“Danny? Danny, wake up, baby.”

It was my mother’s voice. She pressed a cool cloth to my head. She liked to sing to me. Silly nursery rhymes and songs she made up. I’d been playing out in the woods with Sean. We had a bet who could get to the highest branch of the tallest tree we could find. I lost. I reached for the branch above me and the one I balanced on snapped. When I landed hard on the ground, I couldn’t breathe. Sean stood over me, laughing.

“Deacon!”

My mother’s face morphed before my eyes. Her hair went from blonde to brown. Her eyes darkened. Then it wasn’t my mother at all. It was Beth. Sweet, beautiful Beth. She was crying. I held her on a stone bench in front of the Virgin Mary. She had bruises on her arms she tried to cover up. But I knew. I felt her pain and would have killed to end it.

“Deacon!”

My eyes snapped open. Part of me rebelled against it. It was so much more peaceful in the dark. Quiet. Warm. Light hurt. Air hurt. Soft fingers touched my cheek. It was her scent that pulled me back.

I let out a moan that tore through my chest. My left arm felt numb and in the back of my mind, I knew that was a blessing. Beth had her hand pressed against my face as I finally opened my eyes and let the full light back in.

Cold. Sterile. Harsh lights. A sickly, antiseptic smell filled my nose.

“You’re in the hospital in Crystal Falls,” Beth said. “You’re okay. Can you talk?”

She looked like hell. Dark circles rimmed her eyes. The irises were blood red from crying. But when I looked at her, her sweet face melted into a smile.

“Hey,” I said, then erupted in a round of agonizing coughs. Beth reached for a cup on the side of the bed. She brought a straw to my lips. God, the water was heaven going down.

“Are you okay?” I managed.

She smoothed the hair out of my eyes. “I’m okay. You saved my life.”

“I kind of remember it as a team effort,” I said.

She took a hard breath and looked back over her shoulder.

“What is it?” I said, trying to sit up. They had my left arm wrapped to my body. It ached, but there were no sharp pains. My mind felt a little fuzzy. Milo. Milo was dead. With my good arm, I went for the pocket of my vest, but it wasn’t there. My shirt had been cut away. The phone. Milo’s phone.

“You were lucky,” Beth said. “The bullet didn’t hit anything you need. Tore some muscle in your shoulder, but the doctor said it’ll be good as new.”

“I can ride?” I asked. Rage burned through me. The voice on the other end of that phone haunted me.

Her smile turned a little sad. “Yes. But not today, okay?”

“Is that bastard dead?”

She looked over her shoulder again. “Yes. I recognized him. Deacon, it was that Milo guy. The one who came to my house before.”

Anger burned through me. That motherfucker came to kill. “Where’s my stuff?” I said. Beth pointed to a plastic bag in the corner.

“The cops want to talk to you,” she said. “I told them everything, but they want a statement.”

“Can’t do it. I need to get with my crew.”

“Deacon,” she said.

“What did the doc say?” I asked.

She let out an exasperated sigh. I was already pulling the oxygen tube away from my face.

“You don’t need surgery,” she said. “The bullet went straight through. God, there was so much blood, I thought …”

“What I need is to get the hell out of here.”

“You can’t! Didn’t you hear anything I just said? You’ve been shot!”

“You said it went clean through. Didn’t hit anything I might need. Beth, it’s not safe for me here. And it’s not safe for you if you’re here with me and I don’t have backup. I need to get with my crew. There’s something I need to do.”

She blinked hard and her face turned white. “What do you mean?”

“I know you’re gonna hate me for saying this, but I need you to trust me. Milo showing up like he did wasn’t a coincidence. I have to handle this.”

“You think somebody tipped that Milo guy off that you were there?”

I pulled the leads out of my arm. In another minute, alarms would start going off. From what I could see of the hallway, they didn’t have any cops on me at the moment. That wouldn’t last.

“Yes, and I think I know who. And I’m not planning on sticking around to find out. You with me, baby?”

Beth’s eyes searched my face. Two spots of color rose in her cheeks. I knew what I was asking her. In the span of a second, we were right back where we were ten years ago. She’d given everything up to get out from under Sean’s baggage. Now I was asking her to take on mine.

She took a breath, then went to the wall and grabbed a tissue and two purple rubber gloves from a dispenser above a little sink.

“Hold still,” she said, not missing a beat. She pressed the tissue against my arm and gently pulled out my IV. It stung, but I couldn’t help but smile.

“And I’m doing this on one condition,” she said.

“You name it,” I answered before thinking. Knowing Beth, her condition could be a whopper.

“Whatever plan you’ve hatched, it better involve medical treatment at the end of it.”

I leaned forward and slid my fingers behind her neck, lacing them through her hair. “It does. You can’t ride with the Saints without needing a patch-up here and there.”

She kissed me quick. “You call a gunshot wound a patch-up?”

“Today it is. Now we better move.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed while Beth went to the curtain to act as a lookout.

“There’s a clear shot to the stairs across the hall. If we’re lucky we’ve got maybe five minutes before anybody realizes you’re not here.”

