Hope

Danny went nose to nose with her, his minty breath brushing across her lips as he growled out, “You are not going to work today.”

“I am going to work today.”

“No. You aren’t.”

“Yes. I am.”

They continued to glare at each other until Danny threw his arms up in the air. “Why can’t you just take one day off?”

Smoothing the lapel of her cream suit she hoped he didn’t notice how much she was leaning on her crutches for support. Danny had already been downstairs by the time she woke up, so he didn’t see her moan and wince as she hobbled her way across the room to the bathroom. When she came out of the shower she saw that he’d brought her breakfast in bed. While the thought of staying in bed with him all day and letting him pamper her had been tempting, she had to go to work.

“Stop freaking out for a moment and listen to me.”

While she couldn’t see his eyes behind his new sunglasses, she could easily read his frosty body language.

“I wasn’t freaking out.”

“Whatever. Listen I have to go to work because they need me and...”

“They can do without you for one day.”

She continued on in a calm tone as if he’d never interrupted her. “...and I have to go for my own peace of mind.”

Giving up on standing up to project strength, she crutched her way across the room to the sitting area off the foyer and took a seat in one of the chairs. Danny immediately came over and moved the coffee table over so she could put her leg up. Her heart melted at the way he carefully moved her, how his touch lingered whenever he had a chance.

Watching him stand and begin to pace around the room she had to stifle an exasperated sigh. “How am I supposed to tell women to not let abuse stop them from living their lives if all I do is run and hide?”

“Hope...”

She held up her hand. “I’m not done. You told me that DeLuca had been spotted crossing the border over into Canada and that the FBI raided his home, his business, and every other piece of property associated with him last night. His troops have deserted him, his bank accounts have been frozen, and the guys you helped to capture yesterday said that DeLuca had to take the hit on my head off the market because he could no longer afford it, so that means no more hired guns coming to look for me.”

“But, he’s still out there,” Danny muttered and clenched his fists.

“Yes, in Canada. Danny, I’m a grown woman. You can’t come into my life and start ordering me around. You can suggest that I do things. You can request that I do things. We can even discuss my doing things. But you cannot and will not forbid me.” His lips pressed into a thin white line and she responded with an audible sigh. “I know you’re just trying to keep me safe, and I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know but, if you want to be a part of my life, and I really hope you do, you’ll have to accept that I will take risks that you may find hard to stomach.”

He walked over and squatted down next to her, taking her hand in his. “Baby, I just don’t want you to get hurt, ever.”

“I understand, really I do.” She stroked her hand down the smooth side of his newly shaved head. “But you can’t keep me in a bubble.”

With a groan he buried his face in her lap, his breath hot against her core. When he began to nuzzle between her legs she pushed him back with a laugh and a flush of heat. “You are not going to distract me.”

He sat back on his heels with a grin. “You sure?”

“Yes.” He helped her stand up and she clung to his arm for an extra second. “However, you might be able to persuade me to leave early.”

He licked his lower lip and her insides melted. “How early?”

Trying to not look at his sinful mouth, to not remember how good of a kisser he was she said, “Well I promised Rebecca that if she got her reading assignments done on time I’d bring in Slasher for a visit.” She sighed and motioned for her crutches. “So, as much as I’d like to stay home and play, I have to go in. I can’t break my promise to her.”

“I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand.” The lines around his mouth softened and he helped her adjust her crutches. “So, he really is a therapy cat.”

“Yep. You should see him with little girls. They can do anything to him and he doesn’t complain. I’ve even seen him dressed up in baby doll clothes with a bonnet on, purring among his adoring public.”

Danny laughed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Well he didn’t try to kill me this morning when I fed him.”

“See,” she beamed at him. “You’re making progress!”

Danny snorted and held the phone up to his ear. “Hey, Boden. Yeah, we’re going to her work today.”

A second later, the front doorbell rang. Shaking his head, Danny went to open it, revealing a grinning Boden. He gave Danny a pat on the side of his head with his injured ear, earning a growl that he ignored. “See, I told you the good Dr. Walker would want to go to out today.”

Still rubbing his ear, Danny’s lip lifted in more of a snarl than a smile. “The only reason you knew that is because your pretty girly hair makes you think like a woman.”

