Southern Heart, Madison, Natasha [the little red hen ebook TXT] 📗

inside and get Ethan here." My heartbeat kicks up just a notch, and unlike before, it’s not just me this time. I have to protect her.

"I’m not leaving you," she says, and I look over at her and see the fear in her face. But she doesn’t leave my side.

"Chelsea," I say between clenched teeth.

"You’re wasting time," she says, putting her hand under my arm and lifting me. "Let’s go."

My eyes always forward as I stand back up, ignoring the pain from the side. I feel hot drip and know that I popped a stitch for sure. I move back, pushing her inside, walking with my back into the house with my eyes focused to the trees.

"I can’t see anything," I hiss out, closing the door, turning to see her with one hand on the island and another hand on her chest. Her head is hanging down. "When I tell you to do something." She turns to look at me, and I see the tears running down her face. "You do it."

"Did you expect me to just leave you out there like a sitting duck." She starts with her voice low, and then it rises. "Abandon you to be shot again." Her chest is panting as if she just ran a mile.

"What good would it do if we were both shot?" I roar out. "How were you going to help me if you got shot and died?”

"What good would it do if I just left you out there and then you died?" she counters me. "I’m going to call Ethan."

I watch her walk away, and my heart starts to slowly calm down, but all I can see is the fear in her eyes. "Keep it calm," I say and look down to see the blood leaking down my leg. "Fuck.” I walk over to grab a napkin and wipe the blood. The front door swings open, and I hear boots running. I look up to see that Quinn is standing there, rage on his face now. I’ve never seen him like this before.

"Where is she?" he asks, looking around.

"She went back to call Ethan." I point at the bedroom.

"She was sobbing," he says, running back to the bedroom, and my heart sinks in my chest. Literally to the fucking floor. I take two steps to her room before the front door opens again and this time it’s Ethan who looks like he just rolled out of bed.

"What happened?" he asks, looking around.

"We were outside." I start to tell him, and my eyes go from him to the bedroom, wondering if she’s okay. "Watching the sunrise, and we heard snapping coming from the back of the yard. I looked up, but I couldn’t see anything."

He takes out his phone and calls someone. "Back of Chelsea’s house, I want the feed into the woods," he says, and I hear mumbling on the other line and look down when I feel wet again and see that the blood is now seeping through the shirt. "I want all feeds ready to view when I get there in twenty minutes." He puts the phone back in his pocket.

"Where is Chelsea?" he asks me, and I look down. "What happened?”

"She didn’t listen to me when I told her to go inside," I tell him the truth. I leave out that I almost crossed the line with her. I don’t tell him that if there wasn’t someone in the back, I would have probably kissed her and ruined everything.

"Why doesn’t that surprise me." He shakes his head. "Go put on another shirt, and I’ll make sure she is okay."

I nod at him. "Maybe she’ll listen to you,” I huff out and walk to the bedroom, but with the pulling of the stitches in my legs and my side, it takes more time than I want it to.

I peel off the shirt and look down, seeing the bandage soaked through. "Mother." I stop talking when I peel the bandage off and see two of the dark stitches come right out, and I know I have to tell her.

I turn and walk out of the room, and I know that I should wait for her in my room. I know that I should give her time. I’m in the hallway when I hear Ethan. "It isn’t my story to tell, Chelsea."

"Do you know how scared I was out there with him?" she says, and whatever I thought we had is gone with just those words. "He’s here in the house with me, and this morning, I thought he was going to be shot again," she says, her voice low but still loud enough for me to hear. "How do you want me to handle that?” I close my eyes and turn around, walking back to the bedroom.

Grabbing a bandage, I press down on it, and the pain rips through to the other side of me. I have to sit down, and I see Ethan stick his head in. "We are going to head out. I’ll be back with Casey in a bit to tell you what we found." I nod at him. "She’s getting dressed, and she’ll be right in. I told her about the bleeding."

I don’t say anything to him because there are no words to say. I can’t say anything; all I can do is get far away from here and her.

Chapter 14

Chelsea

"Are you going to be okay here by yourself?” Quinn asks me, standing at the entrance to my bedroom. Ethan just walked out.

"I’ll be okay," I tell him. "It was just a bit too much," I tell him, and I close my eyes. "I have to make sure he’s not bleeding too much."

"You call me if you need me," he says, and I just nod at him. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to call him after Ethan, but I didn’t know what else to do. My heart was beating so fast and my whole body was shaking uncontrollably. I was afraid he