by KB Winters
“Shit. Wheeler you were right, get to the house!” I hoped my words carried over Ken’s pitiful insistence that Aspen owed him something.
I heard footsteps behind me, and I knew one set belonged to Gunnar, who took off to save his family. Cruz and Slayer were still with me, one gun trained on Ken and the other on Adrian. “I guess you aren’t just a dumb biker after all.”
“And I guess you really are a dumb fuck.” The safety was on his gun, and I charged, closing the distance between us as fast as I could.
“No!” Adrian’s voice rang out and then a gunshot. Then came the white-hot pain that brought me to my knees. I couldn’t move as warm blood pumped out of my body. All I could do was watch those expensive brown shoes move back and forth in small shuffles while two more shots rang out, and the tips of those shoes went skyward.
“Aspen.” The word barely made it out of my mouth before darkness began to claim me. My last thought, my last hope was that none of those bullets had marred Aspen’s perfect skin.
Chapter Thirty-One
Aspen
“Why the hell isn’t he awake yet, Dr. Keyes?” Twenty-four full hours had passed since that psycho bitch shot Holden in the back, and I hadn’t seen those beautiful blue eyes since.
She put her hands on my shoulders, staring right at me. “I sedated him. The pain is terrible right now, and the best thing for his body is rest.”
My shoulders sank. “Oh. That sounds right. Sorry, Dr. Keyes.”
“No worries, and please, call me Annabelle.” She stood beside me in the same guestroom where I’d recuperated, staring out at the ranch and put another hand to my shoulder.
“He’s going to be okay, Aspen. It’ll take a while, but he’ll recover.”
I knew that, but how would he recover? “Will he be able to walk? He hit his head pretty hard. What if he can’t see?” What if all those things everyone said about me was true? What if I didn’t have what it took to take care of him in a compromised position?
“Shit, Annabelle.”
She let out a huff-laugh that held no amusement and just a hint of commiseration. “You’ll take it day by day because that’s all you can do, Aspen.”
“What if I can’t do even that? What if I’m as useless as everyone says I am?” Why the hell was I spilling my guts to a stranger? I had no idea. But I had to talk to someone, and she was here.
“The fact that you’re even worried about him means you’re more than up to the job. I suspect your heart has a huge stake in his recovery.”
I nodded. “I do love him. But we’re doomed. I just want to make sure he gets better, and then I’ll be on my way.”
“The hell you will.”
I gasped and turned to the bed. “Holden! You’re awake.” I was at his side, hands pressed to his face and lips smashed to his. “My God, you’re awake!”
His lips curled into a tight grin. “All I had to do was get shot to make you forgive me?”
“Who says I’ve forgiven you?” He grinned and his hand gripped my arm tighter.
“Hurts like hell,” he grunted out. “What happened?”
The last thing I wanted to do was relive those fifteen seconds that took about five years off my life. Everything slowed down as he charged Ken with a determined and decidedly murderous expression on his face. Before I knew what was happening, Adrian slammed me to the ground and raised her gun at Holden’s back.
“You went down, and Slayer put one between Adrian’s eyes. Someone else, not Cruz, killed Ken. You’ll have to get the details from Gunnar.”
Annabelle chose that moment to step between us. “Let me check him out, and then you two can talk.”
With a nod, I left and paced up and down the length of the hall, unwilling to stray too far away from Holden. He’d been shot, trying to protect me, and I couldn’t forget that. No one had ever made such a sacrifice for me, and I needed him to know that I recognized his sacrifice and appreciated it. I wanted to tell him that I loved him even though it probably wouldn’t matter.
“Okay. Now go have your talk.” Annabelle wrapped me in a hug and walked away, her soft footfalls barely audible on the hardwood steps.
I pushed open the door and found Holden’s gaze fixed on the door. “You really plan to leave once I’m all healed up?”
