Chapter 5
I’m gonna die.
Before Savvy knew what was happening, King shut off the light, and he was on top of Savvy, pressing her back into the floor.
“It’s okay, I’m right here. You don’t have to do this alone.” Their breath mingled, and for a moment, the world stood still, and she forgot to be afraid.
And then another bullet hit the wall.
The panic was back, in full force. Another one hit the window and glass exploded all over them.
King withdrew his gun and peered into the darkness.
“I can’t see a goddamn thing.”
“Don’t move,” he growled.
Another shot. This time it hit the headboard, boring a hole into it.
Holy shit. What if that had been my head instead?
Savvy’s instincts prodded her to run. She tried to scramble away, but King held her still. She had no idea where she was going.
“We go when I say so. If I don’t time our exit right, he’ll tag both of us before we make it to the hallway.”
Another shot rang out.
She yelped. “King, you should go. It’s me he wants.”
King’s big body was the only thing standing between her and a bullet. But she couldn’t bear the thought of someone else dying for her, even if he’d signed up for the job.
“Better me, then you,” he muttered, almost to himself.
His comment didn’t make any sense to her. Why was this so personal for him? Even if he liked her songs, King barely knew her.
She’d think about it later. Assuming there was a “later.”
“Was he waitin’ out there this whole time?”
“Snipers are patient bastards. They can wait hours, even days if they have to. “
It was like being chased by the grim reaper.
And then another hail of bullets completely shattered the window, and he dragged her with him into the other room, bellowing for Zane the entire time.
***
Two hours later, they were all in the kitchen.
King was in a foul mood.
When King and Zane stormed outside in their body armor, guns blazing, they didn’t find the shooter. He must’ve taken off shortly after they’d escaped the bedroom. Once again, the prick hadn’t left any evidence behind.
Afterward, they’d all been interviewed by the FBI, the local police, and spoke to Scotland Yard as well. The Brits relinquished jurisdiction to the FBI, since it was an ongoing situation, and not an isolated incident.
Everyone was awake, although Savvy was in her own little world. King had tried to talk with her, but she wasn’t responsive.
She was wrapped up in a blanket on a chair, with a vacant expression on her face. Some people ran for the hills when faced with a frightening situation, some people got angry, and fought back. And others froze.
Apparently, Savvy was the last kind.
King addressed the group. “Okay, everyone, why don’t you try to get some sleep?”
He wanted to speak with Savvy and help her process the trauma. King had been his SEAL team’s medic, but he knew firsthand, the worst wounds weren’t physical.
Everyone shuffled down the hall, except for Adam who lingered in the doorway, observing Savvy. The man was intense when it came to her, and King couldn’t decide if it was professional concern for his most important client, or something deeper.
Intuition told him it was personal.
King stared him down until Adam left the room with a grimace. Clearly, he wanted to stay and comfort Savvy. Well, too damn bad.
He sat next to her. “Hey, how are you holdin’ up?”
“Not very well,” she said hoarsely.
Her eyes were far away. King needed to bring her back to the here and now, help her focus, deal with the shock before it got the best of her. She was headed down a rabbit hole with no bottom if he didn’t intervene.
King started with something simple. “Here, let me clean you up.”
“I’m not hurt, am I?” Her eyes were wide as saucers.
“You’ve got a few scratches on your face, from the broken glass, but that’s it.”
He gathered the supplies and got to work. King dabbed at the tiny cuts with a soapy paper towel, then washed them clean, before applying rubbing alcohol so they wouldn’t get infected. Savvy hissed in pain but didn’t stop him.
While he took care of her, King spoke softly, trying to distract Savvy, but she couldn’t follow the conversation.
“How are you feelin?” he asked, afterward.
“Fine.”
King didn’t believe it for a second. “Have you ever heard of box breathin’?”