Boden took one of her hands in his and gave it a sweeping kiss. “So nice to see you up and about, Dr. Walker.”

“Thank you, Boden.”

Danny shouldered the other man out of the way. “Hands off my girl.”

Boden gave them both a slow smile. “Well, about time.”

“Danny, would you go put Slasher in his carrier please?”

He slipped his glasses down enough so both she and Boden could see his eyes. “Fine, but I’m warning you Boden, if you so much as burp around her I’ll have your ass.”

Boden laughed. “You wish.”

Shaking her head at the verbal chest thumping, Hope made her way to the door and wondered if she would survive being trapped in a car with them.

*****

AN HOUR LATER, WHILE maintaining as much dignity as possible with the bum foot, Hope practically leapt from the SUV. Between Danny and Boden, she felt as though she was choking on the testosterone. A brilliant sun shone down on the black asphalt, heating it until it felt slightly soft under her feet. Shrieks and laughs came from the playground, mixing with the loud whirr of a lawnmower from somewhere on the property.

Boden soon joined her and looked around. “This place is amazing. I mean I’ve passed it before on the street but I had no idea how big it actually is.”

Smiling, Hope ignored Danny’s scowl as he arrived on her side of the car with the cat carrier. “Thank you.”

“Incoming,” Boden said under his breath.

Hope’s heart raced and a sickening dread washed through her, making her hands prickle with sweat. When Boden moved over to the side, giving her a view of the playground, she immediately relaxed. Rebecca was sprinting towards them as fast as her thin legs could carry her, the bright pink outfit she wore glowing like neon against her pale skin.

“Slasher!” she screamed in a tone of voice reserved for dolphins and little girls.

Evidently the cat heard her because he began to make a plaintive meowing noise.

“Your cat has a fan club?”

She looked over at Slasher and noticed Danny trying to subtly shield his eyes. Poor guy, he was standing with the sun shining directly in his face. Chagrined, she motioned to the men. “Come on, let’s get someplace cooler.”

Making it up the steps took some effort, but the guys linked their arms together, forming a seat as they carried her up. Feeling silly, she hoped none of her coworkers got a glimpse of her being carried around like some ancient queen. Then again, if she had warriors like Danny and Boden at her disposal she might not mind being carried around.

After setting her safely inside, Danny went back out to get the carrier he’d left at the bottom of the steps. The cool, hushed interior of the shelter immediately soothed her and she took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

“Nice place,” Boden murmured as he strolled over to a painting of a mother and daughter reading a book in 19^th century garb. “Is this an original Cassat?”

She nodded, distracted by the high pitched chatter coming from the other side of the door. A moment later Danny and Rebecca came in. Her voice died off the moment she spied Boden and she stepped behind Danny, hiding her face in the back of his jacket.

Boden looked hurt, but he quickly recovered. “Dr. Walker, why don’t we go up to your office and give Mr. Escobar and...I’m sorry, what is your name, beautiful girl?”

Rebecca kept her face hidden in Danny’s back and shook her head back and forth.

Danny cleared his throat. “Give me and Rebecca a second. Slasher is a little scared about new guys and we want him to calm down first. ‘Cause we all know Boden is a nice guy and he would never, ever hurt anyone.”

Rebecca’s death grip on his jacket eased a fraction and she took one quick peek before retreating.

“That is a wonderful idea, Danny.” She inclined her head to the end of the hall. “Boden, can you help me use the elevator? I trust you to keep me safe.”

Boden blinked once before nodding. “Of course, please let me know whatever I can do to help.”

They made their way down the hall, leaving the soft murmurs of Danny and Rebecca behind. She took a quick look at Danny as she and Boden got into the elevator, her heart warming as she watched him reach out and pull Rebecca into a hug.

“I know it’s none of my business,” Boden said casually as the ancient elevator lurched its way upwards, “but is the man that made her that scared around anymore?”

Not fooled in the least by his supposed indifference, she replied, “He’s in jail, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Which jail?”

They reached her floor and she shook her head. “Revenge is not the answer.”

He smiled, more of a baring of teeth than anything else. “Why Dr. Walker, I was merely inquiring as to his health.”