I nodded. “I think it’s for the best, Holden. I really do.” I took the small space beside him on the bed and held one of his big hands in both of mine. “Meeting you again Holden has been an eye-opener. Seeing myself through your eyes, good and bad, then and now, has forced me to own up to some hard truths about myself.”
“I hope you weren’t too hard on yourself because I kind of like the girl you are today.”
I wished that were true. “I just want to say thank you. I appreciate everything you did for me. For my body. Even for my heart.”
God knows, he touched my heart in ways I didn’t think possible, and I would be forever grateful to him for it.
“And instead of staying to see what we could be, you’re running away?”
“Not until you’re better.” It wasn’t like I wanted to leave. “We both know the question is do I leave now or later, once we’ve burned out and hate each other.”
“Or maybe our star will burn bright until we’re too old to look directly at the sun anymore. You ever think of that?”
Only about a bazillion times. “How could we possibly?”
I didn’t want to hear the answer, so I stood and started to pace. “I need to tell you something, but only so you understand.”
“I’m listening.” His voice was calm and cool, but his gaze was intense, catching every detail, so I held myself still and spoke.
“I love you, Holden. Okay? I love you enough to see that we’ll never work. You’ll always see me as that cruel girl who stomped on your heart, and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to prove I’m not her. It’ll exhaust us both until we hate each other.”
“So you’re leaving me, for me?” He chuckled.
“Holden, don’t.”
“No, Aspen, dammit. You don’t! I love you, too. And now you’re telling me that you’re leaving and it’s what’s best for me. I call bullshit.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, sweetheart. Bullshit. You’re a coward.”
“I am not! It’s called being practical. You should try it sometime!” I huffed. “See? You just barely woke up, and we’re already fighting.”
“We’re not fighting. We’re discussing.” His tone changed, and I froze, feet rooted to the spot and unable to move. “And I understand. You’re too afraid to give us a chance. No biggie.”
I knew I was being baited, knew it down to my toes, but still, a big part of me wanted to stay and prove to Holden and to myself that I had what it took to stay. “I’m not afraid of anything. Except guns.”
“And love.” Holden reached out a hand to me. “What do you say, Aspen? Want to do something really fucking terrifying?”
“You mean like be together?”
He nodded, and a smile stretched across his face. “Yep. Have a few babies, maybe get married. Tend to the ranch. Sounds like fun to me.”
“Horse poop,” I added, feeling more excited by the future he painted by the day.
He rolled his eyes. “Lots of horse poop. And holiday parties. Good food, booze.”
“Sounds awful,” I sighed. “Really scary.” It sounded like my very own version of heaven on earth.
“Right? But I think together, it might be a little less terrifying.”
I smiled and kissed his lips. “You might be right, Holden.”
“So you’ll stay with me, and we can get started on forever?”
The hope and eagerness in his voice was enough to unravel my resolve. I melted against his side. “I will,” I said hesitantly. “We can.” This time with more resolve.
“Good, ‘cause I’m too damn weak to chain you to the bed.”
I laughed and smacked another kiss to his sweet m
outh. “I love you, Holden.”
“Sweet, sweet, Aspen. I love you too.”
Now those words were music to my ears.
Epilogue
Holden ~ a few weeks later
“What the hell do you mean it was Farnsworth?” A few weeks after I’d been shot, I finally had a few minutes alone with Gunnar to find out what the fuck happened that day.
Gunnar shrugged and sat down at my kitchen table. “Cruz never even got a chance to fire his gun, but there was one in the middle of Ken’s forehead. It wasn’t any of us. Plus, there was a note.”
He pulled a sheet of paper from the inside of his jacket and slid it across the table.
I unfolded the heavy paper and read the message. “Sweet Peaches, this wasn’t a favor to you. I clean up my own messes. Always do. Farnsworth.” I looked up at Gunnar. “That’s it?”
“Wasn’t it enough? If not for your quick thinking, who knows what might have happened. This letter was on the porch by the time Wheeler got there. He was close, Holden. Too fucking close.”
