Fighting Chance (Misty Grove Book 1) (10 page)

“I’m trying to bring one in, but there was a fucking pileup on 75,” Wyatt shouted.

“I’ll deal with you later,” Trent snapped as he passed Wyatt. He was anxious to see Cassie.
 

What he saw when he stepped in the living room made him want to howl in fury. Cassie was indeed unconscious, but there were also bruises on her face and her left eye was beginning to swell shut.

Her twin was crouched in front of her, but rose to face Trent when he walked in. There was a cut on Lucas’s brow and his mouth was puffy.

Trent had to ask the unthinkable question. “Did you do this?”

“Fuck no,” Lucas growled with such vehemence, Trent believed him.

He ignored the fury that radiated from Lucas and brushed past him to get to Cassie. His hand was shaking as he brushed a stray lock from her face. She was breathing steadily, thank God.

As much as he wanted to take her in his arms, he stood aside to let the EMTs, who’d followed him into the house, work on her.

“Pulse is a 101, it’s elevated, but blood pressure is good,” the EMT said after a while. “Breathing is normal.”

Okay, the vitals are more or less fine.
Trent exhaled heavily and ran a finger over the top of his lip to steady his nerves.

“Pupils are non-reactive.” The EMT cursed and looked at Lucas. “Did she take anything? Drugs? We need to know, man.”

“Of course not!” Lucas’s eyes flashed angrily. By this time, Frank, Stratford, and Mac had entered the house.

“Lucas,” Trent gritted tightly. “Now is not the time—”

“Don’t say another word, Sheriff, because I’m this close to laying you out,” Lucas warned. Trent noted the contusions on his knuckles. His eyes swung to Cassie’s still form as a theory started forming in his head. Her knuckles were also swollen. The endurance runs, the boxing ring, Cassie’s fighting skills. Had Trent stumbled on an illegal fighting scheme?
Fuck.

“We need to get her to the hospital, ASAP,” the EMT said, standing up and motioning to his partner to bring the stretcher. “I’ll inform the ER to page the neuro-on-call. They’ll want to do blood toxicology before they put her through a CT Scan. Is there any chance she could be pregnant?”

Four pairs of eyes swung to Trent. He’d touched her only twice and never actually had sex with her for Christ’s sake.

“Not that I know,” Trent muttered. Cassie said she hadn’t had sex in a year, but there was a lot of things he didn’t know about her apparently.

The EMT smirked. And Trent wanted to bury him, except Cassie’s life depended on the guy.

When they moved her out of the house, Trent motioned to Lucas. “You. Ride with me. As next of kin and with Cassie unconscious, you’ll be making the decisions.”

He turned to his deputy. “Frank, you’re suspended effective immediately and pending an investigation. I sure hope you don’t lose your badge. As for the rest of you,” Trent glared at Stratford. “I can charge you all with reckless endangerment. You all better pray Cassie makes it through this.”

And with that ultimatum, Trent exited the house.
 

CHAPTER EIGHT

Cassie was in a coma.

Trent stared at the coffee cup he cradled between his hands. He’d been at the hospital all morning. Dr. Jenkins, the attending physician, confirmed the diagnosis to Lucas an hour ago. The cause was a mystery. After consulting with the neurosurgeon, it was determined that there was no significant brain injury that would cause her not to wake up. They did list concussion as a probable cause.
 

There was something in the toxicology report that Lucas had refused to share with Trent, leading him to believe that there was indeed illegal substance use. He had threatened to throw Lucas into lockup, but her twin knew Trent would never do that until Cassie woke up.

“Sheriff?”

Trent looked up and saw Pia. The nurse came toward him with a look of concern on her face.

“What are you doing here? Did you know anyone who was hurt from last night’s pileup?”

“What?” Shit, he needed some sleep. “No. It’s Cassie.”

“Oh? What happened?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

As if on cue, Lucas walked through the double doors coming out from the ICU after another update from Dr. Jenkins.
 

Lucas scowled when he saw Trent, his eyes slicing to Pia.

Shit, did he think he was hitting on a nurse with Cassie in a coma?

“You still here?” Lucas barked.

“And I’m staying here until you let me see your sister,” Trent replied.

Stratford had been here earlier but left an hour ago after Lucas had refused to let him see his sister as well.

