Page 7 of For Cowgirls and Kings (The Trauma Bonded #2)

FIVE

MATEO

I rush into the hospital waiting room, my heart pounding against my rib cage. I spot Dale, and as she turns to face me, I’m hit with twin bolts of panic, and rage.

She’s covered in ashes and soot.

“Dale,” I bark her name, and multiple people in the waiting room jump. But not Dale, she only narrows her eyes and crosses her arms. Fucking hell.

This woman’s going to be the death of me.

“Are you hurt?” I really don’t mean for there to be so much bite in my words, but I can’t contain the fear racing through me. She raises a hand between us, as if to halt my movement any closer.

Unfortunately for her, if she thinks that’ll stop me, she has another thing coming. I grab her extended hand, gently turning it over in my own, looking for any burns or cuts. She hisses, as if I’m the thing burning her, and yanks her hand back.

“I’m fine, Mateo. What’re you doing here?”

I stare at her. She can’t be serious. “I wanted to check on Stetson and Gus.” Her eyes narrow, and after a few more seconds of intense scrutiny, she finally slumps, her shoulders sagging.

“You didn’t have to come. I could have called you.”

“You called me and I said I was on my way. Remember?” I’m getting more pissed by the second, which isn’t something I typically feel.

Why is she pushing me away? Why does she always feel like she has to stand alone?

“What’s your deal?” I hiss, stepping toward her again. Her eyes glitter back at me, full of an emotion I cannot identify. Panic? Exhaustion? Rage?

But why?

She surprises me, moving closer to me in challenge. “If you say anything to get her in trouble, I’ll never forgive you.”

I wouldn’t, and I think deep down she knows that. But she’s running on erratic, feverish emotions, the biggest and brightest being fear. I can understand where she’s coming from, even if it does hurt.

So instead of pressing into her, daring her to trust me enough to release those pent up emotions and explode on me, to show me the extent of her darkness, I concede. I step back nodding once to confirm I’ve heard her. As I do it, the fight melts from her face, quickly replaced with panic.

“Are they okay?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” she admits, her teeth biting into her bottom lip. “No one here will tell me anything, even though I’m the one who came in with them.”

I could easily get answers—god knows I want to. Right or wrong, I’m a powerful man and I rarely find a person unwilling to give me what I want. But I refuse to lose Dale’s fragile trust by flaunting around my power.

“What can I do?”

Her eyes turn round, and I see tears gathering along the edges. I want to crush her head into my chest, hold her tight enough to show her she can break and I won’t drop the pieces. But instead I ball my fists tighter, and grind my teeth.

“Can, can you ask them? I have to know what’s going on, even if that means I have to suffer your ego for it.” She shoots me a watery, teasing smile, and I almost fall to my knees at the sight.

She’s so tired, so fragile, and it hurts worse than any wound my mortal body could suffer.

“Go to the bathroom and wash up, I’ll see what I can find out.”

Her lip quivers and she looks down at her blackened hands.

A single tear skitters across her cheek, and it takes every single drop of willpower I possess and will ever possess, to not grab her and pull her to me.

She nods, but her eyes never lift from her hands, as if seeing them for the first time.

“They were so hurt Mateo. Gus was out of his mind, and Stetson—” Her voice cracks at her name. “I don’t know if he was too late. What if he was too late?”

Unable to fight off the urge any longer, I reach out a hand and rest it on her shoulder. She doesn’t shy away so I bravely pull her to me, and within seconds she folds her body to mine, her arms pressed between us as I hug her.

I rest my chin on her head, and I wish with everything in me I could lessen her pain. “They’ll be okay.”

I bite my tongue as she quickly pulls away, my words either enough to reassure her, or enough to push her close enough to some invisible edge she refuses to fall over in company. Without a backwards glance, Dale walks to the bathroom at the end of the hallway.

As the door clicks shut I prowl to the counter where the nurses are busy tapping away at a keyboard.

With both hands on the counter, I suck in a ragged breath.

“Excuse me?” It takes several seconds before an elderly woman with dull brown hair piled in a bun, lifts her face to mine.

Her eyes widen and she quickly stands up.

“Yes sir, how can I help you?”

“The couple that came in from the barn fire, how are they?”

Her face flushes, and I instantly know she’s uncomfortable. Tomorrow I’ll feel bad about harassing someone who’s just trying to do right by their job. But not tonight.

Tonight I’ll rip every door off its hinge to get the answer’s Dale wants, if only to stop her heart from aching so heavily for a single moment.

“Uhm, are you family?”

I shake my head, and then point towards the bathroom Dale disappeared into.

“No, but she is. Maybe not by blood, but in every other way that matters. And if she sheds another tear because she doesn’t know what’s going on, and no one will give her any information, I’ll make every single person wish they’d taken today off.

” She blinks, and I know my words are as menacing as they are bitter.

I hate throwing around my power. But what good is it if I can’t protect the one person who deserves it most?

She sags. Yep, I'm definitely going to feel bad tomorrow.

“The man suffered minor injuries consistent with third degree burns. The smoke inhalation will be his biggest struggle to overcome, but last I heard he was already out of his bed, and causing trouble, threatening things far worse than anything you’ve said.

” She eyes me, and I have to fight off a smile— that would be entirely inappropriate, but if I know anything about Gus, it's that he would kill someone who stood between him and Stetson.

“And the girl?” I urge.

“And the girl suffered some severe second degree burns, mainly on her arms and exposed skin—face, neck, hands. The smoke inhalation was bad enough she’s currently on oxygen, but is expected to make a full recovery.

She also had severe injuries related to an assault, but you’ll have to talk to the police to get any more than that.

” She glares at me as she finishes, and I attempt a small smile.

It only makes her eyes narrow more, and I shrug.

I got what I needed.

“Thank you.”

She turns around without acknowledging me a second longer, and I head back to wait in the chairs for Dale.

How can I help them? An assault? And Stetson—she lost everything. How will she get that ranch out of its hole now?

I pull out my phone and dial the lawyer I keep on retainer for my own personal uses. At one point I distrusted Gus, but I now know him for what he is. A man possessed by love.

And I’ll do what I can, with the vast power I have, to help. It may be the only good thing that comes from my position in life.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get my happy ending. But I’ll make sure Gus and Stetson do. For them, as much as for Dale.