Alli was having dinner in a dark steak house that was nothing like the place we’d gone to in Las Cruces. I walked through the door, stiff in my movements, practicing a speech in my head.

I didn’t leave you willingly. I would never do that. But I need to protect you, and this was the best way…

It sounded stupid even to my ears.

She was seated at a long table with Sue and Tommy on either side of her, Aiden and Gentry across from them. Their wives were there, too, and a little boy with a smile that country folk would call a shit-eating grin on his face. But my eyes were glued to Alli and the dark blue dress that clung to her boyish curves. Her hair was pulled up away from her neck, revealing that graceful curve that I ached to kiss, her lips sticky with that same gloss she always wore, the gloss that I could still taste on the tip of my tongue. She was laughing, her face more relaxed than I’d ever seen it. She looked twenty years younger.

Beautiful.

I picked up my step, more determined than ever to get to her and explain my absence. I wanted her to know I would never have left her alone if I could have helped it. I wanted her to know that I was as disappointed as I hoped she was that we weren’t able to keep our date the night of Tommy’s graduation. I walked faster, ignoring the pain in my back. But then…I was halfway to her when I saw him. My heart shuddered in my chest, his presence here in this place a clear warning. He didn’t belong here. There was only one reason why he would be here in this moment.

He was here to hurt her.

I was torn between running and stopping altogether. And then he flashed a slim piece of metal, and my decision was made.

It was a knife.

Fear rushing through my entire body, my eyes jumped from that knife to beautiful, erotic Alli. She was laughing again, oblivious to the danger right behind her. I had a choice to make: turn and leave, or rush at him and hope I could get to the knife before he got to her. The only problem was, I was still several yards away from her, with multiple tables and dozens of people between us. He was directly behind her. I could never get to her in time.

I couldn’t risk it.

I turned and walked away because it was the only thing I could do and still protect her.

Frustrated, I stormed around the corner of the restaurant and slammed both hands against the brick wall of the building.

How could I have put her in this position? Why hadn’t I done something about the damn notes earlier? Why hadn’t I taken it seriously?

Why did I have to be so fucking weak?

“Glad to see you’re still on your feet.”

I swung around, prepared to knock him out cold. But he was smart enough to stand out of my reach.

“John Willis,” I said slowly, looking for the knife he’d been brandishing inside. But if he still had it, it was put away. “I should have known it was you.”

“You probably should have.” He smiled that cocky smile I’d never liked even when we were working together at the sheriff’s office. “Who else would know you well enough to be able to follow you all the way to fucking Memphis?”

“Why? What do you care what I do?”

“You turned your back on Donally.” His eyes narrowed, clear disdain written there. “You know a good deputy never turns his back on the sheriff.”

“He does when the sheriff is corrupt.”

A storm cloud moved over Willis’s face. “He’s a good man. A churchgoing man, unlike you.”

“Didn’t realize it was required.”

“He was clearing that damn town of scum. You can’t deny he cleaned out the south side, arresting all those gang members. His record speaks for itself.”

“At the same time, he turned a blind eye to people being harassed. To the death of Harry Cravits.”

“Cravits was sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong.”

“He was protecting a friend.”

“A friend?” Willis laughed. “He was protecting her because she was fucking him. She fucks anything with a dick!”

I crossed to him in two steps and flattened him with a single punch. He reeled back, slamming into the corner of the building with a momentum that must have stung. He came back at me quickly, connecting with my jaw before I pounded my fist into his stomach. Once, twice, I got a couple of good blows in before he retaliated. We exchanged blows like lovers trading kisses, locked in an embrace that was anything but affectionate.

I felt the stitches let go on my wound, but I couldn’t let it go. This man had drawn a knife on Alli. It didn’t matter that I used to count him as a friend, didn’t matter that I knew his wife and played catch with his son, didn’t even matter that he’d sunk a knife into my back. All I could think about was the rage that rushed through me at the vision of him holding that knife in Alli’s direction.

I was winded more quickly than I was proud of, but I could feel him weakening, too. He sank against me as a rib crunched audibly in his chest. A rush of adrenaline allowed him the strength to suddenly shove me back, catching me off guard. I slammed into the wall the same way he had. My knees went weak, and I fell, scraping my hands as I tried to catch myself. He pulled the knife from a back pocket and was rushing toward me when he was suddenly yanked back. Aiden Stone was there, his kind face twisted with urgency. He twisted Willis’s arm behind his back and whispered something in his ear. Then he shoved him, and Willis stumbled forward. He glanced at me, anger and hatred clear in every line of his face, but then he was gone.

