Sully stared at Danny, his guard coming down as he remained stunned by the words that hung in the air. He chugged the remainder of his drink. He felt his chest tighten as he swallowed hard, feeling like his world was starting to spin out of control. Fear encompassed him as he met his brother’s eyes again and silently held out his glass for a refill.
He finally spoke in a methodical low tone barely audible, as if he didn’t want to speak the words aloud and state their truth. “My wife got shot and now someone is trying to kill me?” His steel blue eyes clouded over with a mix of confusion and terror.
Danny fixed him another drink, handed it to him and nodded as he sighed, relieved he was finally understanding the gravity of the situation. “Yes.”
He leaned back, slammed his fist against the door in frustration and stared out the window, feeling rage course through his body. He was rendered speechless as he wondered how his level of fame had contributed to this moment with threats on his life and his wife fighting for her life after a gunshot wound she sustained in their own home.
He closed his eyes and secretly regretted the uptick of fan obsession on this tour as well as increased press coverage. It had catapulted them to a level where one rogue, obsessed fan could ruin their entire lives.
He said a silent prayer that Kit would be alive and well when the plane touched down in California. He didn’t want to entertain what his life would be like without her. He decided to cast the thought out entirely and focus on everything being ok. He tried to convince himself it would be, although his intuition nagged him otherwise. He suddenly felt like the flight from San Antonio to Los Angeles would be one of the longest of his life.
* * *
Dr. Kyle Nicholls stared at his reflection, ran his fingers through his short, brown hair and double-checked his black bow tie. Pleased with it, he threw on his tuxedo jacket and headed out. He was looking forward to the evening ahead at the gala for the Lindley-McKenna Foundation. It wasn’t often that he had a pressing social event to attend, and he realized how much he had missed that aspect of his life.
As he strolled down the hallway toward the nurses’ station, a female colleague passed by, whistled and called out. “Looking good, Ky!”
He was considered one of the most eligible bachelors and while something about the title made him feel uncomfortable, he didn’t mind the attention. Standing six foot three, his tall, athletic build and star quality smile certainly helped matters.
He chuckled and shook his head, feeling like a fish out of water. “Thanks, Aimee.”
It was a slow night at the hospital and when he approached the nurses’ station, two of them jokingly stood up and applauded him. Jennifer, the head nurse, smiled. “Wow! You certainly do look nice in a tux, doc.”
His sage green eyes twinkled as he flashed a charming smile that reflected irresistible dimples and made the nurses swoon even more. “Thank you, Jen.” Normally he wasn’t the social type and kept to himself, but he had heard the rumors that nurses all over the hospital had crushes on him. Tonight, feeling more vulnerable and out of his element, he decided to humor them.
He smoothed the tuxedo jacket and chuckled. “I feel weird in it. Definite departure from living my life in scrubs.” He nodded. “I’m officially off the clock for two whole days,” he smiled and chuckled again. “At least that’s what I hope. I’m out. Have a good evening, ladies. Just waiting on…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Emily approached in an elegant, blue, full-length gown that flowed nicely as she walked. He nodded with approval and grinned as he held his arm out for her and continued his sentence. “And here she is.” As she linked her arm in his, he glanced down at her. “You look great, Em. Really pretty.”
She smiled up at him excitedly. “Thanks. Ready to go?”
He nodded and shifted his attention to Jennifer. “We’re out, officially.”
Jennifer giggled. “You two look great. Have fun!”
Kyle opened the passenger door to his black Jeep CJ7 hard top and helped Emily. She thanked him, and he shut the door. As he rounded the back of his Jeep, he heard his beeper go off and realized he had shoved it into one of his pockets as a force of habit. He groaned and pulled it out as he opened his driver’s side door. He climbed in and stared at it.
Emily frowned. “Did you just get paged?”
He nodded. “Yeah. They’re probably just messing with us. Let’s get a move on. I don’t want to be late for this.”
He started the engine, and as he put the Jeep into reverse gear, the pager went off again. He heard Emily’s beeper go off as well and exchanged a look with her as he handed over his pager. “Take a look at mine and yours. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
As he reversed out of his parking space, Emily glanced over. “9-1-1 page this time on yours. Mine is standard. I’m calling in. Where’s your mobile?”
He kept his attention on navigating his way out of the hospital parking lot. “Glove box.”
He listened to her talking and within seconds, turned his Jeep around. He headed back to where he was originally parked in the physicians’ designated