She watched him out of the corner of her eye as they made their way down the hall to her office. “He’ll be in jail for a long, long time and, if we’re lucky, die in there.”

Boden pursed his lips, nodded and gave her such an innocent look she was tempted to call the jail and request Rebecca’s father be put into solitary confinement for his own safety. The door to her office waiting room was open, a cup of coffee sat steaming on Lydia’s desk, but Lydia wasn’t in the office.

“If you don’t mind, I’d rather you wait out here while I go through some of my paperwork and make some calls. Patient confidentiality and all of that.”

Boden took a seat on the small love seat and stretched his arms over the back. He nodded to the empty desk. “Should I be expecting your secretary to arrive?”

“Yes, her name is Lydia. Try not to either scare or seduce her.”

With Boden’s laughter following behind her, she opened the door to her office. As soon as she stepped inside and saw what was waiting for her at her desk, she opened her mouth to scream and heard nothing more than a high pitched shriek.

Her mind tried to make sense of the scene before her. Lydia lay prone across her desk, her mouth, legs, and wrists bound with silver duct tape. Blood pooled and dripped off her desk from what had to be hundreds of little cuts all over the older woman’s body. Lydia’s eyes rolled to her and she began to struggle and tried to speak behind her gag. The metallic smell of blood was so strong, she could almost taste the liquid flowing down the sides of her desk and onto the floor like a macabre splatter painting.

DeLuca sat in Hope’s chair holding a large knife. He looked like shit. Instead of the usual silk suit, he wore the same t-shirt as the lawn crew, letting her know how he’d managed to make it onto the property. A few days growth of stubble covered his cheeks and his eyes were sunken back into his head, dark pits that reflected nothing but rage bordering on madness.

Boden ran in behind her and froze when DeLuca lifted his other hand and placed his gun against Lydia’s head. “Tut, tut. This is a private conversation between me and Dr. Walker. Even if you manage to shoot me, my finger will reflexively squeeze the trigger splattering Ms. Lydia’s brains all over the room.” He pressed the gun into the old woman’s face hard enough so the barrel depressed the skin of her cheek. “Now, be a good boy and grab that roll of duct tape. Dr. Walker and I are going to have a long talk and, if she cooperates, both you and Ms. Lydia live. If she doesn’t...well, I don’t mind sending you straight to hell with her.”

Boden nodded and raised his hands.

“You. Pretty boy. Shut the door.” Hope started to back away and DeLuca snarled at her. “Come here, bitch.”

Lydia shook her head back and forth, her dark eyes pleading with Hope as her braids became soaked in blood. There was no way in hell Hope was going to let Lydia be killed for her sake. Taking a deep breath, she took two steps forward with her crutches. The door clicked shut behind her and her heart sank with despair.

Boden took a couple steps forward. “What do you plan on doing with her?”

To Hope’s horror, DeLuca grabbed her and pressed his erection against her ass along with an exaggerated bump and grind. “I’m gonna fuck her, cut her, and kill her. If she gives me any trouble, I’ll do the cutting before the fucking.”

His horrible words pushed Hope over the edge into panic. Without thinking she struggled against DeLuca. A loud bang went off and she froze, trying to figure out where she’d just been shot. It was only after Boden yelled, “Mother...fucker!” and fell to the floor clutching his thigh that she realized he was the one who’d been shot.

“Boden!”

“You better stay still you fucking cunt, or I’ll shoot him again, in the head this time. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Bitches like you love to take men down, love to fuck up their lives.” His voice dropped to an oily whisper against her skin. “Stupid cunts like you are the ones who take sweet women like my wife, Bonnie, and convince them to destroy their husbands. Bet you do it so just so you can get into their pants, you fucking dyke slut.”

Panic tried to chew her up, but she focused on Boden, Lydia, and on holding her shit together for them when she was too scared to hold it together for herself. “Okay, okay. I’ll do whatever you say, Mr. DeLuca.” She went limp against him and began to cry. “Please don’t hurt me.”

He rocked his hips against her ass. “You like that, don’t you, baby?”

