Deep (Raw Heroes Book 4)

by S. R. Jones

  He goes to Reece and starts to read him his rights. Then he slaps the cuffs on him and Reece stares at them with a sigh. The officer has cuffed Reece to the front, not behind his back. The guy seeing to Duncan doesn’t give him the same courtesy. Despite his grave injuries, Duncan is cuffed with his arms behind him, and then pulled unceremoniously to his feet.

  “What regiment did you serve in?” The guy I presume is the lead officer asks Liam.

  Liam laughs. “That obvious, eh? Royal Marines then Special Boat Service. You?”

  “Paras mate. Never made the SAS though.”

  “Reece here served, too.” Liam nods at Reece. The lead officer nods back.

  “I’ll take over, Nigel.” The lead officer addresses a younger policeman. “I’m going to ride with Reece.”

  “Sir?” The younger officer seems confused and this is obviously not normal protocol.

  “You provide back up for Derek with our other suspect here.” He points to Duncan.

  “I’ll need all the info you’ve got,” the lead officer says to Liam. “Quick sharp. The minute we get into the ambulance, follow us and get onto a damn good lawyer. Tell him to meet us at the hospital, okay?”

  “Will do.”

  More sirens are approaching, and I’m starting to feel major anxiety bubbling up in me. I don’t know what to do. I want to be with Reece, but I’m not sure he wants me with him. I don’t fit in here with these people, with his life. With the violence of it. I’m a loner and my violence is metered out in words on paper. His is given out in real life, and these men are hard and tough, and I feel pathetic with the way I want to curl in a ball and cry.

  Paramedics rush into the warehouse and then they are seeing to Duncan, and I am so conflicted. I almost feel sorry for him when I look at his battered face, but I also want him gone. Disappeared from this world, so I don’t have to ever think about him again or deal with what he did to me, because with this most likely going to court, I will have to.

  Two more medical personnel arrive and they tend to Reece. I’m hoping they say the burn isn’t too bad. They do, and I am sucking in a breath of relief at the news, when one of them says, voice serious and urgent. “You need to get to hospital, I think you’ve got a fractured skull.”

  “I know,” Reece replies, all matter of fact as I cover my mouth to keep my gasp in.

  “Can I go in the ambulance with him?” I ask the paramedic.

  “It’s a big rig,” she replies. “Are you coming, too, seen as he’s cuffed?” she asks the lead officer. He nods.

  “Me too,” Liam says.

  She sighs and rolls her eyes, then makes her decision. “Okay, let’s go. Now. Can you walk?” she asks Reece. He laughs and nods.

  “It’s my head he’s smashed up not my legs.”

  A fractured skull. My God, could he die? I feel faint, but I clench and unclench my hands, pumping blood around my system, determined not to wuss out now.

  The ride to the hospital passes in a blur. We get into the ambulance and I know they mean business when they go with the blues and two’s, the blue light flashing and the siren blaring out. They are driving fast, too. I wonder if we will be near Duncan when we get to the hospital? Could he still somehow hurt me or Reece?

  “Is he going to be okay?” I ask the paramedic as she looks him over, making notes on her clipboard every now and then.

  “Hopefully. I think he’s got a simple fracture, but we won’t know until we’ve done some x-rays and scans. His burn is going to be treatable, I’m a bit concerned about his kidneys too, they’ve taken some punishment from the taser. But, he should be okay once we get him treated.”

  Fuck. I can’t hold back the tears as they start to fall, and I feel something touch the tips of my fingers. Reece has brushed the edge of my fingers with his own.

  “I’ll be fine, Kate.” His deep voice rumbles in the space between us. “I’ve been through worse.”

  “He really has,” Liam supplies, but somehow this doesn’t make me feel any better.

  More stupid tears come and soon they are falling fast down my face. “I’m sorry.” I sniff as I wipe them away with the back of my free hand.

  “It’s okay, you’ve been through a lot,” Liam reassures.

  “I’m not crying for me,” I say.

