And like they didn’t have a plan, like she didn’t give a good god damn about her own safety she walked out of the cabin. “I’m right here.” Her grin, if something so evil could be called that, was darker than anything Grier had ever seen. His heart faltered. “And I gotta say all this witty banter is thrilling, but not really why we’re here. So, are you done stalling?”
Sedotal stared at Fiona. “You’re awfully brave for someone wearing my brand next to her pussy.” She didn’t talk, just kept grinning that sick little smile. “Put your gun down or your boy dies.”
Fiona scoffed. “Not my boy. He’s a traitor. Shoot him if you want.” Grier couldn’t tell if she meant it or not. She spoke with a quiet ferocity. “He was never one of us anyway.”
Kye, whose face resembled a sad, misshapen clown’s whose makeup had run in all the worst ways, lifted his head to stare at Fiona. “Bitch.”
Grier’s gut clenched at the slide of metal on metal and the unmistakable click of the bolt. She’d loaded a shell into the chamber. And this time, Grier wasn’t sure who she planned to shoot. “Move him. I’ll get rid of him and you can deal with me. Just the way you wanted.” She ground the words out as he shoved Kye to the ground. Fiona shifted the rifle and aimed at Kye. Sedotal aimed at Fiona, Grier aimed at him. Kye remained on the ground with a rifle pointed at him. He lifted his head, looked at Fiona, winked, and reached as if asking for help. She tossed him the rifle, he twisted around and aimed at Sedotal as Fiona pulled the pistol from behind her back. Now three guns aimed at Sedotal.
The evil in her smile deepened. “You seem to have a choice. You can shoot one of us and the other two will open fire and you’re gonna be nothing but a bad memory. Or you can put your shit down now and do as you’re told.”
Grier waited as Tyler threw his head back and laughed. “You always let your bitch talk for you?”
He shrugged. “I like the sound of her voice.”
Tyler aimed at Fiona but stared at Grier. “I like when she cries in pain.” Why hadn’t Fiona fired? This could all be over. “Do you know what a duel is?”
“A duel?”
He wobbled his head from side to side. “In the old days, when two men had a dispute, they settled it with a gunfight. Ten paces, spin, and draw.”
Stupidest thing Grier had ever heard. Besides, he could drop the fucker right now if he hadn’t promised Fiona he would wait. No need for some hoity-toity duel. “Nah. I’m good.”
“Chicken shit.”
Grier shrugged and Sedotal fired at Fiona. She went down, he turned. And Kye fired. But Hamilton had already clotheslined Sedotal.
Blood seeped from a wound at the side of Fiona’s head. Grier’s heart stopped. This couldn’t be happening. She was supposed to be safe, in Belize with their baby. And again, Grier had failed her.
Seven stitches. Angry, check that, furious husband. And in the commotion, Sedotal managed to get away.
Grier drove her home. In silence. He didn’t speak at all right up to the minute he walked behind her into the house and slammed the door shut behind him. “What the hell were you thinking?”
She didn’t answer. What could she say that wouldn’t make this worse? A half-inch, maybe less, to the left and Fiona would be dead. As it was, the bullet grazed her just over her ear leaving her with a bald patch and a splitting headache. And the aforementioned angry husband.
“I was thinking…” She’d been tired of hiding. That was what she was thinking.
“He could have killed you.”
“Could have killed you, too.” Not to point out the obvious but, “Yet, here we both are.”
“I left you in Belize because…” He raked his hand through his hair. “Because I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you.” He turned away from her then back again. “But the whole world revolves around what you want, huh?”
“What does that mean?”
He opened his mouth then snapped it shut. “He could’ve shot you, Fiona.”
“He did.” Her mouth leaped without looking.
“Exactly!” He stalked out to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator then slammed it shut. “I gotta get some air.”
And by air, he meant a drink. Probably something black labeled that would burn all the way to his belly, but would also make him forget he was mad at her. “Go.”
She didn’t feel like fighting anyway. Her head was killing her, and she just wanted to sleep.
“I’m not leaving you here alone.”
She didn’t need a sitter. “Just go. I’m fine.” Instead of standing around to continue the argument, she climbed the steps and went to her room. Never had a bed looked so inviting, or sheets felt so cool against her skin.
A moment later the door shut, and Grier crawled in next to her, pulled her back against his chest and breathed in deep, burying his head in her hair. “Please go back to Belize, Fiona. I can’t do everything I have to do and worry about you, too.”
She sighed. This was her fight as much as his. The baby was safe with Eliana and she had to see this through. “I’m not going back to Belize.” And she’d come up to bed so she didn’t have to argue, not so he could follow her and continue the discussion that would most definitely lead to an argument. But since there was nothing she liked more than Grier holding her, she didn’t get up and head down to the sofa.
“Fine.” His tone, the tension in his body, said it wasn’t fine at all, but she remained silent. Some things he had to work out for himself. Her independence, it turned out, was one of them. “How’s your head?”
“It’s okay.” Not entirely true. It ached. But nothing so substantial she wouldn’t be able to sleep through it. The nagging in her brain, though, the idea that someone had let Tyler go, bothered her enough it would be a very long time before she managed to close her eyes and quiet her brain. “Grier, how did Sedotal get away?” She turned toward him.
“I don’t know. You went down, and I didn’t see anything else.” But Grier wasn’t a good enough liar for her to believe that.
“Hmm.” But it would have to wait until the morning to figure it out, when her head wasn’t throbbing. “How’s Kye?” Last she’d seen, he looked like the live-action version of a punching bag. And she knew the feeling.
“He’s gonna be fine. His face was too pretty, anyway. This’ll add some character.” His voice went light, but she heard the relief. “Did you have that whole thing worked out with him where you threw him the rifle?”
Oh, that she had that much foresight. “No. It was spur of the moment. Could have turned out bad if he hadn’t caught it, I guess.” And that was as close to regret as she could give him.
Grier’s arms tightened around her. “Yeah.”
By morning, she was no closer to figuring out how Sedotal got free than she’d been when she first went to bed. And it wasn’t because she hadn’t laid there thinking. She’d seen Hamilton creep up behind him and grab him. But after that, everything blurred into everything else. Next thing she remembered she was riding in an ambulance. And they’d lost him.