“She doesn’t like blood,” Ben says to Mark, as if that explains it. Doesn’t take into account that someone just got shot right in front of me. Well, right in front of where I was in the truck.
I rise, wiping the back of my hand across my mouth, eyes searching Ben again just to convince myself that he’s all right after all this madness.
“Pepper, can you grab the first aid kit I have in the backseat of the truck?” Ben continues to hold his hand on Mark’s wound, trying to slow the flow of blood.
I nod and race to open the door, quickly spotting it underneath the backseat. Thank goodness for Ben’s medical training.
“Here you go.” I drop it next to Ben and open it, pulling out whatever he tells me as I watch him dress and bandage the wound.
“Come on. Help me get him in the truck,” Ben says, moving to hook an arm under his neck and raising him to sit. “We will get you to the hospital, so they can clean it out better.”
“No. No hospitals,” Mark says, pushing himself up with his good arm. “Just take me to Ezra’s house.”
“Why Ezra?” I say, wrinkling my nose.
“His wife, Hanna, is a nurse.” Ben looks back at Mark and shakes his head. “I’m not taking you there. This is being looked at by a doctor at the hospital, and then you and I are going to have a long talk.”
I help Ben get Mark into the back of the truck, and once I’m sitting in the front seat, I breathe out a long sigh.
“Do you think they’re watching us?” I ask, the fear lodged in the pit of my belly. I didn’t think it would come to this, and now that it has, I’m scared because we filled out the paperwork on the money.
“Probably. But we’ll let Mark talk to the fire and police department,” Ben says, looking over his shoulder to punctuate his sentence. “Then, let them take it from there.”
Mark groans, and I nod as Ben starts the truck up. We head back into the city toward the hospital.
“I love you,” Ben says, glancing at me, and I let go of my fear for a second to smile at him.
“I love you too,” I say, reaching over to grasp his hand in mine, linking our fingers together, and giving a tight squeeze.
Once we make it to the hospital, I finally feel like I can relax. I don’t feel like the big, bad guys will storm into a hospital in the middle of the day, so I sink into a waiting room chair and let myself not think about anything that just happened.
This day didn’t go as expected, and I’m not thrilled with how it turned out, but I can say that I hope I never have to go through anything like this again.
“Hey you,” Ben says, sitting down, drawing me to him, and I lay my head on his shoulder.
He went to call his fire chief and the police to let them know what was going on and where they could find Mark. I had been against it at first, knowing what the guys had said. But after thinking about it, I know this is entirely out of our league. We can’t go head-to-head against the Mafia—or whoever they were—another time.
“Hey,” I murmur, my hand reaching up to clasp his. “About today, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.”
I look up, meeting his eyes. He leans over and plants a soft kiss on my head as he shakes his own.
“It’s over. Let’s not look at the past anymore,” he says, and I nod.
“Do you want me to talk to Mark about the rehab program?” I ask, watching Ben’s face as he considers it.
“Why don’t we do it together?”
I nod and lay my head back on his shoulder. We stay like that until the doctor comes out to talk to us, letting us know it was indeed just a flesh wound and that we can go in and see Mark.
He looks up as we walk in, a frown on his face. His shoulder is completely bandaged, and he’s leaning over a little on his good side.
“How are you feeling?” Ben asks, sitting on the side of the bed while I take the chair.
“Like I got shot,” Mark says, his mouth tilting up in a small smile.
“What was that out there? What’s going on with you?” Ben asks, getting right to the point.
“I got in too deep,” Mark says.
I put my hand on Ben’s knee, squeezing a little at the stormy look on his face.
“Yeah, we know that. Want to tell me about the fire? Who was that with you?”
“Pete. I haven’t seen him since. I want to punch him in the face for what he did.”
“Yeah, I’d say he’s not a great friend. Is he the one who hurt you?”
Mark shakes his head, pausing for a moment as his eyes flick to the window. He looks like he wishes he could run from this conversation.
“I notified the fire and police department that you’re here, so either you can tell me or tell them once they arrive.”
The blood drains from Mark’s face, and he narrows his eyes on Ben.
“Why would you do that? You’re going to get me killed.”
“Oh, like you’ve been doing so great on your own,” Ben retorts, and I squeeze his knee again.
“Fine, Pete is—was—my bookie. He placed the bets for me. The first time I met those guys was before the apartment went up in flames. I can’t prove it was them, but it was.” Mark reaches up to rub his face, his features contorting in pain when it jostles his shoulder a little. “Turns out, he was skimming off the top, taking more of my money than he should, and that’s where a lot of my debt came from. He wasn’t paying them back with what I had given him. They