Her eyelids fluttered, as though she had trouble comprehending the question. He knew she was in a state of panic, and her mind was probably going a mile a minute. Her thoughts were clouded, and it was impossible to sort through them all.
“No,” she said after a moment.
“I learned it in SEAL trainin’. It can improve your concentration and slow down your heart rate so you can calm yourself. Wanna try it?”
She bit her lower lip and then nodded.
“Okay, we’ll do this for five minutes, and if you don’t relax, we’ll try another round.”
“Alright.”
“First, I need you to release all the air in your lungs, blow it out.” She exhaled, and he joined her.
“Excellent. Take a deep breath through your nose and hold it in.” She sucked in a gust of air and closed her eyes. “And release it.”
Savvy expelled the breath.
She seemed better, but Savvy still carried a lot of tension in her shoulders.
“Yeah, you’ve got it. Breathe with me again, and if it’s okay with you, I’m gonna massage your shoulders.”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
He stood behind her and kneaded the muscles in her neck and shoulders, loosening the knots. Human touch lowered stress biomarkers, like cortisol.
This was supposed to be about her needs, but he hadn’t counted on how smooth her skin would feel under his fingertips. Or how good Savvy smelled. He had the overwhelming urge to bury his face in her hair.
King tried to ignore it, focus on her.
He hadn’t meant to flirt with her earlier, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. King had heard the phrase “never meet your heroes” before, but Savvy lived up to every single one of his expectations and more. She was humble, and beautiful as a wildflower. If he didn’t watch himself, King could fall for her.
King had taken this gig to protect Savvy, pay her back for what she’d done for him.
It was his way of thanking her for preserving his sanity during the worst months of his life. He’d always thought she was lovely, but King was actually attracted to her. He knew from experience feelings could be a distraction in the field and got folks killed because their attention drifted. Like West had ordered, King planned on being professional, but it was going to be hard.
Poor choice of words.
After two rounds, Savvy was calm once more. He checked her pulse, and it had slowed way down. Her gaze no longer darted around the room and she seemed more composed.
“You’re gonna be fine.” King needed her to believe it. Soldiers who gave up were more likely to die.
“I don’t see how.”
“Focus on what you love, what grounds you, and hold onto it. Fight for it.”
She closed her eyes, and then nodded, as though selecting something important.
“What is it?”
“My momma and music. Those are the two things I need.”
“Keep them in your thoughts. Picture yourself comin’ out of this situation alive.”
During missions, King had imagined coming home to Nicole. It sounded so “woo woo,” but it gave him a reason to keep fighting.
She did, but soon her eyes fluttered open.
“It’s hard not to surrender to the fear.”
“I know. Let me tell you a story. I remember my first few days in a war zone. This was back when I was in the Navy before I joined the SEALS. Anyway, the first night I spent aboard the ship near Iraq, I was terrified.”
“You?” Her brows raised.
“Yeah, I was a nineteen-year-old kid, and I was in over my head. Of course, I kept my mouth shut and did my damndest not to show it. We were firin’ on a terrorist camp, and every blast startled me. I didn’t think I’d make it through the first night, let alone the week, but I was wrong, and so are you. Now, try again.”
Savvy shut her eyes, but her face went ashen.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“What if something happens to Momma because of me?” She looked stricken. “I’d never forgive myself.” Savvy clapped a hand over her mouth.
King couldn’t argue with her logic. Besides, he hadn’t wanted her to stay here in the first place.
“Where do you want to go?”
“That’s the thing, I don’t know. If I go home, he’ll follow me there.”
“Yeah, this guy did his homework on you.”
She swallowed. “I feel like there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”
“Why don’t you come with Zane and me? We’ll take you to HQ.”
“HQ?”
“Yes, Black Star Security headquarters.”
“Why would I be any safer there?”
“Let me put it this way, it’s a house full of ex-military and para-military folks. We’ve got a former Army Ranger, a CIA officer, an FBI negotiator, several Navy SEALs, and a former US Marshal. Oh, and a state of the art security system, along with an impressive armory.”
