Page 114 of Lucky Haven

Chapter Forty-One

Cash

Now that the danger is over, I feel weak in the knees at the risk I put Haven in.

I tangle my hands in her hair and stare down at her beautiful face as she tries to smile up at me, her usually soft features still stricken with tension.

In the distance, there’s another siren.

“Ambulance is almost here,” Jasper says from a few feet away.

I don’t like that he’s a witness to this private moment between us.

“I don’t need that,” Haven whispers.

My chest is so tight, it hurts. “Let them check you out real quick, then I’ll take you home.”

She clutches at my shirt. Both of us just barely holding it together.

Jasper says something into the radio, and the siren cuts out. The ambulance appears a minute later, slowing to a stop, and the paramedics take their time getting out.

This isn’t an emergency anymore. Not on the outside, anyway.

“She’ll probably refuse transport to the hospital,” Jasper says to the first medic who approaches, a bag in hand.

“Let’s have a look anyway. Can you walk?”

Haven nods mutely.

“We’ll go over to the ambulance, then. My name is West. My partner opening the doors for us is Thea.”

They get her up into the back of the ambulance, sitting on a stretcher. I stand at the open door, close enough to touch her, but staying out of the way.

“Any dizziness? Nausea? Ringing in your ears?”

“No.” She rubs at her wrists, and his attention follows.

“You’ve got some abrasions there?”

In the harsh glare of the ambulance’s interior light, the ligature marks look worse than they did in the truck. Raw, reddened lines cutting deep enough to bruise, shallow scrapes where Jeb yanked her around.

My stomach lurches.

“Any numbness?” He turns her wrist in his gloved hands.

“No.”

“Can you wiggle your fingers for me? Good. Squeeze my hand.” He moves his attention to her jaw, tilting her face toward the light. “This laceration needs to be cleaned up. Might need a steri-strip, Thea.”

His partner pulls supplies out for him as he wraps a blood pressure cuff around Haven’s arm and clips a small pulse oximeter to her finger. “Oxygen’s good. Heart rate’s fast. Blood pressure is elevated. I’ll take a blanket to keep her warm.”

I step in close enough to offer her my hand. Her fingers are shaking. She’s in shock, as brave as she is.

“Any chest pain? Trouble breathing?” West continues, checking boxes on a form.

“No.”

“Hit your head at any point? Lose consciousness, even for a second?”