This must have been how Ashtyn felt when she woke up after being knocked out by ether. Though, as I opened my eyes, I didn’t see anyone I knew. The room was filled with people in scrubs, machines, and bright lights. Why were the lights so damn bright?

“Like I got shot,” I deadpanned hoarsely. I could barely speak because my throat felt raw and dry.

She smiled tightly and nodded. “Because you were.”

I actually didn’t feel anything except extremely tired. Then it all came flooding back, and I remembered what had happened ...

I pulled out of the parking garage of my building and turned toward work. For once, it wasn’t snowing, but it was cold as shit. Even though I’d lived in Chicago my entire life, the winters never got easier, but having Ashtyn warming my bed every night was an added bonus. Sure, for the past two years there had always been a woman in my bed—Bridgette—but Ashtyn was different. When I woke each morning, Ashtyn was touching me in some way. Even if it was her arm pressed against mine, I still woke up warm and had all those weird fuzzy feelings in my heart.

Love.

When the song switched on the radio, I smiled. One Call Away was streaming through my speakers and Christmas morning flooded my memory.

Yep, this was love.

Charlie was serenading me when I got the sense someone was staring at me. Turning my head to the left, my gaze fell on him. Corey Fucking Pritchett. He revved his Mustang, and I rolled my eyes. Fucking prick. What were the odds I’d run into him? Then I remembered that Ashtyn had seen him near her work, and that made me wonder if he was stalking us.

She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on, and any man would probably kill to be in my position. I knew that even though Philip was gone, there would probably be more, including Corey. Hopefully, any future stalkers wouldn’t be so extreme. I was okay being the guy with the girl everyone wanted to know. The one who would hold her hand and wonder how I ever got so lucky. That would be me for as long as I was breathing and not Corey Fucking Pritchett or any other man because I was never going to let her go.

Corey rolled down his window and yelled, “Hey, faggot!”

I didn’t respond.

Instead, I turned my head forward and waited for the light to turn green. When it did, I stepped on the gas. Corey did the same, but instead of slowly moving forward, he sped past me and then got in front of me in my lane. He slammed on his breaks, and I stopped hard, coming within inches of hitting him.

“What the fuck?” I shouted out of anger as we came to a dead stop.

Cars behind me started to honk, and cars in the left lane kept moving. I looked in the rearview mirror, looking for a break in the line of cars passing us so that I could go around Corey. Instead, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him get out of his car.

This was it.

This was the moment I’d waited my entire life for.

The moment I could finally stand up to the guy who thought I was a punching bag and not a human being.

Except as I stared at him as he walked toward my driver’s side door, I saw him reach behind his back, and then, for the second time in my entire life, I was staring down the barrel of a gun.

“You’ve got to be fucking shitting me!”

“I told you I’d stop you,” he spat.

My eyes stayed glued to the black hole. The one that at any moment could discharge the bullet that would end my life. How was this happening again? How the fuck was this my life? This time there would be no Ethan rushing in to save the day. I was alone and in my car.

“Put the gun down, Corey,” I yelled, not rolling down my window as though that could stop a bullet. I held up my hands in surrender and faintly recalled the cars behind me had stopped honking, and no cars were driving past us anymore. Everyone was probably scared he’d turn the gun on them. I was the only lucky one though.

“Shut up!” he bellowed. “I’m tired of your fucking mouth.”

“What are you talking about?”

“When you have Ashtyn next to you, you think you’re some big badass. Well, who has the upper-hand now?”

“Okay, man.” I was going to agree to anything while he was pointing a Glock at my face. “Just put the gun down, and we’ll talk.”

“You don’t get it. You’ve taken everything from me.”

“Ashtyn doesn’t want you back.”

“I don’t want her back either. I want you to pay for ruining my life!”

It happened in a blink of an eye. I didn’t see Corey fire the gun. What I did hear was my window breaking and then I felt a sharp, burning pain in my arm as I flinched. I grabbed my arm, trying to stop the sting, and the bleeding I assumed was coming from my shoulder and onto my shirt and coat. Then I watched, speechless as Corey ran back to his car and sped away.

