I was still alive to feel pain, though.
Bonus!
Rolling over to my hands and knees, I looked up and took in the area.
Only one of my eyes seemed to be working, but I didn’t let that bother me.
I stood quickly, looking from the woman on the ground to Nico who was standing over the woman, his gun still aimed at her.
Nico had shot her in the chest, on the right side, missing her heart but still incapacitating her.
She was writhing on the ground in pain, and blood was steadily filling out around her, spreading in an ever-widening pool. My eyes were fascinated as it started to run down the slope of the driveway, intermingling with the water from the sprinklers that were currently running.
Nico dropped down to his knees beside the woman, using what looked to be his shirt to staunch the flow of blood.
I could’ve told him that would be useless, that it was probably the exit hole at her back that was doing the most bleeding, but Nico looked like he needed that false sense of accomplishment. He looked ragged, torn apart by doing what he’d done.
I snapped out of it, using the mic clipped to my belt to call in a medic.
It proved uncalled for, though, since the next moment we had nearly the entire force of police cars rolling up to us. Full lights and sirens.
The ambulance would come once the scene was declared safe, which proved to be not fast enough because the woman on the ground shuttered, and her body went lifeless.
“Ambulance, now!” I bellowed.
The cops that were taking in the scene were looking at me in horror, but my voice jolted them out of it long enough for them to relay the message of needing an ambulance.
My head started to go lightheaded again, so I sat down on the curb and tried my hardest not to pass out.
My head fell into my hands, elbows resting on my knees, taking a small rest.
I blinked and lifted my head when I realized that there was someone in front of me talking to me. Realizing that it was Tai, a medic for Kilgore Fire Department, I blinked and tried to come back online.
I nodded when he asked if I could stand, and walked with my own power to the ambulance.
That was about all I had the ability to do, walking to the medic and collapsing on the cot with the white sheet.
The last thing I remembered was thinking, ‘That blood’s never going to come out.’
Chapter 28
Don’t half ass anything. Whatever you do, use your full ass.
-Coffee Cup
Reese
“He was shot twice. In the head,” I stated, clarifying what I’d just heard from Nico.
He nodded his head. “Yeah, once from the back of the head. The other grazed his brow. Both are superficial, though. Although he bled like a stuck pig.”
My mouth opened and closed, eyes wide. I didn’t know what to say.
“He’s getting sewn up right now by a doctor, and they’re giving him a transfusion of blood since he lost so much. I just wanted to warn you that he looks pretty gruesome, and not to freak out when you see him,” Nico said woodenly.
My brows knit together, and I took a longer look at Nico.
He was wearing quite a bit of blood himself. Was that all from Luke?
“Nico, are you okay?” I asked.
He looked at me for a few short moments, emotions pouring through his eyes before he replaced his blank mask. “Fine. Why?”
I walked up to the scariest man I’d ever met. The one who had given me comfort the night I found out about my husband suing me for full custody of Rowen. The one who watched over me. The one who had saved my future husband’s life…and walked into his arms.
He stood stiffly for a few long seconds before he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and buried his face into my hair.
I held him, felt his shaking, and knew he’d done something awful. Something truly horrid that’d ripped him apart.
Likely, he’d had to choose Luke’s life over Anita’s. A pregnant woman for his friend. An impossible decision in any situation.
His arms felt like bands of steel around me, and I sniffled loudly into his ear, so thankful he’d made that decision I could barely contain my joy.
“Let’s go see Luke, Nico. I don’t think I can do it alone,” I whispered.
That was true, too.
I was scared shitless of what I’d find. As a nurse, I knew all the gruesome things that went on, having witnessed them myself multiple times.
I knew how much a head wound bled, and I was scared it was worse than he said it was.
That seemed to focus him, giving him something to do.
He let go of me, wrapping his hand around mine, and walked with me down the hall and around the corner to the ER’s rooms.
He was in the last one.
I knew because the entire ER was full to bursting with cops and fireman.
They were everywhere.
There was no telling how many were in the actual room with him.
All eyes turned to us when we rounded the corner.
Eyes that I knew. Eyes that I didn’t know.
All curious.
Nico pulled me forward when I would’ve stopped, and I went. Mostly because he hadn’t given me a choice.
We walked through the crowd, the policemen backing up enough for us to get through.
Nico got slugs on the back as he went, and I got comforting hands.
By the time I was at Luke’s room, I was near tears from the support.
I wasn’t able to see Luke at first.
The large bodies of Downy, Bennett, Michael, and John blocked him from my sight.
But Nico’s deep ‘move’ drew them apart, and I finally saw Luke laying on the bed with his eyes closed. A young doctor leaned over his left side, stitching up his brow.
Half of Luke’s hair was gone, shaved down to little more than stubble on the right side of his head.
Dried blood covered his bare shoulders and arms. It was everywhere. Embedded in the grooves of his knuckles, the creases of his arms.
His bottom half was covered by a sheet, but his bare feet stuck out from the bottom.