  Then I remember, Reece shut this thing between us down. Turned cool when I turned needy. He probably hates this show of emotion. Worried I’m causing him more discomfort when he least needs it, I try to get the tears and emotion show under control.

  I glance at him, and I freeze.

  His face isn’t hard or cool and remote. He’s looking at me and his gaze is warm…almost soft.

  He smiles at me and it’s a smile that says things are going to be okay. Things beyond the immediate stuff like the hospital and the police.

  I daren’t hope for too much, but that smile, it gives me some strength to face the next few hours.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Reece

  Kate is amazing. She doesn’t leave my side, even going with me when I get sent for a variety of scans, including an MRI and a CT scan. She’s the balm my soul needs and I am done with running away.

  Having her here by my side makes everything better, I can’t deny the fact.

  Liam is at the hospital still, and so is Isla. She rushed to be here, to be by her man’s side, even though he wasn’t hurt. I saw Ethan give her the softest look when she burst into my room. That look, the thing they have between them that I’d always coveted if being honest with myself, I have a chance at that. I simply need to stop letting fear get in the way.

  One thing is clear to me however.

  I can’t do normal. Can’t do the house, two point five kids, and the nine to five, and the two holidays a year shit. I need to talk to Kate, to tell her I want her, but I want to be free, too. Not free to fuck around, but free to come and go, with her, preferably.

  I don’t know how to put that into words, though, without fucking her off completely. Most women would tell me to go get lost. They’d tell me they don’t want to make a go of it with someone with his foot already half out the door. The thing is though, my heart won’t be half out the door. My heart, and my soul will be hers. I won’t cheat on her, I know myself well enough to understand that. I simply need to be able to go climbing or diving, if the urge grabs me. Hell, she could come with me. Maybe she would?

  A fancy lawyer has arrived, and he and Liam are talking now at the foot of my bed. I’m taking it in but it’s also going over my head. I’m tired, and it’s hard to focus.

  “…not in the public interest, so I think it will be easy to argue that the crown should drop any charges against Reece,” the fancy lawyer is saying in his posh, plummy accent.

  Liam is a fucking rock, but I didn’t expect any less. One day, me and him need to talk, to lay some ghosts to rest, but not now. Not when my lower back aches, my piss is dark brown, and my head is splitting. I’m on fluids for my kidneys. Pain killers, and some antibiotics. I’ve been told I will be in hospital for a few more days and then will need a few weeks of rest.

  Weeks of rest! The words make me feel itchy already.

  The police have said I won’t be taken in, which thank fuck because I know if I get shoved in a cell, I’ll lose it.

  I still might be charged, the police and the crown prosecution service will of course discuss my case, Duncan Jacob’s case and come to a decision on both, but fancy pants McLawyerly clearly believes there’s a good chance they won’t pursue charges for me.

  “I’ll let Abi know you’ll be staying with us for a while,” Liam says.

  “What? No, it’s fine. I want to go home.”

  “You can’t go home as sick as you are, you need to be with people. We have more than enough room, you know that. Or you could go to Ethan’s, but you risk further trauma by canine.”

  Ethan shoots Liam a disgusted look, and Isla starts to say something in defense of their boisterous crew.

  I smile.
Ethan and Isla have a fair few dogs and some are big, and over-friendly. I don’t need one of them jumping on me when I’m recovering.

  “I’ll be staying with Reece, Liam.” Kate’s clear voice silences the room.

  Liam raises his eyebrows at her. He doesn’t seem to like her much, which pisses me off.

  “No need,” he replies, brusque and unfriendly as fuck. “You are safe now, Duncan is in custody. You can go back to your life.”

  “I will stay with Reece,” she repeats, fixing Liam with a determined stare.

  I admire her, Liam scares the fuck out of me half the time, and I know him well. She’s got balls of steel. “Unless, that is,” she says turning to me, “you don’t want me to, Reece. I’ll go back to my life, if you don’t want me to stay, but I’d like to help you out.”

  “I’d like you to stay,” I say.

  It’s true, and thinking I was going to die for a while at the hands of that nutter has made me realize how true. I do want her to stay, and I want to try and make a go of it. We need to talk but what better time than now?

