“I’m not worried about me.” Emma straightened her spine and unfolded her arms. “I’m worried about Mac and Jake.”
The first part was a total lie. The last part wasn’t. Shewasworried about Mac and Jake. Along with her brother and the rest of the team.
She was also done waiting around for permission to leave.
Spinning on the balls of her bare feet, Emma went in search of her socks and shoes. The dressy laced pumps would look a little funny with the scrubs, but she didn’t care.
All she cared about was finding her brother and making sure everyone else was okay.
“What are you doing?” Trace asked from a few feet behind her.
Emma grabbed her shoes and socks from the plastic chair near the bed and sat down. “What does it look like?” She began puttingonsaid socks and shoes.
“You haven’t been released.”
“What are they going to do? Cuff me to the bed?”
Tying the last of the two laces, she stood and headed for the door. Trace stepped into her path, blocking the way.
“You should wait.”
“And you should get out of my way.”
“Emma—”
“Look, Trace,” she interrupted, doing her best not to sound like a total bitch. “I appreciate everything you’ve done. I really do. But I’m fine. If I wasn’t, the nurse wouldn’t be out there right now getting my release papers. Now, I need to see my brother, and I need to make sure Mac and Jake are okay.” Her voice cracked as tears threatened to fill her eyes.
No. She would not start crying. She wouldnot.
Opening his mouth, she was sure Trace was going to continue arguing with her. But much to her surprise, he gave her a slight tip of his head and turned for the door.
“Fine,” he grumbled. “We’ll find them together.”
Fine.
Minutes later, they were walking into the room where Mac had been admitted, right as Detective West was walking out. He didn’t say anything. Just a slight nod as he passed by.
With a deep breath, Emma pushed the heavy door open. Having steeled herself for the worst, she was shocked to see Mac sitting up in bed with Sean in a chair beside her.
“Mac!” She rushed across the room to the free side of the bed. “Oh, thank God, you’re okay!”
Looking a little worse for the wear, Mac offered her a shaky smile and held out her arms. “Hey, Ems.” The other woman pulled her in tightly. “How are you doing?”
At the moment, she was fighting the urge to cry. “I should be asking you that same thing.” Emma pulled back and looked her future sister-in-law over.
Mac’s long, blonde hair was down, and there was a bandage covering the left side of her forehead. Her right cheek was a little swollen, the skin there bruised and scratched. But overall, she appeared to be okay.
“I’m fine.” Mac’s smile grew a bit more. “Which is what I keep telling your brother and the doctor, but they both insist on keeping me here, overnight.”
On his way over to greet Emma, Sean’s gaze filled with concern as he looked at the woman he loved.
“You were knocked unconscious by a bomb that detonated less than thirty feet away from where we sat. It took a long damn time to wake you up, and the doctor called your concussion ‘significant’. Fuck yeah, you’re staying the night.”
The man was clearly still shaken by almost losing his soon-to-be-wife. Not that she could blame him. But when Mac simply rolled her pretty blue eyes, Emma couldn’t help but smile.
Somewhere in the back of her head, it dawned on her that it was the first time she’d smiled since before the explosion.
Then she remembered how Mac had looked when Sean was carrying her out of the office, and her lips flattened. An aching began to spread inside her chest at the thought of how differently this morning’s outcome could’ve been.