A strangled, howling sob came from the bottom of Jada’s soul. Hank jerked, and Coop went airborne. That long, lean body extended. He dove. And threw the greatest man-to-man block of his career. A crushing, illegal block that hit at the knees and shook the room.

Piper grabbed Jada and fell on top of her, shielding the girl with her own body as the gun went off.

21

Piper folded her body over Jada’s to keep her safe. She was afraid to raise her head and expose any part of Jada to harm. The nightmare seconds dragged by. Was Coop dead? Let it be Hank who’d taken the bullet. Or the wall. Or the floor. Anything but Coop. He had to stay alive. He had to stay alive because she loved him—loved him with all her heart—and because she had to protect Jada and because he had to finish the job she couldn’t.

Coop, be alive.

A garbled woman’s scream. Not her own. Not Jada’s. Karah.

“You bitch!” Hank’s howl of outrage chilled Piper to the bone.

A fierce obscenity from Coop.

He was alive.

Jada’s body heaved beneath Piper. Where was the gun? Piper had to get the gun. She turned her head.

Coop had Hank trapped on the floor. There was blood.

Piper reared off Jada and dove for the gun. As she came to her knees with the weapon in both hands, she saw Karah standing just inside the door, her mouth an oval of horror. Piper shouted at her to call the police.

What happened next was short and brutal. Coop hauled Hank up by the throat and slammed him into the wall. He beat him until Hank collapsed unconscious to the floor.

Jada grabbed her Nerf gun. With sobs racking her body, she rushed toward Hank and fired at his crumpled figure. One foam bullet after another.

Piper saw the blood smear on the wall first and then, seconds later, she saw something far worse. A crimson rose blooming through the wool of Coop’s jacket.

***

The EMTs had to block her from climbing into the ambulance with him. She jumped in her car and followed, not thinking about speed limits but only about what parts of him that bullet might have hit. When they reached the ER, she refused to leave him alone for even a moment.

He’d been shot in the side. Both an entry and exit wound, so that was good. No vital organs hit. That was good, too. Except he’d been hurt, and that was horrible. Unthinkable.

She stood guard by his bed, cross-examining every doctor, nurse, technician, and orderly who came in to check on him. She even tried to go into the X-ray lab with him, but they threatened to call security.

Coop was fully conscious through all this, but he made no attempt to settle her down. Instead, he watched her with a kind of bemusement.