Free The Deputies: 3 Novella Box Set by Olivia Jaymes Page B

accident investigation, Seth had taken the time to hunt down Luke. His son was happy and healthy, completely unaware of what had transpired mere minutes ago.
    “Thanks.” Hank forced the word through the lump in his throat. He barely registered the flashing lights on the emergency vehicles or the press of people craning their necks to get a good look. Everything that was going on felt strange as if it was happening to someone else. Maybe he’d wake up and find it was all a terrible nightmare. The physical pain that had ripped through him in the beginning had changed to a numb, dead feeling inside. If anything happened to his wife, he might never feel anything ever again.
    Helpless, he watched as they wrapped a collar around Alyssa’s neck and attached her to a board to stabilize her back. At one point, her lids had fluttered and she’d moaned in pain. He’d jerked forward to talk to her but she went back to being deathly still and quiet before he could say a word.
    Carefully moving her to a stretcher, the team lifted her into the ambulance. Hank jumped in after them not even sparing a glance at his boss and grabbed her hand. He needed the contact with her to keep himself sane.
    The only thing that mattered now was Alyssa. She had to live so she could yell at him and tell him he was a fucking selfish swine who didn’t deserve someone like her to love him.

Chapter Eight

    N o one would tell Hank anything.
    When they’d arrived at the county hospital, they’d taken her back behind a set of double doors. He couldn’t see or hear anything that was going on. Every now and then someone would exit and he’d try and talk to them but they would just pat him on the arm and say that the doctor would be out as soon as they knew anything.
    Pacing back and forth, the argument he and Alyssa had had this morning played over and over like a bad movie. She’d given him nothing but love and what had he done this morning when she’d reached out again?
    He’d acted like an asshole, throwing her love back in her face like he didn’t need it. He needed it more than he needed air to breathe. Without Alyssa, life would be empty. He’d be alive for his son but there would always be the hole in his chest where his heart used to be.
    He stared sightlessly out of the window and sank into a chair, the pain and desolation so acute he could hardly bear it. His fingers gripped the seat edge until his knuckles turned white and he shook as the first tears he’d cried in many years rolled down his cheeks.
    He didn’t try and hide them or pretend he was too manly. His wife was fighting for her life and it didn’t seem right to act as if this didn’t affect him. He was being torn apart inside with fear and self-loathing and there wasn’t a facade he could muster that would cover it up.
    “Have you heard anything?” Footsteps and then Seth’s voice.
    Hank brushed at his eyes and tried to stand but fell back into the chair instead, his body feeling suddenly stiff and old.
    “Nothing.” Hank shook his head and accepted the cup of coffee Seth held out to him. “No one will tell me anything.”
    Seth scrubbed his fingers through his hair, his expression haunted. Hank remembered that Seth’s best friend in high school had died in an auto accident.
    “Did you call your mom?” Seth asked softly. Their voices seemed to boom in the quiet.
    “Yes. I talked to her and then to Luke. We decided not to tell him anything right now. Not until we know something. He was going to spend the night anyway. Alyssa was planning a special night for me Mom said.”
    His last words sounded strangled as he tried to hold onto his composure. When he’d spoken to his mother and she’d said that Alyssa had wanted to have a romantic evening, just the two of them, it had almost done him in. That she could still love him after his behavior this morning stunned and humbled him.
    “She deserves a hell of a lot better than me, Seth. If I could trade places with her,