Stepping out onto the deck, a light mist hovered just above the waterline as the sun peeped through the trees. Breathing in the crisp early morning air, I just wanted to relax and enjoy a much-needed bit of space and the woods, mountains and, of course, the vast expanse of water in front of me, did just that.

The trip here hadn't been planned. Last minute I'd decided it would be good to get the hell out of Lockwood Creek. And heading here to Emma's... our cabin was the perfect place to hide and try to figure out what was going on inside my head.

And Danny was right. I needed a time-out to get a grip on my feelings, my thoughts.

But even though I was hours from Lockwood, my baggage tagged along for the ride—not that I was expecting it be left behind, but the space gave me that sense of putting things into perspective and man, had I fucked up.

And right on cue, an image of Riley's face tortured eyes hit me slap bang in the middle of my forehead.

Those words.

The haunted look.

I'd hurt her.

And I deserved to be sucker-punched in the fucking face repeatedly for what I'd said, how I'd overreacted.

My ear lifted, hearing the creak of the screen door as I felt the brush of Danny's arm as he parked himself alongside, gripping two mugs of coffee in one hand.

"Here." He passed one to me. "So, you thinking about heading back tonight?" he asked casually as he stared out at the same view as me.

Expanding my lungs. It was Saturday. "Not sure." That was my honest answer. Lifting my cup, I blew over the top before sipping. "Jesus, Danny! " I scrubbed a hand across my mouth. Bitterness stripping my tongue of any feeling. "How much coffee did you use?"

Danny laughed, deep and a little gruff, having not long woke. "What? I like it strong!"

"Strong? This is lethal."

He snickered. "Do you want me to make you another old man?"

"Hey, less of the old."

"... Offers there." He made his way toward the swing chair. Sitting down, it creaked under his weight. "I remember helping you make this."

I loved working with my hands in any form, whether on the operating table or carving wood into something of beauty or use. I walked toward the table, pulling out a chair—one I didn't make myself. "Yeah, your mom loved it."

I swallowed, looking out toward the water.

"Feeling any better? You look more relaxed since we got here," he commented.

Thankfully, he hadn't pressed me to talk much since we arrived. We'd fished, and then a small hike before dark last night.

But I knew I couldn't hide up here. "When are you back on shift?" I asked him, hoping that we could at least grab another day. I wasn't due back till Tuesday night.

"Wednesday." Pausing. "I'm happy to stay longer, if that's what you want?"

Did I want to?

Riley hadn't said when she was actually leaving Lockwood, but today was her sister's wedding. So she had no reason to stick around after that.

"Have you spoken to Riley since..." he didn't need to finish the sentence as he cocked a brow at me over the lip of his mug.

It was also one reason here in the mountains was perfect—there was no cell reception, so I couldn't reach out even if I wanted to.

And, I also wanted to apologise face to face.

I shook my head. "No,"

Danny blinked, lowering his mug. "You thought what you're going to say?"

I wasn't sure an apology would cut it. "Start with sorry and go from there."

"Can we talk about it now?"

Mentally groaning. "Is there any way to stop you?"

He gave me a wry smile. "Does no good keeping it—" he tapped his forehead, answering slowly and more as a question. "Trapped in here."

Danny didn't seem to grasp how weird this was to be having a conversation with him about a woman that wasn't his mom. "I'm not sure I can do this, Danny."

"Do what?"

"Talk to you about—" I waved my hand "All this—"

"Are we talking about Riley or women in general?"

"There has been no one else!" Christ, I didn't want him to think I had a different woman every weekend.

He lifted his palm in mock surrender. "I know," before leaning back in the swing chair, adding, "why are you so closed off to the possibility of being with someone else?"

And here we go again with the awkward. "You wouldn't understand, Danny."

"Try me."

It was the guilt that weighed the most. It was wrong that I'd had feelings. Hell, most of my mind was occupied by Riley. A woman I couldn't share my heart with.

"Is this because of mom?"

Yes—No. That and Riley's age. Two excellent reasons and not to mention opening up and the possibility of losing someone again.

I sat silently, returning my attention to the water.

"I'm not judging you, Adam. In truth you're the closest thing I have to family, and I want you to be able to talk to me."

He was right. I owed him some sort of explanation. "It feels wrong to move on... so soon."

"I get that. I do." He leaned forward and popped his empty mug under the swing chair. "But the way I see it," pausing, adding, "there is no wrong or right time." He shrugged. "And it doesn't mean you've stopped loving Mom or miss her any less."

Here we go with the role reversal again. "When did you become so wise?"

He grinned, and he looked so much like Emma. My chest tightened. "What can I say? I had two amazing role models."

I cracked a smile. "Thanks."

"Hey, who said I was talking about you? I could have been talking about Chris." He winked.

