He already had the keys out. “Yep.”
This time there were no smartass comments from the peanut gallery in back. Nothing from Eddie but a tense silence. Spence gave Elle his phone, and while he drove, she called his attorney for Morgan.
When they arrived at the hospital, they were told Archer was in surgery and were directed to a waiting room. Elle called Willa, who was better than any calling tree. She called all the others, and within the hour they’d piled into the waiting room with her. Pru and Finn, Willa and her boyfriend, Keane. Haley in her optometrist’s lab coat. Kylie, still wearing sawdust and sporting a suspicious Vinnie-sized lump in her sweatshirt pocket.
All of Archer’s guys were there too as well as Mollie.
“Didn’t expect to be back at a hospital so soon,” Joe said.
Spence’s attorney called back to let her know that Morgan’s bail hearing was set for first thing in the morning. Beyond that, he couldn’t say for sure, but he felt that it was possible she’d get off with restitution only, no additional jail time.
Elle knew and believed that Morgan wanted a clean slate more than anything, so this got her more than a little choked up and hopeful for her sister’s future. She thanked him and disconnected. “I’ve got to call Archer’s dad,” she said.
Spence sucked air in through his teeth. “Not sure if Archer would want that.”
Elle looked at everyone else.
Joe shook his head. “He’ll be pissed.”
“Super pissed,” Finn agreed.
“But it has to be done anyway, right?” Elle asked.
No one answered.
That meant the call was hers to make. Fine, she’d made tough and uncomfortable decisions all her damn life, what was one more, right? She didn’t have his number but she knew what station he’d retired from. She could at least get a message to him.
Spence did her one better and once again handed over his phone. He had Archer’s dad’s direct cell number. Elle left a message and then realized how full the waiting room was.
For a man who lived like he was an island, Archer sure as hell had a lot of people who cared deeply about him. She hoped he knew it.
“Sit, honey,” Willa said, patting a chair between her and Pru.
Christ, woman, I love you . . . Archer’s words echoed in her head. At least she hoped that’s what he’d said.
“How do you do it?” Elle asked Pru, the one of them who’d been in love the longest. “How do you handle the sheer, overwhelming emotions of it all? And then there’s the biggee—why?”
Pru smiled. “When you find someone who knows you’re not perfect but treats you as if you are anyway, someone whose biggest fear is losing you, it’s worth whatever you have to go through.” She glanced over at Finn. “And if that person is someone you can wake up in the morning with and let see you without makeup and whatever other armor you use to hide from the world . . . well, you’d best hold on tight because if you let that go, then there’s no hope for you.”
Finn pulled Pru into his arms. “Never letting go,” he murmured.
Elle’s heart took a direct hit. She didn’t want Archer to let go . . .
Two hours later, a man wearing scrubs and holding a clipboard appeared in the doorway and looked around the very full room. “Archer Hunt’s family?”
She jumped to her feet. Everyone else stood up as well and they all began to speak at once.
The doctor blinked.
Spence and Elle stepped forward, and the doctor look relieved.
“He’s out of surgery and in recovery,” he told them. “We’ll be moving him to a private room shortly and then you’ll be able to visit him a few at a time. Shattered collarbone and some soft tissue damage. He lost a lot of blood and required a transfusion, but he’s going to be okay.”
Several hours later Elle was in Archer’s darkened room with Joe. Spence had gone to get them some caffeine. They’d sent everyone else home until morning.
Through the light filtering in from the hallway, Elle could see Archer on the bed, heavily bandaged and heavily sedated. He was breathing oxygen through a tube and a saline IV drip ran into his left hand. The nurse had told her he was very busy sleeping and healing, and that the longer he stayed out the better because he wasn’t going to be feeling great when he woke up.
She sat at his side and pushed the hair from his forehead. “That was enough excitement for the rest of my life,” she murmured. “But the important thing is that you’re going to be okay.”
“Don’t feel okay. Feel like shit.” His eyes were still shut and if she hadn’t been staring right at him, she’d probably not have heard him at all. Both she and Joe leapt to their feet.
“You’re awake?” Her eyes immediately filled with tears and her throat clogged up. She’d never felt so emotional in her life as she bent over his bed and pressed her lips to his scruffy jaw.
Archer tried to raise an arm toward her but given his grimace and agonized grunt, he was caught off guard by the pain. “What. The. Fuck.”
“Stay still.” She put her hands on him. “You’ve got to stay still. You’re in the hospital. Do you remember what happened?”
Archer blinked a couple of times, probably trying to shake the cobwebs. “You almost got yourself shot.”
“Not even close because you put yourself in front of me and took the bullet yourself.”
“Because I’m not the one of us maybe carrying our baby.”
Joe stood up. “Maybe I should go . . . anywhere but here.” He gestured to the door and then practically ran through it.
Elle sank back to the chair, worn out. Clearly Archer was a little more lucid than she’d imagined possible. And since she’d gotten the proof of not being pregnant an hour ago, she could at least take that off his mind. “I’m not,” she said just as a nurse bustled into the room, beaming wide, Spence right behind her.
“Good evening!” the nurse said, all chipper. “Or shouldn’t I say good almost-morning?” She moved to the IV pump that was attached to the pole and began hitting buttons. “Nice to see you’re awake, Mr. Hunt. You’ve had a whole waiting room filled with people wondering about you all night. How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” he said, eyes still on Elle. “I want to sign myself out now.”
The nurse smiled and patted his arm. “Soon,” she said and then flashed both Spence and Elle a look that said she’d majored in handling tough patients. She placed a small clicker into Archer’s good hand. A cord ran from the clicker to the pump on the IV pole. “Press this if you feel the need for more pain medication,” she said. “Don’t worry, no matter how many times you hit it, you won’t overdose.”
“Good to know,” Archer replied, stabbing the button with his thumb repeatedly, his gaze still locked on Elle.
“I’m not pregnant,” she told him.
Spence blinked. “What?”
Archer just stared at Elle, his face all but impossible to read. “You sure?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Sure sure?”