She didn’t respond but cried louder. Her gaze was focused on the door leading to her office and the shadows passing by outside. Most of all she focused on Slasher’s paw slipping beneath the door, trying to open it. Just a little bit longer, she could hang on just a little bit longer and keep DeLuca as calm as possible because Danny was here now and he would rescue her.

He would.

*****

DANIEL SLOWLY WALKED up the stairs, an ever-vocal Rebecca trailing after him. She held Slasher in her arms, and the ugly cat practically glowed with pleasure, rubbing his cheek against the side of her head and messing up her braid.

“You know what?” Rebecca asked as they made it to the landing of the third floor.

“What?”

“You and Slasher look alike now.”

That stopped him in his tracks and he stared down at the little girl. The look on her face didn’t hold any malevolence so he carefully asked, “How so?”

“How what?”

“How so, it’s another way of saying what do you mean.”

She giggled and shifted Slasher to her other arm. “That sounds funny.”

He leaned against the railing and grinned. “So, what do you mean I look like Slasher? Did I suddenly grow a tail?” He looked behind himself as if expecting to see something.

“No, silly. You both have part of your ear missing.”

Dumbfounded he raised his hand to his bandaged ear and stared at the cat. “You know what, you’re right.”

“Don’t worry, Dr. Walker will still like you.”

They strolled down the hallway and Daniel was in no hurry to end this conversation. Yes, looking for info on how Hope felt about him from a five year old was an all-time low, but that didn’t stop him from asking, “How do you know Dr. Walker likes me?”

She rolled her eyes in an exaggerated movement that included rolling her head. “Well, duh. She brought you to work with her twice.”

“And that means she likes me?”

“Yeah. Dr. Walker has never brought anyone to work before.” She chewed on her lower lip and he noticed one of her teeth had fallen out since he’d seen her last. “At least I don’t think she has.”

They reached Hope’s office. The door to her room was closed and he wondered if Boden was inside, and what they were doing. For one brief second irrational jealousy swept through him and he had a clear mental image of them locked in a passionate embrace. Then he remembered Boden firmly believed in the “bros before hoes” rule, and Hope would never, ever do something like that. The little knot in his gut eased, and he thought about how nice it was to be able to trust someone else with your heart.

“I’ll wait here,” Rebecca said and flopped down on the couch with Slasher. The cat immediately jumped off the couch and went over to the closed door, pawing at it.

“Get back here,” she said as she pushed herself off the couch and tried to gather up Slasher. “You know you’re not allowed in there; you give people allergies.”

The cat tried to squirm out of her hold and Rebecca let him go with a hurt look. “He doesn’t like me anymore.”

Unease prickled through Danny, that same itchy feeling he had all those months ago in Afghanistan when facing the suicide bomber. A moment later, the distinct sound of a gunshot came through the door followed by a woman screaming and two men shouting.

He grabbed Rebecca’s hand and pulled her out into the hallway, leaving an increasingly distressed Slasher to scratch at the door. He knelt next to her and moved his glasses up on his head so she could fully see him. “Rebecca, this is very important. I want you to run as fast as you can and find an adult. Make them call 911 and tell them Dr. Walker is in trouble.”

Her lower lip trembled and her big hazel eyes filled with tears. “Is someone hurting her?”

“I’m not sure, but I think she needs my help. I need you to run, fast, and find an adult with a phone and tell them to call 911. Also tell them not to come to Dr. Walker’s office without the police. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she whispered and jerked out of his arms, running as fast as her coltish legs could take her down the hall.

He turned back to Hope’s office, removed his gun from his shoulder holster and tried to still his mind, to examine this from every angle. Pressing his hand against the coffee cup on Lydia’s desk he found it still warm, but the secretary was unaccounted for. Pressing his ear against the thick door to Hope’s office he couldn’t hear anything other than mumbled conversation. Slasher paced back and forth in front of the door, hissing and growling.

An idea came to him and he moved to the other side of the door. Crouching down, he placed his hand on the door handle and slowly turned it, pressing his head to the wood and trying to stay as low to the ground as he could. The instant the door cracked open Slasher darted in and less than a second later a gun went off five times, tearing holes through the door and hitting the sofa.

Hope screamed, “It’s just my cat!”

Then all hell broke loose.

