“How is she?”
“Pissed off. I haven’t told her how bad Ranger is yet, though. Just that he was hurt.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “She’s not going to take it well if the dog dies, Wroth.”
“Yeah, I figured that out by now.” I glanced down at Shane who had his hands folded together as if he were praying. I’d never seen Shane Stevenson pray in all the years I’d known him. Poor bastard. “Shane isn’t looking so great, Em. Maybe you should send Nik or one of the other Demons over. Someone. I’m not exactly a comforting kind of man.”
“You’ll do fine, Wroth. Right now I’m glad it’s you. If some lunatic is on the loose, then he isn’t any safer than Harper is. With your training, you’re the best one to be with him right now. Watch his back.” Her voice shook slightly and I realized that she was probably fighting her own tears.
I promised her I would and then ended the call soon afterwards when someone tried to get Emmie’s attention. For the next half hour I sat beside Shane, watching out for him while he just sat there with his head bowed, silently praying for the life of a pet that was like his child.
The entrance door slid open and I raised my head, expecting to see some pet and its owner coming through the door. When I saw Marissa walking in, I nearly stopped breathing. She looked frazzled and worried, but no less beautiful. Her eyes met mine almost immediately and she offered me a small, sad smile as she came to sit beside me without saying a word. I sat back and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, but neither of us spoke as we waited with our friend.
When the door to the OR opened more than an hour later, it was the tech and she had a small smile on her face as she stepped forward. Her green scrub’s top was damp with sweat, her hair in disarray, but the smile gave me hope.
I nudged Shane and his head snapped up. When he stood, I followed with Marissa close behind. “How is he?” Shane demanded, his voice hoarse with tears.
“The doctor is just finishing up his stitches. The blade did go deep, but thankfully nothing vital was hit. He’s going to be a very sore puppy for a while, but he’s going to be fine. Doc will be out in a few minutes to talk to you.” She smiled, reached out and gave Shane’s hand a reassuring squeeze, nodded at me and Marissa and then returned to the room she’d just come out of.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Shane lost it. He started sobbing with relief and I couldn’t not hug the man. His arms wrapped around me in a vise-like hold and I awkwardly patted him on the back for a long, long time before the Demon’s Wings bassist was able to get his emotions together enough to let me go. He finally pulled himself together enough to sit back down and Marissa sat on the other side of him.
“I was scared I was going to have to go back to Harper and tell her that her dog was gone,” he muttered to himself.
“I’m so glad he’s going to be okay,” Marissa told him and his head snapped up again as if he was just then realizing that she was there.
“How is she?” Blue-gray eyes looked wild. “Is she okay?”
Marissa smiled. “Yeah, she’s fine. Angry, but okay. She’s asked me to tell you she loves you and she was glad you were with Ranger since she couldn’t be.”
Shane stood again, patting his jeans for his phone. I pulled it out of my back pocket and handed it to him since I hadn’t given it back after Emmie had called. He took it and walked across the room before putting the phone to his ear. “Beautiful?” His voice cracked, it was so full of emotions that I turned away from the sight of him. It was more than obvious that Shane loved his wife more than anything on the planet. “Are you okay?” There was a pause before he cleared his throat and spoke again. “The vet said that Ranger is going to be okay. He will be out to talk to me in a minute and give me details.”
While Shane talked to his wife, I sat down beside Marissa and wrapped my arm around her once again. She leaned into me, offering me the comfort I hadn’t known I needed until right at that moment. “How are you?” she asked after a moment.
“I’m good. Now.” I brushed a kiss across her forehead. “Thanks for coming over to stay with me.”
“When Emmie said you were over here alone with him, I offered to come help. I figured you would be out of your element, especially with Shane. But you were really good with him just now.” A small smile tilted her lips and she shook her head. “That was the most awkward hug I’ve ever witnessed, but it was also the most endearing.”
I lowered my head and kissed her cheek, needing to feel some kind of connection to her without pushing her. When she shivered, my body hardened instantaneously, but I just pulled her closer and she rested her head on my chest until the vet came out to talk to Shane ten minutes later.
Ranger would have to stay overnight but would be able to travel by the next afternoon. We didn’t have a concert for two days so that wasn’t going to be a problem. But Shane didn’t look like he cared about the next concert and I understood that. Not just because of the poor dog, but because he had so much shit to deal with.
His wife was the target of angry female fans, something she’d been from the day the story about their engagement had hit social media. Shane Stevenson’s days of living it up with any female who looked twice at him were officially over that day. Apparently the two years that he and Harper had lived together hadn’t counted, but as soon as they had announced they were getting hitched things had gone batshit crazy.
Now, it wasn’t just the threat of those crazies doing something to hurt Harper. It was an actuality. Someone had crossed that fine line from theory to action and Harper’s safety was at stake. By the time we got back to the buses, Shane was muttering about quitting Demon’s Wings to protect his girl.
I didn’t comment on it, because if it had been me and Marissa’s safety was the one on the line, I’d be thinking the same things. I’d walk away from OtherWorld without a backwards glance to protect her.
Chapter 10
Marissa
Shane and Harper’s bus needed some repairs as well as having some essentials replaced, so they moved onto Drake and Lana’s bus with a very sore Ranger and Jenna, who was spending the summer with them, the next evening and we headed out for the next city. The driver and two roadies would take care of everything and then meet up with us in the next city since everything would take longer than expected to fix.