Page 53 of Anything for You (Veterans of Silver Ridge #7)
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Dove
J eb gripped Lucinda’s arm in a grasp so hard I could see his fingers bruising her in real time. He sneered after his nasty epithets and got right in my face.
“Your pathetic little threats mean nothing, you whiney little?—”
Jeb disappeared in a movement so sudden, I gasped and Lucinda screamed. And then I started laughing like a maniac because Dorian was here!
But before I could launch myself into his arms, six goons I’d seen around and Hawk burst in and threw themselves into a fight. Well, six men did, and while Dorian tried to get to me, to shield me and Lucinda, I felt a hand go around my neck and the muzzle of a gun press into my temple.
“Stop! Stop right now or she’s done. ”
Hawk’s voice was hard and so cold, I didn’t know him.
That was the reality I’d slowly begun to accept as the day went on and I hadn’t seen him. He hadn’t checked on me. He’d left me to Jeb and whatever sick plans he had for me once I did his bidding, and that meant this person now directly threatening my life wasn’t my brother anymore.
He’d been too broken by our childhoods, too twisted by the lies and manipulations of the people around him, and this was the fallout.
He’d lost himself, and he was now threatening to murder his own sister.
“Move the weapon away from your sister, Hawk.”
Dorian’s voice came out clear, commanding, and almost compassionate. It was remarkable, and at some other time, it might’ve even been sexy.
“I can’t. It’s—this isn’t how it’s supposed to go! He said she’d be safe here and this isn’t right. She belongs here and you’re not supposed to be here.” His grip around me tightened, and the press of his ulna against my throat threatened to cut off my airway.
“Shoot them all!”
Jeb’s voice came in a cry that was then muffled with something I couldn’t see in the hallway, and Hawk’s arm tightened further.
“Just leave! Just leave and she’ll be fine,” he said, a twinge of hysteria clear in his tone.
Dorian held out his hands showing he was unarmed. “She’ll be fine if you move that weapon, right? You don’t want anything to happen to her or you, so please, Hawk, just set it down. We’ll figure this out. It’s going to be okay.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone moving, but I didn’t let my gaze track them .
And then everything happened at once. Dorian spoke in that calm, steady voice, Kenny Carmichael moved toward Hawk from the left, and Jeb’s voice rang out again with, “Shoot!”
The sound of a shot was near-deafening in the small room, but I heard it and felt it and was shoved to the ground because Hawk had released me. He hadn’t shot me.
I looked up just in time to see Dorian hunch, hands pressed to his side.
That’s when horror struck and chaos ensued.
Somewhere behind me, people were moving, shouting, begging.
I didn’t know. I didn’t care. I couldn’t hear or see any of them as I crawled to Dorian where he’d stumbled back against the wall and slid to sit on the floor.
I stripped away the heavy-duty Velcro keeping his vest in place, begging anyone who would listen for the shot to have hit Kevlar and not him.
A swell of relief so great it almost knocked me over struck when I saw the bullet lodged into the vest. He groaned, and I scrambled up to see his face.
“You okay?” he asked, voice pinched like the wind had been knocked out of him.
“Am I? Dorian, you just got shot!” There was more than a little hysteria churning in my body and leaking into my words.
“I’m okay. Maybe bruised ribs, though.”
His hand reached up and cupped my face, and as our gazes locked and held, the chaos roiling around us seemed to still. Of course it hadn’t, but my perception narrowed to him and only him as the calloused pads of his fingers brushed my cheek.
“Are you okay, Dove? I’m so sorry.”
I pressed my hand over his, savoring his touch. “I’m just fine now. Thank you for coming for me.”
His thumb brushed away a tear. “Nothing could’ve kept me away.”
My cheesy smile could’ve powered the city, and he chuckled, then jerked with a wince.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. You probably need to head to the hospital.”
“He definitely does,” Adam confirmed, crouching to take a look. “You’re going to have a nasty bruise at the very least. Based on the breathing, I’m thinking they might be broken.”