I didn’t know what to do. I was alive. I was conscious, and I was in so much pain when I moved my arm slightly that I wanted to pass out. Still clutching my arm, I startled when a man ran up to my door and flung it open.

“Are you hit?”

“Yeah,” I breathed.

“Help is on the way.”

“We’re moving you to a private room in just a minute.” I blinked and realized the nurse on the computer was still talking to me.

I nodded and fell back asleep, no longer able to keep my eyes open.

When I woke again, I heard more voices.

“He’ll be in and out for a while until the anesthesia wears off.”

“I won’t be long.”

I opened my eyes to see Ashtyn talking to a nurse. “Cupcake,” I whispered gruffly.

Ashtyn turned her head toward me and then she rushed from the doorway and grabbed my hand on the uninjured side. “Hey, tiger. How are you feeling?”

“It was Corey,” I responded even though that wasn’t her question.

She nodded. “I know. I already talked to the cops.”

“Did they catch him?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Ashtyn.” The nurse poked her head into the room. “I hate to do this, but visiting hours are over, and Rhys needs his rest.”

“Yeah,” Ashtyn replied. “I’ll come back first thing in the morning.”

“Not gonna lie, Cupcake. I’m gonna miss sleeping with you tonight.”

She leaned down and brushed her lips against mine. “All the morphine in your system will help you forget.”

“I want you to help me forget.”

Ashtyn snorted. “I see having a life-threatening experience hasn’t changed you.”

“Not when you’re involved.”

She kissed me again. “Get some rest. I’ll see you as soon as you can have visitors.”

I held her wrist so she couldn’t step away. “Are you going to be okay tonight?”

“I’m staying at Abby’s.”

“Good.” I nodded.

She leaned down and kissed me again. “I love you.”

“Love you too, Cupcake.”

My pain meds were awesome. I didn’t feel any pain, and I was sleeping like a baby. Nurses came in at different hours to check my vitals and shit. Each time they muttered how well I was doing and then they would leave and I would drift back to sleep.

True to Ashtyn’s word, she came walking into my room before I was served breakfast. “Are you here to give me a sponge bath?” I grinned.

Ashtyn chuckled and shook her head slightly, a cup of coffee in her hand. “I see you’re feeling well this morning.” She leaned down and kissed my lips.

“Can’t even tell I was shot.”

“I think that’s the morphine still pumping through your veins.”

I shrugged my good shoulder. “At least I don’t have the pain to remind me I was shot. I still can’t believe it.”

She sighed and sat in the chair next to my bed. “Me either.”

“Any word on Corey?”

“I haven’t heard anything, but the cops should be here soon.”

My eyes widened as I realized I missed work the night before. “Does my work know?”

“Yeah, Kenny told them.”

“Fuck …” I breathed and looked up at the off-white ceiling, still not believing this was all happening.

“I was so scared,” Ashtyn confessed.

I looked over to see tears in her eyes and grabbed her hand, lacing our fingers. “You can’t get rid of me that quickly, Cupcake.”

“I don’t want to get rid of you.” She rolled her eyes.

“I know. I was joking. You know that’s what I do. Everything’s okay.”

At that moment a man and woman, both wearing suits, walked into my room. “Good morning, Mr. Cole. I’m Detective Coulson, and this is Detective Bailey. How are you feeling?”

Okay, that question was going to get old fast. “Drugs are working,” I stated honestly.

Ashtyn slapped my arm—the one that wasn’t stitched up. “Rhys!”

The detectives chuckled. “Ms. Valor,” Coulson spoke, “It’s good to see you again. And I have to say it’s good to see you’re in good spirits, Mr. Cole.”

“Please, call me Rhys, and honestly, I’ll be in better spirits if you tell me you’ve caught the fucker.”

“I wish we could,” Bailey stated, “but we’re here to get your statement and to see if you know who shot you.”

“Yes, I know. Corey Fucking Pritchett.”

