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Jeff and Carl are here.
What?!
Ed and Hayden both flinched.
I just saw them. I went right away to tell Jamie to be careful. That s when I realized he was
acting weird. I called as soo--
Jamie passed out.
Fuck! Ethan grabbed him and hauled him up into his arms. He didn t bother to explain himself
as he took off for the door, ignoring the odd looks and questions other patrons tossed at him as he
passed by. He had to get Jamie to a hospital, immediately.
Damn, he was heavy! Ethan looked down at his lover s pale face as he stepped out of the bar.
His breathing was irregular, slow. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
John ran in front of him, unlocking the truck and opening the door. John helped him climb in the
back seat with Jamie.
Get us to a goddamned hospital! Thank God they d gone into San Antonio instead of staying
closer to home.
Already ahead of you! Hold on, I m calling Jules. John burned rubber getting out of the parking
lot.
Ethan pulled Jamie closer to him, stroking his face. Come on, Blue Eyes, wake up for me. Baby,
hang on.
Ethan!
Ethan looked up at the rearview mirror and into John s worried eyes.
I ve got Jules on the phone. She s meeting us at the hospital.
Tell her he s not breathing right. He s wheezing and having a hard time, and he s sweating like
crazy. Come on, baby. Please. Don t you die on me.
Jules, did you hear that? Yeah, I think so. Ethan, are his pupils still dilated?
Yeah. At least they were. He s still unconscious. God, please, don t let him die. I just found
him; I can t lose him.
The drive seemed to take forever, but Ethan knew it was only a matter of minutes before John
pulled up to the emergency room entrance.
We re here! As soon as the truck jerked to a stop, John jumped out and opened the door. He
pulled Jamie out and dashed toward the entrance. Ethan, go park the truck!
Ethan ran in behind him. Fuck the truck! Someone could steal it if they wanted to. He d buy a
new one.
A nurse met them just inside the door and directed John into a room to lay Jamie down on a
stretcher. Other hospital staff were already there. Ethan and John told them what they suspected.
Someone snapped out an order to intubate Jamie and get blood gases, stat. Ethan suddenly felt very
ill. Fuck! Jamie was going to need help to breathe.
Oh, God! He watched in a daze as the doctors and nurses raced to pull out tubes and machines,
and got to work on Jamie. The nurse that had led them into the room ushered them out.
John turned to him, his face white. I m going to park the truck.
Yeah, okay. I ll go wait for Julia.
John nodded and walked off. Ethan stood there for several seconds, then forced himself to move.
He went into the waiting area and sat down among the rest of the patients and their families waiting to
be treated.
A few minutes later, John sat down beside him. Anything?
Ethan shook his head. Fuck! Did you pick up his hat when it fell off in the parking lot?
Yeah, I got it. It s in the truck.
Good. He d be pissed if we lost his hat.
Yeah. John turned to him. You think Jeff and Carl drugged him?
I think it s damned suspicious. Of all the bars, what are the odds that they d turn up at the one
we re at? Especially on a work day. I bet they followed Jamie, Ed, and Hayden when they left the
ranch.
Think they cut the fence and shot Jamie s truck, too?
Ethan looked at John. Don t know. Up till now, I thought it was your daddy. He called Jamie
today --
What? You didn t tell me that!
Just did.
Why the hell didn t you say something earlier?
He d thought about it. He d considered discussing it on the way to their meeting, but had decided
against it. He d promised not to keep things from Jamie, not to try and protect him in other ways. He
also didn t want to get into Jamie s parentage. It was Jamie s place to tell his siblings, not his. He
shrugged.
John! Ethan! Jules came rushing toward them. She was in a pair of jeans and tee-shirt, but her
badge was pinned to her shirt. What s going on?
John stood up, holding his arms out to her. She hugged him, then Ethan.
Don t know, Jules. We think he was drugged, but we don t know for sure and we don t have any
idea what with.
She nodded. In her work environment, it was clear that Jules was very good at her job. She d
always been that way, calm, cool, and collected, in a real emergency. She thought for a few minutes.
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