest brother, Jacob, off the road and fire shots at his car. Jacob hadn’t been hit, but Hank’s point had been well made. No, she couldn’t go home. She crossed her arms and moved to the small window once again.
Hank hadn’t shown up at the hospital yet—as far as she knew—but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t. There were several possible hospitals in the city, but Vanderbilt was the best. He’d come here first. But surely he wouldn’t get past security. Right? He might come in the same entrance as she and Seth, but that was as far as he would be able to get.
Unless he faked an illness or injury.
But he’d have to wait in the waiting room. They wouldn’t bring him back immediately. She closed her eyes and dragged in a deep breath. She had to calm down. Stop her spinning thoughts.
“Tonya?”
She turned to find Seth watching her. “Hey. You’re awake.”
“You’re still here.”
She blinked. “I’m sorry... I can leave.” But being in his room felt relatively safe. More safe than the outside world right now. And she realized she wasn’t ready to leave, to give up the small measure of security she’d unexpectedly found in the hospital room.
“Leave? No, that’s not what I meant. I’m just surprised you stayed.”
“You asked me to.”
“Oh. I did?”
She
