My Kind of Trouble (28 page)

"Oh, god, Luke. Are you okay?" She felt
tears pool up in her eyes and then trail down her cheeks. "I called
the Police, they should be here any minute."

"Call them back darlin' and tell them to
send an ambulance too," his voice was getting weaker and she was
afraid he was going to pass out.

"I did, Luke...they're on their way." She
looked down the street and saw a couple of big guys she didn't know
standing on the sidewalk a few houses down. She ran toward them and
yelled. "Can you come help? He's been shot and needs help."

The looked at each other and then ran toward
her at a jog. When the burly men, who evidently worked out
regularly, reached her she grabbed one's arm and said "Please help
hold that guy down he shot my fiance'."

The two men went over to Luke and one took
over holding James down and the other helped Luke to his feet. Luke
wobbled and the guy slung Luke's arm over his shoulder and walked
him over to the curb to sit down. Cassie went to him immediately
and raised his shirt up to look at the wound. It was raw, ragged
and bleeding profusely.

"Oh god, Luke...it's bad," she said weakly
then dropped the shirt.

"Nah, it's okay, darlin'. Just a flesh
wound," he said looking into her eyes, his eyes cloudy and somewhat
disoriented. "Preppy Boy is an awful shot...couldn't hit the broad
side of a barn."

"Don't feed me that bullshit, Luke," she
grated and heard the blessed sound of sirens in the distance.

"Does anyone have a towel?" she yelled
loudly to the crowd that had formed around them. She saw someone
run back across the street to their house, and before long she had
two or three towels in her hand. She put one on the ground and
said, "Lay back, Luke."

He did and then closed his eyes. "Don't you
dare die on me! Open your eyes and look at me," she demanded and
lifted his shirt to place one of the other towels over his wound
and press down firmly. He didn't open his eyes, and she whimpered
and pressed down harder on the towel.
God, please don't let him
die
.
Please, don't let him die
, she prayed and pressed
her fingers to the weak thready pulse in his neck. "Wake up,
Luke...look at me!"

He finally opened his pain-filled whiskey
brown eyes and looked into hers then swallowed. "I love you, Cassie
Bee," his voice was low and weak, but he finished with fierce
determination, telling her, "I'm not going
anywhere
darlin'
until you marry me,"

She felt a hand on her shoulder push her to
the side, as two paramedics moved beside Luke and began working
him. Gulping a deep breath, she took another step back to give them
room to work. Luke had closed his eyes again and they cut his shirt
off and started an IV in his arm.

Cassie looked around her and saw that two
police officers had handcuffed James and were hauling him up to his
feet. She stomped over to him and without warning, balled up her
fist and punched him in the gut as hard as she could. It must've
been hard enough, because James doubled over with an oomph. One of
the cops dropped James' arm and grabbed her and shook her. "Ma'am
you can't do that," he said sternly.

"That piece of thieving crap shot my
fiance'," she wailed. "He stole my money, and ruined my
business...not to mention broke into my home," She pulled away from
the officer to put her hands on her hips. "I'd say I
can
do
that. I'd sure
like
to do
more
!"

"What's your name?" the officer asked.

"Cassie Bellamy. You can talk to Officer
Melton, I met with him earlier at my office. He was looking for
James to arrest him."

The officer walked away from her and talked
into the microphone on his shoulder. A few minutes later, he came
back to her. "I spoke with Melton and he filled me in on what was
going on. We're taking Barton down to the station for booking.
We'll need you and your fiance' to come down there for a
statement."

Cassie whimpered, "Sure if he's still alive,
we'll be sure to do that," then turned on her heel and ran back
over to where Luke was now being loaded on a stretcher.

She grabbed one medic's arm and asked,
"Please tell me he's gonna be ok...
please
."

"I can't do that ma'am. You'll have to talk
to his doctor, but his vital signs are stable for right now. Do you
want to ride with us?"

She walked alongside the stretcher, then
stopped when they lifted Luke inside the ambulance. "I need to
check on my house and bring the truck in case they release
him."

The medic's eyes told her he didn't think
that was going to happen, but he nodded and then hopped up inside.
He told her what hospital they were taking him to, then closed the
door.

Oh, god, she needed to call her daddy...and
Cole to let them know what had happened too. Panicked and numb,
Cassie went back to the house and gasped in horror at the mess
James had made of it. Things were strewn all around, and a lot was
broken. The whole house had been ransacked.

There were police personnel inside and she
felt violated and out of control, as she picked her way through the
mess to find the man in a suit who looked to be in charge of the
other people. "Excuse, me...I'm Cassie Bellamy and I own this
house. How long will you be here?"

She swallowed down the sick feeling that
surged through her as she saw a woman with blue gloves squatting
down over a small blood stain taking photos, and another with a
knife and baggie digging a bullet out of the wall near her
kitchen.

"A few more hours probably..." he told her,
a closed expression on his face.

Cassie nodded and asked, "Can I go change in
my bedroom?"

"Sure, just don't move anything, if you can
avoid it."

Ignoring the mass destruction around her,
Cassie went into her bedroom and found a pair of yoga pants and a
top, then quickly changed and put on one running shoe on her
uninjured foot. She hobbled over and grabbed her purse off the bed,
then a thought occurred to her and her stomach sank to her toes.
Luke probably had the keys to the truck in his pocket. She was
stranded...and Luke was dying. A sob tore from her gut and she ran
back through the chaos in her living room, then out the front door,
slamming it behind her.

