Chapter 42

42

Chad prowled the small meeting room on the third floor of the hospital, while he waited for Caine to finish taking care of Genny in the ED. He didn’t understand why Major Crimes had separated them. Or how they had gotten there so quickly, either. Or why it was Major Crimes here and not Sheriff Addy, who had jurisdiction.

It took a moment or one hundred for him to put it together—his own damned brother was Major Crimes. And they’d been assisting with an arrest somewhere in Value.

That was probably why they’d gotten there so quickly.

He didn’t care. He just cared about Genny.

She was going to be upset. He needed to be in there with her. He didn’t even know how badly she was hurt. They’d separated them too fast for him to see.

He told the man he suspected was babysitting him that. The detective just shrugged, flipping through a magazine from the side table casually. “Hey, I gotcha, Fields. I got a super-hot woman of my own waiting on me tonight. She’s not a nurse, though. She plays piano. She’s one of Charlotte’s besties, Uncle Chad. They have sleepovers and girl talk all the time. Sometimes at my wife’s mansion. See, I’m not the enemy here.”

Chad resisted the urge to growl. He felt like an animal right now. “Did you see him? That son of a bitch who attacked her? He’s as big as we are. And he terrified her. Hurt her. She’s?—”

“Got a brother of her own with her,” a male voice said from behind Chad. A very familiar one. He turned. He hadn’t heard the door. His own older brother stood there, just watching him. “You okay? Did the asshole hurt you?”

Chad swore. “Hell, no, I’m not okay. No one will let me see Genny. She needs me right now.”

“Guthrie is with her; she’ll be fine,” Charlie said, almost dismissively. Chad bit back even more fury. “I’m here to listen to your take on what happened. That guy is claiming you assaulted him first. Took something from him. We need to figure out what happened.”

Chad just sent him a look. That was ridiculous. And there were plenty of witnesses. Including the head of the damned hospital. Brother-in-law of the damned governor of Texas. If Caine’s word didn’t have weight, whose did? “I don’t give a damn why you’re here. I need to check on her—for myself.”

“Like I said, her brother is with her.”

“I don’t give a damn if her brother is with her. If all of her brothers are with her. I’m going to be with her. She was hurt and terrified. And I need to be with her.” Hell, he was acting like an idiot. His older brother wasn’t exactly his enemy. Chad forced himself to slow down. To not sound like a lunatic. “If Rory was attacked, where in the hell would you be right now? Tell me that, Charlie.”

He saw the surprise on his brother’s face. “You and Genesis are involved? I didn’t know that. When did that happen?”

“Yes.” Involved? They were far more than that. “More than just involved. I need to be with her, Charlie. You should understand that. He hurt her. She was bleeding. I didn’t see how badly he hurt her. I need to see her first, make sure she’ll be okay. Let me check on her, then I’ll answer your questions without arguing.”

“If I don’t?”

“Then I’ll probably just slug you and piss Rory off. At you. On purpose. Every chance I can, from now until forever. Rory, Chan, Mom, Charlotte. I’ll get them all pissed at you. All of them. You’ll have to face all of them. Get me to my girl, Charlie. Just get me to her.”

Charlie was a serious pain-in-the-ass, but he was a pretty decent older brother. He looked at his pal and nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Your family is so entertaining, Chuck. You know that, right?” the other guy said. “Always so much fun to watch.”

Charlie looked at Chad. “Go. Find your girl. Everything else can wait.”

Chad didn’t hesitate. He practically ran down to the ED.

Genny was in there somewhere.

Now he was going to find her.