CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

LIAM

Sirens blared through my head as bullets whizzed past my temples. The only thing that drowned them out was the blood pounding in my ears. 

I ducked down behind a car and peeked over the bumper, trying to make sense of the massacre laid out before me. 

The only people still out in the open were the bodies lying motionlessly on the ground. Some innocent, some not. Emergency services had arrived but no one dared to go out and tend to the wounded. They were too concerned about saving their own lives before stepping out onto the battlefield. 

I heard a clatter to my right and instinctively raised my weapon in that direction. A masked thug dropped his magazine as he reloaded his gun. I fired off one shot and nailed him right in the torso. 

I felt dizzy. Unwell. How many people had I killed? 

Yells and running footsteps erupted all around me. Where was everyone going? And why? What was the point?

"Sir, are you hurt?" 

I looked up to see a blue-uniformed man standing in front of me. 

"Sir, let's go to the ambulance and get you checked out, okay?" 

I nodded and followed him, taking slow, careful footsteps as though I might step on a landmine. For some unknown reason, I couldn't keep my head down. I looked again at the battleground that was supposedly safe now. 

One body lying on the sidewalk across the street caught my eye. A petite female with blonde hair. 

My heart stopped and I ran. 

I ignored the paramedic and everyone else yelling at me. I had to know. I had to see. 

The woman's left arm laid outstretched behind her. On her hand was a diamond engagement ring.

The ring I gave Katie when I asked her to marry me. 

Someone was screaming NO as my hands turned the body over. It had to have been me. 

But when I saw her face, it wasn't Katie looking back at me.

The hair turned to a rich, dark shade of brown. Her eyes were green instead of blue, and with an adorable splash of freckles across her face. 

Hazel. 

"Hazel!"

My eyes snapped open and a painful, blinding light seared them shut again. 

"Relax, Officer Barnes. You're dreaming." 

I was covered in sweat and sucked in rough, ragged breaths. Something beeped rapidly at the same rate as my heart pounding in my chest. 

It reminded me of Hazel and how our hearts always beat at matching rhythms. 

"Hazel! Where's Hazel?" 

My mind spun with confusion. I couldn't feel most of my body and had no idea where I was.

"She's fine, Liam. She's resting and being treated." 

The voice was calming enough that my thrashing stopped and I hesitantly opened my eyes, blinking under the harsh light above me. 

"Quite frankly, you're lucky to be alive, son." 

As my vision came into focus, I saw a figure dressed from head to toe in surgical scrubs, including covering his head and mouth. He wore glasses and had bushy eyebrows which raised slightly when I looked at him. 

"You have a rare blood type and lost a lot of it by getting shot four times," he said. "Good thing you're as strong as an ox." 

"But Hazel," I reiterated. "You're sure she's okay?" 

The doctor looked bored with the question already. 

"Would you like to see her?" 

"Yes!" I answered without thinking, before the memory of the last time we spoke sent an ache through my chest.

Go to hell, she said with those tears in her eyes I'd never forget. 

"I mean if she wants to see me."

The doctor wrote on a pad of paper before he stood and headed for the door.

"I've cleared you for visitors since you're awake. I'll have a nurse bring her down. We'll discuss your injuries and route to recovery later." 

I could honestly say I didn't give a single fuck about my injuries or recovery plan. Not as long as I saw with my own eyes that she was safe and free. 

Leaning back into my pillow, I closed my eyes and let out a deep sigh. If she really came through those doors, there would be no way I'd let her go. Every moment we were apart just felt wrong. If I had been with her I could have protected her and prevented my fellow officers from getting injured. Hopefully, none were in as rough shape as me. 

My room doors burst open with a sudden crash and my vision filled with the most beautiful, dark-haired, green-eyed angel I'd ever seen. 

"Hazel." 

Her name left my lips in a whisper because relief and love swept over me so strongly, my breath left my body when I saw her face.

Seeing her wasn't enough. I still couldn't feel my left arm so I raised my right one out to her. I had to touch her. 

"Liam!" she cried as she rushed toward me.

Everything else in the world melted away when we touched. The cold, calmness of the hospital environment exploded with heat, color, and passion when we reunited. 

We kissed as if we'd never kiss again, running our hands through each other's hair and faces as if not believing the other person was really there. 

"I love you."

"I love you so much."

"I thought I lost you." 

"You're never losing me again." 

I couldn't distinguish my own words from hers but it didn't matter. We felt the same way. We were one again, us again, and would never be apart.

Only when I felt woozy and exhausted did I lay back on my hospital pillow, taking a long, full look at my beautiful woman. 

"How are you feeling?" I asked as I lightly caressed the bruise on her cheek. 

