Hard to Fight
“You hurt?” Raide asks as we bump down the dirt road.
“No,” I say, running my hands over my body. “You?”
“No.”
His voice is tight, so I glance at him. He’s got blood running down his arm, where he was shot. “Raide, you’re bleeding.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Can’t stop and worry about it now.”
I can’t argue with that. “What are we going to do?”
He looks over at me for a second, and what I see in his eyes scares me. “We’re going to end this.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
By “end this,” I figure he means kill Dean.
He has that look on his face. He’s angry, he’s hurting, and he looks like he’s more than ready to make his sister’s killer pay. I know I can’t talk him out of this, it wouldn’t matter what I say, he’s made up his mind. He made it up long before I came along. He doesn’t say anything else to me, and because my body is exhausted, I find myself drifting off to sleep.
I swear before I’m in complete darkness, I hear Raide say, “I’m sorry, baby.”
I must sleep a good long while; either that or we were closer to our part of town than I thought, because Raide is waking me with a soft hand to my cheek. I let my eyelids flutter open and I see him looking over at me. We’re still in the car, and he’s got a pained look in his eye. God, did I sleep through it all? Has he already gotten to Dean? I sit up quickly and I immediately see we’re not near Dean’s hangout. Not even close. We’re at … my work.
“Raide,” I whisper, “why are we here?”
I can see Don, Vance, Julio, and York standing on the sidewalk. It hits me like a sledgehammer to the heart: Raide is turning himself in. He brought me back here. He risked everything, gave up his revenge, and brought us both back here. He sacrificed … for me.
No.
“Raide,” I croak. “No.”
He reaches over, cupping my jaw. “You said I was selfish, because now I have you in my life, I should be fighting for it. You were right. I can’t go away for killing him, Grace, because that means losing you. This is me not being selfish. This is me doing the right thing.”
“But—,” I say, and tears burst from my eyes and trickle down my cheeks. “But we don’t have Dean, if we don’t find him—”
“Then I’ll go away for a long time,” he says gently. “But, baby, it’s still the right thing.”
Reality hits me and I lunge at him. “No, we can find him. We can find him, Raide. We have a chance to fix this. You don’t have to do this. I was wrong, we can fix this. You don’t have to do this.”
He pushes me back and stares into my eyes, but I’m crying so hard, I can hardly see him.
“No, baby, this is me fixing this. I’m trusting them. I’m trusting you. I’m trusting Kelly.”
The door opens and Don leans in. “Time to go.”
“No!” I cry, reaching over and taking hold of Raide’s arm. “No, please. We just need more time.”
“You’ve had your time, Grace,” Don says softly. “We have to take him in.”
“No!” I scream. “He didn’t do this, Don. He didn’t.”
Don gives me a truly pained look. “I have to do my job now, and you have to let me.”
Raide turns to me. “Hey, look at me.”
I turn my broken eyes to his. I thought I wanted this. I thought it was for the best. I thought it would fix everything. He wasn’t supposed to go down for this. I was supposed to help him and I failed. If we don’t find Dean, I might not see Raide for a long, long time. Why did I ever think bringing him in here was the best idea? What have I done? I’m going to lose him. I can’t lose him.
“Baby, look at me.”
I blink and his amber eyes come into view.
“We’re going to figure this out, but even if we don’t, you need to know—”
“Raide, no,” I rasp.
He leans in closer. “You need to know I love you. You need to know you changed me. You need to know that this … this is me showing you that I’d give it all up. For you. For me. For Kelly. We’ll come out the other side, you’ll see.”
Before I can answer, or even kiss him, Don takes Raide’s arm and pulls him from the car. He cuffs him, and Raide cries out in pain and I lose it. I shove my door open but I don’t even manage to get my footing before Vance wraps his arms around me. “You need to let Don do his job, Grace.”
“Raide!” I cry out as Don leads him to a car, “I love you!”
He looks over his shoulder at me and he smiles.
My legs give out and I cry.
Chapter Twenty-nine
“Do you trust me, Grace?”
I lift my head and stare over at York, who is kneeling in front of me. I’m still at the office. It’s been two hours since Raide was arrested. My head is a jumble of emotions, but my body feels numb. My dad is here now, but even he can’t get through to me right now. I feel strange inside. I know this is for the best, but Dean has proved to be smart and that means there’s a chance we won’t get what we need, and the very thought of that makes my stomach twist.
I love him.
Dammit, I love Raide Knox.
“Grace, honey?”
I blink and realize York is still talking. I force a smile. “Pardon?”
“Do you trust me?”
I nod slowly. “Of course I do, but—”
“Hey,” he says, reaching forward and cupping my face in his hands. “You have to let me do this my way now.”
“He took the wire, he made it look like he had no part in any of it, he’s going to get away with this and—”
“That brings me back to my beginning question,” York interrupts. “Do you trust me?”
I sigh. I know I have to let York take over now, but letting go also means understanding there’s a solid chance I’ll never be with Raide again, and that scares me. “Yes,” I finally whisper.
“Then let me deal. You need to go, get some rest, and get checked out.”
“I’m fine,” I say softly.
“Then go home.”
My father chooses now to interrupt the conversation. “Come home with me, Gracie. Stay with your family for a few nights.”
I huff. “I don’t think Mom will want me there.”
My dad’s eyes soften. “Of course she will. Come on.”
I nod weakly. “Fine, yeah, of course.”
The very idea of being alone right now scares me enough for me to want to be with someone. My dad is the best person I can think of. Vance has barely said a word to me and Kady is working, so that leaves my family. I push to my feet and York gives my arm a gentle squeeze before turning to Dad. “I’ll keep you updated.”
Dad nods, wrapping his arm around me and turning me toward the door.
Don stops us before we step out. He reaches out and places a hand on my shoulder. “I know you’re hurting, but this is the best place for him to be.”
I nod. I don’t have the energy to give him any more.