“She’s in a coma, Sheriff. I don’t see how that can help you or Cassie.”

Pia gasped. “Cassie’s in a coma? Poor girl.”

Lucas’s eyes narrowed on the nurse. “You know my sister?”

“I met her at the apartments,” Pia replied. “I live two doors down from Trent.”

“How convenient,” Lucas sneered and Trent hated that Pia smiled mysteriously as if to confirm the twin’s assumption.

Dammit.

“You know I can find ways to make this difficult for you, Lucas, but I won’t because your sister needs you,” Trent said. “I have my suspicions about what’s going on, and it’s best if you—”

Lucas snorted a laugh. “You have no idea what’s going on. And you have to believe me when I say, ignorance is bliss. You do not want to follow us down our rabbit hole.”

Trent was fast losing patience. Cassie’s brother was a stubborn son of a bitch. “You wanna play hardball? Fine. But out of respect for your sister, I will give you twenty-four hours to sort your shit out and make a decision about whose side you’re on.”

“Oh, I’m on the right side—”

“With Stratford,” Trent stated sarcastically.

“Like I said, you don’t know shit,” Lucas shot back. “Colt and Matt will be back tomorrow. This whole goddamned mess will be handled. You’ll probably be hightailing it back to Dallas when we’re done with you. You don’t threaten us. Ever.”

“Seems like I just did,” Trent said in a low voice. But yes, he was backing down. For now. Lucas was clearly distraught at the thought of his sister never waking up. And they shouldn’t be having this discussion in front of Pia, who was strangely listening in avidly.
 

But Trent needed to see Cassie desperately. He needed to erase the last image he had of her lying broken on the couch.
 

Sensing that Trent was uncompromising in this, Lucas nodded. “Five minutes, Sheriff.”

She looked so frail. Nothing like the fiery hellcat he had come to know. Blackened bruises, swollen face—physically, this was not the beautiful angel he’d come to know. Mystery continued to shroud who she was, but he felt a connection to her.
 

The beep of the cardiac monitor was comforting because it assured him she was alive. At least she was breathing on her own.
 

“Wake up, Cassie,” Trent whispered, caressing her face with the back of his fingers. “We barely even started, babe.”

His eyes traveled down her sheet-covered body, but her arms were exposed. Her hands were cut up badly, and some fingers were swollen and taped together, hopefully not broken. “Why do you do this?” He touched her fingers gently, wanting to curl around them with his own.
 

“Tell me your secrets,” Trent whispered. Uncertainty swirled inside him. He tried not to think that if truths were revealed, would he still feel the same about her? It only underscored how little he knew about her.

Yet there was no doubt, she had already gotten under his skin, and no matter how he tried to hold back until there were no more secrets between them, he feared it was too late to guard his heart.

*****

The next afternoon, Trent stormed into County Hospital, ready to take on Cassie’s brother. He’d found out from Mac that she was getting discharged.
 

“What the fuck?” Trent snapped harshly when he spied Lucas at the account settlement counter.
 

Lucas spotted him, rolled his eyes, and sighed. “Not now, Sheriff.”

“You’re checking her out against medical advice,” Trent said angrily. “She’s still in a fucking coma. Tell me right now why I shouldn’t haul your ass into lockup.”

Cassie’s twin showed him a document. “Living will. We have one for each other.”

“You’re giving me no choice but to go after what happened that night.” Trent had not set loose his investigators yet, but he would derive pleasure in putting Wyatt Stratford in a tight spot. He’d already found out from his friends at the feds that the man used to run backyard, trailer-park-style fights, but he seemed to have moved up to the big boys. Trent just didn’t want the Reed twins to go down for it as well. Fuck, this whole thing was already interfering with his job as a sheriff, but his instincts were telling him to find out the facts because nothing was as it seemed.

Lucas looked past him toward the entrance and smiled widely, just as Trent felt a prickle on his scalp. He turned toward the sliding hospital doors, and just crossing the threshold were two men of distinctive presence. Both over six foot, deeply tanned and fit, judging from the bulging muscles from their chest and biceps. Both looked travel worn and grim.
 

That was where the similarity ended. Trent knew them from their files.
 