She had her back to me when I stood up. The room spun for an instant, but I got my feet under me. Beth gave me a hard stare when she saw my face. I didn’t suppose my color was great, but I couldn’t worry about it now. We needed to get the hell out of here and I needed to get in touch with Shep. He’d probably want to shoot me himself for taking off alone again, but once he understood why, I just prayed he’d be on board. And I prayed trusting him with what I knew would be the right choice.

“Come on,” Beth said. She slid her arm around my waist. I hated to admit it, but I needed her for support if we were going to get out of here with any kind of speed.

Luck stayed with us. The minute we walked out of the room, another trauma pulled in in the ambulance bay. Beth moved with cat-like quickness. She shoved the door to the stairwell open and I followed her inside.

“You gonna stay upright or should I steal a wheelchair while I’m at it?” she asked.

“As long as I’ve got you by my side, I can handle anything.”

She shot me a wink and we took the stairs. I got my feet under me again. “You got my cell?” I asked as we rounded the first flight. We had three more to go.

Beth reached into her back pocket and handed it to me. I punched in Shep’s number as we took the last of the stairs. Beth did a quick check through the lobby. Her face scrunched up in worry.

“No good,” she whispered. “Cops everywhere. We’ll have to double back.”

“This way,” I said just as Shep answered. I pulled Beth by the arm and we went down one more flight, coming out near the service elevator.

“Look,” I said to Shep. “I need a pick-up. I’ll explain everything once I see you. Can you meet me on Route 10, Chili’s diner in one hour? And Shep, tell nobody. Not even Bear.”

I could hear Shep’s heavy breathing on the other end. He was pissed. I just hoped I hadn’t burned through all my goodwill with him. He was the second part of the plan. The first was finding a way to get the hell out of Crystal Falls without anyone seeing us.

Beth tugged on my arm. I followed her while Shep considered my question. “One hour,” he said. “And whatever you have to say, it better be good.” He hung up before I could even thank him.

“Come on!” Beth said. “I didn’t ride in the ambulance. My car’s still parked in the street.”

It was risky. If the local cops were involved with the Hawks, it would make sense for them to have eyes on Beth’s car. I could be leading Shep straight into an ambush. But the street was quiet. The street lamps popped on just as we got to her car. I slid into the passenger seat, feeling lightheaded again, a little giddy. If our luck held, we’d make it out alive.

Beth drove with the precision of a NASCAR driver as she lit out of town. She was careful though, keeping her speed only five over the limit until she hit the highway. Then she went like a bat out of hell.

“Where to?”

I gave her directions to Chili’s. If I timed it right, we’d pull in right about the same time as Shep. All I could do was hope nobody followed us. I scanned behind us while Beth passed car after car.

The phone in her purse started to buzz. I pulled it out and my heart flared with alarm. Beckett Finch was calling. I held the screen up so she could see.

She bit her lip. “He’s a friend of mine, Deacon. I know why you’re worried, but I just can’t believe he had anything to do with sending that thug to my house tonight. If he wanted to hurt me or you, there were plenty of other chances to do it.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I just know I can’t trust anyone but you.”

She reached for me, clasping my hand. She brought mine to her lips and kissed me. “You scared the hell out of me,” she said. “I thought …”

I kissed her back. “Never mind that. I’m okay. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than that to knock me out, Beth.”

A tear fell from her eye. It was a bad joke and I instantly regretted it. “It’s going to be okay,” I said. “I just need to meet up with Shep. Then I’ll come up with a plan to get you out of this. You’ll be safe.”

Beth’s eyes widened. She shocked the hell out of me by slamming on the brakes and pulling over to the shoulder. A slew of cars honked and flipped her off as they whizzed by. Beth turned on me, her breath heaving with anger.

“Get me out of this? That’s your grand plan? You think I want out?”

My heart thundered in my chest. Adrenaline shot through me, heightening my senses. “Beth …”

“Don’t,” she said, holding up a hand. “Don’t you dare give me all the reasons why I should stay away from you. Trust me, I’ve run through them all. Every single one, Danny. But here’s the thing. I almost lost you today. For real. When you collapsed on my living room floor, I died. Do you understand? I died. So I don’t care how crazy this all is. I don’t care about your oaths and your honor or any of the rest of it. I’m not leaving you. I’m not running. Not now, not ever. If this is who you are, I don’t care. I don’t. I’m in love with you. Do you get that? Head-over-heels, bad-judgment love. We might both be damned to hell for it but I don’t care about that either. I want to be with you. I belong with you. No matter what. If you want to be a priest, I don’t care. If that cut is who you are, I don’t care. As long as I …”

I stopped her with a kiss. God help us both, I was starved for her. It was crazy, just like she said. I could run through all the rational reasons why making her go made sense. This was dangerous. Reckless. But as Beth melted against me, the only thing that mattered was my love for her.

She was sobbing fat tears when I pulled away. “I love you,” I whispered. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, hiccupping. “Yes. Danny ... Deacon ... yes. I love you. I want to be with you. You’re my heart. I bloody well won’t live without you. Do you hear me?”

I went rigid. Beth’s eyes widened and she touched my face. “What is it? Danny? Are you hurt? Tell me!”

A smile split my face as I pulled her against me again. “It’s just ... thank God.” Then I kissed her long and hard.