Page 64 of My Omega's Baby

He let out a shaky breath. “Fine. Next time I’ll text or call you.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. That’s all I ask.” I bit my lip. “So, when you say it was a scratch, what does that mean?”

“It means the bullet grazed my flesh instead of going through me.”

“Shit. That sounds a little too close.” I shivered.

“Yeah. It was.” His voice had a slight tremble. “It rattled me, to be honest.”

I wished I could see his face and hold him close to comfort him. “Who was the shooter?”

“Just some love-crazed fan.” He gave a hard laugh. “I really thought he was no big deal at first. But then he started getting more and more upset, and I knew I had a problem.”

“Well, it sounds like it was good you were there.”

“Definitely. I think he might have got close enough to shoot Riley if I wasn’t here. I’m overly suspicious and it works for this job.”

I laughed gruffly. “Yeah, it really does.” I could hear voices behind him.

“I should probably go. The police are almost done interviewing Riley, and we’ll need to head out to the concert venue.”

I grunted. “Okay.” What I wanted was for him to get on a plane and come home right now, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

“I’ll be home late tomorrow.” His voice was hushed. Tentative.

“Good. The sooner the better.”

“Yeah?” His voice went up, as if pleased.

“Absolutely.” I paused. “I… uh… I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night, then.” I didn’t really want to hang up. I felt better when I heard his voice. It calmed me.

He hesitated. “Don’t worry. The baby’s fine, and I’m… I’m fine. Again, I’m sorry you didn’t hear about the shooting from me first, but honestly, I didn’t know it had made the news. I guess Riley West is better known than I realized. I was gonna tell you all about it when I got back.”

I stared out at the front lawn. “It was just a shock. I… I had a really bad feeling in my gut last night already.”

“You did?”

“Yes. I really wanted to hear your voice so I could be reassured you were okay. And then I heard about the shooting and I freaked out.” I was a little embarrassed I was being so candid, but it also felt nice to get my feelings out.

“Sorry.” He sounded sincere. “I wanted to call you last night. Even before the shooting.”

“You should have.”

He sighed. “Like I said earlier; I just never know what’s the right thing to do with you.”

“But now you do. When in doubt, reach out to me.”

“Okay.” He cleared his throat. “You probably won’t believe me, but I actually miss you.”

I felt breathless. “Yeah?”

“Yep.”

“Me too.” I closed my eyes and could practically feel his warm energy through the phone. “It’s nice to hear you say that.”