by Alexa Verde
“I trust you.” He was close to her. Too close.
“You don’t get it, do you? The pull is so strong! Too strong! I think about a dose all the time. I’m like a needle drawn to a magnet the size of a mountain. You have no idea how that feels.” She had to scream to overcome the sound of the wind and the rain.
His jaw set in a stubborn line. “You’re wrong. I do.”
Emma froze.
Oh, no.
No, no, no.
Had Rodrigo started using to be closer to her, to understand her better, to remove the barrier between them? The thought was ridiculous. But it chilled her to the bone worse than the wet clothes and the rain.
Her lips trembled. “What do you mean?”
“The pull to you is so strong! Too strong. I think about you all the time. I’m like a needle drawn to a magnet the size of a mountain,” he said slowly. “I love you, Emma. I’ll love you until the last breath I take.”
For a long moment, the world went still and she felt absolutely nothing. And then all her senses became sharper. The scent of his aftershave mixed with the scent of the rainwater assaulted her nostrils. The cool drops danced on her skin. Her own reflection in his eyes, the way he’d seen her, the way she’d never seen herself, beautiful and worthy of love, made her step forward.
A riot of feelings exploded inside her. The sound of thunder echoed in the thumping of her heart. She touched his face, as if afraid he was just a hallucination, and she’d had many of those during withdrawal.
This wonderful thing couldn’t be happening to her, Emma Hughes.
Rodrigo didn’t disappear. Instead, he drew her closer and kissed her in the rain.
Emma lost herself in the incredible sensations. She seemed to dissolve into thin air in pure delight. Butterflies danced in the pit of her stomach, and joy filled her every cell.
Thunder erupted again at the same time with another strange sound.
Rodrigo slumped against her. She was still in the amazing world of sensations when she realized he wasn’t kissing her any longer but sliding to the ground.
What’s happening?
She tried to hold him up but didn’t have enough strength. Her hands found something sticky on his white shirt.
Rainwater?
No, it wasn’t the rain. A crimson stain started spreading against the pristine whiteness of his shirt.
Horror filled her veins with ice, and a scream threatened to escape her lungs. Her limbs didn’t want to move. Her eyes refused to believe that what she saw was reality.
With an effort, she scanned the parking lot. A car farther down the parking lot revved up to life and peeled out, burning rubber. She tried to distinguish the license plate numbers, but the car disappeared quickly.
Too late.
Everything inside her shook.
Keep it together, for Rodrigo’s sake.
She dropped her purse on the ground. Then she grabbed the jacket out of Rodrigo’s hands and pressed it to his wound with everything she had.
“Open your eyes. Stay with me. Please stay with me,” she repeated again and again.
She needed to call 9-1-1.
Now!
Thankfully, Joy dashed out to the parking lot, attracted either by the shot or intuition. “What’s going on?”
“Call 9-1-1. Gunshot wound. The sheriff is losing a lot of blood.” Emma didn’t recognize her own voice.
Joy, who’d been in some dangerous situations herself, didn’t miss a beat. “Got it. I’ll also see if any of our patrons is a doctor.”
Rodrigo opened his eyes, but they were unclear. “Emma...”
Emma pressed harder, praying like she’d never prayed in her life.
She didn’t know whether he’d even hear her, but she had to say this. “I love you.”
His words rang in her ears.
I love you, Emma... I’ll love you until the last breath I take.
The last breath...
Minutes ago, she’d been elated to hear those words.
Now she was terrified they’d become true.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
HOURS LATER, EMMA SLUMPED AGAINST the steering wheel of her car in the hospital parking lot. She’d driven to the neighboring McAllen, where Rodrigo had been taken for surgery. The hospital in Rios Azules was too tiny to provide the kind of care Rodrigo needed.
A shudder racked her body, though by now she was in dry clothes. Thankfully, she’d had a spare in a duffel bag in the car. It was one of the habits she’d kept since the times she’d nearly lived in her vehicle in Chicago.
The last events rushed through Emma’s mind as she stared into space.