  “Give us the room,” I bark the order to Liam and the lawyer, who exchange glances, but do as I say.

  There’s a copper outside the door, but I’ve been told I will be allowed home and that’s all I care about.

  “I’m sorry,” I say when the door closes. “I hurt you, back at the house. Closed down, when you put yourself out there. I freaked out.”

  Kate holds her hand up. “No need to say sorry. This has all been so…sudden. Kind of surreal, too. I’m still grappling with getting my head around it myself. I like you, a lot.” She looks down at the floor for a moment. “I’m not saying I want wedding bells, Reece. I’m saying I like you and it would be a shame to throw this away without giving it a chance.”

  “I don’t do being closed in, trapped, very well,” I blurt out. “I can’t be tied down.”

  Her face falls so I take her hand in mine. “I don’t mean tied to you, but tied to a place, a routine, a certain sort of life. It’s not for me. I need to know that if Saturday comes around and I want to go surf all day, I can. If I am with someone who’d want to join me, even better.”

  She laughs and then she’s crying a little again. “Reece, I won’t ever make you feel trapped. We’re like two peas in a pod, you and I, in some ways. I love all the things you do, and I’ve spent so long being cooped up, afraid of my own shadow because of that bastard that all I want to do now is live.”

  Her face lights up as she talks. “I want to climb mountains, and surf the oceans, and eat weird food in far off places. I want to do those things. I’d like to try doing them with you, but whether you’re on board or not, I won’t be settling down into a monotonous routine anytime soon.”

  I get where she’s coming from, and I am so on board it’s crazy. I get this weird little bubble of something in my gut, and I think it might be joy. The idea of me and Kate out there, having adventures together.

  I should probably deal with my issues, at some point, but that can wait for another day. Still, I want her to understand. “I think it’s something that happened to me and Liam, I think it means I can’t be trapped. I need to be free, and I get that it’s essentially selfish to ask someone to share your life, but then say you need freedom to bug out at the drop of a hat.”

  She smiles at me, her beautiful eyes lighting up. “It’s not selfish, Reece, I think it’s kind of beautiful that you can ask for what you want. I need to be free, too, so maybe we can be free together? What do you say?”

  I nod and have to swallow down the thick lump forming in my throat. Free together. It is kind of beautiful. “I’ll need some time off work to recover, but when I get back to it, I’m going to tell Liam I want to do more of the hacking, computer side of things, and less of the protection work, which means I’ll be able to travel more.”

  “And I can write from anywhere,” she says.

  “Do you want to be my travel buddy?” I ask her, feeling vulnerable in doing so, but elated at the same time.

  “You bet,” she replies.

  “Just so you know, that’s a whole different level to fuck buddy. Or, at least to me, it is. It’s early days, Kate, but you need to know. I’m not able to offer you normality and stability, but I am falling for you. In fact, I think I was in too deep from the moment I first saw you, and I didn’t realize. I noticed something in you, I thought you were regal.”

  “Regal?” She smiles but it’s nonplussed.

  “Yeah, regal. Different. Don’t think because I don’t want to settle into some routine existence that what I feel isn’t deep because it is.”

  “Same here, Reece.” She reaches over to me and brushes a kiss on my forehead. “Deep but free, it sounds perfect to me.” Her lips brush mine, soft and wonderful.

  I close my eyes for a beat, and exhaustion steals over me. I’m wiped out. The blow to my head, the fight to get free, and then this momentous conversation, they’ve all sapped me of any remaining strength. Kate tells me to get some sleep and she curls up in the chair by my bed, a blue hospital blanket covering her.

  The next day, I’m dozing, Kate reading her kindle, still on the chair, refusing to leave except to eat and use the toilet, when the door to my room opens and Andrius walks in.

  My heart picks up speed.

  I start and dart a glance to Kate.

  I know the guy, he owes me, and we’ve been through some major shit together, but he still worries the crap out of me. I never quite know whose side he’s on, or what angle he’s playing.

