Page 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Shae

“Sir?”

I came back to myself in a rush of noise and awareness that hurt so damn much.

“Sir?”

I focused on the woman standing in front of me. “I said, is any of that blood yours?” She took my arm and led me gently through a set of double doors. I didn’t need to know what I was looking at. There must have been about fifteen people surrounding the gurney I knew held Drake. “Is he going to be okay?” I whispered, knowing he wasn’t.

“They’re going to do their best.”

“It was my fault.” She stiffened. “The bullet,” I croaked out.

“Your fault?” she repeated. But I couldn’t seem to get words past my lips, and before I knew it, three security guards, all with drawn weapons, were pointing them at my head.

“Hands in the air,” one of them barked out, and I realized the nurse had gone. When had that happened? I could go if I wanted, move before they could even react, but that was what had gotten Drake hurt, so I simply raised my arms.

They weren’t gentle, but I barely noticed. All I could hear was a sudden shout of “Code Blue. Code Blue,” and more running feet. I knew it was Drake, and I closed my eyes as the cops arrived and welcomed every yank of the handcuffs as they shoved me in the back of a squad car.

“Well, well.” I opened my eyes sometime later, probably hours later, because the voice caught my attention, and I raised my head so I could see a man in jeans and a shirt standing beyond the bars to my cell. I didn’t get up from sitting in the corner, chin on my knees, wrists and ankles chained and the chain shackled to the floor. The chain was long enough to reach the toilet in the corner, and that was it.

I knew who David Starr was and briefly wondered why he was here. Two fucked up dads in one day? Must be a record. The bastard hated his son, but surely he’d be at the hospital trying to throw his weight around? He must still be Drake’s next of kin.

Unless it was too late.

Of course it was. I rubbed my chest, and knew at that moment if it stopped all the pain I’d have gotten on that treadmill until I dropped dead.

“Heard you’re the fucker responsible for hurting my boy?” he snarled. I didn’t deny it because it was true. I was responsible. Even if it wasn’t me who pulled the trigger.

“Sarge?” I glanced over at another cop. He looked young, probably about the same age as me.

“Go away, boy. Nothing to see here. We’re just talking.”

“But you’re not allowed—”

“I said ,” Starr snarled and turned to him. “You didn’t see anything, or do you need to be written up for looking the other way at your buddy’s traffic stop?”

I saw the other cop pale.

Starr scoffed. “Think I don’t know you let him off when he was doing twenty over? Think I don’t have friends here who tell me what’s going on? You’re about to lose your job, maybe even go down if I suddenly find witnesses to say you made perps pay for looking the other way.”

The other cop gasped. “No, sarge I would never.”

He turned and got right in the cop’s face. “And who do you think they’d believe, huh? You, or a decorated officer that served for over thirty-five years?”

I watched this with numb fascination, even as the young cop’s shoulders slumped and he retreated, finally passing through the door they’d brought me through. I knew it had worked. I knew bullies.

“A friend told me about you,” he said conversationally, as if his son hadn’t just died. As if everything was okay. As if my world hadn’t stopped. He unlocked and opened the door, then locked it quickly behind him. “You move fast, but you can’t do anything about the cuffs you’re in or the bolts that fasten the chains to the floor.”

Which wasn’t true. I could get the keys off him faster than he took a breath. But my time for escape had passed. Or had it?

I briefly thought about escaping through the wall but shied away from those thoughts. The feel of the bullet slicing through me was still too raw, and I hadn’t questioned how I wasn’t injured. Running through walls.

Did I care?

For what seemed like forever, I’d wanted nothing more than to heal and get my ability back. Heading to rescue Drake, I’d felt strong for the first time in my life. And look what happened?

More guilt ate at me as I thought about Tammy, but I knew Pink would step up. She would be better off without me, anyway.

“Now that we’re alone, we can get to know each other a little better. He took a step toward me and I stiffened. I’d expected a beating, and I wouldn’t stop him, but I saw his hand drop to his pocket, not his gun. He could shoot me and say I had attacked him. There were still plenty of people that would take the side of anyone other than an enhanced. That was the way the world worked. Even if he wasn’t supposed to be in here. It sounded like he had enough friends on active duty.

