Nate gave his mom’s name at the front desk of the emergency room. We were led inside the automatic doors to a separate waiting area. Upon seeing us, Luke jerked to a stand at his seat. A purple shiner was beginning to form beneath his eye.

Beside him, Anna looked disheveled. Her hair wasn’t perfectly styled like it had been at the football game, her makeup was streaked from crying, and her hands were trembling.

When Luke’s gaze darted between us, Nate reached for my hand and grasped it tightly, either for support or to make it clear to his brother that we were together.

“Dad was taken to the station,” Luke said in a low voice. “He asked me to call his attorney as he was being placed in the backseat of the squad car.”

Nate gritted his teeth. “Have you called him?”

“No,” he said, his jaw tight. “Let him sit there.”

Nate nodded and his eyes darted outside the room. “Where’s Mom?”

“We were asked to step out during her examination.” He looked back at Anna briefly, as she sat wringing her hands. “He . . . he was choking her. She was unconscious. But the paramedics were able to revive her.”

“Fuck!” Nate trembled beside me. He squeezed his eyes shut as if imagining what might’ve happened had Luke not arrived.

I attempted to hold in my reaction. I could just imagine the scene and what they had walked into. No wonder Anna looked so shaken.

“Nate,” Luke said and Nate snapped his eyes to him. “I . . . I’m sorry, man.”

Nate tipped his chin. “Does this mean I have my brother back?”

Luke gave a curt nod, sat down, and swung his arm around Anna to pull her closer. It was a comforting and protective gesture and pretty evident how much he cared about her.

“You okay, baby?” he whispered to Anna loud enough for us to overhear.

Her arms stretched around his neck and she mumbled near his ear. “Promise me this time, Luke. You’ll make that appointment. You’ve been so angry lately. I don’t want . . .”

“Shhh . . .” he murmured against her hair and then kissed her forehead tenderly. “I promise, baby. I don’t want to lose you. And I know I need to work it out.”

Nate squeezed my fingers but stared straight ahead, probably in an attempt to protect his brother’s privacy. But one thing was evident in his face, his softened features. Relief.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted my landlord, Jillian, walk by the room. I knew she was an ER nurse, but I wasn’t certain we’d see her tonight.

“Jessie, what are you doing here?” she asked, swinging back toward the door.

Eyes wide, she looked from me to Nate and then to Luke and Anna.

“I’m here for their mom, who was brought in a little bit ago.”

“What’s her name?”

“The last name is Connors,” I said, as Nate gripped my fingers.

“I’ll find out how she’s doing,” she said. “Be right back.”

We sat down in silence, Nate still holding my hand. I didn’t want to let go for anything, because it felt like he needed me to be his anchor, and I wanted to be that for him.

Jillian returned a couple minutes later. “They’re going to keep her overnight, just for observation. But so far everything checks out fine.”

Nate released a breath as she continued. “Her voice is hoarse and she’s got some bruising, but you can go back and see her before they admit her.”

The brothers stood up together to go to their mom. I stayed seated next to Anna. “Thanks, Jillian.”

“No problem, sweetie.”

Once they left we grew silent, both of us unsure of what to say to the other. In any other circumstance, we wouldn’t have even been in the same room together.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Anna whispered so quietly, I looked over to be sure I heard her.

“What happened?”

“He had his hands around her throat. I screamed and Luke sprang into action, wrestling with his dad.” She shoved her fingers through her hair. “I didn’t know what to do, so I just pulled out my phone and dialed 9-1-1.”

“You did good,” I said and squeezed her shoulder.

We stayed at the hospital until they got Mrs. Connors situated in her room. It’d been a long night and we were all exhausted.

When we got to his truck, I said, “Just take me to your place.”

Nate didn’t argue or even respond. He just started driving home.

At his apartment, he opened the door, grabbed my hand, and pulled me inside.

Nate tugged off his jeans, as I stood quietly on the other side of the room.

He dragged back the covers, slid into his bed, and then silently motioned to the space beside him.

He lay watching as I yanked off my combat boots and skirt and then climbed beneath his sheets.

Almost immediately he hauled me to him, grasping at my thighs so that our hips and chests fit snugly together.

Then his arm groped for my fingers, interconnecting our hands together like he’d done that other night during sex. Somehow that gesture alone made my heart batter around in my chest.

His face at my neck, he whispered kisses across my throat before heaving a deep and long sigh. “God, I missed your smell.”

My muscles relaxed, my body melded to his, and I fell asleep shortly thereafter.

Chapter Thirty-five

Nate

I sat at my temp desk at the Williams and Struthers Group, working on a bridge improvement plan that would count toward my grade, but I was having one hell of a time concentrating on the task in front of me.