Letting go of Nico’s hand, I walked forward and wrapped both of my hands around each of his toes.
His toes clenched, and he smiled, eyes opening as he took me in.
“You listened,” he rumbled, giving me a small, pained smile.
I nodded. “I do that every once in a while.”
Even when it nearly guts me.
His eyes glanced down to my hand, and his grin got a little bigger. “Looks good on you.”
I looked down at my hand, at the ring he’d given me hours before, yet felt like long, long days ago.
“Anything looks good on me,” I teased.
He gave a soft laugh and shook his head, producing a hiss from him and the doctor who admonished him for moving.
“If you can’t keep still, I’ll send her out of the room,” the doctor muttered.
Luke’s eyes hardened. “You could always try to take her away from me, Doc. But then you’d be missing a few limbs, and she’d still be here.”
The doctor snorted. “You cops. All the same. Jealous, alpha males who don’t know what’s for their own good. I’m almost done here, if you’ll hold still for another ten minutes, I’ll get the rest of these in and you can do whatever you want.”
The silence hung heavy as everyone thought about the ‘whatever you want’ he’d been referring to.
Every man in the room was thinking the same thing, too.
“No,” I said, squeezing Luke’s toes.
He chuckled softly and closed his eyes again. “Okay, we’ll wait until we’re back at home.”
“Not to interrupt, AC, but your daughter wants to know when she can go home,” James drawled from the doorway.
I turned and found him smiling with a phone to his ear. “She and Rowen are getting antsy,
and something about you promising them Frozen and ice cream were mentioned, as well.”
The tension in the room broke.
“Call Baylee and tell her what’s going on, ask her to come get them, and I’ll pick the girls up tomorrow with Reese. We’ve got a lot of paperwork and questions that need to be answered once I’m done here,” Luke sighed.
I shook my head.
The man had lost a lot of blood, dodged death twice with two shots to the head, and he wanted answers.
Men.
***
“God,” I said sadly, thinking about how Rowen lost her father.
Gruesome wasn’t even good enough to describe what I’d just heard.
“What was her reasoning? I don’t understand why she would’ve done all that,” I shivered.
Would Rowen even understand?
Agent Lawrence looked over at me and then swung his eyes back up to Luke. “Should she even be here?”
I wanted to kick him, which I probably would’ve done but Luke rolled away from the man when he felt my leg tense.
“Assault of an officer, regardless of the reasoning, is enough to get you jail time, honey,” Luke whispered into my ear.
I sighed and relaxed. He was right. That wasn’t what we needed right now, but I couldn’t help the way I felt.
Weston, although not the best one in the world, was still Rowen’s father. A man who’d never be able to walk his daughter down the aisle.
“She stays,” Luke insisted, keeping his arm around my belly.
I leaned into him, pressing my nose against his neck.
“What kind of retaliation are we looking at here?” Luke asked when no one continued.
The Chief, Luke, Nico, and Agent Lawrence had started this meeting a little over an hour before, and it’d been the most intense, gruesome hour of my life.
I’d listened to how Weston and Lydia had been tortured, supposedly by Russian mafia standards, for nearly a day before Anita had finally killed them. Then I’d listen to Luke as he recounted what had happened. Then again from Nico’s point of view.
I’d been sick to my stomach before the meeting, but now I was positively green.
I felt god-awful. In fact, I wanted nothing more than to go crawl into bed with Rowen and Katy, and have Luke’s arms wrapped around us, protecting us from this harsh world.
“Only time will tell, unfortunately. The kid lived, mostly due to the part Nico played in keeping Anita alive long enough for the medics to get there. Anita’s death is bound to have some backlash; but, as of right now, I won’t know what kind until we look into it more.” Agent Lawrence shook his head.
My eyes squeezed shut at the thought of any ‘retaliation’ at all.
I was, however, deluding myself.
I lived in a world that was harsh and cruel.
We would definitely need to be vigilant, and I knew Luke would be there for us. Always.
***
Later that night
“I love you, Luke,” I sighed, resting my head on his chest.
He kissed my forehead and dragged the covers up over our naked bodies.
He’d just let me, for the first time ever, make sweet, slow love to him.
I was totally in control, and he took it like the man he was.
Only taking over at the end when my orgasm had leached all cognitive movements from my body.
I was still on top of him, and he was still inside of me.
His cock had gone down, but not completely as we caught our breath.
“I love you, too,” he rumbled.
I turned my head and kissed his naked chest, right over the strong beating of his heart, then laid my head down to listen to it.
“Your heart is talking to me,” I teased.
I could tell he was smiling.
“And what’s it saying?” he played along.
“It’s saying that you need to take your pain medication,” I quipped.
He chuckled softly. “Yes, ma’am.”
He didn’t move, though, and neither did I.
“It’s also saying that we need to have a quick wedding. ‘Cause I’m not living with you until we’ve got the same last name,” I said in all seriousness.