I watched as he fingered what was in his pocket. “My boy and I didn’t get on in the last few years,” he said, which completely stunned me. Few years? Drake had said he hadn’t seen them since he enlisted. “I wanted him here, and he wanted the army.” Which wasn’t what Drake had said, but what did I know?

“Heard what happened to you before,” he said. “In the jail. Turns out you were a lab rat.”

I didn’t question how he knew. The media had seen Drake carry me out.

“So, you have a choice,” he grinned and brought out the syringe from his pocket. “You can go quietly now, happy, no pain, or I will personally make sure you go back into a lab and that they keep you alive to experiment on you every day.”

I hissed in a short breath. I would endure it happily to keep Drake alive but it was too late for that. I supposed this way they’d just write me off as an OD. Like they had with Dodson.

Tammy would be okay with Pink. More than okay, I amended. I knew Diesel wouldn’t let her go back into the system.

Drake was dead, which meant I had nothing to live for.

I stared at the syringe. Then I simply bared my arm.

Diesel

“Where the fuck is Shae?” Ringo was in recovery. It had been touch-and-go. Danny said that If we’d been forced to wait for an ambulance, Drake would have been dead, and Danny had patched more of us up in the desert than I could count.

I found the nurse and, stammering, she told me he had admitted to shooting Ringo. If I hadn’t known that boy, and absolutely knew he was in love with Ringo, I might have been gentler with her, but I’d heard the conversation over the earpiece Danny had given Shae and I knew exactly what had happened. We heard the moment the gun had fired, and I knew, absolutely goddamn knew, Shae had reacted, not pulled a trigger he didn’t even have. I didn’t know exactly what happened next, but I knew Shae hadn’t fired the bullet—he didn’t have a fucking gun—despite what the nurse thought she heard.

So, uncaring of her being upset, I grilled her until I got every word of their conversation. Even she admitted she’d been wrong.

“The cops have him,” I told Kane, Gray, Danny, and Jay, and Danny went to work. When we got the name of the station he was at, Danny stiffened and gasped.

“Go, go now.” I was on my way anyway, but Danny’s thread of panic made me halt.

“He’s been taken to the same station Lee Dodson was killed at. I have no idea where David Starr is but if he’s mixed up in all this, and that’s likely, he’ll know where Shae was taken.”

Gray jumped up. “If he is involved, pretty sure it would suit his Daddy to tidy up what he might consider lose ends.”

I picked up my keys, “Danny, you and Kane stay here. Call me the second you know anything.” I looked at Gray and his smile was wicked. Jay followed us both out.

Shae

I glanced away. I didn’t want to watch the needle. Then I thought of Gael. His skin was impervious, so some sick bastard had burned him, because nothing else they did had worked.

Then I remembered Derek. Derek is Shae’s friend. I wanted that so badly it hurt.

It would be easy letting the needle pierce my skin. I knew Drake’s dad had done the same to Jethro Dunne, and this was nothing to him.

Drake’s dad took a step forward, his fingers reaching for his gun, even though he still held the syringe.

I stared at him, and saw the glint of sick satisfaction. I knew in that moment he wasn’t here because I’d hurt his son. He didn’t love Drake. He’d beaten him as a child. He was here because… and everything seemed to slow. He’d said hurt . He hadn’t said killed or murdered. He’d said hurt .

Which meant Drake was still alive. He had to be. I almost felt my heart jump.

I wanted to get back to the farm. To Tammy, because she deserved a big brother that wouldn’t take the easy way out. To Maxie and all the dogs we could squeeze in so they could have a good life and a family that loved them.

Same as me.

I needed to be with Drake. I knew he loved me, and I remembered how he’d read that book to me. How he’d protected me when no one else on the planet did. Diesel had told me he wanted me. He just thinks he isn’t allowed to have it.

He was wrong.

I knew in my fucked-up heart that I would die for him, except he wasn’t asking me to. I knew—absolutely—that he wanted me to live. Live for him. Live for Tammy. Live at the farm and look after Albert and Moira.

Let Dolly eat as many fucking flowers as she wanted.

I surged up, breaking the chains, and holding so-called Sergeant Starr’s arm above his head while he screamed—syringe on display—until the cell was full of cops.

