“Cassidy Mae.” There was that voice again.
“Cassidy Mae.”
Yes?
“Cass. Wake up. It’s me. It’s Beau. Cass.” I groaned. Whoever it was shook me again and I told them to go away.”
“CASSIDY MAE!” I heard my name clearer now. I opened my eyes and for a moment my vision was blurry. I tried to focus on the shadow in front of my face.
“Beau, we need to get you out of here. You’re bleeding really badly.”
I heard Reagan’s voice and the memories of what had just happened as they crashed back into my brain.
Beau’s voice was weak, but still stern, “I’m not leaving till I know she’s okay. She fainted, Reagan.”
“She fainted? You’re bleeding out, Beau.”
Devin with a gun. Beau getting shot.
“BEAU!” I yelled, rolling over, scrambling to focus on him.
“Where’s Beau?”
“I’m here, Cass. I’m here. I love you. I need to go to the hospital right now. Best be glad he’s a horrible shot.” He smiled and then winced. I could see the pain etched in his face as blood trickled from his neck. All the memories of the night Andrew died came back to me in vivid detail. I remember the blood as it trickled out from every part of his body. No. My vision was starting to waver again.
“Beau?” I said again. I blinked again and my vision got clearer. I could see that he’d crawled to me after he’d been shot. He was the one who was shaking me. I crawled onto him, my hands grabbing for any purchase on his body that I could. .
“BEAU JOSEPH MONTGOMERY, if you do not let us take you to a hospital, I will shoot you myself and I will not miss this time!” Reagan was now shouting.
I watched as Beau laid back to the ground. Reagan was holding pressure to his neck and I could tell it was bad. I could see the blood still trickling out. I heard sirens coming up the road and I knew I needed to get up to help.
To be there for Beau, but my legs wouldn’t lift me up. I tried to sit up and the world around me spun.
I couldn’t move. I watched as the EMS picked up Beau and got him into the ambulance. Reagan jumped in behind him and they left, gravel flying as they flew across the fairgrounds. A second ambulance pulled up and I saw the EMS coming toward me.
“I’m fine. Take care of Beau,” I whispered as a tear crept down my cheek. I closed my eyes and my world went black for the second time tonight.
“Cassidy Mae?”
I stirred, opening my eyes. Reagan and Rhett were looking down at me smiling. My head was pounding and my mouth felt like I’d eaten cotton balls and all I craved was a glass of water.
“Water?” I whispered.
She grabbed the pitcher behind her and poured me a small glass. Handing it over to me she said. “Drink it slow. Little sips.”
I nodded and put the glass to my lips. The taste of it on my tongue was sweet gloriousness.
“Beau?” I asked, looking around the room.
“He’s doing okay. He has a concussion from the fall. The bullet grazed his neck and Doc says he may have a pretty nasty scar if it doesn’t heal properly, but he’s okay, Cass. He’s gonna make it. We saw all that blood and thought for sure it hit his jugular. Doc said we got mighty lucky that it wasn’t worse.”
“I need to see him.” I tried to sit up in bed and the room spun a little. “Whoa.”
“You will do no such thing. You fainted, twice. And you had a panic attack. Your pretty little ass isn’t going anywhere right now.”
“I need to see him, Rea. I need to see with my own eyes that he’s okay.”
“And you will. Now stay put.” She pushed me back and I huffed, knowing there was no way she was going to let me out of this bed.
Rhett looked over at Reagan. “I’ll be right back. I wanna let the nurse know she’s awake.” He winked and then turned to leave.
What in the heck was that?
“Okay, when I get out of here, I’m gonna need you to tell me what the heck is going on between you two.”
“To be honest, Cass, I have no freaking clue. He likes me one day. Acts like he doesn’t know what to do with me the next one. I’m just confused.” She shook her head.
I laughed, although it sounded hoarse, “Hey, men are weird.”
She sighed heavily, “Touché.”
“So, what happened to me? Did they really admit me just for fainting?”
“Cassidy Mae, you fainted twice and you bumped your head both times so they wanted to check you out. They took some scans. Everything came back clear so far, still waiting on one. Doc said they needed to give you an IV with some fluids because you were so dehydrated.”
I nodded. “That’d make sense. I didn’t eat much at breakfast and I hadn’t had anything to eat during the day.”
The door to my room opened and Rhett strolled back in. “They’ll be over this way shortly. Doc is just checking out your last scan. Results just came back.”
“Thanks Rhett.”
He tipped his hat. “Sure thing. So… how do you feel?”
I leaned back and rested my hand on my forehead. “Like I got into a fight and lost. Why am I so weak?”
Reagan huffed, hands on her hips. “Cassidy Mae… Did you not listen to a word I said? You fainted twice.”
The doctor walked in and I repeated all the questions I’d asked previously to Reagan, to him. He repeated pretty much what Reagan and Rhett had already told me. I asked him about Beau and he went into his confidentiality spiel about me not being family. Apparently not even being a fiancée counts. He excused us and said he’d be back in a while to check on me.
“Excuse me, did you just say fiancée?” I looked
