Page 70 of Deputies Under Fire
The three of them muttered some variations of “you’re welcome.” And they meant it. Despite Ike being a despicable human being, he hadn’t deserved to die, though Eden hoped he’d learned a lesson about taunting a man over his wife’s grave.
“You’re going to owe my client an apology,” Arnette snapped, clearly stepping back into his lawyer role.
“Shut the hell up, Arnette,” Ike told him, and he headed toward the Jag with the lawyer trailing right along behind him.
Eden was finally ready to take a breath to try to tamp down some of this adrenaline, but then Rory spoke.
“Put Helen in the ambulance,” Rory instructed Judson. “There might be other IEDs.”
Sweet heaven. Eden hoped that wasn’t true, but as enraged as Frank had been, there could be more.
“Go in the ambulance with her to the hospital,” Rory added to Judson. “And take a statement from her if you can.”
After Judson gave him a nod, Rory shifted to Diedre, who looked on the verge of starting that shrieking again. “Where are you parked?”
She motioned toward a trail up the road.
“Don’t go there,” Rory ordered her. “Get in the cruiser with Bennie. He’ll take you to the station, and after the bomb squad has cleared the area, someone will bring you your car. Oh, and FYI, it’s against the law to put a tracker on someone’s phone. You’re lucky it didn’t lead you to getting killed.”
Diedre didn’t shriek, but she started to sob as Bennie led her to the cruiser. Eden doubted they’d actually file charges against Diedre, especially since they had so many other loose ends to wrap up. For starters, checking for IEDs and recovering the explosive-making equipment that Frank said he’d put in Ike’s truck. The bomb squad would see to that, and then the CSIs and ME would have to come in. It could take days to clean up this crime scene.
“I want to see Tyler,” Eden said simply.
He nodded, and he motioned for her to move into the cruiser with him. “So do I. We can leave as soon as the bomb squad gets here.”
Good. Because holding their son might start untangling this mass of nerve.
She slid into the passenger’s seat and did something else to start that untangling. Eden reached over and pulled Rory to her.
Yes, instant relief.
Along with so many other feelings. Not the nerves. No, this was something much stronger.
“I’m not taking it back,” she told him while they clung to each other.
“Taking what back?” he asked.
“ThatI love you. I meant it, and I’m not going to claim it was part of the fear or adrenaline surge.”
Rory eased back from her, a slow smile forming on his mouth. A mouth he promptly used to kiss her. An incredible kiss that worked wonders. The nightmare of the attack didn’t exactly vanish, but the kiss put a serious dent in it.
When he eased back, Rory was still smiling. “I’m not taking it back, either. I’m in love with you, Eden, and no, that wasn’t the adrenaline talking. That was all me.”
“Ike is never going to approve of us being together,” she reminded him. And she returned the favor by giving him one of those scalding kisses.
Rory didn’t even attempt to end the kiss so he could respond. He just kissed and kissed and kissed, until he stirred up a ton of heat inside her.
“Ike has no say in…us,” he said. “This love is between you and me. And Tyler,” he added.
Now, she smiled. Because, yes, Tyler was in on this, too.
The weight just lifted off her heart. Weight that felt as if it’d been there for a very long time. Eden suddenly felt as if everything was going to be fine.
Better than fine, she amended.
Everything was finally going to beright.