“Yeah, boss,” I answer. “What’s up?”
“A fuck show, from what I hear. How’s Candace?”
“She needs stitches, pain meds, and antibiotics, but she’s alive.”
“And Adam? She told me he was hit pretty bad.”
“I knocked him out, pulled out the bullet, and stitched him up, but he was bleeding like a motherfucker. I had EMS take him in for a scan. He’ll be pissed as shit but alive.” I pause. “He saved her life. No fucking doubt about it. Any word from Lucifer?”
“He warned me he was going silent. He’s on Max’s trail. He’ll find him. He’ll bring him in and Max will go to jail for this. Let him and me handle this.”
“Fuck jail for Max. That’s not how this ends. Pull your people back.”
“Don’t go down the bullshit path, Savage. My people are your people.”
“Not if that’s how you think this ends. Consider this my resignation. I’m done, Blake.” I hang up.
“What just happened?” Candace demands, grabbing my arm. “Rick, what just happened?”
“What was necessary,” I say tightly. “I didn’t belong with Walker anyway. My ways are not their ways.”
“You know that’s not true,” she says. “You’re responding to and with anger.”
“Damn straight,” I confirm and my phone starts ringing again.
Of course, it’s Blake again, and I decline the call and ignore the buzz of text messages that follow. I dial Lucifer. He doesn’t answer. I leave him a message. “I need to talk to you now. Call me.”
The car halts in front of the hotel. I slide my phone into my pocket and concentrate on what matters right now. Taking care of Candace. Revenge and retribution will come next.
I help her out of the car and wrap my arm around her, holding her close. I obviously didn’t do that well enough earlier today. I walked away from her. I had a gut feeling and I still walked away.
Once we’re on the elevator, Candace says, “Don’t let this take you to a bad place, Rick.”
“If me making the person who did this pay is me in a bad place, we have a problem. I never promised to be anything but who I am. And this is who I am, Candace.”
The elevator halts. I catch her hand and walk her to me, staring down at her. “You know I have to—”
“That’s just it,” she says. “I do know. I know you. I know what you intend to do. I know. I just don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“I know how to do what I do. You need to trust me.” That’s where I leave the conversation. The elevator doors open and I wrap my arm around her and guide her out of the car and into the hallway, steadying her and sheltering her every way I can. It’s all too little, too late, and I know that, too. I won’t make that mistake again. Nothing she says is going to change my mind about what comes next. Max is as good as dead.
Once we’re inside the room, I hold up a hand and have her wait just inside the door while I ensure we’re secure. When I’m comfortable we’re safe, I have her sit on a lounge chair, prop pillows beneath her, and then grab towels, hot water, my own medical bag, and the vet’s supplies and go down on a knee beside her. With her arm on top of towels and propped on the armrest, I grab the numbing agent. “I’m going to put some extra in to make sure you don’t feel the stitches.”
She nods and I get to work.
She’s tough, and way too quiet through the entire process, but then, she’s coming down off a hell of a rush of adrenaline.
Fifteen minutes later, she’s stitched up, and I’m comfortable with how she’ll heal. “You rest,” I say. “I’m going to call and check on Adam.”
Instead of resting, she shifts to a full sitting position, reaching for her purse at her hip, and struggling to open it as she asks, “Should I try Lucifer?”
I walk to the chair beside her, sit down and reach over her, pulling her phone from her purse. Since I’ve made sure she has every Walker number under the sun in her phone, it’s not hard to location Lucifer’s number. I press the phone into her hand, tension crackling between us, which does nothing to mute how damn in love we are.
“Yes,” I say because I know Candace. Actively working toward a solution helps her feel she has some semblance of control. “Call him,” I add, punching the call button for her and standing up to dial the hospital.
While I wait for someone to track down info on my “brother” Adam, Candace gives a shake of her head, silently telling me that Lucifer isn’t answering. Bastard. Meanwhile, on my end, a woman comes back on the line for me. “I’m still trying to get you to the right place. Hold just a little bit longer.” She doesn’t wait for my agreement. She puts me back on hold. Another five minutes and I’m forced to leave my number.
Candace is now sitting on the edge of the couch. She’s pale, a troubled expression on her face. I slide my phone into my pocket. “You okay, baby?”
“Is he—is Adam dead?”
“No,” I say, closing the space between us and going down on one knee in front of her. “No, he’s not dead. I only sent him for a scan to be safe. If we were out in the field on a mission, we wouldn’t have the luxury.”
“I’m still scared for him.”
“I know,” I say, and my hands come down on her knees. My voice lowers, rasps with guilt, and the magnitude of all that’s just happened. “Baby, I’m sorry this happened. I’m so damn sorry.”
“There you go again,” she accuses. “Blaming yourself. Stop blaming yourself. Please, I beg of you.”
“I’m the one who decided to help Max. Me. I did it.”
“You already told me you aren’t sure you could have walked away. There’s more to this than either of us know yet.”
“It’s all about my life, my choices, my past. I did this.” I stand up on an explosion of anger, and guilt, tormented now as I add, “This is why I stayed away. This is why I knew I couldn’t marry you.”
She is instantly on her feet. “Really, Rick?” she demands. “That’s where you’re going? You shouldn’t be here? You shouldn’t have married me? Thirty seconds after we got married?” She presses her good arm under her bad arm, in front of her body, and tears explode from her eyes. She’s sobbing, but she’s angry, shouting at me, “These tears do not make me weak. These are tears of acceptance. You will always hurt me. You aren’t capable of just loving me, so don’t worry. We’ll annul the marriage and you can just leave me alone for good this time. I’m done. I’m so done.”
That proclamation is a blade through my heart a hundred times. I step into her, hands on her shoulders. “You are not done. We are not done. I don’t want an annulment.”
“I heard what you said, Rick. You shouldn’t have married me.”
“I said this is why I didn’t in the past. But I know what happened when I left you. They still came for you. I’m just trying to figure out how to protect you.”