“So basically, it’s a fortress.”
“Yup, but like I said earlier, this can’t just be about damage control. We’ve gotta get to the source of the problem. What do you say?” King waited, hoping she’d make the right decision.
“Let’s go to HQ, and we’ll find out who wants me dead.”
“Excellent. We’ll leave at first light.” And then King planned on taking this shooter out.
***
“Hey, Momma, can we talk?”
Later, Savvy found her mother in the kitchen with a mugful of coffee. There were dark circles under her eyes. Savvy didn’t think she’d ever seen her mother look so exhausted, even when she spent her days cutting hair at the beauty shop, and her evening cleaning office buildings.
“Of course, we can, honey.” She patted the chair beside her and Savvy took a seat.
“I love havin’ you around.” She cupped Savvy’s cheek. “I miss you like crazy when you’re gone.”
When she was on tour, they spoke on Skype. Savvy had bought her mom a brand-new laptop for Christmas, with a webcam. When Savvy had given it to her, she’d said Savvy should’ve saved her money or spent it on herself. And in a way, she had. Savvy needed to see her face. Somehow the conversations had felt more real when they could see each other.
“I gotta sell those records.”
“I know, but you need to rest, too.” Her eyes narrowed as she studied Savvy in the intense way only a parent can. “I worry about you.”
“I worry about you, too. You should retire.”
“I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.” She shrugged. “I like keepin’ busy.”
Her mother was a force of nature. When her dad died, she became the sole breadwinner. She’d scrimped and saved and sacrificed for their family.
As a child, she’d seen Barbara fall asleep at the dinner table, on the couch, and one time in the bathtub. Basically, any time she stopped moving, she was liable to collapse. It worried Savvy, especially now that her mother was in her late fifties and lived alone.
Barbara had put her through school, worked two jobs, and made sure she had enough to eat and a roof over her head, along with the occasional extras, like singing lessons. There hadn’t been much money left over for anything else.
After she’d turned sixteen, she’d taken over the grocery shopping, made dinner, and did the laundry and dishes. Anything to make her mother’s job a bit easier. She’d sacrificed so much for Savvy. Helping around the house hadn’t been nearly enough to pay her back, but it was a starting point.
“Do you need anythin’, Momma?”
She shook her head. “Naw, I’m fine.”
Savvy had promised herself, she’d pay her back eventually. And she had. Savvy had bought her mother this house, a new car, and paid off all her bills. She’d offered to give her mother a monthly stipend, so she wouldn’t have to work, but Barbara opted for cutting hair at the beauty shop instead. Savvy supposed it was an improvement over working two jobs, and Barbara seemed happy. She enjoyed spending her days with “the girls.”
I love her so much, I can’t stand it.
Savvy cleared her throat. “I hate to cut this visit short, too, but I’m gonna take off.” They hadn’t seen each other since last Christmas. Savvy had made it home, but they’d only had a couple days together.
“Oh, no. I wish you wouldn’t leave again.”
Savvy kissed her cheek. “I gotta go, Momma. It isn’t safe to be around me, and I wouldn’t put you in danger for the world.”
Tears filled her eyes and Savvy’s vision blurred, too.
Being away from this place made Savvy ache, like Kentucky was in her blood somehow. Nashville was exciting, loud and bustling, but it wasn’t home. And neither was all those fancy hotel rooms.
“I can’t talk you out of it?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Damnation, you’re just as stubborn as your Daddy.”
Savvy laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. I’m so sorry about your house.”
“I don’t care about the damage, as long as you’re okay.”
“I know, but I’m still gonna pay to have it fixed.”
“Don’t even worry about it. I’ll have a couple of workmen over, and they’ll patch up the window, and it’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“Shh, listen to your momma. You take care of yourself, you hear?” It was clearly an order, not a request.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Savvy prayed she wouldn’t have to break it.