A vision of the black sedan parked down the
street, the one that James had been trying to escape to, flitted
through her mind. Maybe that idiot had left the keys inside. He
would have if he wanted to make a quick getaway, she thought, and
he obviously had. She took quick loping steps across her yard and
then down the sidewalk until she reached the vehicle. Quickly, she
pulled the door handle and it opened. Sliding inside, she leaned
over and saw that he had indeed left the keys there.

Cassie twisted the key in the ignition,
releasing the breath she'd been holding, and the car roared to
life. She threw it in drive and slammed her foot on the
accelerator. A few minutes later, she slid to a stop in a parking
spot near the emergency room. Throwing open the door, she went to
get out and the edge of a metal box that had slid out from under
the seat poked her in the ankle.

She reached down beside her leg and brought
it up to the seat, then tried the latch and it opened easily. What
she saw inside made her heart stop beating, and hope to fill her.
Money, lots and lots of banded money was stacked in neat rows
inside.

Shutting the latch securely, she grabbed the
box and stuffed it back under the seat then got out and locked the
door. Luke was more important than any amount of money, so what
she'd found was not her first priority. But it thrilled her
nonetheless. It looked like James and Diana weren't going to get
away with robbing her blind after all, she thought as she made her
way through the sliding glass doors and moved quickly to the
admitting desk. "Luke Matthews...where is he?"

"Are you a relative?"

"I'm his fiancé....his next of kin. He
doesn't have any other relatives." Her statement drove home the
point to her that Luke really was alone in this world, except for
her.

The nurse's eyes filled with sympathy, and
she walked around from behind the desk to stand beside Cassie.
Cassie whimpered and prayed,
God, don't let her tell me he's
dead
. "He's in room seven, I'll show you where it is."

Deep resounding relief flooded through her
as the woman led her to Luke's room. When Cassie walked inside and
saw the number of people working on him, that relief fled. He had a
tube in his nose and wires stuck all over his body. Cassie's
stomach lurched, as fear roiled there in a tight knot.

A doctor leaned over him examining the
wound, while several nurses worked with him, all of them
functioning as a well-oiled machine. That gave her comfort at
least. He had good people caring for him. The nurse that had led
her here, took her arm gently and said, "There's a family waiting
room down the hall. I'll let them know to keep you informed of his
status."

Cassie nodded at the kind woman and followed
her to the waiting room. Once she was there, she sat in a plastic
chair and stared at the TV mounted on the wall, not really seeing
it. After a moment, she took her cell phone out of her purse and
dialed Cole's number.

He picked up on the second ring, and said,
"Cassie?"

"Oh, god Cole, Luke's been shot," she told
him in a shaky voice then groaned.

"
What?
" Cole yelled across the line,
and Cassie flinched.

"James shot Luke...we're in the emergency
room in Phoenix."

The line was silent for a long time, and she
almost thought he'd hung up when he finally said, "What's his
condition...where was he shot?"

"In the side, and I don't know, they haven't
told me anything yet."

"Call me back when they tell you something,"
he said then she heard computer keys tapping. "I'm going to try and
find a flight."

"Cole, wait! Let's see what they say first.
I just wanted to call and let you know."

"Thanks for calling me, Cassie. I appreciate
it."

"I know you love him too," and she knew in
her heart that was true. He and Cole were more like brothers than
best friends. They'd been together through thick and thin since
before Cassie had even met Luke. And she'd know them since she was
ten.

Cole didn't say anything for a second, then
he said. "Where's James?"

"In jail...Luke caught him. He broke into my
house, and was there when we got there."

"I knew I shouldn't have let that bastard
go. I just had this feeling in my gut he was going to do something
stupid."

Cassie heard the guilt in his tone and
quickly said, "It's not your fault, Cole. James is crazy, and you
had no reason to keep holding him."

"Yeah, you and your daddy dropped the
charges because I asked you to, so we could get Luke off the
hook."

"It. Is.
Not
. Your. Fault." Cassie
repeated trying to make Luke's bullheaded friend understand.

"If you say so," the stubborn man
persisted.

"Luke would not want you blaming yourself,
Cole. You are his best damned friend in the world. He loves you
too."

Cole growled in her ear, "I'm not waiting.
I'll be there on the next flight...I'll call you when I get there."
He hung up the phone in her ear and she stabbed the end button.

Cassie called her dad and filled him in on
what had happened and he was madder than a bear, and threatened to
come to Phoenix and fill James' ass with buckshot. She managed to
calm him down after a while, and told him she'd keep him updated on
Luke's condition. She didn't tell him that she and Luke were
engaged, or about Titan. That, she wanted to tell him in
person.

Just when she'd ended the call, a nurse came
in and walked over to her. "Cassie Bellamy?"

She moved to sit on the edge of the chair,
swallowed down her fear then said, "Yes?"

"Mr. Matthews wants to see you...
now
.
He's awake now and yelling the place down for you.
Please
come with me."

Cassie gave her a teary chuckle. "Yep,
that's Luke."

"We've moved him to a regular room on the
fifth floor, and they allow you to stay with him there, so that
should make him happy," she grinned at Cassie.

When Cassie walked into the room, she saw
Luke's face was bright red and his fists were clenched on top of
the covers. Wires were taped to his broad, firmly muscled chest,
and the IV was still in his arm, but the tube in his nose had been
removed. Progress, or so she hoped. She ran over to him, kissed his
cheek and then laid across his chest to hug him. "Oh, Luke..."

He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away
a little flinching.

"Oh shit, did I hurt you..." she backed away
from the bed her hand flying to her mouth. "Are you in pain, I'll
get the nurse..." she spun toward the door.

"Come back here, darlin'," he said weakly
and opened his arms to her. "Just be careful, the bullet glanced
off a rib over here. He pointed at the spot and she flinched.