“Don’t let him go!”

Aiden shook his head. “We’ll deal with him later. Right now, we need to get you back to the hospital.”

“I’m fine. You need to get Alli out of here. He threatened her!”

“I know. Gentry saw it.” Aiden knelt beside me, concern on his face as he pulled at my shoulder so that he could get a look at my back. “He’s got her in a car already. They’re going to Jack’s place. He has pretty intense security there.”

I nodded, relief rushing through me. “She’s okay?”

“She’s fine. But you, my friend, are bleeding pretty seriously.”

“I can’t go back to the hospital.”

He nodded. “I know. I wouldn’t take you there, not with that guy running around. We have a place.”

He pulled me up, and suddenly I could feel every place Willis had touched me, every bruise and cut, every bit of soreness in my muscles. And blood, trickling from my wound, almost tickling as it ran under my clothes.

“His wife is with the church. He’s working with the Guardians.”

Aiden touched my shoulder. “Let’s get you taken care of, then we’ll talk about it.”

He had me in the passenger seat of a luxury sedan. I leaned back and closed my eyes, tired of the pain, tired of feeling so weak. And grateful to have the support of the Stone family. I wouldn’t have had this with the sheriff’s department.

Maybe I hadn’t made a bad choice in trusting Jack Stone, after all.

 

 

A pretty woman with shoulder-length hair helped me out of my shirt, her hands gentle as she palpated some of the bruises already forming on my chest and stomach. She made a little noise with her tongue, but didn’t say anything as she sat on the bed beside me and carefully removed the blood-soaked bandage that covered my wound.

“We’re going to have to redo the stitches.”

“I pulled them all?”

“Enough to make it impossible to do a simple repair.”

I grunted, but didn’t argue.

She looked over at where Aiden  was standing in the doorway. We were in some underground bunker at the main Stone Security building, a concrete and stainless steel command center with a storeroom and bedrooms enough for each of the Stone brothers. I found myself wondering whose room I was occupying, and what would happen if there were a catastrophe that required all the Stones to take up residence here.

The strange things that go through your mind in moments of stress.

“Help me get him on his stomach.”

“I can do it,” I said. Pain ripped through me as I moved, but I gritted my teeth and stood up under my own power.

“You should remove your pants, too.” She smiled at the looks both Aiden and I flashed her. “I’m a doctor. It’s okay.”

“Maybe we should take him to the hospital, Carson,” Aiden said.

“He’s fine. He just needs a few stitches and to quit getting into fights until it’s healed.”

I loved being talked about like I wasn’t standing there in the room.

I undressed to my briefs and climbed back onto the bed, grateful to lie still for a while. She was good, the injections she used to numb the area the most painful part of the procedure. She had the stitches—twenty-nine—in place in less than half an hour, the wound rebandaged and fully repaired. They helped me roll over and propped me up on pillows, pulling a blanket up to my chest. Carson was gentle and quick as she placed an IV line.

“You need these antibiotics, so try not to go running off to start any more fights for the next forty-eight hours.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And we’ll keep an eye on this rib.” She touched a particularly nasty bruise forming over the left side of my chest. “I think it’s only bruised, but it could be broken. So, try to take it easy.”

“I will.”

She stood, and Aiden took her hand, drawing her affectionately into his chest. I couldn’t remember if they were married or not, but there was clearly a bond there that was enviable. It brought Alli to mind, and that brought with it fear and a sense of inadequacy.

“You said they were taking Alli to Jack’s house?”

Aiden inclined his head. “We did. Tommy and Sue as well.”

I reached up and dragged my fingers through my hair, wishing that the news made me feel better, but it didn’t. I could still see her, sitting in that restaurant, Willis behind her with that knife.

“Did they recover the knife from the arena?”

“Yes.” Aiden shrugged his shoulders. “There was nothing we could use on it.”

“So if we went to the police, we wouldn’t have enough to charge him.”

“Exactly. We even checked the security cameras, but the one that would have had the best view of that section was turned off.”

“He’s a cop. He covered his ass.”

“That’s why we need to find a way to keep him from doing that again.”

“What do you mean?”

“We need to put him away for what he did to you. To do that, we’ll have to find a way to catch him in the act.”

“He’s too careful.”

“No one can be that careful all the time. We’ll get him.” Aiden backed up, glancing toward the door. “In the meantime, I think you have some personal stuff you need to deal with.”

