She offered up a weak smile, and he relaxed further. She needed medical treatment, but she was going to be all right. Her smile faltered a little, and the tears welling up in her eyes trickled out and chased each other down her ashen cheeks. She turned her face into his chest and cried.
As he clutched her tighter, he thought he might be crying too.
* * * * *
7:26 P.M.
She woke slowly.
For the first time since she had awakened in Luke’s bed two days ago, Summer felt warm, comfortable, and safe. She was also out of pain.
Content, she stretched her body, it felt so good to be able to move freely.
“Summer?”
“Hmm?” She still felt groggy and a little out of it, and it took her a moment to place the voice. “Aggie.” She lifted open her heavy eyelids to see her friend perched in a chair beside her bed. “You're okay,” she said, relieved. She had been afraid Chance had killed Aggie since he hadn’t brought her to the cabin along with her and Hope.
“I'm fine.” Aggie’s blue eyes were teary. “Are you?”
She was and she wasn't.
She was so grateful to be alive and to have survived Chance’s murderous rampage relatively unscathed, especially considering what he had done to his other victims. She was equally grateful that Luke had survived.
On the other hand, she would never forget the feeling of being trapped inside that box, completely helpless and at a madman’s mercy. Nor could she ever forget watching Chance fire a bullet through her friend’s head and then his own.
Summer shuddered.
“Chance was really crazy,” she said softly.
“How did we not see it?” Aggie asked.
“He was trying to hide it. He was battling himself. In the end he knew he couldn’t, so he killed himself. And Hope.”
“I'm so sorry,” Aggie cried.
“Sorry? Why?” she asked.
“I couldn’t tell Jonathon and Allina anything helpful about the kidnapping, and I couldn’t think of any place where Chance might take you all. If I’d been able to give them something, anything, they might have found you before he could kill Hope. In the end, it was Nick who figured out where you were. When Luke never turned up after he told Nick he was on his way back, we knew something had happened to him. We assumed he’d found you and Chance had got him too. If Nick hadn’t figured out where you were, you would still be there, locked in that box.”
“None of that is your fault,” she reminded her friend.
“I can't believe Hope is really gone. It doesn’t feel real.” Aggie looked as shocked as she felt.
“It doesn’t feel real, but it is.” All too horribly real. Summer still couldn’t process it all. She didn’t know why Chance hadn’t killed her and Luke too.
Luke.
Where was he?
He was the first thing she remembered after her mind had shut itself down following the gunshots. She knew the cabin had been crawling with cops by then, Jonathon and Allina, Matthew and Rylla, Sam, and dozens of cops had all been there, but it had been Luke’s presence alone that had calmed her. He had ridden in the ambulance with her, and stayed with her in the emergency room, refusing to have his hand looked at until she had been taken care of. He had stayed by her side until she had been taken into surgery.
“Luke is with Jonathon and Allina giving his statement,” Aggie said with a small smile on her face. “He’s been with you the whole time, but you’ve been out for hours, and we didn’t know how long you would sleep so he went to make his statement now so he could be with you once you woke up.”
She hoped he came back soon. She felt so much better when he was close by.
“You love him, don’t you?” Aggie’s smile grew.
“I … uh …” Was she ready to admit out loud that she was falling in love with Luke Sleigh? It made it seem so real. But her feelingswerereal. “I think I’m getting there,” she admitted. “We haven’t known each other long, but I definitely have feelings for him, and I think I could easily fall in love with him.” What wasn’t to love? He’d risked his own freedom to try to save her life.