“If he wanted her dead, she would be. What’s Peaches think about the letter?”
“Fuck if I know. She’s kind of folded in on herself. Barely talks to anyone other than Annabelle and Hazel. She wants to go back east to look through some of her shit, figure out what this Farnsworth wants with her.”
I could tell by the set of his shoulders, the dark scowl on his face, what he thought of that idea.
“Go with her, and I’ll move to the big house to help out with Maisie. Hell, I’m useless on the ranch. At least we might get ahead of this asshole. Doc Annabelle says I have at least another month of lying around and taking it easy.”
“You’d do that?”
“Fuck yeah, why not? That kid’s cute as hell and maybe a week or so with her will help me convince Aspen that we’re ready.” It was too soon, and I knew that, but I was sure. Soon she would be too.
“I won’t argue with you, then. I’ll get Ford and the others to move your shit since you can’t do it, old man.”
I flipped him off. “I won’t turn down the help, but you’re older than me, grandpa.”
Gunnar laughed and flipped me off on his way to the fridge. “These days, I feel old as fuck. Maisie is getting bigger, and it’s getting harder to hide this shit from her.”
Plus the little girl was too damn smart for her own good. She missed very little and quickly picked up on emotions, which was tricky on a ranch filled with former military men.
“My ma never hid shit from me, if that helps.”
He grunted. “It doesn’t, but thanks anyway.”
“Sure.” There was another issue, one he hadn’t mentioned, but I knew had to weigh heavy on him. “What do you plan to do about Martha?”
“Fuck if I know. Peaches says to talk to her, see what she wants to do, but I can’t keep her on, can I?”
“Worried she might seek her revenge where you’re vulnerable?”
He glared at me. “I wasn’t until now.”
“Peaches is right. Talk to Martha first. Evelyn too.” The last thing we needed was two pissed off women with access to the President’s house and family. And food.
“I was hoping you had a better alternative. This is the last thing I need, and don’t get me started on Farnsworth.”
“Hard to get started on a nondescript guy with the same name as a bunch of other dead G-men. If anyone can figure it out, it’s your woman.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty great, right?” Gunnar shook his head. “But she’s vulnerable here and doesn’t realize it.”
“That’s what we’re here for. Let the women and the babies live their lives without knowing what that safety costs, right?”
“Yeah, but dammit. No woman is more stubborn than Peaches.” He was right about that, which made her hard to protect.
“That’s why she has you. To keep her in line. Just don’t tell her I said so.”
Gunnar doubled over with laughter, nearly dropping two bottles of beer fresh from the fridge.
“You’re far too valuable for me to share that.” He blew out a breath and sighed. “Here’s to a few fucking moments of peace, man.”
We knocked our bottles together and took several long, slow pulls. A few fucking moments of peace sounded nice.
Really fucking nice.
~ T H E ~ E N D ~
I hope you loved this amazing story nearly as much as we loved writing it.
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Acknowledgments
Thank you so much for making my books a success! I appreciate all of you! Come chat with us in our FB Group, Bitches, Babes and Bad Decisions! We’d love to hear from you!
Thanks to all of my beta readers, street teamers, ARC readers and Facebook fans. Y’all are THE BEST!
And a huge very special thanks to Jessie! I’m such a *hot mess, but without your keen sense of organization and skills, I’d be a burny fiery inferno of hot mess!! Thank you!
And a very special thanks to my editors (who sometimes have to work all through the night! *See HOT MESS above!) Thank you for making my words make sense.
Copyright © 2019 KB Winters and BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC
About The Author
KB Winters is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling Author of steamy hot books about Bikers, Billionaires, Bad Boys and Badass Military Men. Just the way you like them. She has an addiction to caffeine, tattoos and hard-bodied alpha males. The men in her books are very sexy, protective and sometimes bossy, her ladies are...well...bossier!
Living in sunny Southern California, with her amazing man, her kids and the fur babies, this embarrassingly hopeless romantic writes every chance she gets!
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