She’s screaming, and I’m not sure if it’s from pain or because she thought I was the one shot.
Cole lies on the floor below me, the gun he’s holding pressed into his chest by my hands. He’s dead. I don’t have to check a pulse to know the body under mine is lifeless because of his own gun. Sure, I redirected his aim, but he’s the one that pulled the trigger.
The first thing I want to do is go to Lyric, but I can’t. Cole may be dead, but Crawley is still alive, and that gives me no comfort, even if he has been shot. I lunge for the stairs, taking them two at a time, to find Rex with Crawley in a chokehold with one hand. The other hand is emptying Crawley’s pockets of whatever he’s carrying. There’s barely a fight as Rex tightens his hold, getting him to drop something that clatters onto the floor. His phone gleams in the light at the top of the stairs before it hits the floor.
Rushing the last few steps, I grab his phone, just as something silver slides across the floor toward me. I look up to see the most beautiful sage eyes looking at me from across the room, filled with tears but mostly relief. My Lyric is still alive. Alive and fighting.
A surge of energy rushes through me as I yank the knife from the floor and hold it to Crawley’s throat.
Everyone stills. Rex, Crawley … me. Derrick is keeping watch at the front door, waiting for the cops to arrive, and making sure Crawley and Cole stay put.
The tip of the blade has already broken skin. Blood begins to drip, but that’s not what made me freeze.
A circle of blood soaks Crawley’s chest pocket, and even in the dim light I can see his face turning white. He’s losing too much blood, too fast. But I don’t care about that.
I focus on why we’re all here in the first place. Lyric’s songbook.
As if on cue, sirens fade in from the distance. Time is running out … for all of us.
I dig the blade into Crawley’s neck and lean in. “Tell me where the songbook is. And then you just might get to live, you piece of shit.”
Crawley growls, but it’s cut short by a scream of pain. He’s not going to last much longer. “Destiny … has it,” he sputters.
I pull the knife away and look at Rex. “I saw some rope down there.” I point to the bottom of the stairs where I know Lyric must have been with Deloris. My chest squeezes and bile rises in my throat. I want to kill him. He doesn’t deserve to live after this. But I don’t want to be the one going to prison tonight. “Tie him up and call the cops.”
Rex nods and I fly back down the stairs to where Lyric is standing. Tears stain her face, but she’s still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. She practically collapses in my arms.
“Baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?” I ask, holding her tight.
She shakes her head. “Just from the ropes, but that was my fault,” she smiles up at me through her tears, only confirming what a badass my Lyric is. I wipe them away with my fingers and press my lips to hers, which are soft and comforting, but too soon she’s pulling away. "Is Cole dead?”
I nod. “He’s dead.”
She clings to me, her body racked with sobs. “I thought it was you. I thought you were gone.”
“Never,” I say, swallowing the buildup of emotions in my throat. “I will always be where you are, do you hear me?”
She nods, and I can feel her shaking.
“Pumpkin?” a voice calls from the stairs. “Wolf, do you have her?”
Lyric pulls away turns toward her father’s voice.
“She’s here, Mitch. Both of them are.” I look behind Lyric to a terrified Deloris and give her a sympathetic nod. What a horrific reunion that must have been. “You okay, Deloris?”
She nods and walks forward slowly. Lyric tears away from me and pulls her into a hug. They cry together, and Mitch quickly joins them, wrapping his arms around them both.
I jog toward Rex, who has Crawley secured with the ropes, and I lean in, ignoring the fact that he’s practically dead. “This is what you get, asshole. You don’t get a dime from me. Instead, you’ll live the rest of your life behind bars for attempted murder, kidnapping, theft, and whatever the fuck else we can manage to throw at you. You’re done.”
“I got him, boss,” Rex says gently. But even Rex’s gentle voice isn’t one that would lull me to sleep at night. “Go on. Wait upstairs. The police will be here any second.”
I hesitate for only a second, not wanting to leave Rex alone with the bastard, but one look at a semiconscious Crawley tells me there’s nothing to worry about.
“Mitch,” I call. “Let’s get the girls out of here.”
Everyone seems okay enough to climb the stairs and exit onto the front porch, just as the police and ambulance pull into the driveway.
Lyric hangs onto me while Mitch wraps an arm around Deloris, and we all take a seat on the porch stairs to wait for the police. The rest of the hour is a blur. Derrick appears by our side as police move into the house to check out the scene. When they’re done, EMTs, firefighters, and more cops rush through the front door of Cole’s home, escorting Rex out to wait with us and carrying Crawley out on a stretcher. After they’ve cleared the house, a duo of officers joins us on the porch to ask us questions.
