Page 23 of Outlaw Ridge: Shaw (Hard Justice: Outlaw Ridge #5)

Shaw stood in his kitchen, watching as the EMT, Josh Carver, cleaned Ava’s scraped and skinned shoulder and arm.

Her injuries weren’t serious, he could see that for himself, but he’d insisted she be checked and treated.

Since she’d refused that treatment at the ER, Shaw had had the responding deputies bring them back to his place.

Josh had already taken care of the arm injury and now had shoved down the collar of her stretchy shirt so he could work on her shoulder. There were little flecks of dirt around the angry red wound.

Just a half mile away, he knew there was a beehive of activity going on. The firemen would be there. The CSIs and ME, too. Owen would have set all the wheels in motion to do mop up. Normally, Shaw would have liked to be part of that, but he wanted Ava away from the stench of the fire.

Away from Lorelei’s dead body, too.

Unlike what he’d felt with Molly, he had zero regrets about shooting Lorelei. It’d come down to them or her, and he was glad the copycat riddle killer was dead.

And to know for certain that she had indeed been the killer.

Reed had already located Ava’s vehicle stashed on an old trail, and there’d been firearms, ammunition, a second can of gas, and even the empty box for the spike strip—something that she’d likely bought ahead of time for either another abduction or attack.

Reed had also found the burner phone that she’d used to send those texts. He’d done a quick fingerprint scan of it, and only Lorelei’s prints had been on it.

The phone and the other stuff proved that Lorelei had come there to kill. No one had been pulling her strings when she’d come out of that ditch with guns blazing, but there’d be a thorough investigation to see if she was acting alone.

Valerie certainly hadn’t been helping her. The rescue team had found her barely alive at the landfill, and she’d been seconds away from becoming another of Lorelei’s victims.

Just as Ava and he had.

And they’d come damn close to dying, too. Shaw figured the flashbacks about that were going to haunt him for a long, long time.

When he heard Ava make a soft sound of pain, that snapped him out of his thoughts, and he saw Josh dabbing on some antiseptic onto the scrape on her shoulder.

Shaw didn’t want her to feel even this small amount of pain, but he also knew they’d gotten damn lucky.

Any one of those shots that Lorelei had fired could have hit and killed them.

“All done,” Josh said, putting a large bandage over the scrape. It matched the one on her arm.

Ava immediately took hold of the top of her shirt and dragged it back over the wound. “I’m okay,” she muttered, and Shaw wasn’t sure if that was meant for him, the EMT or for herself.

But it was true. She was okay, physically anyway, and he was beyond thankful that she didn’t seem on the verge of a panic attack. In fact, there was no panicked look at all in her eyes or her expression.

She stood from the counter stool and surprised him by pulling him into her arms. She didn’t stop there. Ava kissed him. Not a gentle peck of comfort either. It was the real deal, a hot scorcher of a kiss that only Ava could deliver.

Even though the kiss revved up his pulse that was now crashing in his ears, Shaw still heard Josh chuckle. “I’ll see myself out,” the EMT muttered, and there were the sounds of him gathering up his gear.

Ava eased back, met Shaw’s gaze, and he still didn’t see any panic. But there was relief. And heat. Shaw was glad to see both of them.

“Have a good one,” Josh said, turning to leave.

“Gus,” Shaw called out to his security app. “Pause the alarm, unlock the front door.”

The app managed to do that in a blink so by the time Josh did reach the door, no alarm sounded when he opened it.

“Visitor approaching,” Gus said while the EMT was still on the porch.

Even though Shaw knew the threat was over, he still stepped in front of Ava and went to see who was pulling into his driveway. His muscles relaxed when he realized it was Owen.

His boss had soot marks on his face and looked ready to drop from exhaustion, and Shaw hoped his somber expression didn’t mean that something bad had happened. They’d all already had enough bad.

“You’re both okay?” Owen asked as he stepped inside.

“Yes,” Ava answered while Shaw shut the door and had Gus reengage the security. He’d stay on high alert until he knew the reason for Owen’s visit.

“What happened?” Shaw came out and asked.

Owen dragged in a long breath. “Grant’s dead. SAPD found his body at her house along with a note saying he killed anyone who might be able to prove he set up Dell.”

“He killed himself?” Ava asked, shaking her head. “I can’t see him doing that.”

“Neither can anyone else,” Owen was quick to assure her. “The head of homicide is on the scene, and she believes it’s a setup, that Grant was murdered.”

“By Lorelei,” Shaw supplied.

Owen nodded. “We’re using Cyclops to try to track Lorelei’s movements, and while she avoided a lot of cameras, one caught her at the intersection near Grant’s house.”

Shaw took a moment to mentally go through all of that, and he came up with a question that had to be asked. “Was Lorelei acting alone?”

Owen didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Everything we’re piecing together supports that. She ordered the strip spikes a month ago and bought the guns and ammo. My guess is she thought we wouldn’t check on things like that if Valerie was blamed for the crimes.”