I barked out a laugh before it turned into a sigh. "Part of me is so angry. Losing your mom so young." He nodded. "We should have grown old together. It should be her sat here with me on the deck, looking out onto the water." Throwing my hand toward it. "It's not fair that she's not here with me." Bitterness was a nasty pill to swallow, but listening to myself, I most likely sounded like a whiny child.

"I get it. And you're allowed to feel angry, sad—pissed at the world. But what? Are you gonna stay angry, miserable?"

Frustration boiled. "I'm sure when you mom made me promise to move on, she didn't mean within a few short months of her being buried in the ground."

Danny pushed back in the chair, the gentle sway almost soothing to watch. "So everything is just about timing here—yes?"

No.

"You do like Riley?" he asked without an ounce of judgement.

I shifted in my seat, feeling like I was under a microscope. "Yes, I like Riley." I rubbed my forehead.

"See, not that hard to admit—I bet you even feel a little lighter, too?" He said with a goofy smile on his face.

A breath escaped me. "I miss your mom, Danny."

His face dropped. "I do too. But this thing with Riley. I'm with Chris on this. Let it ride out. See where it goes."

"Riley wants things I can't give her. It's unfair to expect her to keep my bed warm because I'm what?" Frustration returned. "Because I'm lonely?" Riley deserved so much more, someone better than me. "How cruel would I be to lead her to believe there might be more?"

"Just be honest. And who's saying you won't change your mind?"

He was saying all the right things. Things that made sense.

"Listen, I don't know what the future holds for you and Riley. But I think you'd be a fool not to give it a chance. At the very least, throw the possibility out there—that's all I'm saying."

I let out a breath, letting my head roll back a little. "I'll think about it."

He pushed up from the chair, scooping his mug from the floor. "And if it turns out Riley's not for you." He swiped my full cup of coffee from the table. "Then think about passing her number to me because I can see the attraction—Chris too."

My jaw clenched tight. Was he serious?

Danny smirked. "And that look you're giving me tells me everything I need to know." He laughed, heading back inside the cabin. "I'll make you a weak-ass coffee, old man," he called out over his shoulder.

I grumbled.

A noise of an engine and wheels on my gravel driveway had my head cranking around.

Someone was here?

Pushing my chair out, I walked to the edge of the deck, down the steps and headed around to the side of the cabin.

What the? "Chris?" What was he doing here? Had Danny invited him?

Chris's heavy boots crunched the pavers. "Christ, tell me you have some coffee on tap. My brain needs stimulation. Never mind, my mouth is drier than dirt."

I didn't think Danny's coffee would make him feel much better. "What are you doing here?"

"Need to take a leak first," he adjusted his slacks. "Then we need to talk." His face gave nothing away, but his tone said he was serious. Something was wrong.

He walked past me, and I followed. "Everything good with your Dad?"

"What?" he half twisted his head. "Yeah, yeah, he's good."

Danny was coming out of the cabin with two fresh mugs of steaming coffee as Chris stood aside to let him pass.

"Chris?" He looked as surprised as me. Guess he didn't invite him either.

"I'll take that." He snagged a mug out of Danny's hand.

"Hey, that's Adams."

I waved a dismissive hand. "I'll grab another... I don't trust yours anyway."

Chris returned not five minutes later, plonking his arse down opposite me, digging into his eyes with his knuckle as he yawned.

"You looked shattered."

He scrubbed his hand down his face. "Yeah, I finished a late shift that went on much longer than it should and then drove here."

"What, so you've not slept?" I asked, not quite in disbelief, because this was Chris.

He shrugged it off like it was nothing. "Well, if I get my ass fired for abusing patient confidentiality, then I can claim insanity brought on from sleep deprivation."

What the hells was he going on about?

"But I had a feeling you would want to know."

"Patient—what patient? One of mine?"

He shook his head and something inside me shifted. "Spit it out, man!"

He swallowed the mouthful of coffee, his face grimacing. "Its Riley."

My stomach plummeted and everything inside me grew heavy with guilt. "What do you mean, Riley?" My toes curled in my shoes. "Is she okay?"

He took a breath as Danny put his mug down and shifted closer. "Don't hold out on us, Chris."

"Jesus, you're worrying me. Tell me." My voice went up a notch as a sense of wrongness tightened across my chest.

"Some fucker attacked her."

Revulsion twisted in my gut and I was up out of my seat, knocking the table as it caught Danny's mug in the collision, spilling everywhere. "Shit, I'll grab a cloth," said Danny, disappearing, but I didn't even look his way—my focus on Chris.

Assaulted? "Fuck, is she—was she?" I didn't want to even consider the possibility of rape.

He shook his head. "No signs of a sexual assault."

The relief was short-lived. "Is she okay?"

"From what I read on her chart and talking to Lucy Masters, she was on call. Physically there doesn't appear to be any permanent damage but—"

Yeah, but mentally, hidden scars were often worse than the ones we could see. "But?"

"Her HCG levels were over ten-thousand." He gave me a pointed stare.

