I sat back down and played a few more hands, taking a chance on a pair of jacks and grabbing a third from the river. I won that hand and a nice little pile of chips. Tyson was dealing another hand when Maddox’s phone started blowing up.
“Maddox.” He answered, pushing the cards away from him and scooting back away from the table. “No shit. Alright, I’m on my way. Keep this quiet, the last thing we need is a media circus.” He hung up the phone.
“Sorry fellas, I’m out. Apparently they found Senator Hendricks’ daughter in a parking lot. I need to get going.”
I felt like I’d been sucker punched in the gut. “Where?” I stood up abruptly, knocking the chair over. “Is she okay?” I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest.
“You know her?”
She wasn’t my girlfriend, wasn’t my fiancée, we weren’t even exactly friends. “It’s complicated. Is she okay?” I asked again, clenching my teeth so hard it was painful. I couldn’t lose her. Not like this.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m going with you or I’m following you, either way I’m getting to her,” I demanded. I had no right to Samantha, but she was mine.
“You can ride with me. Liam, follow us in case you need to leave the scene.” Maddox kept his eyes on me as he spoke. “If you can’t get control of your emotions, I won’t hesitate to throw you in the back of a squad car. I can’t have you contaminating a crime scene.”
“Bow,” I whispered.
“We got her. She’ll be fine here,” Tyson spoke up, starting to clear the table. “You guys go. Don’t worry about your daughter.”
I nodded. Liam was a good guy, and this wasn’t just anyone’s house, but the assistant district attorney, who was friends with the one friend I’ve made at my job, and there was a detective that was part of their group. I figured if Bow would be safe anywhere other than with me, at school or daycare, then it was here.
“Thank you.”
I followed Maddox to his truck and climbed in the passenger seat. He pulled away from the curb and headed toward the south side of town. “What is she to you?” He broke the silence as he navigated the streets with his lights on.
I swallowed hard before I said out loud what I’d been so afraid to admit to, why I’d pushed her away in the first place. “Everything.”
What I felt for Rayne had been strong, and I would never discount the time I had with her. And I couldn’t bring myself to regret it either because without Rayne I wouldn’t have Bow, and without her actions I wouldn’t have moved across the country and found Samantha. I had to forgive her because without her the life I knew now wouldn’t exist, and with all its heartaches and ups and downs I had a good life. I just needed to make Samantha a permanent fixture in it. It was the only chance I had at true happiness.
“Sierra 2211, come in,” a voice said over the police radio in his truck. Maddox picked up the mic.
“This is Sierra 2211 enroute to Sunset Inn for a possible ten fifty-four. Any updates on the victim?”
“Be advised, victim is enroute to the hospital.”
“Changing route to SFM.”
“Copy Sierra 2211.” The voice on the other side of the radio went quiet.
I wanted to throw up. She wasn’t supposed to be at the hotel. If I had just fucking dealt with my shit and owned it and my feelings for her, then she would have been at home with me and not in a hotel parking lot.
“Is she okay?”
“We won’t know anything until we get to the hospital and I talk to the paramedics and Ms. Hendricks if I can.”
“She’s alive then?”
“As far as I know. All I know for sure was she was found in the parking lot of her hotel. I don’t want to give you false hope, man. A ten fifty-four is a —”
“Possible dead body. I know.” Maddox looked at me, his eyes asking exactly how I knew that.
“Once upon a time, I was a sheriff.”
“Do you know who could have done this and why?”
“Yeah. I got a pretty good idea.”