Page 73 of One Last Shot
Ashley sat, wrapped in a blanket, shivering hard, Boo attending to a wound above her eye. Oaken walked over to Ashley and collapsed on the shore.
“There’s... a... man... in the van,” he said, even as Moose brought over a blanket. Oaken shook so hard he thought his teeth might crack.
“Let’s get some spotlights, and we’ll see how far the van’s gone downriver,” Axel said. “I’ll go in after him.”
“No!”
Ashley’s outburst had even Oaken staring at her. “No—hekidnappedme. And assaulted me! I was walking to my car after work, and he grabbed me and shoved me into the van. He—he...” Her breaths came fast.
“Okay,” Boo said softly. “It’s okay.”
But Ashley shook her head. “I was in the back, my hands taped, but I got free and tried to get out, and that’s when we started sliding. I got into the front seat—I was so scared. I buckled in right before we went over.”
“Smart,” said Boo.
“Brave,” said Axel.
She looked at Oaken. “You saved my life.”
He had nothing.
Then she threw her arms around him, her face in his neck. “Thank you. Thank you.”
He patted her back, but his gaze was on Boo. And the terrible expression she wore. Horror, fear, pain.
She swallowed,looked away.
And that’s when, of all people, Huxley came down the embankment, Beto in tow.
“Right here. Set up here, Beto, and let’s get this shot.”
Ashley let him go and looked over at Huxley. “Are you the news? Because he’s a hero. And everyone should know it.”
Huxley smiled. “Yes, they should.”
“Not until we get to the hospital and get them both treated for hypothermia,” Boo snapped. “And if you haven’t noticed, Oaken is bleeding, so there’s that.”
Then she got up and stalked away.
And as Oaken watched, in the dim shadows, she turned, her hands over her face.
Then his entire body went from numb to a deep, bone-searching ache as he watched her quietly, privately, fall apart.
Boo was fine. Just.Fine.
So what that she’d nearly seen super country star Oaken Fox be swept away into the lethal black waters of the Eagle River.
So what that only an hour earlier, she’d been laughing with the man, thinking, What if?
Yeah, what if he dove into a river like a fool and nearly died trying to be a hero?
“Can I get you anything?”
Boo looked over from where she stared out the window of the ER lobby, watching the rain on the slick parking lot. London stood, still dressed in her jumpsuit, having come right from the scene, holding a cup of coffee. “You should really change out of those wet clothes.”
“It’s just my jacket.” Okay, and her boots, but the heat of the hospital had warmed her feet to simply soggy instead of soggy and frozen. And her wool socks wicked away a lotof the moisture.
And she wasn’t going anywhere while Oaken still sat in the ER getting his leg stitched up. He’d sliced it pretty good on the rocks but hadn’t even seemed to notice it.