All I saw was Jo.
Maybe this was my chance to let my hatred of love and being entrapped by my own emotions go…but it wasn’t a simple set of circumstances. Jo owned the company Apex was trying to take, and she was in danger. It was a combative situation on the one hand, but the polar opposite on the other.
None of it made any sense.
My emotions were rarely so split or running so high. I relied on logic every day of my life, and calm decision-making. The things I was doing now were fueled primarily by instinct, emotion.
Sometimes my wolf was in charge.
I stopped walking. It made absolutely no sense to talk to her right now. I didn’t need to go over there. She was talking to the doctor, and whatever they were saying was probably private.
I could help in other ways.
But I glanced at her again. I couldn’tnotlook at her. Then I looked closer. She had a mark on her forehead that was already mostly healed. She really was okay.
The doctor looked like he was about to move away, but I needed to grab him. If I spoke to him, I’d get more details about everyone and the accident in general, and every piece of information helped.
“Patrick Crenshawe.” As I reached him, I held out my hand.
He shook it and looked quizzical. He glanced in the direction he wanted to go, so I spoke again.
“It was my car that went off the bridge,” I clarified.
He looked at me again, more confused this time, his eyebrows drawing together above the frame of his round glasses.
“My friends were inside,” I added.
It took a lot to make me uneasy, but my sudden lack of ability to hold a conversation or make myself understood might get me there.
“Oh.” He nodded. “Oh, absolutely. Okay.”
“I understand patient confidentiality,” I said. “But is there anything you can tell me? Is everyone okay?”
I cast a glance at Jo. She was hovering alongside us, like she was waiting, but she was clearly fine. Relief flooded through me.
“I mean, I can see Jo’s okay.” I gestured toward her. “How are the others?” I stopped speaking, but how dumb was I? I was barely restraining myself from pulling her into my arms and running her out of the hospital.
The doctor nodded, then shrugged, the apology drawing his mouth down briefly. “I can’t tell you, I’m afraid.”
Jo stepped closer to my side. “Girard is hurt worse than the rest of us. He has a broken arm, but he’ll be fine, I think. The danger was setting it in the correct position before it healed in the wrong one. Wes, Charmaine, and I all got away with superficial cuts and bruises. We’ll be okay.”
I nodded and captured her hand briefly, containing my emotion and pushing it all into that one area of contact. I wanted to kiss her, to show everyone that she was mine to kiss.
But I didn’t, because she wasn’t. “Are you coming home…able to go…to go home?” I finished smoothly, but it had been a rough start to that sentence.
Jo smiled, although she tried to hide it. “Yes,” she confirmed. “Yes, we’re all being discharged.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m just waiting for the others.”
I let go of her hand. “I should make a call.”
“I’ll wait for the others here.” Jo stepped away and looked over her shoulder again.
“Sure.” I walked away to find somewhere quiet.
I stepped outside the main hospital doors. Luckily, I didn’t have to close these behind me. They closed themselves with quiet efficiency and authority, and I breathed a long exhale of relief. I’d checked on Jo and I hadn’t shown the entire waiting room that my wolf had chosen a mate.
I had this thing under control.
I could do it.