“That’s what Ms. Valor told us. We’re following up.” Bailey looked over at Ashtyn.

“Saw him with my own eyes as I stared down the barrel of the gun.”

“Do you know why he shot you?” Coulson asked.

“We’ve known each other since high school,” I started and then proceeded to explain everything from how he used to beat me up, how he and Ashtyn dated, what happened New Year’s Eve, and then my phone call with him. I also told them what he said before shooting me.

“Okay. Well, like I mentioned earlier, we wish we could tell you that he’s in custody,” Detective Bailey stated.

“How have you not caught him?” Ashtyn asked.

Bailey continued, “We haven’t been able to locate him.”

“He’s on the lam?”

The detectives laughed at my use of the word. “We just haven’t been able to locate him yet,” Coulson replied. “He didn’t come home.”

“Did you go to his work?” Ashtyn asked.

“We’re heading there next,” Coulson stated.

“He used to work the late afternoon shift.”

“We’ll find him,” Bailey stated.

They fucking better.

I was released from the hospital a day later. My parents and sister had come to visit me as well as Kenny, Jett, and Clark. No one could believe that this was my reality. I couldn’t either, but what scared me the most was that Corey was still missing.

The cops came back the morning I was released from the hospital to give us an update and to see if we’d heard anything. We hadn’t and explained that Ashtyn had blocked Corey’s number. When they asked if she would be willing to unblock his number, I felt as though I might lose my shit. All we wanted was to be left alone, and it seemed that being together was a deadly combination.

Ashtyn unblocked his number in hopes he’d call, but to me, the only solution I could come up with was that we needed to buy a house stat and get far away from where Corey knew Ashtyn lived. Even though she wasn’t living there, she was only across the street, and if we wanted to walk to Judy’s or lunch or whatever, there was a chance Corey could come out of the shadows and strike again.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I knew he could have access to get either one of us on the way to and from work, just like he’d tried with me, but we were going to do one thing at a time for now and get everything settled.

It had been a week since the shooting, and I was returning to work. The season would be over in a few months, and afterward, Ashtyn and I were going far, far away. I didn’t care where as long as it was only she and I and all of our troubles were behind us.

“Are you sure you’re ready to go back?” Ashtyn asked, zipping up her plum-colored dress.

I put my head in my hand and turned to her as I lie in bed. “I’m only a little sore. It’s no big deal.”

“Yes, but you’re on Norco, and you fall asleep sitting up.”

“That happened once.”

“You were on the toilet.”

“I was comfortable.”

“You were high.”

I shrugged. “Still am.”

Ashtyn rolled her eyes and went into the bathroom still talking, “Exactly why you should stay home. You have to go on air and people will be watching you.”

“It will be fine. Plus, I want to get out of this place.” I waved my hand indicating the room even though she wasn’t in it.

She walked back into the room. “Okay, but if you don’t feel good, I’m sure Jett wouldn’t mind handling everything again.”

The day I got shot, there was no one to cover for me, and therefore, Jett had to do everything himself. I heard he handled it like a pro because he is one, and the last couple of games, we ended up getting Jeremy Roenick to fill in for me. Apparently, he’d heard what happened and offered his services. I have to say, watching him on TV again, talking about hockey, filled my heart. Or maybe that was the drugs talking. They made me feel good, and the pain was almost non-existent. Plus, the wound was getting better each day, and the stitches were almost dissolved.

Each night I’d go to bed and somehow wake up the next morning and not have a nightmare. I wasn’t sure why, but I was glad because I didn’t want to relive the shooting again. And each day I texted Ethan to see if they found Corey, but he’d always text back that they hadn’t. They couldn’t find him using the GPS off his cell phone, he wasn’t using his credit cards, and he never went home. It was as though he’d vanished.

We could only hope.

“Everything will be fine. I’m already weaning myself off of them.”

Ashtyn’s phone chimed. “Abby’s here.” Abby was picking Ashtyn up each day for work, and we’d arranged for Kenny to swing by and get me on game days.

“Come give me some sugar, Cupcake.”