He sighed. “My heart knows my head. We’ll get married next week at the courthouse.”
I laughed, running my nose along the ridge of his pectoral muscles. “Nice try, big boy. But I want it all. The huge poofy dress and lots of large flowers surrounding us.”
He grumbled. “Somehow, I knew you’d want that. You’re not easy, that’s for sure.”
I bit him softly on the nipple, and felt his cock jump inside of me. “Nothing worth fighting for is ever easy.”
“No, I can’t say that it is,” he said as he started to move slowly inside of me again.
Epilogue
Love, because chocolate isn’t always enough.
-Valentine’s Card
A decade of notes
I sat down on the edge of the bed, lifting the large book that Luke had given me only moments before.
Luke sat on the bed beside me, smiling, as I opened the first page.
My eyes started to water instantly.
He’d saved them.
Each and every one of them.
My hands shook as I scanned page after page.
***
My soon to be husband,
I can’t believe I’m marrying you in less than an hour. It seems like just yesterday when I met you at Katy’s school.
I knew you were hot, but as I looked at you through the window while you were playing with Rowen and Katy a few minutes ago, I found you beautiful. I’ve never felt like this. Never even thought it’d be possible.
I just want you to know how happy you make me, and I’ll try with all my heart to get over how you never pick up your socks from wherever you happen to be when you take them off.
Reese, your soon to be wife
***
My soon to be wife,
Your ass looked good in your scrubs. I liked how Captain America’s shield cupped your shapely behind. If anything, you should be thanking the maker of those scrubs, otherwise I would’ve never taken a second look at you. (Just kidding.)
Your daughter’s your mini-me, how could I not love her since I love her mother with all my heart?
Thank you for putting together all my socks. Just for that, I’ll put up with she-who-shall-not-be-named (Reese on her period) every month without complaint (To your face, anyway.)
I love you, now come walk down the aisle to me. I’m ready to put a ring on it.
Lucas, your soon to be husband (If you’d pull the lead out.)
***
Luke (My dear husband),
I see that you forgot to take the trash out again. Let me remind you that I’m thirty months past due with your spawn of Satan. It pains my vagina greatly to walk more than five feet. Stairs are a DON’T! When you are the one carrying the spawn, I’ll take the trash out for you. Marriage is give and take.
Your lovely, beautiful, pregnant wife.
Reese
***
Reese (Satan’s carrier),
I’m sorry I forgot to take the trash out. I got a page that took priority over the trash. Please, forgive me. I’ll take it out now. There. Done. Now what else do you have to bitch nit-pick about? I gave you my dick last night, what more can one want? Not to mention I brought home some pickles. I’m the best husband ever!
You’re devoted and ever so helpful husband,
Luke
***
Lucas Roberts (Asshole),
I’ve spent the last seventeen and a half hours trying to push out your baby, and I’d like you to know that my vagina will never resemble the perfection it was before. You shall forever be sliding your dick into the endless black hole that will be my new vagina. I hope you know what kind of sacrifice I made when I chose to have our baby vaginally.<
br />
Reese Roberts (The Asshole’s wife)
***
Demon Spawn’s soon to be mother,
I love you and your loose vagina.
Roberts (Demon spawn’s mother’s lover)
***
Ungrateful bastard,
I made you motherfucking dinner last night, after spending three hours with your children making sure they had enough Christmas cookies each to take to their school Christmas parties. The least you could’ve done was say thank you.
After spending hours in the kitchen with your child on my boob half the time, you don’t even eat it?
If you value your life, I suggest you take it to lunch.
Your sleep deprived wife,
Reese
***
My perfect wife,
I’m sorry I didn’t eat (your shitty) dinner last night. Sandwiches didn’t sound good. (And for some reason, I don’t think this took you very long to make.) However, I have them in my hand, as I write this, to take with me to work. Please forgive my children for making you work so hard. Maybe next time you should go to the store and buy the cookies instead of baking them. (They’re kind of ugly, and they’re a little burnt on the bottom). I love you, I’ll meet you at Mario’s for the police banquet tonight. Don’t forget to pick up my suit.
Love, your husband (Who will be eating his sandwich even though the bread is soggy.)
***
Husband (The man who went to sleep instead of having sex with me last night),
I’m sorry I snapped at you this morning. I’m pretty sure you broke my heart when you came in and didn’t even give me a hug when you flopped into bed.
I know you don’t realize it, but you don’t have to use my boobs as a pillow. They’re a part of me, and there are times that I like to sleep on my stomach. Please try your hardest to use your own pillow from now on, okay?
Your sleepy wife (The one you didn’t have sex with last night.)
***
I laughed a watery laugh and laid my head on Luke’s shoulder.
“You kept them,” I sniffled.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest.
I wiped my hand over the laminated pages as if they were spun glass. As if the tiniest of touches would break them to pieces.
Those notes, the ones that were written from the heart, meant the world to me. And it meant even more to know that he’d saved them all.
Code 11- KPD SWAT Box Set Page 20
