Cowgirl Crazy (#2, Cowboy Way) (21 page)

Forty-five minutes later, Ryan’s phone rattled
on the dash, and as it rang it danced toward the passenger side of
the truck. He almost ran off the road trying to grab it, but
finally managed to close his hand over it. By then it had stopped
ringing, and his fricking ribs hurt like a bitch, but not worse
than his heart. He flipped on the overhead light, saw it was
Heather and hit redial. Maybe she knew what was going on, or he
hoped she did. On the third ring, she answered.

“
Ryan you’ve got to come to Dallas
and help me find Twyla.”

“
I’m on my way to Dallas. Her
brother called and she’s in the hospital.” Ryan mentioned which
one, but told her he had no idea what happened.

“
I know what happened. Jared
Wilkins happened. She left with him from the bar where I had my
gig, and I couldn’t stop her.”

Ryan sat up in the seat as worry shot through
him, followed very closely by anger. “Who the fuck is Jared
Wilkins?”

“
Leon’s old business partner, and
a customer at the Cowgirl.”

Hearing the disgusted tone in Heather’s voice,
Ryan’s stomach rolled. “What kind of business, and who the hell is
he?”

“
He and Leon owned a strip club
together several years ago. Leon cut ties with him because rumor
has it he liked to audition the girls personally, before they were
hired in his trailer, behind the bar.”

“
At the Cowgirl?!?” Ryan shouted,
his heart doing weird lunges in his chest now.

“
No, no. It was another club. Leon
puts up with him coming around the Cowgirl, because he tips well,
and drinks a lot. I guess his money is as green as the next guy.
Leon told us to be friendly with him, not to piss him off. He said
to let Teddy know if he got out of line.” She sighed deeply, and
there was a long pause before she continued. “Jared hadn’t been
around in a while, so I didn’t think to warn Twyla about him when
she started working there. He showed up at my gig tonight, and she
left with him, before I could stop her. There’s no telling what the
man told her to get her to go with him. He’s a liar and a
sleazeball. Ryan, I’m really worried.”

Now that he knew the story. Ryan was more than
worried. That sat like a lead weight in the pit of his gut, and
unimaginable fear sat on top of it. And then there was anger. His
whole body burned with it. The road blurred before Ryan’s eyes he
was so mad. Everything seemed to be covered in a red haze. His face
felt like it was on fire, and his eyes burned.

“
Find out where that bastard is by
the time I get there, Heather. I’m three hours out, that should
give you plenty of time. And gather up bail money, because I’ll
probably need it.”

Ryan disconnected the phone and tried to
breathe. Between his anger and his ribs that was nearly impossible.
Flashes of that mystery man with his hands on Twyla like his
stepfather had put his hands on Ryan’s mother pierced his brain,
and that old helpless rage returned.

First he was going to that hospital to check
on Twyla, then he was going to find the man who put her there and
that sonofabitch was going to be the one in the hospital by
morning.

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

Twyla felt like she had lead weights on her
eyes, and it took every ounce of her strength to breathe. Just
lifting her chest to inhale was a chore. And the voices, the
strange voices she’d been hearing for what seemed like hours now,
were getting louder now. Angry voices. Wailing voices. They sounded
familiar, but she couldn’t wrap her mind around who those voices
belonged to.

She wondered what the heck was happening to
her. Her body felt like there was a rubberband stretched tight from
her skull to her toes. If it snapped, her insides might shatter
into a million pieces. And her damned head hurt. That damned
beeping she had been hearing felt like nails being driven into her
brain with each ping. She wished someone would cut whatever was
causing it off.

“
It was a roofie, a date rape
drug. She was in and out when she was brought into the ER, so the
police haven’t had a chance to talk to her yet. I know you want the
person responsible arrested, but we can’t find out who that is
until she wakes up. We’ve given her medication to counteract the
effects of the drug, but it could take a while for her to come
around. Her vitals are stable now with the added help breathing
we’ve given her, sir. We’re doing everything we can for your
daughter, so please just relax.”

