Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lanie wished he’d hold her. She knew it was a stupid and girly thing to want, especially after railing so hard against being coddled, but whatever. She was a contrary bitch on her best days, so he’d have to get use to it.
But Jesse pulled away.
She viciously squashed the disappointment. Of course he backed off. This wasn’t exactly the best place for a make-out sesh. Defion was gunning for them, and an unknown sniper had shot—
“Where’s Danny?” She tried to sit and sucked in a breath at the incredible pain. Jesse planted a hand on her shoulder and kept her still. Only then did she notice the needle Connor had mentioned sticking out her chest. Oh, okay. That was disturbing. She suddenly felt like she might be sick all over Jesse’s boots.
“Shh,” Jesse said and soothed a hand over her head. “You need to take it easy.”
“I really don’t like needles.”
“I know. But that one has to stay put for now.”
“Oh God.” She lay back again and closed her eyes. “Is Danny safe? He pushed me out of the way.”
When he didn’t answer right away, she opened her eyes again. “Jesse?”
“Let’s worry about us first, okay?” Regret flashed across his face before he could hide it, which told her far more than his non-answer.
Tears blurred her vision. “Is he okay?” she demanded, voice cracking. But she already knew the answer. An affirmative wouldn’t put that much sorrow in her man’s eyes.
Jesse moistened his lips. “No, darlin’. He’s not.”
No. She struggled to sit and made it upright this time, but dizziness swamped her. Jesse’s hands settled on her shoulders.
“Hey, whoa. Lanie, lay down.”
“Where is he? I want to see him.”
Jesse looked at Connor and opened his mouth as if about to say something, but stopped before uttering a sound. He winced, but said, “Con, help me get her up? It’s safer over there anyway.”
As she gazed back and forth between them, following some kind of unspoken conversation, she realized something had changed for them. Jesse wasn’t shutting his son out anymore and Connor wasn’t purposely needling his dad. As soon as she could think more clearly, she’d ask Jesse about it.
When the two lifted her to her feet, pain fuzzed her mind and she regretted her request to go anywhere. She swayed and tried to talk her stomach out of expelling the coffee she’d drank last night.
Jesse scooped her up into his arms. “We have to hurry. We’ll be exposed. Con, grab my bag.”
She wanted to protest. She wasn’t a damsel in distress, thank you very much. But at the same time…
Yes. This was right. This was exactly what she had wanted, and his arms felt so incredibly good around her.
“Do you think the sniper is still up there?” Connor asked.
“No,” Jesse said. “He’s long gone, but until we get the all-clear, we’re goin’ to act like he’s still there. We’re not takin’ any chances, so run as fast as you can, okay?”
Connor nodded and took off like a bolt.
“Good boy.” Jesse readjusted her in his arms. When she winced, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry. This ain’t goin’ to feel good.”
“I’m fine,” she said through gritted teeth and wrapped her good arm around his neck. “Get moving, cowboy.”
“Hang on.” And he followed right behind his son.
By the time he made it behind the wall of men protecting Danny, she had tears streaming from her eyes, but she refused to make a sound in pain. Jesse would hate hurting her and she didn’t want to lay that burden of guilt on him. From what she could tell, he was already struggling with enough of that.
He gently set her down in the sand beside Danny and she caught her breath at the sight of the man. He looked nothing like he had only minutes ago. It was as if the big, happy man who only wanted to help people had wilted. Blue tinged lips stood out against the waxy whiteness of his face. His eyes were half open but clouded and unfocused. He was still breathing—barely. Deep gasps followed by long periods of stillness. Death breathing. She reached for his hand, found it cold and limp.
“Jess—” Her voice broke. “Is there anything…?”
He shook his head when she trailed off. His features pinched, and she knew he was trying not to cry. “The bullet significantly damaged his heart. I tried to buy him time to get to a hospital, but…it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t do enough. He just keeps bleedin’.”
“Jesus,” one of the guys muttered from the circle. Someone else sniffed hard, but they all still had their backs to the dying man, still scanning, sweeping the area with their weapons.
This could be her right now. If Danny hadn’t lunged at her, knocking her out of the way, the bullet would have hit her first. She’d be the one drawing her last breaths now.
Danny exhaled one last time with a soft rattle, and then his chest stilled. Jesse didn’t move at first, then slowly reached out to check his pulse. A full minute ticked by with Jesse’s fingers pressed against Danny’s neck. She stared hard at him, silently pleading he’d find a heartbeat or some sign that it wasn’t over.
At last, he sat back on his heels, shook his head slightly, and looked at his watch. “Time of death—” His voice cracked. “0614.”
The sound Marcus made was more animal than human. He bent over and gathered his best friend’s limp body up in his arms.
She blinked and more hot tears trickled down her cheeks. “Danny gave his life for me. He saved me.”
Marcus looked at her with bleary red eyes. “He does that. All he wants is to save people. All he ever wanted…was to save people.”
But they hadn’t been able to save him.
The sentiment went unspoken, but not unheard.
She gazed up at Jesse in time to see the anguished look cross his face. In a lot of ways, Jesse and Danny hadn’t been so very different. They were both healers, saviors. This had to be tearing out his heart. “Marcus, Jesse tried—”
“I know.” His voice wavered, but when he gazed up at Jesse there was nothing but sincerity in his eyes. “I know if you couldn’t fix him, nobody could.”
Jesse swallowed hard. And she saw it—the flash of guilt again. The kind of guilt that gnawed at you, twisted you up. He was going to blame himself for this for a very long time, and she wished she knew how to help him.