I laughed hoarsely. My throat burned, “You better shut that thing or something’s going to find its way into it.”
Rhett laughed out loud and I realized what I’d said. Reagan slapped him on the shoulder and shook her head. “Get out of the gutter, Rhett.”
“Oh, but it’s such a fun place to be, isn’t it?” She shook her head and scoffed.
Her eyes landed on mine again, “Back to you. Fiancée? When were you guys planning on telling me?”
“He asked right before I went to the barn and ran into Devin…” Panic and dread swept over me again. I hadn’t seen what happened to him after we went down. “D-Devin…wait… did they get him?”
“Yep, he’s in custody. Sheriff caught him trying to drive off. He ain’t getting away with the crap he pulled tonight. He shot an upstanding citizen of our community and premeditated killing a woman at an event with families and children. That don’t go over well in any part of the country, but especially here. Trust me the charges are piling up.”
“Good.” I felt a pang of relief in my chest. A little weight had lifted, and I knew the rest of that weight would leave once I could see Beau and know that he was truly okay.
“When can I see Beau?” I looked over at Reagan.
“Tell you what. You eat some food then I’ll wheel you down the hall to see Beau. Jameson, Remington, and Faith are with him. He’s not alone.”
“Oh, okay. I’m glad he has someone there with him right now.”
I opened my eyes slowly and the light poured in so quickly that I shut them. I blinked again and I could see shadows standing around the bed, but I couldn’t make out who they were. My head was pounding, and my mouth was drier than the desert in the middle of summer. I went to move my arm and a pain shot through my neck. I winced.
“Damn,” I whispered.
“Well I’d be. Beau Montgomery is alive and awake, y’all,” I heard Remington’s voice first, followed by Jameson and Faith. The one person I wanted to hear though, was Cassidy Mae.
“Cass?”
Remington looked over and put his fingers to his lips. He nodded his head behind me and I turned to see what he was looking at. Cassidy.
“She’s fine, Beau. She’s been sleeping in the damn wheelchair since you’ve been here. Won’t leave you alone and basically threatened Reagan’s life when she told her she couldn’t see ya.”
I raised my eyebrow. “They admitted her?”
“She fainted a couple times so they brought her in to check her out. A few bruises. Concussion, but she’s doing fine.”
I looked over at Cass peacefully sleeping beside me, soft breaths puffing between her pretty pink lips. Her head hung down, and she looked uncomfortable in that wheelchair.
My name came out softly, whispered between her lips, and I smiled at the simplicity of her thinking about me even in her dreams. My heart burst for this strong, gorgeous woman. To talk back to a man holding a gun to her head took guts. To be willing to die over it, stupidity and courage. I squeezed my fists angry at remembering how he had treated her.
I reached my hand over and ran it softly over her own. Pain shot up my arm and into my neck, but I didn’t care. I needed to touch her, “Cass, babe. Wake up, darlin’.”
“Huh…what? Beau…” came another whisper. Emerald green beauties hit me and I watched as they lit with happiness and a touch of relief. She leaned in closer to me, placing both hands on my face and kissed me like she’d never kissed me before, like she’d lost me, and was finding me again in that one special kiss. When she pulled back her eyes drifted to the bandage on my neck. Sucker hurt like hell, but it could’ve been a lot worse. I could’ve lost the love of my life and she was worth taking a bullet for any day.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Beau Montgomery. You scared the hell outta me! I was so scared… if I had lost you.” She shook her head and wiped away a stray tear that had fallen. My chest ached. I could see it in her eyes. She looked at me with such love and worry.
“Hey, come here,” I said, pulling her onto the bed with me. “You ain’t gonna lose me, darlin’, but next time someone has a gun trained on you, please don’t egg them on. I don’t plan on being shot again.”
She sobbed, “I was an idiot, Beau. I never planned on you getting hurt. I tried to warn you to stay away when you peered in the barn at me.”
I looked down at her as she looked up at me. “You should know by now that I wouldn’t have done that… you mean too much to me. I love you too much to lose you, Cass.” I pulled her into my arms and winced. Man, that pain hurt but I wouldn’t give up a minute of having her close to me in my embrace.
The doctor had said there was no entry wound so I hadn’t actually been shot, just grazed by the bullet. I’d have a nice scar to remind me of my love for this woman.
The nurse came in to check me and swap out my IV bag.
As she was doing that she leaned over slowly and whispered, “You know, she’s a tough woman to manage. She yelled at anyone who would dare stand in her way from being here with you. You got a good one.”
“Oh, I know I do. Don’t plan on ever letting that one go. In fact, I asked her to marry me right before I got shot.”
She smiled at me once more and I smiled too. “Well, you’ve got it all figured out then.” I was damn lucky.
“Dr. Thomas will be in shortly. I’ve let him know you’re awake and changed out the