The dark-haired one with the scruffy beard was Colt Montgomery; he’d moved from Arizona from cattle ranching to horse breeding. Bullshit. Seeing him now, the man was no horse breeder.

Matthew Foster, with longish, dark blond, wavy hair, he looked like a cross between a surfer and biker. His file said he’d been in group homes just like the twins. Orphans with no background. Convenient.
 

Both men exuded predatory vibes. These men weren’t who they said they were. As they drew closer and Trent could see their eyes better, he knew these men had no problem with the kill. Trent knew because he had worked with such men before, and judging from the expression on their faces when they saw him with Lucas, they had tagged him as well.

“Sheriff,” the man named Colt Montgomery called a few paces out before he stepped in front of him, holding out his hand. “Colt Montgomery.” He nodded to the man beside him. “And this is Matt. Matthew Foster.” Colt’s lips tilted in a half grin. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

After shaking hands with Matt, Trent turned to the dark-haired man. “I did. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for a while, Mr. Montgomery.”

“Please call me Colt. I’ve been busy in Kentucky looking at new breeding stock,” Colt said smoothly. “And I apologize if I can’t chat with you right now. As you can see, we have a crisis.” Turning to Lucas. “How’s Cassie?”

“Still unresponsive,” Lucas answered shortly as the group walked toward the elevators. “She’s not on ventilators though, so at least that’s good.”

They got into the elevators. Trent moved to the back so he could observe the three men. Lucas was talking about details Trent already knew. Matt was quiet as Colt asked more questions that didn’t really touch on Cassie’s condition. When they reached the ICU floor, Lucas and Colt got off first, but Matt body-checked Trent from leaving while holding the elevator doors open with his hand. Luckily, they were the only ones left in the elevator so no one was witnessing the confrontation.

“Turn around and leave,” Matt directed. “Colt might tolerate you, but I won’t. This is our family. Our business. You need to stay out of it.”

“You haven’t seen Cassie,” Trent returned sharply. “Stratford was pussyfooting about bringing her to the hospital.”

“Cassie doesn’t need the hospital.”

What is it with these people and hospitals?
Matt put a staying hand on his chest. Trent about lost patience. “You’d best remove your hand from my person and get the fuck out of my way.”

Without waiting for an answer, he shouldered past Matt and stalked toward the nurses’ station where Lucas and Colt were talking with Pia.
Why the hell are they talking to Pia?

“But she’s been discharged,” Lucas argued with the blonde woman.

“I understand, Mr. Reed. The nurses are dressing her up in the clothes the lady brought yesterday. You can go in, in a few minutes.”

“Where’s Millie?” Colt barked. “She should have been the one handling this.”

“She brought the clothes yesterday,” Lucas said. “I wasn’t able to get the message to her in time that Cassie was getting out today.”

“It’s really ill-advised,” Pia said. “The poor girl is still in a coma.”

“Did anyone ask for your opinion?” Matt snapped.

Pia’s face turned fire-engine red. It wasn’t really her place to question a family’s decision, but Matt was out of line.

“Cool it, Foster,” Trent said quietly.

Everyone froze when a single gunshot exploded from the ICU. This was followed by shouting and another shot accompanied by metal clanging against metal.

Everyone rushed toward the ICU entrance.

Trent was right behind Lucas when they exploded through the automatic sliding doors. However, the sight before them defied reason.

An overturned gurney kept the ICU elevator doors from closing. Cassie was straddling a man on the floor and making mincemeat of his face. Another man was lying face up with a hole in his chest. Both were wearing a physician’s white coat. As Trent got closer, he recognized the man with the pectoral wound as one of Bowman’s henchmen. The other guy Cassie was pummeling without mercy was Deuce.
 

Jesus Christ.
 

Before Trent could reach her, Lucas forcefully shoved him toward Colt.

“What the fuck?” Trent growled.

“Cassie! Stop. Now!” Lucas yelled. When he was about to grab her shoulders, she twisted her torso and backhanded him.

Trent stared disbelievingly as Lucas flew into the gurney.
 

“Cassie ...” Trent was at a loss on how to approach her. Was she scared and confused when she woke up and was merely lashing out? And where did that brute strength come from? A steely arm banded around his chest, holding him back. “Don’t. She’ll kill you,” Colt hissed. “Let Lucas or Matt handle it.”