She kissed my palm and leaned into my hand, smiling. "Physically? Like I got in a bad car accident. Mentally? I don't know, probably pretty messed up for a while. But seeing you makes it a whole lot better." 

Her eyes left mine for the first time to travel all around my hospital bed. I was hooked up to all kinds of monitors and I assumed pain medication.

"What about you? How are you feeling?" she asked softly. 

"I don't feel much of anything," I replied, looking back up at her. "Except hopelessly in love with you." 

Her smile grew wider as she leaned down to kiss me, slowly and sensually this time like we had all the time in the world. 

“I’m so sorry--” 

She began to whisper her apology against my lips but I shushed her, kissing her deeply. Tasting her sweet mouth seemed to bring renewed strength and life to my limbs. 

“Don’t apologize,” I told her. “It’s over. It’s in the past.”

"I wanted to tell you I loved you for weeks but I was too chickenshit," she admitted. "I never imagined you'd be nearly dead before I said it to you." 

"I'll remind you to tell me every day from now on," I said with a smirk. "So you know to appreciate me the next time I take a few bullets for you." 

"Snarky jerk," she muttered as she punched me in the arm. 

"Ouch, that's my one good arm left!" 

"Shut up, you can't even feel it." 

Even with one good, mostly numbed arm, I was able to pin her hands down and prevent her from wiggling free.

"I can still have my way with you," I whispered as I pulled her close. "Even if I'm mostly a gimp." 

"I can't believe you're even thinking of that right now," she said. "You're lucky to be alive. The doctor will probably order you not to do anything strenuous for months." 

"You know how creative I am, beautiful." I smiled as I watched her cheeks flush with heat. "We'll figure something out."

"Ahem..." 

Both of our heads swiveled to the doors where the doctor's head poked in.

"If you don't mind, I would like to go over the severity of your injuries and prognosis for recovery."

"Sure," I replied.  

Hazel and I exchanged a look that said the same thing. This guy may have been a genius surgeon but he was clueless about giving a couple some private time. 

The doctor shuffled in, still completely covered in his scrubs, and settled onto the rolling stool next to my bed.  

"As I was saying, you sustained four gunshot wounds and lost nearly two liters of blood," he began. "Your body needs oxygenated blood to heal, so it's imperative for you to rest and not do anything... physically demanding for at least three months."

"Tall order, Doc," I muttered, which caused Hazel to giggle but the doctor continued on as if he didn't hear me. 

"You'll be able to stand fairly soon, but the damage to your muscle tissue was severe. I recommend walking in small increments and using a wheelchair over longer distances. Gradually you can work up to a walker and then a cane as you rebuild your strength." 

My jaw tensed as my teeth ground in frustration. I was joking about being gimpy earlier but it seemed like I really would be for a while. 

"And how long until I'm fully recovered?" I asked. "Namely, when can I get back to work?" 

"By my estimate, about six months to a full recovery. Even then you may still feel some occasional numbness or weakness but you should be walking normally by then."  

The frustration only set deeper into my bones. Six months of barely being able to get around. I hated being a sitting duck more than anything. What the hell would I do with myself?

Hazel's gentle squeeze on my shoulder softened my mood and brought me back to the present.

"Can you give us a moment, doctor?" she said sweetly. 

He seemed annoyed at being kicked out of his own hospital room again but obliged her. When he was gone, Hazel looked back at me with a crafty smile and a wicked gleam in her eye. 

"What are you so happy about?" I grumbled. 

She took my face in her hands and kissed me deeply. 

"I'm so happy I can kiss these lips whenever I want." She raised her lips to my forehead and pressed a kiss there. "I'm so grateful you're still the same person up here and didn't suffer any brain damage." 

She pulled away and looked at me seriously with her hands clasped around the back of my neck. 

"I wouldn't care if you lost your legs or arms completely. I'm going to be thankful every day that I have you with me, my man, my love. And I'm going to help you recover in any way that I can." 

My heart swelled as I pulled her close, resting my forehead on hers as I inhaled her sweet scent and looked into her gorgeous green eyes. 

"Goddamn, I love you so much, Hazel. You are the most perfect woman for me and I will never lose sight of that." 

"And like you said, we can get creative," she said, the wicked gleam in her eye returning. "With you in a wheelchair, I might even get to dominate you once in a while." 

"Oh yeah?"

I pulled her roughly, tightly against me until she was nearly tumbling into the hospital bed with me. Her gorgeous tits pressed against my stomach and her lips parted ardently. I grabbed a fistful of her hair near her scalp and pulled back to expose her soft, creamy neck. 

"I wouldn't count on it, beautiful."