The bikers clambered onto their bikes and helped the man Matthew had shot onto one of the vehicles. The leader of the group pursed his lips and then stepped forward. “I’d like to have our gun back, please. It’s the only thing we have left to defend ourselves with.”
Matthew narrowed his eyes. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Kathleen bite her lip. Matthew shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. No.”
Matthew wondered if the gun he wanted was the one Kathleen held. At the same time, he didn’t want to hand the biker a weapon only to have him turn that gun on him and his wife. He didn’t want to give the leader any sort of advantage. If Kathleen gave back the weapon, there was a good chance he’d turn on Matthew and shoot him right back. He remembered Jade and how quickly she had turned on him when things didn’t go her way. “We’ll be keeping the weapon, thank you very much,” Matthew said.
The leader looked frustrated and opened his mouth as if to argue. “We’ll need it. It’s dangerous out here. We need to have some way to protect ourselves.”
“I’m sorry, but no,” Matthew said.
The leader muttered something under his breath and shot Kathleen a nasty look. He eased away from them and hopped on his bike. Others threw equally hostile glances over their shoulders and shouted at Kathleen and Matthew before taking off to ride back down the mountain toward Galena.
As soon as they were around the corner and out of sight, Matthew lowered his shotgun. He turned to Kathleen and enveloped her in his arms. She felt small, and she couldn’t stop trembling. She seemed to not register the hug, and so Matthew hung onto her until she uttered a soft bewildered sob. Her arms slowly rose and went around him before clinging to him tightly.
“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Matthew murmured into her hair. He hoped his presence would help calm her or alleviate whatever shock she was in.
“I’m okay,” she whispered through her tears. “Did Allison find you?”
“Yes, she’s safe at the hotel,” Matthew said and pulled back just enough to be able to look into her big brown eyes.
“Patton?” she asked.
“Safe. Everyone is safe back at the hotel,” Matthew said and brushed a couple of stray strands of hair behind her ear. He couldn’t help himself and leaned closer, giving her a closed-mouth kiss. “I was so worried about you,” he said.
Kathleen let out a tearful laugh. “Worried about me? I was terrified something had happened to you!”
“At least we’re together now,” Matthew said, bringing her back into a hug. When he released her, she wiped her eyes and bent down to grab two mountain bikes. Matthew took the second one from her, and together they began to walk up the mountain toward the hotel.
“I had to walk all the way from Madison,” he said dramatically, and Kathleen seemed to come back alive as he told her about his travels and they headed home.
3
The guards hauled Max into the medical bay and handed him off to the hazel-eyed nurse on call. Max blurrily read her name tag as she hoisted him up onto an examination table: Sheila.
Sheila shone a light into his eyes and asked him to follow it. He groaned and clutched his sides in pain. He felt as though every inch of him was covered in bruises. Sheila continued to ask him a series of questions as she poked and prodded him. Does it hurt to breathe? Can you move your arms? If I press here how much does it hurt on a scale of one to ten? He answered in a daze before she declared him to have severely bruised ribs, two black eyes, and that he was one more face-punch away from a concussion.
“Thanks,” he said as she handed him a set of painkillers.
Sheila studied him to make sure he swallowed them and then noted something on her chart. “Eric will be here soon to take you back to your cell.”
“Is that wise?” Max asked and tried to laugh but ended up uttering a huff of pain instead. “Don’t want to go back if I don’t have to.”
Sheila paused and brushed a strand of black hair back from her face. “Who did this to you?” she asked softly. “What happened to you?”
Max tried to smile this time and felt grateful that none of his teeth had been knocked out. “I ran into a door,” he said.
She didn’t smile in return. “You should report this. I should report this. It’s much worse than the last time you ended up in here.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I forgot that we had met before.” He’d meant it to come off as flirtatious, but against his will, Max’s smile faltered. Sheila shrugged and moved to buzz Eric in. She gave the guard a genuine smile and asked, “How is Robbie?”
Eric nodded his head in appreciation. “Much better, thank you for asking. We took him to the pediatrician you recommended. I really like them. Down to earth.”
“I’m so happy to hear it.” Sheila beamed.
Max sighed and tried to drown out the chit-chat. He didn’t want to hear about Eric’s kids or about how they went to a baseball game earlier that week. It all sounded so…normal. And for Max, his life had definitely transformed into something unrecognizable. When Sheila and Eric moved on to talking about summer plans, Max felt like an object in the room, something to be talked over because he was a prisoner. It happened more often than he’d thought it would. To drown out the way it made him feel, he focused on his injuries. Every breath he took
