Page 174 of You Found Me

Besides, Della was coming.

A few seconds later, the front door banged open and his stepmother called out in a loud, somewhat watery voice, “Donovan Jeremiah Ward, where are you?”

“Here.” Ward slipped the crutch under the couch and leveraged himself up on his feet. Hopefully, his sweats covered the bandage on his thigh well enough that they couldn’t tell he even had an injury.

Wishful thinking.

His family crowded into the living room.

Elyse carried a worried expression and a glass casserole dish covered in aluminum foil.

Samantha’s eyes were wide and rimmed with red. It made her seem a lot younger than her fourteen years.

Guilt squirmed awake in his gut.

Mason crossed his arms and scowled at him.

Dad’s hair stuck out in all directions. Ward felt like there was more gray in it now.

Guilt poked him in the ribs and gave him a dirty side-eye.

“Ah, hell.” He felt every inch of that guilt pound even deeper into his chest. He’d been a complete jackass. He should have called. Ward held up his hands in surrender. “I’m fine. I’m sorry I worried you.”

“You’renotfine.” Elyse shoved the casserole dish at Dad and descended on him. He had no idea what she saw, just that it made her eyes fill with tears, which made him feel even lower than he had a second ago. “It’s true, isn’t it. You were shot. You were shot and in the hospital and you had surgery and you could have died and you…didn’t…call?”

Her tears spilled over.

“Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.” Ward only thought he’d felt low before. Guilt picked him up and tossed him into a pit, kicked dirt on him.

Ward moved toward his sobbing stepmother, trying his best not to limp, so that he could put his hands on her shoulders and offer what little comfort he could. “I didn’t want to worry you. I’m sorry. I should have called. I should have… I should have done a lot of things. I’m really sorry.”

His father dumped the casserole dish into Mason’s arms and clasped Ward’s shoulder. Ward refused to flinch when he squeezed the exact spot the bullet had grazed. “He looks okay, Elyse. How bad is it, son?”

There was a tremor in his voice.

Ward winced at that and the pain he saw in his father’s eyes. “It’s not bad at all. It was a through and through. No major harm done. That last game against Brownville was worse.”

“Yeah, I don’t remember you being shot at a football game,” Mason stalked off to slam the casserole down on the hallway table.

Samantha pushed in between him and his parents. “Are you going to be okay? They said in the fan group that Lucy…I mean Della…was beaten up and you were shot fifteen times. Nobody knew if either of you was even still alive. I mean, Piper posted on her channel that Della was stable and recovering, but she didn’t say anything aboutyou.”

Her face crumpled as the tears she’d been trying to hold on to escaped.

Ward’s heart twisted itself into a knot he’d never untie. He opened his arms, and she threw herself at him, jostling his injured leg. He breathed through the pain while he hugged his sister tight. “It was twice, not fifteen, and one was just a graze. You can’t believe the internet.”

He’d actually been struck three times, but one had been caught by the vest, which was why his chest looked like an impressionist painting. As far as he was concerned, that didn’t count.

“We wouldn’thaveto believe the internet if you’d told us what was going on,” Mason said with derision.

“I know.” Ward met his gaze. “I screwed up.”

Samantha hugged him tighter. “You could havedied. We just got you back and you almostdied.”

Pond scum. He was pond scum. No, whatever was worse than pond scum, that’s what he was.

He kissed the top of her head. “I didn’t come close to dying, and I’m not going anywhere. I promise. All I need is a little downtime to let the muscle heal up. I’ll be as good as new.”

He met his parents’ eyes, knowing that some of their trauma wasn’t just about him being shot. They were probably having flashbacks to the trial after his mother’s death and how he’d been shipped off to the Marines. They were probably worried he’d go to prison this time. “It was a clean shoot. Self-defense. The police and the FBI say the case is closed.”