An EMT tends to Lyric’s hand wounds as she answers every question thoroughly, and I’m so proud of her. What a horrifying chain of events, but she handled it like a fucking ninja. Note to self: never fuck with Lyric Cassidy.
“I think that’s all for tonight. We’ll need you all to come to the station tomorrow to give your official statements,” Officer St. Claire says.
“Yes, officer. We’ll be there after the girls get some rest.” I look to Lyric for confirmation, but her eyes are in the distance, focused on the body bag being carried out of the house.
“What about Lionel Crawley?” I ask the officer, then swallow as I watch the body being lifted into the ambulance.
The officer looks over his shoulder to glance at my object of focus and then swings his head back around with an apologetic expression registering on his face. “He’s in critical condition, but he’ll be on full security watch at the hospital.”
Lyric lets out a loud breath beside me, and I can tell she’s relieved. I’m not sure from what exactly. Maybe it’s relief knowing she hasn’t killed a man—at least, he isn’t dead yet. Or maybe it’s the fact that she’s safe from more violence. Whatever it is, it just makes me want to get her home faster.
Jesus, it’s been a long night. It’s almost three in the morning when we finally arrive back at the house. Lyric settles Deloris in the guest room down the hall and then goes to our bathroom to shower. Derrick and Terese happily moved for the night so Deloris could be downstairs closest to us. Mitch stays in one of the guest rooms too, which I know makes Lyric happy. After the hellish night we all had, keeping everyone together is so important.
“Hey, Wolf,” Mitch calls before I leave his room. I walked him up since Lyric was preoccupied with her shower.
I stop at the door and lean in. “Sir?”
He smiles. “Stop that shit. It’s Mitch.”
Cracking a smile of my own, I nod. “Mitch.”
“Thank you for being a man Lyric can trust.”
As much as I’ve always admired Mitch Cassidy for his talent and charisma on stage, I never, in a million years, dreamed of hearing these words come out of his mouth. Turns out, they’re the only ones I care about.
“For as long as she’ll let me, si—Mitch.”
Mitch winks and turns away, reaching for his pillow and fluffing it. “Good to hear.”
As soon as I enter my bedroom, the shower shuts off. I walk into the bathroom to find Lyric wrapping herself in a fluffy white towel. All the while, she’s staring into a foggy mirror with a faraway look in her eyes.
“Hey,” I say gently, slipping off my bloodied shirt and wrapping my arms around her from behind. “Are you okay?”
She clutches my hand with hers. “I wanted to kill him.”
“Me too.” I don’t say the words she doesn’t need to hear right now. That Crawley is hanging on by a thread, and he very well could be dead when we wake up in the morning.
“How did you make the connection between Cole and Crawley?” she asks.
I let out a laugh, though there’s nothing about this that’s funny. “We already suspected Cole was involved since he disappeared when you left for the airport, but your text confirmed it. I had Rex dig into his background, and we found that Crawley was connected to him, but the background check didn’t say how. It did say that Cole’s mom, a Rebecca Matthews, died years ago. So after we tracked your phone and Crawley hung up on us, we found the number for Cole’s aunt and she told us everything. Crawley abandoned Rebecca when he found out she was pregnant. Cole looked him up after his mother’s death and has been trying to impress him ever since.
“The dick never told us he had a kid. My guess is he wanted to keep it under wraps since he had Cole helping him sabotage contracts.”
Lyric is shaking her head. “I knew something was off about that guy.”
I squeeze her hands. “You were right, babe. I should have listened to you. Crawley tried to set us up years ago, and Cole was part of the plan. Crawley bribed Fredrick. Wolf’s legal representation in exchange for hiring his son.”
I’m still pissed as fuck to find out how badly my original lawyers screwed me.
“But that’s a conflict of interest.” There she goes again, reading my mind. “Why would your lawyer agree to that?”
“Fredrick admitted he was desperate for the business and didn’t see the harm. When Hedge told him what was going on with Cole and Crawley, Fredrick spilled everything. I don’t think he had anything to do with what happened to you tonight. I don’t know. I still fired him, and the cops took him to the station to question him further.”
“Well, they all deserve to fry.”
I chuckle at Lyric’s animosity. “Anyway, having Cole working at the firm gave Crawley the perfect opportunity to get close to the contract and amend it as he pleased without us being the wiser. Rookie mistake on my part.”