  Trailing him, walking with her head down, her feet shuffling along, is a stunning young woman. Her hair is almost white blonde, she’s petite, maybe five feet three or four, and slim, but with full breasts and slender but curvy hips.

  When she glances up, I see her eyes are a striking deep blue, almost violet, and they have an angelic expression to them, but her full pouty lips contrast with her eyes and make her look half angel, half porn star.

  She’s like some innocent goddess fallen to earth for eating forbidden fruit. If I weren’t head over heels in love with Kate, I think I’d have a major hard on for her. Or, rather, I would if she didn’t look like a terrified doe, caught in the cross hairs of a predator’s sights. The girl is shaking for fucks sake. Suddenly my senses go on red alert.

  “Violet,” Andrius addresses the girl, “go get something to drink, for yourself and for me.”

  He hands her some money.

  Weird, Violet by name, violet by eye color.

  “I don’t know where the cafeteria is?” The girl’s reply is sullen but scared. Like a child who is angry at her parents but daren’t act out or she’ll get the lash.

  “Kate, why don’t you take Violet to the canteen?” I suggest.

  I think Andrius and I are going to have to talk and I don’t want Kate hearing this.

  Kate figures it out, and doesn’t like it because she purses her lips. But she nods and does as I ask.

  “What brings you here?” I ask as soon as they are gone.

  He glances at the door. “I hope my little Thumbelina doesn’t say too much to that woman.”

  I shrug. “Anything she says will stay between us four if I ask it of Kate.”

  “Oh, it’s like that is it?” he asks in his heavy accented voice.

  “It’s like that,” I tell him.

  “I need you to do your thing,” he says. “I need you to look into Violet. I am sorry to ask you this when you are sick, but if you can spare the time while you are recuperating to check out whatever you can find out about her, I’d appreciate it.”

  I owe him, I know this much. He owes me, too. We’re all entangled in a forest of debts and counter-debts and somewhere along the way I lost the path, and don’t know how to get out. And I’m about to ask another favor of him, a big one. Still, I don’t like what I saw just now. I thought Andrius had a certain code, but that girl is terrified.

  “Is she your girlfriend?” I ask him.

 
He gives a derisive snort. “She’s a gift.”

  His words stun me. “Excuse me?”

  “She is a gift. From Allyov.”

  “A gift? He gave you a girl?”

  “Yes. So now this girl, she lives in my house, and she eats my food, and I want to know who the fuck she is and if she’s reporting back to him.”

  “She seems scared, Andrius.” I tell him this because she did and because I don’t like the fact.

  “Yes, yes she does. Terrified. I still need to know.”

  “Does she want to be your…gift?”

  Andrius gives a short, cruel laugh. “I doubt it. She’s young, scared, does not seem to know the ways of the world, but it could all be an act. I need to know, Reece.” He leans in then, and his eyes blaze. “I need to know urgently.”

  “Why the urgency?” I ask.

  “You know my rules.”

  I do, they are simple. Andrius is a fixer…and more, for the Russian and sometimes Ukrainian mobsters vying for territory in Europe. He will do almost anything, except for one thing. He won’t harm any women or children, no matter who they are or what they have done.

  Instead of making him weak amongst monsters, his weird moral code and the absolute certainty he wields it with, seems to have made him stronger.

  So, yes, I know his rules.

  “You’re going to kill her?” The shock is evident in my voice.

  “What?” Andrius tsks at me. “Your head injury must be making you stupid. Of course not, but Allyov gave her to me to fuck. She’s a virgin, he says. If she’s for real.”

  He sighs and hangs his head for a moment. “If she’s for real, he’s taken her off the streets and given her to me to fuck, which is messed up, sick…I don’t understand it. They don’t run women. This is a nightmare. I don’t wish to fuck her, but if I don’t and she’s working for him, one of his whores playing a game, then I am in dangerous territory if I don’t take her. In that case, she’ll tell him, and they will think I am weak, or homosexual, which I have nothing against, but you know what the Russian mob will do.”

  “I’m supposed to be getting out of here in the next couple of days and I’ll look into it as soon as I get home,” I tell him.