They might know Starr had wanted to kill me, but at the same time I was gearing up to run a fancy lawyer named Hannah Metcalfe arrived and proved I hadn’t shot Drake. It was fitting they were now faced with one of their own attempting murder, because they had to know what a bully Starr was, and he’d just gotten away with it for years.

I was outside in the clothes Diesel magically produced and rubbing my wrists twenty minutes later. “How is he?”

“Out of surgery. Come on, let’s get you back there.”

Drake was alive. I looked at Diesel as he headed for the car, and he glanced back to see I’d stopped. I just grinned and caught his eye-roll as I sped back to the hospital. I walked into the ER and immediately spotted the same nurse from before, who took one look and beckoned me over. I followed her along a corridor and into an area with six rooms, all arranged in a sort of circle. We headed into the first one and I stopped and stared.

“We’re keeping him sedated to help him heal.” I gazed at Drake. At the sheet that covered him up to where a bandage covered his chest. The tube that ran down his throat. The wires attached everywhere to him and the machines that beeped, especially the line going up and down in a steady rhythm, and felt the tears threaten because I knew that meant his heart was working.

“Can I sit with him for a little while?” I whispered, prepared to beg, and she smiled.

“Of course, apart from me owing you a huge apology, Mr. Rawlings seems to be a personal friend of Richard Conner, our Medical Director.” She twinkled and I would have rolled my eyes like Diesel if they hadn’t been glued to the bed.

“I understand you’re Mr. Starr’s next of kin, and we take great care of our heroes in here.”

I blinked at the next of kin and wondered if Danny had done some magic, but rather than dwell on that, my feet took me to the bed of their own accord.

She nodded to one of two chairs. “Hold his hand, talk to him,” she encouraged. “I’ll make sure Eddie gets you a coffee.” I didn’t watch her leave because I was pulling the chair close, sitting down, and taking Drake’s hand.

I sat for a while. Someone brought me coffee, but it went cold. The nurses kept coming in and out. The nurse had said to talk to him, but I didn’t know what to say. Diesel had gotten there and stood next to me for a while, then went to see the doctors. I still didn’t know what to say, but in the end I decided to be honest. Tell him what I wanted.

“So, it’s me.” I half-laughed, half-sobbed at such an inane statement. “I know you’re convinced you’re no good for me, but well, that’s tough, because I don’t scare off easily. You’re going to get better, then we’re going home with Tammy and Maxie, and we’re going to rescue all the dogs and all the horses we can fit in there because I love you and nothing else will work.” My voice cracked and I tried to swallow. Took a breath. “Might even get another donkey, so Dolly has a friend she can take on her travels if you think the flower beds are up to it. I’m going to make a start on that kitchen floor, and you’re going to read me all the books.” My throat closed, but I stayed holding his hand. When two doctors came to check on him, I took the chance to go to the bathroom.

Diesel found me. “Thought you’d like to know Ryan Connaught is singing like a canary. He implicated everyone he’d paid and, interestingly enough, we understand the feds have come to an agreement with Garcia. In return for him not going back to jail, he’s given up the name of the judge that took bribes to get him released, and he’s agreed to leave Albert and Moira alone.”

“Wow,” I said weakly. I’d been so caught up in Drake, I’d never even asked what had happened to everyone else.

“The cops found Gary Bruin’s body in a dumpster,” Diesel added. “The cops have three witnesses to say Bruin was flashing cash about, so they think it was an unrelated robbery. Ryan insists he had nothing to do with him after giving him cash to poison the dogs so Ryan could go and snoop for anything that might tell him what happened to the gun. Quite fittingly, it turns out Albert never had it as you heard, which is understandable considering he was arrested immediately.”

“What about Starr?” Diesel knew I didn’t mean Drake.

“The cops are obviously suspicious there’s a connection with Dodson’s death but they’re waiting for tox screens as they have the syringe. Two other cops have admitted to being threatened by Starr, both of whom have admitted to altering the station’s CCTV so Starr wasn’t caught, but apparently Gael and Danny think the tapes are recoverable. Ryan has admitted bribing Starr’s wife over the years to get the rezoning, and obviously Starr knew. It seems that Starr took a little too much initiative to make sure their personal ATM wasn’t locked up. Looks like it might actually have been Starr who fired on you two in the parking lot.”