After Rodrigo had been airlifted to McAllen, Joy had dragged Emma and the duffel bag inside the restaurant and insisted that she change. Then Joy had shoved hot tea into Emma’s shaking hands and ordered her to drink it.
Emma had driven like a maniac to McAllen, only to hear that Rodrigo had been taken to surgery. She’d spent hours inside the hospital, but finally the walls had started to close in on her, like during withdrawal.
If ever she needed her fix, this was the time.
Her heart was in shambles, even more than before.
I have a good reason to start using drugs again, don’t I?
Emma did her best to hush the small voice in her head and to stop the outcry of her body.
She pressed on the music button and for several moments listened to rock music. Then she changed CDs to one with the sounds of the ocean. But it only reminded her of Rodrigo and the last time she’d seen him.
The crimson stain on his shirt, sticky to her fingers.
The scream stuck in her throat.
The raindrops with the salty taste of tears running down her face.
Tears burned behind her eyes again, but she kept them at bay. They wouldn’t solve anything.
It was all her fault. She’d only brought grief to the people around her, even those she loved. Especially to those she loved. First to her high school sweetheart, then to her precious son. And now to the man who’d become so dear to her.
She dropped her head on her hands. Were the phone threats and the gunshot connected? But then why try to kill Rodrigo? Wasn’t she the target?
Something niggled in the corners of her mind, and she tried to grasp it. But it was elusive, slick, like a freshly caught fish, and it slipped through her fingers. Or was her mind protecting her from something?
Anyway, Rodrigo’s well-being mattered more than her own life.
A knock on the window made Emma flinch and look up. Was it the person threatening her?
Emma heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of Joy waving at her with her free hand. Joy’s other hand held a cup of coffee. A close friendship with the wife of the man you once loved was a strange thing even to Emma, who’d seen plenty of strange things in her life.
But here it was, impossible to ignore, warm and sweet like the coffee Joy was holding.
Emma rolled down the window. “Shouldn’t you be with your family now?” Namely, Emma’s son and ex-husband, but who needed such details?
“You’re my friend. Therefore, you’re part of my family, whether you agree or not. That means I’m with my family right now. Here, drink this.” Joy placed the warm paper cup in Emma’s hands.
Emma’s throat constricted. Joy was a huge blessing. That also meant that she needed to know about things that might affect her. Emma waved for her friend to get into the passenger seat as she rolled up the window.
Once Joy settled inside, Emma turned off the ocean sounds, picked up the phone from the console, found the threatening texts, and handed the phone to Joy.
Emma took several careful sips of hot, smooth coffee with her favorite hazelnut flavor and pushed them past the lump in her throat. “I don’t want to sound paranoid, but I think somebody is out to get me. As soon as I know Rodrigo is okay... If he’s...”
Joy’s eyes narrowed. “Rodrigo is going to be okay. You have to believe it.”
Emma nodded. Even if she had to stay away from him for the rest of her life, she needed to know he was all right... somewhere on this earth. “When I know he’s out of danger, I’ll need to leave Rios Azules. I have to return to Chicago. I don’t want anything to happen to you or Junior.”
Joy’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? Don’t you like being back in Rios Azules? I thought Junior mattered to you.”
The lump in Emma’s throat grew bigger. “I love it. Y’all are amazing. And it’s precisely because Junior matters to me that I need to leave.”
Joy shook her head. “You told me your so-called friends wanted you back. Maybe one of them is sending you threatening texts. That’s not a reason to leave. Though I am going to drag you to the police with all this.”
“Already done it. They traced the texts to a throwaway phone.” Emma shrugged.
“Okay. Maybe it was somebody’s sick joke.”
“Rodrigo got shot!” Emma’s hands trembled, and the coffee nearly spilled over.
“Why do you think it’s connected to you? He has a dangerous profession. He probably has a lot of enemies. Drink your coffee and stop blaming yourself for everything.”
Emma obediently took a deep sip. “Why didn’t I meet people like Rodrigo, you, Mari before...” She didn’t need to finish the sentence. She knew Joy would understand her.
