Page 74 of The Moments You Were Mine

“Fallon!” I screamed just as I burst through the trees, and some of the guests jerked around, fear spreading across their faces until they saw it was me.

I hauled ass over the field and shoved my way through the group, heart torn between racing and stopping, a stuttering that made it hard to breathe.

Chuck was on the ground next to Fallon, holding her hand. Her eyes were shut, and her face was deathly pale.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I gritted my teeth, trying to pull myself together in order to do the one thing Fallon would count on me to do—get her guests to safety.

“Everyone on your horses. Get back to the hotel,” I ordered.

The woman Fallon had chased down was crying uncontrollably as one of the other guests patted her shoulder.

“I called 9-1-1,” Chuck said, his voice shaky.

His face was almost as pale as Fallon’s as tears streamed down it. He nervously wiped the back of his cheek as I knelt beside her. I fought every urge screaming at me to pull her into my arms and yell at her to fucking wake up.

Instead, I assessed her carefully from head to toe. No blood. Thank God! There was no blood and no hole torn through her clothes. She hadn’t been hit with a bullet, but she had a massive knot at her temple that was already turning an ugly shade of black and blue. She was breathing, chest rising and falling, but she looked so still and lifeless it was terrifying.

“What happened?” I demanded.

Chuck’s voice was full of fear and awe as he explained, “She was like a superhero. She launched onto Sue’s horse and pulled Sue back into the saddle before reining in the horse. They’d both just gotten off when another gunshot…” The teen’s voice disappeared.

The woman Fallon had saved took over. “The horse freaked out. It reared up, knocking her in the head with its hoof. She wentdown like… I’ve never seen…” She broke into sobs again.

A head wound. A nasty damn head wound.

Her neck needed to be secured. She needed an MRI.

But, hell, the relief swam through me because it was better than a hole in her chest.

I looked around at the group, who still hadn’t moved. They were standing there in shock. Tense and scared. “Go. Damn it. Get on the horses, and head back to the hotel.”

Chuck stood, looking down at Fallon again with tears still streaming. “I’ll t-take them.”

“Make sure the EMTs know where to come, and tell them to send a backboard.” I gave the kid a firm look, one that saiddo not fucking fail me.

He pulled his shoulders back and got the guests mounted and moving.

The woman Fallon had chased down just stood there.

“I can’t… I can’t get back on…” she cried.

Chuck took her by the elbow. “Come on, Sue. We’ll walk the horses back.”

“What if we’re shot at again?” she wept.

“The shooter left,” I growled. “But the safest place you can be right now is at the hotel.”

As soon as Chuck had the two of them heading toward the resort, I planted my ass on the ground and grabbed Fallon’s hand. “Wake up, Ducky. Wake the fuck up before I’m forced to call Rafe. You and I both know you’d hate that.”

Nothing. Just the continued slow rise and fall of her chest.

Guilt, anger, and fear all washed through me in a heady mix that made me want to pound my boxing bag until my fingers bled. I slammed my fist onto the ground.

“Wake the fuck up!”

Her pupils danced behind closed lids.