"Fuck!" Slumping back down.

Danny came back out with a cloth to clean up the mess. "What did I miss?"

"Pregnant?" I was up out of my seat again, pacing up and down the deck, kneading my forehead with my thumb and middle finger. I felt like my body was being sucked down by quicksand. "Pregnant?"

"Jesus," said Danny, but I didn't think Jesus was gonna help.

If I thought his news of her being pregnant was bad... His next words sent an ice chill scuttling down my spine.

"Was—she lost it Adam."

My feet froze, as my head whipped around to face him. I didn't have a clue how I felt about Riley being pregnant, and now he was telling me she'd lost it. But I sure as hell knew how she would feel—devastated. "Fuck."

"The trauma she sustained brought on a miscarriage." I could have sworn everything around us was silenced. I couldn't hear a bird, insects or the water's edge lapping the shore.

My nostrils flared. "Who did it? Please tell me they caught the bastard."

He went quiet. "Chris, who the fuck hurt Riley?" I had a hard time believing anyone could hurt Riley. She was the sweetest person I'd ever met. Not an ounce of meanness.

"She has a mild concussion and her memory is hazy."

Goddammit. Something on his face told me he hadn't told me everything. "What are you not telling me?"

He looked uncomfortable shifting in his seat. "Chris?"

He held up his hands. "Fine, courtesy of the nursing rumour mill—there has been a mention of a name."

My body tensed, waiting.

"Rumours are the sheriff's son was involved."

"Have they arrested him?"

"Rumours don't get you arrested." His thick brows pinched together.

Shit. "I've got to get back. I need to see Riley." I turned to Danny. "You can stay here. I'll leave my car and head back with Chris." Eyes back on Chris. "I'll drive."

"Please tell me you have some sort of food I can eat before I pass out."

Danny looked a little shell shocked. "We have some doughnuts. Might be stale but still edible," he said.

"Ahh, load me up."

"Inside, on the kitchen counter." Chris was already up and heading inside. "White box." Turning back to me. "Are you sure you're okay for me to stay?"

"Yeah, this place belongs to you too." It had been Emma's dad's, so technically in my books that made it more his.

"Okay, I'll head back tomorrow. Be back around eightish."

I was already heading down the steps as Chris came back out of the cabin.

"Adam?" he hollered.

I turned, but kept walking backwards. "Here," he had half a doughnut hanging from his mouth as he threw me his keys.

We climbed in and buckled up.

"Are you sure you're good to drive?" He gave me the once over.

"Better shape than you."

I stopped for no one. I pushed Chris's car as fast as it could go, flying down the open country roads and then on the highways as we hit Lockwood in record time.

Chris had thankfully passed out five minutes after finishing his third doughnut.

As we pulled up to the hospital's main entrance, I brought the car to a skidding halt. My feet hit the ground hard as I headed inside, only stopping having to wait for the elevator.

Once out of the elevator, I powered through the hallway. The door to her room was ajar, and as I went to push it further, it opened and I faced her best friend, Connor. His smile dropped when he saw me.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered, hissed. Stepping out of the room, he closed the door and took my arm, gripping tightly, twisting me away from the door, facing me away from her room. "If you're here to give—"

I yanked my arm free. "I only want to see Riley. Be here if she'll let me."

He took a minute, eyes narrowing. "She's hurting." His face swarmed with anger.

I held up my hands. "I know."

He poked an aggressive finger into my chest, hard, but I didn't budge. "If you're here to cause more pain—"

I swallowed every one of his bitter words.

He pulled his hand back, moving in a stabbing motion over my shoulder to drive him point home. "You will have me to deal with." He inserted a breath. "Do we understand one another, doctor?"

He dropped his hand, looking over his shoulder, his voice riddled with venom, ready to strike to keep his best friend safe. Slowly, his eyes returned. "That's my girl in there. And I refuse to sit by and let anyone else from this narrow minded, messed-up up town hurt her again."

He pulled his shoulders back, standing taller.

I calmed my tone. "Can you tell me what happened?"

He scowled but I don't think it aimed at me. "She can't remember much and it doesn't help that the motherfuckers blinded her, then put something over her head."

I squinted at him, shifting my stance. "You used plural... you're telling me there was more than one attacker?" My anger kicked in, fists clenching by my side.

Connor nodded jerkily. "She keeps having flashes of what happened." He sucked in a staggered breath. "She didn't deserve this."

Letting his head drop, I placed my hand on his shoulder. "I care about Riley, Connor. I want to be here for her. If she'll let me."

His head lifted, eyes on mine as he breathed out a sigh of defeat. "Fine. Go in, but just remember."

He didn't smile, stepping to one side. "I'm gonna grab a coffee. I'll be back in ten and I better not see my girl with fresh tears."

I watched him leave, shifting my eyes to the door. Lifting a hand I knocked hoping she didn't hate me.