“What? What do you—”

Even as the words were coming out of my mouth, Alli walked through the door. She was dressed casually in jeans and a tank top, her pretty red hair wavy around her face. She seemed confused for a moment, but then her eyes landed on me. There was a flash of anger, but then she spotted the IV, and the anger turned into cautious concern.

“What’s going on? Why are you here?”

Aiden tugged Carson back toward the door. “Let’s give them a moment.”

“Just…nothing vigorous,” Carson reminded me, winking as she disappeared through the door.

“What does that mean?” Alli demanded, her head swiveling from me to the door and back again. “What happened to you?”

I sat up a little straighter. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“You’re hurt.” She came to the bed, sitting beside me on the mattress. And then she slapped me on the shoulder several times. “You didn’t tell me!”

I grabbed her wrists and pulled her toward me. “I didn’t want to worry you.”

She jerked a hand free and slapped me hard across the face. It stung, but it probably hurt my pride more than my body.

“How dare you decide what might or might not worry me! I’m a grown-ass woman who’s seen more crap than you’ll ever be able to comprehend. I don’t need you making choices for me!”

I grabbed her wrist again and pulled her even closer. “I know. I’m sorry.”

She stared at me for a long moment, anger still sparking in her eyes. “You’re an asshole! I thought you’d decided you didn’t want to be with me, and that’s why you disappeared. That you weren’t brave enough to face me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I thought you were—”

“—just like every other man.”

That was what I’d been afraid she would think. I held both her wrists in one hand and caressed the side of her face with the other. My thumb rubbed against the underside of her chin, drawing it up so that her lips were just a breath away from mine.

“I would never treat you that way. I was only trying to protect you.”

“But you lied to me.”

“I won’t do that again.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“This promise I will always keep.”

She hesitated, a struggle clearly going on in her eyes. But her feelings for me must have won out. She closed the space between us, her lips brushing against mine with a feather touch. I pulled her closer, tasting as much of her as I could manage with a bruised rib and a stab wound. Pain burst through so many parts of me that I couldn’t keep track, but I didn’t care. The taste of her was balm enough.

I let go of her wrists, and she slid her arms around my neck. My hand buried itself in her hair, the other snaking along the bare flesh that was exposed between her jeans and shirt. The small of her back was warm, soft. But it was nothing compared to the flesh under her shirt, the subtle curves and the heft of her small breasts.

An ache that was different from the pain of my wounds began to build deep in my belly. I pulled her over to me, pressing her against the mattress as my hands continued to explore her. But the position put pressure on my wound, and the pain was almost more than I could take.

I pulled back.

“I’m sorry,” I said, rolling off my side again.

“How bad is it?” she asked, her fingers touching the tape that held my bandage in place.

“They say it’ll heal if I sit still long enough. I’m just not good at staying still.”

She slid her arm across my belly, her fingers tracing the outer edge of each bruise forming on my torso. She kissed my throat and my shoulder, her lips soft against my skin.

“You scare the shit out of me, you know. I actually care what might happen to you.”

“Do you?”

“It’s been a long time since anyone besides my girls mattered. First Harry gets himself killed, then you disappear…” She sighed against my shoulder. “I don’t like caring about people.”

“Sucks, doesn’t it?”

“It’s easier when nothing matters.”

“Doesn’t hurt as much.”

“Yeah.” She pulled back slightly, her eyes moving slowly over my face. “Don’t make me hurt, Crispin.”

There was a rawness to her voice that I’d never heard before. I reached up and cupped her face, my thumb once again moving over her chin. “I’ll do my best.”

I slid my hand under her blouse, watching her face as I cupped a breast in my hand. She ran her hand down the length of my arm and then up, pressing my hand closer to her. But when she kissed me, there was something different about it. Less passion and more affection. It touched something deep inside of me.

We kissed for a long time like that, our hands staying above our waists, our tongues dancing a slow dance they hadn’t known in years and years. It reminded me of stolen moments shared with Gloria when we were fourteen and didn’t know what pleasures waited for us in the future. It made me ache, but it was a good sort of ache.

This woman was someone who could take me to heights I hadn’t visited in too long. She was a woman who could turn my world on end. She had the power to lift me up or destroy me. But I knew I had that power over her, too, and it humbled me. It made me feel more like the man I aspired to be rather than the man I knew I was.

She was everything I thought I’d lost and would never have again.

How fucking lucky could one man be?