Dorian nodded, and my heart pinched. I hated that he’d gotten hurt. I prayed no one else had. Then I remembered. “Did you find Catherine?”
“Yes. She’s okay. Shaken up and a bit dehydrated, but she’s outside with Eddie and Elizabeth, giving her statement to the police.” Adam gave me a small smile, then turned to Dorian. “The bad news is, we’ve gotta get you up.”
Adam and I helped get Dorian on his feet, and the low grunt of pain as we levered him up made me want to scream. By the time he was up, Hawk was face down on the floor, and a Silverton police officer was talking to Kenny.
Dorian’s eyes never left mine for long. I wanted to hug him and kiss him and have him wrap me in his arms so I could cry my guts out. I’d kept it together for a remarkably long time, especially for me, and I just knew a big spill was coming.
Adam patted my arm. “I’m sure they’ll want your statement before you go to the hospital. We can take him and you can come with the others?—"
“I’m not leaving without her. ”
Dorian’s words brooked no argument, and even though his breathing was still shallow to protect his ribs, he was steady.
Adam chuckled low. “Alright, my friend. If you can handle it, and unless something else pops up, we’ll wait until after they wrap up with Dove.”
The something else could be any number of issues caused by the impact of the bullet to the vest and then his body, or issues with his ribs if they were broken.
Pulmonary issues on the heels of rib injury—contusions, lacerations, and even lung collapses—danced at the edges of my brain but I shooed them away.
Sometimes, medical knowledge could be a curse, and I needed to focus and get this next part over with so we could get Dorian checked out.
When we finally stepped outside the building where I’d been stuck for over eighteen hours, the November sky was dimming. I inhaled the fresh air and felt tears gathering at the corners of my eyes.
“Give us a minute.” Dorian ushered me to the side of the building, some distance from the crowd of police officers, Saint Security people, and onlookers from the compound.
He stopped and wrapped his arms around me. I held on to him lightly, praying I wasn’t hurting him, and shut my eyes. The tears fell as I soaked up the warmth of him and the shuddering relief of knowing this horrible ordeal was over.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered into my hair.
“No, I’m sorry.” I looked up into his beloved face. The one I’d dreamed of coming for me—the one I knew would come. “I knew you’d come for me. I knew I’d get out of here. I’m so sorry for all of this.”
His hands came to my face, cradling me with that way of his that sent swirls of lovely sensation all through me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. And I think I might need to talk to someone to work through this delightful experience.” My lip trembled because I was exhausted, and now that the adrenaline that’d zipped through my veins when I’d seen Dorian had bled out of me, I was so, so sad my brother had been part of this.
“You probably do. I have a strong recommendation who’s local, but if she’s not a fit, we’ll find you someone great.” He dipped, pressing his forehead to mine then dropping a kiss there, before he straightened. “I think this was my last Saint mission.”
His expression was clear. Not cagey or wounded or angry or closed. It was like the experience today had solidified it.
He held up his hand to show a small shake.
He looked at it, then shook his head in an almost boyish way.
“When I realized you were gone, I went straight to Saint. Of course I did, but it wasn’t just because they have the ability to help.
Then I was terrified coming here, but I knew I could do it.
With these people around me, I knew. But I don’t think I could’ve for anyone else, not anymore, and that’s my sign.
As we were getting ready, I just… I knew.
This would be it. And I can’t explain why I know this, but I think I know—” His brow furrowed, and he glanced over at the crowd of bodies milling about, taking statements, taking information, sliding handcuffed men into vehicles.
“I know they’ll still be there for me. Even if I’m not taking jobs. ”
I pulled him to me as gently as I could. “I know that without any doubt.”
“Can we get your statement now, Ms. Jensen?” Sheriff Ryan stood a few feet away, a patient expression on his handsome face.
I grinned, determined to move forward—today, this week, this year… indefinitely. “Of course, Sheriff. What else would I want to be doing on a lovely fall evening such as this?”