“I wish that, too,” Joy whispered.
“But then, I met Dylan. It didn’t stop me.” Emma drew a shaky breath. “Anyway, I need to get inside the hospital. Maybe Rodrigo is out of surgery.” Pain knifed through her heart.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Joy studied her.
“What?”
“Praying.”
Emma nodded. She was still relatively new at this and grateful to have Joy as her guide. “Will you lead in prayer, please?”
Joy nodded. “Dear Heavenly Father, please heal Rodrigo and give him health. Please guide the surgeon and the medical personnel as they perform the surgery. Please heal the soul wounds of Emma and help her find the right path. Thank You, Lord, for all Your blessings. Amen.”
“Amen,” Emma whispered.
All she could do was pray and believe, and she prayed and prayed again.
RODRIGO’S BODY HURT as if somebody had driven over it and then come back and driven over it again. The effect of the painkillers must be wearing off. Not that he welcomed the mental numbness that came with the painkillers in the first place.
The mental fog, on the other hand, lingered. He remembered telling Emma that he loved her under the pelting rain. Water running down her face, tasting salty, like tears, when he’d kissed her. He remembered the scent of her perfume, the sound of thunder that seemed to match his heartbeat, the smooth feel of her skin under his palms when he’d tried to warm her up, the incredible feeling inside him when she’d responded to his kiss.
And then...
Rodrigo shuddered.
The pain had exploded inside him when he’d gotten shot. Emma had pressed something into his wound, obviously to prevent him from bleeding to death. And her words, the words that had kept him hanging on to consciousness when it had been slipping away...
The words that he’d longed to hear.
Everything else had been a blur.
Including who’d taken a shot at him. Rodrigo gritted his teeth. He’d made several enemies in his line of work, but he didn’t think any of them would try to kill him. Apparently, he was wrong.
The doctor came in and had a quick talk, but Rodrigo’s thoughts kept drifting to two topics.
Who’d tried to kill me and why?
And where was Emma?
“Hello, bro.” Cody, his deputy and a good friend, stepped inside, smiling, as if trying to cheer him up.
“Hello.” Rodrigo smiled in return, doing his best to keep Cody’s face in focus. He was glad to see him, he really was. But he kept looking at the door.
Emma didn’t appear.
His heart did a slow tumble. Had she decided to disappear from his life, like she’d done before?
A quick knock on the door made hope flutter inside him.
Rodrigo barely suppressed a grimace when it turned out to be a nurse to check his vital signs. The nurse left. Cody filled him in on what Rodrigo had missed at work and said that other deputies were going to visit later. There were several jokes, then the conversation turned sober when they discussed who could be behind the shooting.
A knock on the door made Rodrigo look in that direction. Was it the nurse again?
“Come in!” Rodrigo called out.
Emma’s friend, Joy, squeezed in. Rodrigo’s eyes widened. What was Joy doing here? Unless...
Joy dragged Emma inside and waved to the guys. “Hi, everyone! Glad you’re doing fine, um, better, Rodrigo.”
He wasn’t fine yet, and according to the doctor’s words, wouldn’t be for some time. But compared with bleeding out on the asphalt, he was doing much better indeed.
Rodrigo smiled at Joy but kept looking at Emma, who studied the floor. “Thank you. This is Joy McGregor, a good friend of mine and an outstanding cook. And this is Emma Hughes...” He almost finished with the woman I love when Emma looked up. Then he introduced Cody.
“I’m the reason Rodrigo got shot,” she said quietly.
Cody coughed a little. “Nice to meet you, Ms. McGregor and Ms. Hughes. I think I should go check that cafeteria down the hall.” He disappeared behind the door.
Joy nudged Emma. Considering that Joy seemed to outweigh Emma by around fifty pounds, Emma didn’t seem to have a choice but to move closer to the bed.
Joy grabbed a chair and placed it near his bed.
“Well, I’ll go check out that cafeteria, too.” Joy headed to the door. “Oh, wait. It’s closed. It’s too early for it to be open. Way to get my hopes up.” Muttering something under her breath, Joy closed the door behind her.