“
Was my daughter
raped
?!?”
her daddy’s voice boomed. Twyla had finally placed his voice. Her
daddy was there. She had missed him so much. Twyla was so glad he
was there, because she really didn’t feel good right now. He would
hold her, and take care of her. Help her feel better. If she could
just open her eyes, she would ask him to do that.

“
No, sir! I told you that,” the
man replied, sounding frustrated. “She got away from her attacker
and staggered into the bar before she passed out. Someone there
brought her here, and it’s a good thing they did. Is there someone
coming to be with you, Mr. Taylor? I think you need someone here
with you.”

“
My sons are on the way, and
someone is driving my wife here. She was at a horse show, and too
upset to drive herself.”

“
Good. I’ve got some things to do
right now, but I will be closely monitoring Twyla’s condition. If
anything changes, I will let you know right away. The best thing
you can do right now, Mr. Taylor, is relax. Take a deep breath, and
keep it together so you can help your daughter when she does wake
up.”

“
Easier said than done, doc. She
took off from her brothers, set out on her own, against our wishes,
and now look what’s happened. We were already worried, and for good
reason.”

As it continued, Twyla could hear the
conversation, but it was like it was coming to her from down a
long, dark hallway, echoing in her head. Why the hell did she feel
so weird? And sick? She felt like she wanted to throw up, but her
throat was too numb to even gag.

Between the voices being muffled and that
incessant beeping, Twyla gave up on trying to hear the
conversation. She faded off into the darkness of the hallway, but
as she drifted off she heard a new voice, Heather’s voice, join the
two men’s. Heather didn’t know her daddy though, so that couldn’t
be right. Peace settled through her, as Twyla heard her daddy’s
voice again. He would take care of her. She let herself float off
into nothingness when it became too hard to think
anymore.

When Ryan finally got to the hospital dawn was
breaking. He didn’t park when he reached the Emergency Room
entrance parking lot, he pulled right up under the unloading
canopy, and barely put his truck in park. He didn’t have time for
formality. Twyla was unconscious according to her father, who had
called Zack, who had called him to tell him she wasn’t doing well
at all about an hour ago. Ryan was damned scared, as he flung open
the truck door and sprinted through the double sliding
doors.

A nurse looked up and smiled when he stopped
at the counter in the ER, breathing hard. It took him a minute to
force the words past the lump of fear in his throat. “Please tell
me where Twyla Taylor is.”

The nurse typed on her keyboard, stared at the
screen a second, then typed again. Her eyes finally shot back to
his. “She’s been moved to ICU, sir, but…” She lifted her wrist to
look at her watch. “But visiting hours aren’t for another couple of
hours. Maybe you could have some coffee in the
cafeteria.”

Coffee hell, visiting hours be damned. Ryan
was seeing Twyla. Now. Not in a couple of hours. Right this minute.
“Thank you,” Ryan said shortly, as he staggered down the corridor,
following the signs until he stopped in front of a map of the
hospital.

His finger traced the board, until he found
the intensive care unit. Fifth floor, and the elevator just
happened to be behind him on the other wall. He stabbed the button
to call the elevator, then folded his arms over his chest. He was
going up to that floor, and they would let him see her, or he would
raise the roof on this place. There was no way he was leaving this
hospital without seeing Twyla. Because after he did, there was no
telling when he’d see her again. He’d probably be in jail, because
he was finding the bastard who hurt her, and that man was going to
learn to keep his hands off of women.

The elevator opened on the fifth floor and
Ryan strode with purpose to the nurse’s station. He slapped his
hand down on the counter. “Where’s Twyla Taylor?”

“
Visiting isn’t until eight,” the
nurse informed without looking up at him.

“
I’m her goddamn fiancé’ and I
want to see her
now,
” he ground out. Ryan had thought of
that tactic in the elevator. He knew they’d let family in. Well, he
was family. As much as her brother was, as her daddy was and her
mama. He loved her just as much.

