Cade didn’t complain. His head was pounding, he felt a little nauseous, and his ears were ringing.
A bright light flashed over them and stopped. Cade averted his eyes as the light came closer.
“Everything okay, here?”
Cade caught a glimpse of a uniform and a badge, and realized why the man’s voice sounded familiar.
“I’ll be fine, Deputy Harden,” Cade said. “You mind lowering your flashlight?”
The light dimmed and Cade opened his eyes.
“What happened?” Mark Harden asked and tugged a handcuffed man forward. The wobbly image settled into Jorje’s familiar face after Cade blinked a couple of times. “I caught this one trying to take off, but I know there were more.”
“No, he…” Cade made the mistake of moving too fast when he stood and groaned at the pain that assaulted him. His head swam and he swayed on his feet.
“Sit,” Zack ordered and pushed him back down on the truck’s bumper.
Cade groaned, lifting a hand to his pounding head, but didn’t fight.
“You were saying?” Mark asked when Cade’s hand dropped again.
“Jorje was trying to help me,” Cade said, frowning up at the deputy. He still didn’t like the guy, but right now, Mark had the law on his side.
Mark glanced at Zack, who nodded, then turned to Jorje. “Is that true?”
“Si,” Jorje said, looking both glum and resigned.
“Why?”
“El hombre…” Jorje nodded toward Cade. “He was outnumbered.”
“So it wasn’t your friends who took off into the night?” Mark asked.
Jorje’s lips thinned and a muscle bunched in his jaw, but he didn’t say another word.
Understanding Jorje’s reluctance to name his so-called friends, Cade tried to draw Mark’s attention. “I’d be in a lot worse shape if he hadn’t stepped in, deputy.”
Mark nodded before he turned to Zack. “And who are you?”
“A friend of Cade’s,” Zack replied.
“And you were a witness?”
Zack shrugged. “Kinda. Cade had been gone a long time, so I came looking for him. Found him and this one,” he nodded to Jorje, “in the middle of six other guys, getting their butts kicked.” He explained what he saw and how the attackers took off when Mark shouted.
“Well,” Mark said as he reached for his keys and turned to Jorje, “I guess that means you’re free to go, Rivera. If you’ll take my advice though,” he removed the cuffs from Jorje’s wrists and tucked them into his belt, “you’ll find some better friends than Ted and his group.”
Jorje nodded, but he didn’t look happy about it.
Another man walked up in a blue uniform, holding what looked like a tackle box. “You call for the aid car?”
“Yes.” Mark nodded toward Cade. “He needs to be checked out.”
“I’ll be fine,” Cade insisted.
“Don’t be stubborn, Brody,” Zack admonished. “Let him check you out.”
“You willing to press charges?” Mark asked Cade once the EMTs had finished their examination and told Cade he needed to go to the hospital for a concussion.
“Against the others? Oh, yeah.”
“Cade?” Addie’s voice sounded hesitant as she pushed her way between the other men, Veta, her sister, and the others stood right behind her. “Oh, my God. What happened?” She touched his cheek and, even though her soft, warm fingers were gentle, he winced at the minor discomfort she caused.
“Long story,” Cade replied, “but I’m okay.” He glanced at Lana as she stepped forward, for once not ogling him, while simpering and vying for his attention. Instead, she had locked eyes with Jorje, who looked both interested in the young woman and terrified of her, too. But Cade didn’t get much chance to ponder that situation.
“He has a concussion,” Zack said, replying to Addie’s question, while giving Cade a disapproving look.
“It’s only minor.” Cade tried to sooth Addie’s worried expression.
“I knew something was wrong,” she mumbled then glanced at the EMT who was packing up his supplies. “Are you taking him to the hospital?”
“I don’t need a doctor,” Cade said.
At the same time, the EMT replied, “He said he didn’t want to go.”
“He’s going,” Addie said.
“Addie—””
“No, Cade, you need to go. You can’t see yourself right now. You need to let a doctor look at you…your head, at least.”
His jaw tightened. The last thing he wanted was to sit around an emergency room all night.
“Please, Cade. If you don’t go, I’ll worry. Please, just let them see how bad it is. Then we’ll go home and I’ll take care of you.” She smiled and her eyes twinkled at him suggestively.
He couldn’t help himself. “All right, but I don’t want any company when we get home.” He glanced pointedly at Zack, who laughed.
“Hey,” he said, still chuckling, “I told you, I’m just passing through.”
Cade glared at his friend, but didn’t reply.
Chapter 21
Addie rolled over in bed and sighed, her exhaustion weighing her down. Her eyes felt gritty, her lids heavy, but she couldn’t seem to drift off. Images of Cade, bloody and swaying on his feet, kept popping into her head, and the ‘what-ifs’ would not stop swirling through her thoughts. What if they’d hit him harder? What if they’d kicked him one more time? What if he’d died?
“I’m too ornery and stubborn to die,” he’d joked that night in the emergency room. She hadn’t argued, it wasn’t the time for it, but her silent reply had been, Jared thought he was, too.
She sucked in a cleansing breath and shook her head. “Stop it,” she told herself. “Cade is going to be fine.”
She just had to make herself believe it.
The doctor had said Cade would recover with rest and time, but Addie couldn’t help the worry and fear that kept her awake. Memories of how Jared had looked after the accident that killed him—pale and limp, all life and animation gone forever—rolled over and over in her mind. Her long-dead fiancé’s fate kept her anxiety over Cade’s condition—and the situation that caused it—running on high. The human body was frailer than anyone wanted to believe, including Cade.
He’d been discharged after only one night of observation in the hospital, which was