Keeping in a crouched position, Danny darted his head around the door and quickly took in the scene. A guy that had to be DeLuca had Hope and he now had his gun pressed into the side of her head while he watched what had to be Slasher on the floor and hidden from Daniel’s sight by the desk. He couldn’t see Boden from this angle, but he clearly saw Lydia bound to the desk, bleeding from dozens of cuts.

Anger mixed with panic tried to overtake him, but he used every ounce of willpower and focused on the training the military had given him so he could analyze the situation in front of him. He could try to negotiate with DeLuca before the police arrived, but he had a feeling that the crime lord didn’t plan to walk out of here alive. Why would he? He had nothing left, his empire was gone, his money seized. Even his wife had betrayed him. No, he was going to kill everyone in that room, including himself.

A high pitched male scream sent him into action, and he peered around the edge of the door, hoping to get a shot in. The sight before him was so odd, so surreal that he almost lost his chance. Slasher was hissing like a demon and clung to DeLuca’s arm, biting and shredding his arm and shirt, bright blood staining the white material while the man screamed.

In his panic, DeLuca dropped his gun and reached for Slasher, trying to jerk the cat off of him. Slasher hung on and gave Danny the opening he needed. Lining up his shot, he put two bullets into DeLuca’s head, splattering the wall with the waste of his life.

“Danny!” Hope screamed and crawled on her hands and knees from behind her desk. She went out of his sight and he darted into the room, worried that DeLuca had someone else in there with him. Instead he found Boden slumped against the wall and holding his leg.

Hope looked up at him, her face grey and strained. “Tourniquet his leg. I’ve got Lydia.”

Sitting in a frighteningly big puddle of blood, Boden opened his eyes and Danny didn’t like the dazed look he had. “Hi, buddy. Saved your woman. I think you owe me a beer or something.”

After removing his belt as quickly as he could, he cinched it around Boden’s upper thigh and checked the location of the bullet entry. A half-inch to the right and it would have hit one of his major arteries.

“God fucking dammit, Escobar! Stop trying to mess with my junk!”

“Gotta check for the exit wound,” he replied in a low voice.

“Fucking guidos,” Boden said as Danny probed Boden’s upper leg and the surrounding area as gently as he could. “They always carry such big guns but their aims are for shit. Guess that doesn’t matter when you’ve got a big gun.”

The most inane response popped out of his battle scrambled mind. “That’s what she said.”

Boden blinked at him, and began to laugh, a soft rasping sound that raised the hair on Daniel’s arms. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Hope cutting through the duct tape holding Lydia’s wrists together. Her feet were already free and the tape had been removed from her mouth, leaving raw skin behind. Slasher paced back and forth behind her before darting beneath the sofa on the other side of the room.

Voices and the sound of many feet thumping up the stairs came from the hallway. Danny looked over at the door and yelled out the in a very, very loud voice, “We’re back here! The bad guy is dead! Weapons are secure! We need an ambulance! We’re back here!”

Hope crawled over to Boden and a bright wave of relief washed through him as he reaffirmed that she was alive and in once piece. She placed her hand on his cheek. “Open your eyes, pretty boy. I want to see those baby blues.”

Boden smiled and said in a weak voice, “Only if you show me your tits.”

Hope gave a startled laugh and leaned back. “I thought you were dying. You survive this and I’ll find someone to show you their tits. I’m afraid if I did it, Danny would shoot you.”

“Take more than a shot to the leg to get me out of the game, sugar, but I sure am sad I won’t get to see your tits. Although...I did get a nice look at your ass in the kitchen.” Boden yelped as Danny lifted his leg. “Fuck, I was just kidding. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

“The only reason I’m not beating your ass right now is because you took a bullet for my woman.”

“No biggie. I was actually trying to impress Lydia.” He closed his eyes with a grimace. “Endorphins are wearing off...awesome.”

“Hang in there, buddy.” Danny stood and helped Hope to her feet just as the SWAT team came through the door.

“Hands in the air!”

Boden weakly laughed from the floor. “I hope you don’t mind if I just stay right here.”

Soon the room became crammed with paramedics, police, and staff. Through it all, Danny refused to let go of Hope’s hand, not willing to be separated from the most important thing in his world ever again.