I gaped. “Drake’s dad?” He’d be devastated.

Diesel seemed to read my mind as usual, and his hand fell on my shoulder. “Ringo knows what a useless ass his father is. He won’t be surprised.” Diesel smiled. “I’m getting you some clothes and things. If it’s okay, Pink’s going to take both Tammy and Maxie back home with her while you’re in here. Oh, and Danny took a call from her therapist’s assistant saying you’d missed her appointment, but it’s all smoothed over and he scheduled another appointment in ten days.”

I wasn’t even sure what day it was.

I looked up as a different nurse headed toward us to tell us the doctors had finished if we wanted to go back in, and that Dr. Cramer had five minutes if we wanted to see him. Diesel glanced at me with a raised eyebrow. “You go,” I urged. “Just come and tell me.” I wanted to get back to Drake.

It was a long night. I got a cot brought in, but I didn’t lie down. I was still mainlining god-awful coffee the next morning when Danny, Sadie, and Kane arrived with another change of clothes for me, so I took five minutes for a shower and shave.

I was surprised to see Sadie, but apparently as a registered service animal, she was allowed anywhere Danny went.

When I got back, they were both standing in the corridor and my heart jumped when I saw the blinds to his room were closed. “It’s okay,” Danny said immediately. “They’ve been lightening the sedation and are checking if they can take the tube out.”

When the curtains opened, Drake no longer had the tube coming out of his mouth but had a clear tube for oxygen fastened so the prongs were under his nose. One of the nurses from yesterday was just entering something into the tablet she held, and she smiled at me. “He should wake up soon, so just keep talking to him.”

I thanked her. Kane went to find snacks and some tea for Danny, so Danny kept me company for a while.

“Tammy likes Pink. It’s a good thing they met the other day. Kane told her you were out helping Drake and would see her soon.”

I sighed. “You think she’ll be okay?” I was worried she might think another adult had vanished from her life.

He smiled. “Wait till my mom sees her. She’s going to have more family than she knows what to do with.”

Good. That was good.

Danny and Kane left after an hour, so I just sat and watched Drake breathe.

I knew somehow I’d fallen asleep when I moved my head and winced at the crick in my neck as I sat up. I was still holding Drake’s hand though, and I glanced up, only to find his green eyes open and watching me. “Baby,” I whispered without thinking, smiling widely.

He smirked, then croaked. “You look like shit.”

I tried to laugh, but it came out as a sob and, horrified, I jumped to my feet, but Drake’s grip was strong in mine. “I’ll get the nurse.”

“They’ve been in,” he said. “I opened my eyes, and you were the first thing I saw.”

I wasn’t sure how to take that. “Danny, Diesel and everyone’s been by. Tammy’s with Pink.”

He tugged on my hand. “You’re too far away.” I stepped closer, but he shook his head. “I’m injured, so you need to get on the bed so I don’t have to come to you.”

I gazed at him in horror. “I can’t get in bed with you. It’ll hurt—”

“Good drugs,” he interrupted. “Either you get on here so I can hold you, or I’m going to have to try to get out of bed.”

“No,” I squeaked out and gave in because I wanted nothing more than to be in his arms, even if I was convinced the nurses would throw me out when they saw. So, I very carefully and gingerly got on the bed next to him, hardly daring to touch or to move, until he grunted and pulled me closer. “That’s better,” he said and relaxed.

“Drake—”

“I liked it when you called me baby,” he murmured.

“You were shot,” I whispered. “It was my fault.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Garcia was going to shoot Albert. You tried to disarm everyone, then you carried me here, saving my life.” He hesitated. “I’m sorry about your dad.”

I shrugged. “He’s been dead to me a long time,” but then I frowned in confusion. “How do you know?”

“Because up to ten minutes ago Rawlings was sitting in that corner.”

I hesitated. “So, you know everything?” His dad?

“Yeah, baby.” He blinked, and I knew he must be tired.

“Why don’t you shut your eyes?”

He grunted. “Only if you promise to stay.”

“I love you,” I whispered. It was the same promise to stay and a different one all at the same time.

He smiled lazily. “I know. Which is good, because you’re stuck with me. We’re going to go home and rescue all the dogs.”

I nodded because I couldn’t speak, and when his eyes closed, I stayed exactly where I was.