“Pete Mercer has been arrested. He was outside of Allie’s house. They were close to there when Kode finally got ahold of her. Pete wrecked Tria’s car. With them in it.”
I gas the car harder, weaving in and out of traffic, and putting the phone on speaker so I can use both hands.
“How bad is it?” I bark.
“I’m getting to that. Listen, they won’t answer any questions to us about Allie because we’re not family. Bella is listed as her family, and she’s on her way. Kode says she was bleeding from the head, but she seemed fine. He was preoccupied with Tria. Pete got a few licks in on her before they got away. The neighbors thought it was another vandalism gone wrong after the other night, or they would have come to help. They called the cops, not realizing Pete was intent on killing Tria.”
I skid into a parking place in front of the hospital, grabbing my phone and running toward the entrance.
“What floor?”
“She’s in the ER. Ground level. Tria has to stay a night for observation, so I’m sure Allie will, too. They just got here not long ago. I was trying to get more information before calling you.”
“Damn it, Dane. You should have called me immediately!”
Fortunately, the entrance I’m at is actually for the ER. I round the corner to see the waiting room full of everyone almost. All the Sterlings are here except for Kode. He’s probably back there with Tria, being there for her the way I need to be there for Allie. Rain quickly finds me, holding me back when I make to charge toward the doors leading to the back.
“Don’t,” she cautions. “They’ll kick you out if you cause a scene, and they can’t let anyone back except for family. Allie’s unconscious right now.”
My heart sputters, and Rye stops me from falling. Where did he come from?
“How do you know that if they won’t tell you anything?” Rye asks.
“Because we told them to tell her we’re here and worried, but they said she’s unable to communicate at the moment.”
That could mean so much worse than unconscious.
“Hold him back, damn it,” Rain says, and Dane comes to help Rye wrangle me back from charging the sturdy-looking doors. “They’ll kick him out if he scares them!”
“Trying,” Rye groans, cursing when I shove harder, trying to get free.
“I’m here!” Bella yells, running through the ER and toward a woman. “Where is she, Estelle?” she asks in panic, staring at the old woman behind the glass encased desk.
“She’s in the back. She’s unconscious. Do you want them hearing this?” she asks, motioning toward us. “He looks ready to kill someone.” That’s pointed toward me, and I slowly calm down, or at least fake being calm.
Bella glances my way, but turns back to her. “You always manage to miss the gossip. That’s Angel’s daddy. He can hear everything you have to say.”
The woman’s eyes widen, even though I don’t know how she missed all that.
“You know the doctor is supposed to tell you. Not me.”
Bella looks around at the packed waiting room. But we’re the only ones close enough to the window to hear.
“It’s me, Estelle. You were pissed when you heard I got fired. Get them back by breaking the rules for me. I need to know how Allie is, and Zimmerman will be the attending doctor tonight. You know how slow he is and how much I hate him.”
Estelle snorts. “True. Well, Allie’s fine. Her head took a good whacking, and she needed stitches. She amazingly didn’t have a concussion, but her head was hurting something fierce. Like I said, it took a good whacking. And the wreck probably hurt her muscles like a mean son of a bitch, if you know what I mean. After the adrenaline wore off, she was hurting. They finally gave her a small dosage of a mild painkiller, but that girl passed right out like it was the good stuff.”
My heart is still thudding, and Bella turns around, looking relieved enough for me to relax just slightly.
“What does that mean?” I prompt.
“It means she’s fine,” Bella sighs, running a hand through her disheveled hair. “But if they won’t release her until she wakes up. That’ll be tomorrow. A Norco to Allie is like a double dose of morphine to normal people. It’s probably what they gave her. You know how she is with pain meds. I’ll go back and check on her.”
My eyes dart to Corbin, and I mentally slap myself for not thinking of him sooner.
“Get me back there. Call your dad, or do whatever you have to do.”
He grimaces, regret shining in his eyes. “I can’t, Wren. Kode is already a handful back there, but because Tria is hurting, he won’t leave her side. Pete is back there as well.”