Chapter Fifteen
Laney struggled to her feet, ignoring the burning ache that seemed to envelop every inch of her skin. Trying not to cry. Her cheek throbbed, and she could only imagine what she must look like. The way Riser and his buddies were looking at her made it an easy guess.
She wanted to kill Mark as much as the next person, but hearing Riser say those words out loud had sent a chill of dread down the back of her neck. He’d put up a block of ice between them—she’d felt it as soon as he eased her down onto the pavement. She could practically feel him withdrawing from her, mentally severing their connection. She could see it in the tense set to his shoulders and the way he kept his back to her as the two strangers dragged Mark to their vehicle.
If Riser did this awful thing—if he killed Mark in cold blood—he would be killing all the good inside him. And she couldn’t let that happen.
“Riser, don’t do this.” Her voice came out in a ragged whisper, scraped raw from Mark’s little choke fest at the hospital.
“Even the sound of your voice makes me want to kill him. You can barely speak.” Riser shifted, facing her. “He wanted to hurt you, Laney. To hurt you and keep on hurting you. I could see it in his eyes.”
Laney closed the distance between them, trying not to focus on Riser’s features, and how they’d been turned to stone. He was trying to appear empty and uncaring, but she could practically see his forearms vibrating with tension.
The honorable man standing before her was at war with himself, and he was only seconds away from losing the battle.
“Laney! Tell him the truth. Tell him I would never hurt you.” Mark’s fearful voice was like a rusty spoon scraping over a chalkboard. Laney cringed on reflex, and that tiny movement was enough to set Riser off.
He strode to Mark, pulled back his arm and slammed it down with all the force of a Mack truck ramming into a brick wall at full speed. Mark crumpled, and Riser returned to stand before her, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
This wasn’t the man who she’d come to know, to connect with on a deep level. This wasn’t the teasing, handsome man she’d seen at the bar. Any trace of softness had disappeared. Riser was a full-blown warrior now.
Laney could feel the unraveling of her tenuous hope for the future. She wanted him in her life; she wanted him in Lily’s life too. Thinking back, even though they’d never interacted much at the bar, Riser had always been there, strong and steady as a rock, stepping in to protect the weak or stepping up to defend someone’s honor.
Now, however misguided it was, he was stepping up to defend her. She had to show him she didn’t need it. Didn’t want it either. She would not be the ruining of him.
“You’re not killing him.” Laney planted her fists on her hips, but her bossy stance was completely ruined when she jammed a knuckle into a bruise on her hip bone and winced.
“He’s already dead.” Riser’s voice, like his eyes, lacked any emotion.
That underriding hope inside her snapped. Desperation—aching and ragged—spurred her forward until she latched her arms around his waist, anchoring him to her the only way she knew how.
The physical contact felt so good and hurt so bad at the same time. But she wasn’t giving up. Not now. Not ever again. She was tired of letting other people win. Of accepting that she couldn’t have the things she wanted. “Riser, he’s not worth this. He’s not worth risking your career or your life over.”
He jerked and then went still again, as if her words had somehow picked the edge of a scab on his control. “I can’t let him go. I planned to turn him over to the sheriff, but—” His face crumpled a little, another break in his immaculate composure “—seeing you like this, I… Just don’t ask me to do that, Laney.”
She buried her face against his washboard chest, drawing in the reassuring scent of fresh male. He was wearing the same shirt she’d slept in. Hope curled through her. “You know you will do the right thing. There really is footage at the hospital? There’s evidence, right? We can lock him up.”
Riser’s arms went around her, and Laney held her breath, not daring to move.
He replied, “But what if it’s not enough?”
She heard the minuscule amount of doubt underneath the steel voice, and she latched on to it for dear life. “It will be. It will be enough to ruin his reputation and his career. And if we do it right, we can lock him up for a long time.”
A great shudder worked down his body, and he squeezed her tighter. His heart staccatoed fast and hard against her cheek, evidence of the battle waging inside him.
She wanted to soothe him; she wanted to make him see he was her hero no matter what.
“And what if he gets out, Laney? What if he comes after you and Lily again?”
His words sent straight-up fear blasting through her. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life hiding from her ex-husband. She didn’t think she could live a shadow of a life any more—not after tonight. This past year had been a nightmare of reinforced locks, fear, and living under the radar. She’d acted forgettable for so long, she’d started to believe it.
Laney shrugged and tilted her head back, capturing Riser’s gaze with a defiant stare. “Then you’ll be there to protect us, won’t you?”
Riser shuddered again, and his shoulders curled forward, his head dropping to hers, his lips hovering just inches from her mouth. His eyes were barely open, just enough so that she could see the agony in them. Riser breathed out, “But I wasn’t there when he took you this time. What if I fail again?”
His softly spoken words marked his pain. He thought he’d failed? That’s what this was about? “Riser, you didn’t fail. I snuck away from you on purpose, because I knew you’d stop me. I knew you would make me wait. It’s not your fault I was too scared to do that.”
He closed his eyes, but emotion rolled off in waves that blasted her every second.
Laney clasped his jaws between her hands and forced him to look at her. “If you hadn’t been in that hospital last night, you and I both know I would be dead right now. And Lily—” Her voice broke at the thought of Mark putting his hands on her precious, baby girl. “He would have Lily. You saved us. Riser, you didn’t fail. You’re the first man who has ever stood up for me or my daughter. Even if you hadn’t saved me tonight, I would have cherished that fact for the rest of my short life. Knowing that there are good men in this world like you. Men who don’t look the other way.”
“Laney, oh God. I was so scared that I had lost you.”
“You will never lose me, Riser. Ever.”
Laney pressed her lips to his, giving in to the raw need coursing through her. Riser’s arms went around her, lifting her off the ground and crushing her to his chest. She didn’t mind the pain one bit.
Riser felt the sweet victory of knowing she wanted him back and because of Laney, he’d found the inner strength to hold himself back. It was a euphoric kind of feeling that nothing could destroy. He speared his fingers into her hair and tilted her head, deepening the kiss. Needing more from her, needing everything.
He kissed her until they were both out of breath, and even then, he didn’t let her drop down to the ground long enough for her toes to make contact with the pavement. He turned her back to the men standing next to the SUV, both of them watching the reunion with amused expressions on their faces.
“I guess we can’t kill him,” Riser said.
The man closest to the car door grinned. “Way to ruin a good time, man.” Gallows humor; they all had it. This guy was a warrior, like Riser. She could practically feel it. But he said, “You made the right decision, brother. She’s worth more than any revenge. Protect her.”
Even the bugs seemed to go silent, the world narrowing to their small group standing there in the middle of the road.
“I will,” Riser said as he looked down at her and finished his words, “with my life.”