Page 31 of The Fear (The Hillers of Barratt County #7)

Grady recognized the woman standing next to Hudson once the Value Volunteer Fire Department stepped aside and the larger paid Barrattville crew finished putting out the flames at Hudson’s place.

He hadn’t seen her standing there before, but he had been busy doing his job.

Hudson’s house would stand, but the end where the master bedroom and bath had once been had taken some serious damage.

It would take some time to rebuild. Thank God Hudson’s kid was safely tucked into Calvin’s room sleeping over tonight.

It would have terrified that little boy to see this. Given him nightmares for a long time.

Now Grady headed straight to his sister. Fear had him moving fast. “Gia, what in the hell are you doing here?”

“I need to get her to the hospital,” the man next to her said, just holding Grady’s sister close. “Addy’s cleared us to leave, but I’m blocked in.”

“My truck is over there. I’m going to tell Gunn what’s going on.

He’ll have to catch a ride with Travis Deane or the water truck or something.

” They drove their own trucks to call-outs.

It would take too damned long if they didn’t.

Some local farmers had water trucks, too.

Deane’s had come in handy tonight. And with as far apart as the properties in the county were, that could make a difference.

Their own water truck was right there, overseen by their foreman.

It had helped tonight. “We didn’t know she was over here with you. How badly is my sister hurt?”

Hudson was practically wrapped around her—and she was wrapped in a blanket. Shock could make a person cold.

“A few burns probably,” Gia said, in a shaky voice. “Glass in my feet. My legs. I was closest to the window when it broke. Whatever that was splashed on me.”

Hudson scooped her up. “Let’s get her to the truck.”

“Hudson, your feet are hurt, too. Put me down.”

“I’m good. Feet as tough as old leather.” Hudson had a soothing tone in his voice. And he wasn’t letting her go. Man practically had a death grip on her.

Grady held out his arms. “I can take her, man. She is my sister, after all.”

Hell, hadn’t she said she was going somewhere to work tonight? Apparently, he’d found the somewhere.

“I’ve got her. Just…let’s get to the hospital and then you can take her home. I need to talk to Addy soon.”

“Clay can meet us at the hospital.” Gia’s arm was around Hudson’s neck and she was clinging to him. “We’ll both talk to him, Hudson. You aren’t just tucking me away somewhere while you deal with the dark.”

Something in her tone made Grady pause. Look closer.

Think for a minute, past the fear and concern.

She’d left the house before dinner—saying she needed to talk to Hudson about their latest case.

That had been hours ago. She’d texted Genny a few hours ago and said she was working. He’d thought she’d meant at the office.

It was ten o’clock at night. His sister wasn’t in the jeans he knew she’d left in—he could see the pale skin of her legs right there. She’d been barefooted and bare-legged, just hanging around her boss’s house, preparing for a trial?

The fire had been in Hudson’s damned bedroom. And she’d been closest to the window. In the man’s bedroom. And the way Hudson was holding her…

His sister liked to pretend she was tough and a bad-ass, but she was actually far more sensitive than Greer or Genny deep down. It was what made her a little prickly. Hudson better be serious, or Grady was going to clock him.

That was just the way it was going to be. Grady wasn’t messing around with Hudson’s sister like that. And he wouldn’t. Not without it being serious. A decent guy just didn’t do that.

Of course, how he thought about Hala certainly felt serious.

And he’d always thought Hudson was a good guy.

Gunn came running up, to check on her, as Hudson was lifting her into Grady’s truck.

“My feet are going to bleed all over the interior,” Gia said.

“There are paper towels behind the seat,” Grady said. They came in handy on a ranch. He didn’t care about a bit of blood. It could be washed. He just wanted to be sure she was okay. “We can wrap them up for the time being.”

“I think there are still glass shards in there.” She was curiously calm.

He hated when Gia acted all calm like that. It usually meant she was scared. Terrified.

He rather preferred when she was hissing like that old tom cat they used to have. He’d named that cat Giovanni da’ Cat. She hadn’t exactly appreciated that. But the name had stuck.

“We’re ten minutes from the hospital, kid. I’ll get you there.”

“Hudson, your feet?”

“A few slices, but not many. A couple of burns that sting. That’s all.”

Grady looked at them in the rearview mirror. Hudson had her feet in his lap. Wrapping them gently. Just holding her like that.

Hell, the guy wasn’t just hot for her, Grady realized.

Hudson was hands down flat out in love with Grady’s sister.

He wondered if the guy even knew that yet.

Well, Grady knew just how the man felt. Hudson’s own sister was about to drive Grady crazy.

Not that it was love or anything, but there was definitely…

fire in how he felt about that little devil woman now.

She’d been sending him little looks all night. Looks designed to heat him right up. He’d almost scooped her up, right in front of his family, and carried her off to the far corner of the ranch to do things to her. It had taken everything he had to resist.

“You’ll need to call Hala. So she doesn’t hear and freak out,” Gia said. “Where is she tonight?”

“She’s back at the house,” Grady said, thinking about that woman he’d had wrapped up in his arms not even four hours ago. “Stayed with Greer again, after you left. I can run back home after you are inside the hospital. Tell her myself you are both okay.”

“I’d appreciate it. She tends to freak if anything happens to me and Ryan.”

“It’s because you are the only family she has,” Gia said, softly.

“I know. But…thanks, Grady. I appreciate it.”

“For what it’s worth, it didn’t look like the house will have permanent damage. But what in the hell happened?”

“I’m not entirely sure. Someone threw something through the window,” Gia said.

Grady checked the mirror again. She rested against Hudson’s chest now.

It looked a bit awkward, the way the other man was turned, with the seatbelt like that.

But…they hadn’t stopped touching each other since Hudson had climbed in the truck.

Like they were just making certain the other one was real. And safe.

“Some type of accelerant was thrown through the window, from what I could see, Grady. Broke the window and landed on the law books we had on the bed in front of your sister.”

Someone had done this on purpose.

Grady just drove as that sank in. Someone could have killed his sister tonight.