And Lorelei might have been right in assuming that. If Lorelei had managed to kill Owen, Reed, Ava, and him, there’d be no witnesses to her being on scene. She might have been able to cover her tracks and pin all the blame on Valerie.

“My guess is Lorelei killed Grant and then hurried to your house to deal with you,” Owen added. “It wouldn’t have taken her that long to put the spike strip on the road, and there are indications that the two gas cans had already been filled and were in her car.”

That was risky, considering the cops could have checked her vehicle, but Lorelei could have always claimed she had no criminal intent for the gasoline.

“What about Grant maybe planting evidence against Dell?” Shaw asked. “Could that possibly have happened?”

Owen lifted his shoulder. “That’ll be checked and rechecked, but I don’t believe it was.”

“It wasn’t,” Ava said, getting their attention. “If Dell had had any inkling that the DNA had been planted, he would have shouted it from the rooftops long before this latest appeal. He would have used it during the trial.”

Shaw considered it and agreed. Dell wasn’t the sort to sit on something like that for four years. But Lorelei had obviously tried to capitalize on this by killing the lab tech. That would no doubt be intended to add to Grant’s guilt.

“How the hell did Lorelei manage to destroy those DNA samples?” Shaw wanted to know.

“We’re still looking into that, but it’s possible they weren’t actually destroyed. Reed’s handling that, and he thinks someone hacked the system, renamed the files and made it look as if they’d been destroyed.”

Well, it would certainly be easier to do some hacking than to break into a facility that held that kind of evidence. “Lorelei could have done that?” Shaw pressed.

“Probably not her personally, but Reed had already IDed two people in her support group with computer skills. They’ll be questioned.”

Good. Because Shaw wanted that person brought to justice, too. The hacking might not be on the same level with multiple murders, but it had contributed overall to Lorelei’s sick plan.

“So, it’s over,” Ava muttered.

Hearing that gave Shaw a couple of jolts. Relief. Yeah, that came all right. But there also seemed to be a goodbye in Ava’s comment.

Hell.

Was she leaving? No way did he want that to happen.

Shaw snapped toward her. “Don’t go. I’m in love with you,” he blurted and wished he’d given some thought as to how to better say that. Or at least waited until they were alone.

The surprise registered on her face, and despite everything they’d just heard, the corner of her mouth lifted in an almost smile. “Okay.”

Shaw blinked, caught off guard by her quick agreement. He’d expected her to disagree with what he’d said or at least show some resistance. “Okay?” he repeated, testing to make sure he’d heard her right.

Ava’s almost-smile widened a bit more. “Yes, okay. You don’t want me to go, so I won’t.”

For a moment, they just stood there, the tension from the past weeks melting into, well, a lot of things. There was that relief again. And the heat. Yep, always there, even now.

“I thought you’d need more convincing,” he admitted.

Ava shook her head, her eyes glinting with a mixture of amusement and something deeper. “You have a good way of convincing me. That I love you confession really helped.”

“Uh, I think it’s time I go,” Owen said, using the same tone the EMT had earlier when he’d witnessed that kiss.

Shaw hadn’t exactly forgotten about his boss standing there. Okay, he had. Ava’s “okay” had sent his head, and his world, spinning.

“Sorry,” he muttered to Owen. But he did nothing to stop Owen when he reached for the door.

“Gus, pause security,” Shaw ordered.

“Take some downtime,” Owen said as he headed out. “I’ll send you copies of any wrap-up reports when I get them.”

With that, he turned his back, waved from over his shoulder, and he headed to his cruiser. Shaw shut the door, had Gus rearm the security and then he turned to Ava.

Shaw reached out, his fingers brushing against hers. “Then stay. Stay with me.”

Ava’s hand tightened around his, her smile softening. “I’m here, Shaw. I’m not going anywhere.”

Shaw swallowed hard, the weight of her words sinking in. This wasn’t just about staying for the night—it was about staying for something more.

And he wanted that more.

He pulled her to him and kissed her. He held nothing back. Didn’t want to put any kind of harness or muzzle on the emotions and sensations that were crashing onto him, wave by wave.

The kiss raged on and on until he felt the need start to take over. He wanted that, too. Wanted to keep kissing her and then haul her off to bed. But he had to get something clear first.

“I meant it when I said I was in love with you,” he told her.

Ava smiled again. “Yes, I got that. The odd thing is I was about to say it to you before Owen showed up.”

That unclenched all the remaining tension inside him. “You were?” he asked, nipping her bottom lip with his teeth.

“Yes,” she verified, pulling him back to her for one of those long, lust-filled kisses. Breath to breath. Body to body. And heart to heart.

For the first time in a long while, Shaw felt a sense of peace settling over him. The weight of the past began to lift, replaced by the warmth of Ava’s presence. Now, they could finally start healing—together.

He kissed her again, making it long and slow, savoring the promise of new beginnings. The storm that had raged in their lives was finally clearing, leaving room for hope and love to grow.

In her arms, with her mouth on his, Shaw knew they had found their way back to each other, and this time, they wouldn’t let go.