For several long moments, Rodrigo and Emma looked at each other. He hated for her to see him helpless, but the main thing, she was here. For how long, he didn’t know.
He drank in the sight of her, her slim figure hugged by faded jeans, her tangled blonde hair falling over her fragile shoulders. Dark circles around her eyes showed she hadn’t slept much tonight.
“You’re here.” His heart shifted in his chest.
She slumped into the chair. “Of course.”
Those words that she’d said, that she loved him... Was that an onslaught of emotions? Or did she mean them?
She moved the chair closer to the hospital bed. Her eyes sparkled. He studied her pupils as suspicion curled in the pit of his stomach. Did she...?
His gaze moved down her arms, covered by a wrinkled blue shirt, and he was too out of it to make it subtle.
Her eyes hardened, and she rolled up her sleeves to show him her veins. “Oh, please. You know as much as I do that one can give herself a shot into the veins on the legs, even under the tongue.”
Rodrigo figured an open approach was the best one. “Have you?”
“I wanted to. But no.” Her face crumpled. “You can’t die on me. Do you hear me? You just can’t. It’s okay if you’re away from me. Even far away. I can live with that.” She leaned to him and hid her face in his shoulder. Her hair smelled of her flowery perfume and coffee.
He found her hand, so small in his palm. “Emma...”
“Don’t you get it?” she mumbled into the fabric. “I have to know you exist.”
The fabric of the ugly hospital gown became moist.
She was crying.
His throat closed up from emotion. He squeezed her trembling fingers, at a loss for words.
Emma looked up, her eyes wide. “I have to know you exist.”
EMMA HELD ON TO RODRIGO’S hand, as if the moment she let it go, he’d disappear.
She’d just have several more precious minutes with him, and then she’d leave. For a day or forever, she didn’t know yet.
A knock on the door was followed by a tall man wit
h salt-and-pepper hair entering, wearing a white coat and an expensive tie. A doctor? She turned away, reached for a couple of napkins, and wiped her eyes.
After an initial hello, she didn’t pay much attention to what the doctor was saying, until...
“You’ll need care after you’re released from the hospital to make sure the wound doesn’t get infected, the bandages are changed regularly, and so on. Our staff can help set you up with home health care and physical therapy. But is there anybody to help you, as well? Perhaps a family member?”
Rodrigo shrugged. “I’m an only child. And all my friends are guys who don’t know much about changing bandages. I’ll manage, Doc.”
Emma perked up, ready to volunteer. But spending more time with Rodrigo was unwise.
Joy ventured into the room, holding a paper bag that emanated the mouthwatering scents of a hamburger and fries. Leave it to Joy to find comfort food even this early in the morning. “Oh, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
The doctor zoomed in on her. Unlike skinny, bony Emma, plump and smiling Joy was a picture of health and good will. “You’re a friend of Mr. Ybarra, correct?”
Joy stopped in her tracks, as if feeling she might be cornered into something, but not knowing what that was yet. “I am. Well, I am Emma’s friend, and Rodrigo is Emma’s friend. And I have a policy that a friend of my friend is my friend.”
Emma jumped to her feet. She had to save Joy. “I’ll help take care of Mr. Ybarra. Of course, if Joy will cover for me at the restaurant.”
“I’ll be happy to.” Joy heaved a sigh of relief as she placed the paper bag on the table. “What was I supposed to do as an alternative?”
“Make sure the wound doesn’t get filled with pus, change bandages, maybe give shots...” Emma started.
“You lost me at pus. I’ll be very happy to cover for you at the restaurant,” Joy said quickly, as if realizing she’d gotten the easier part of the bargain.
“Emma, you don’t have to do it.” Rodrigo frowned. “I’m not helpless.”
Typical man.
Emma moved closer to the doctor, figuring it would be easier to get him than Rodrigo as an ally. “I know how to change bandages. I’m familiar with wounds and signs of infection. I’m not going to faint at the sight of blood.”