She leans against me and places her check on my chest. “Crawley represented Destiny, you know? Before she met my father. He managed her debut single and then got cut loose because my dad talked her into different management. He’s been holding a grudge on our entire family ever since. He saw an opportunity when Destiny came to the show last week, and the rest is history.”
I grind my teeth as I chew on that information. “Well, thank God it’s over.” I press my lips to Lyric’s temple. “Are you okay? I know I keep asking you, but that was fucked up back there. You must have been scared.”
She turns and wraps her arms around my waist, placing her cheek on my chest. “I was scared. But I’m okay. If anything, I feel bad that I dragged Deloris into all this. She’s never going to want to talk to me again.”
I feel a tear fall on my bare chest. “Baby, that’s not true. This isn’t your fault. You keep saying it’s on you, and it’s not. Crawley is dirt, and he’s going to rot in prison.”
“If he lives,” she reminds me.
I nod. “If he lives.”
She sighs. “Whose house was that, anyway? Crawley knew his way around pretty well.”
“You were in Wynwood, and it was Cole’s house.”
The questions just keep coming. As soon as one gets answered, there’s another on the tip of her tongue. “What about Destiny? Where is she?”
I sigh and shake my head. “I don’t know. That’s the final mystery to all of this. She and Doug are nowhere to be found.”
When Lyric’s breathing regulates, I lift her onto the counter and place her face in my palms, searching her eyes. “Stay here. I’m going to shower, and then I’m taking you to bed. You need rest.”
“I need you,” she says.
I smile and press my lips to hers. “Baby, you need rest. You have me for the rest of your life. Tonight, you sleep.”
She shakes her head. “No. Wolf, I almost lost you tonight. I saw him point that gun at your chest and then I heard the shot. I thought—”
“Shh,” I say when she begins to get worked up again. “I said I’m never leaving you, and I meant it.”
“Make love to me. Please. I need you to make love to me. I need to wake up from this nightmare. At least help me try.”
Jesus. I can’t say no.
I take one of her wrists and kiss the inside where it’s been bandaged. And then I slowly work my way up her arm, to her shoulder, and then to her neck. My eyes meet hers with caution.
“Are you sure?”
Her nod is slight, but firm.
With a finger, I pull on her towel and let it fall to the ground. Her legs open for me and I wedge myself between her thighs before taking her mouth in mine and giving her what she wants and more.
Her hands are on my jeans, unbuttoning them and working my pants down over my ass, taking my boxer briefs with them until I spring free. I growl tenderly into her mouth, and she moans softly into mine. I’m pulling her closer so my cock nudges up against her entrance, but I don’t try to enter her yet.
I run a hand up her sides until I brush the underside of her breast. “I love you,” I murmur against her lips.
Her words are incoherent as she murmurs something back and then wraps a hand around my length and tugs. My next breath catches in my throat. Feeling Lyric touch me now after everything we’ve been through the last few days—hell, the last couple weeks—is a gift.
She strokes me, and I push myself into her hand before tilting her back so I can grab hold of her breast with my mouth. I give it a little lick before swirling the peak with my tongue, and then I take it in my mouth, sucking and nibbling until she moans my name.
Her hold on my cock tightens and blood rushes to my head as my heart rate speeds up. Fuck. I can’t come like this. I push her hand aside and slip a finger into her sweet folds, preparing her for me, but she’s already there.
With one slow thrust of my hips, I ride into her, wanting to go deeper. I take her ass and pull her forward so she’s right at the edge of the counter, pull out halfway, and then slide in again, groaning when the lips of her pussy meet my base.
She’s fucking beautiful as she leans back, her head tilted and her hands gripping the counter’s edge. Her abs tighten every time I pull back, and her breasts move with each thrust. I watch her carefully to ensure it’s pleasure registering on her face and not pain. When her breathing quickens, I know she’s close.
I pull her forward, pressing her mouth to mine again, just in time to swallow her ecstasy as it rips through her. Her muscles clench around my cock, and I fill her in two final thrusts.
My lips are still on hers as I lift her from the counter to take her to bed. I’ll shower later. Our mouths tangle together until we’re under the sheets, and then my cock is thickening for her again.
We make love again, this time slower, more intensely, just like those times on the bus that I’ll always cherish. Because being inside Lyric is almost as good as writing the sweetest melody. Soft, slow, intense, addicting … perfect.
I’ve found my perfect song. And there will never be a sweeter melody than Lyric.