“
Don’t curse at me, please,” she
said primly, giving him the stink eye like his third grade teacher
had done many times. She pointed her ink pen down the hall. “She’s
in room five ten, but someone is in with her now. We only allow
one—” she started, but Ryan walked down the hall, his eyes fixed on
the small placard outside of room five ten.

Ryan pushed through the door, and his eyes
immediately landed on Twyla’s pale face. The only color in her face
was a purple bruise on her cheek in the shape of four fingers. One
of her lifeless arms resting on top of the blanket was in a splint.
Anger almost blew off the top of his head as he dragged his eyes to
fix on her beautiful mouth, because her lower lip looked to be
split. A damned tube separated her lips, and a machine whooshed
beside the bed, evidently pumping oxygen into her lungs. Good God,
she was on life support. His knees went weak, and a wail worked up
from his toes to his throat to cut off his breath.

“
What the hell are you doing
here?” Carrick Taylor demanded, and Ryan’s eyes swung up to meet
those of Twyla’s dad.

“
Zack called me and told me Twyla
was here. I had to come help.”

His jaw tightened, and Ryan noticed Mr.
Taylor’s fists were clenched at his sides. “Well the kind of help
you’ve been giving her, we don’t need, son.”

The hatred and anger in Mr. Taylor’s voice
stunned him. Ryan staggered back, and steadied himself with a hand
on the door. “I love Twyla, sir. I came to find who did this to her
and take care of it. He won’t be hurting a woman again, and he
definitely won’t be hurting Twyla. Why are you angry at
me?”

Mr. Taylor’s lips curled, and he sauntered
around the bed to stop in front of Ryan and put his finger in
Ryan’s chest. “You love her huh? Is that why you didn’t tell Zack
she was dancing at a titty bar, son? That she had gone hog ass wild
and was going to clubs to meet strange men?”

He emphasized his words with a hard poke to
Ryan’s shoulder, and Ryan’s heart lurched up to his throat. The cat
was out of the bag. Evidently Heather had been here and gone. That
was the only way he could’ve known. Ryan was going to kill
her.

“
That
is why she’s in this
fix. Because you didn’t think enough of us to tell us so we could
stop it. If that’s your definition of love, of caring for a family
member, you definitely don’t belong in this family.” With a
disgusted push against Ryan’s chest, he spun and walked back to
Twyla’s bedside.

“
I’m sorry, Mr. Taylor,” Ryan
croaked, holding back the bile that sautéed his heart in his
throat. “I do l-l-ove her. Love y’all. The Crazy Cowgirl is not a
strip club, sir, but I was still wrong not telling you.”

Mr. Taylor spun and there were tears in his
blue eyes. “Damn straight you were. You made a big mistake, boy. I
trusted you, helped you when you were in trouble, and this is how
you repay our family?”

“
I’m sorry, sir.” Ryan was so
damned sorry. He’d not only hurt Twyla, allowed her to be hurt,
he’d hurt the man he considered a father. God only knew what Zack
would want to do to him when he saw him. Ryan would deserve every
damned blow, would probably stand there and let his friend beat the
shit out of him, if it would fix this situation. Ryan was damned
scared nothing would though. These people he loved like his own
hated him now. Nothing short of him ceasing to breathe was going to
fix the situation.

And he might just do that when Zack got ahold
of him.

Ryan should have told them what Twyla was
doing. Mr. Taylor was right, this was all his fault. But he had to
try to talk to Twyla, before he left. His eyes fixed on her pale,
still face again, and he swallowed down the despair trying to
overwhelm him.

“
Sir, could I please have a minute
with Twy to…to…” His voice cracked, and Ryan sucked in a sharp
breath through his burning nose. “To say goodbye to
her?”

“
I’ll tell her you came by and
said goodbye,” he replied gruffly. “If she ever wakes
up.”

Ryan couldn’t help the whimper that came from
his throat, any more than he could stop the tears that overflowed
his lower lids to burn twin trails down his face. “Did they say she
might not wake up?”
Please God, let her wake up
.