by Jones, KD
“Good. She needs someone like you to keep her on her toes. She’s too good for you, though. She was too good for me as well. Back then I was so selfish and greedy for attention.”
Vic snorted. “Nothing’s changed”
“It has. I have. When I was younger, I thought I was right with everything I did. Now that I am older, I may still make stupid choices, but I know they are stupid and wrong. Bad habits are hard to break. She was right to leave me. I thought maybe she could make me a better man. Truth was, I was holding her back and bringing her down. That’s why I didn’t really fight the divorce. I wanted her to have a better life than what I could offer her.”
Dan continued, as though he was confessing all his sins before he died. “I think she loves you too. I have never seen her look at anyone the way she looks at you. She’s a very independent woman, so you have to give her room to do her own thing.”
“I don’t need relationship advice from you, Stratford. Lexi wouldn’t be in danger if it weren’t for you.” Vic wouldn’t say it out loud, but he realized that he wouldn’t have ever met Lexi if it hadn’t been for Stratford and his attempt to make a run for it. To not have met Lexi would have been a devastating loss. The greater loss would be losing her now after having met her and fallen in love with her. He wasn’t sure he would survive it.
Vic touched his earpiece communications device. “Checking to make sure that all points are covered.”
“All exits and entrances to the marina are covered. No movement as of yet. I have also set up a monitoring device in case they come in by water. Don’t worry, Vic. We’ll spot them the moment they arrive,” Isaac reassured him.
“Take out his men silently and quickly. Leave Roland to last. Our main objective is to secure Lexi and get her to safety first. I want to deal with him myself.”
“Boss, if we take Roland in alive, Stratford could be a witness against him and seal his fate. Stratford might even be able to reduce his own sentence,” Isaac pointed out.
“Noted, but the priority is Lexi’s safety.” Vic glanced at Stratford. He wasn’t a totally bad man, just one who had made a lot of bad decisions. If there was a way to keep Roland alive to reduce Dan’s sentence, then he would have to control his instincts and do that. Lexi would want that.
Lexi. Just the thought of her in the hands of someone like Marcus Roland made his stomach turn. He had Isaac pull up everything he could on the man. A long trail of dead bodies surrounded Roland’s name. None of it had been pinned directly to him, which was why the authority had done nothing about it. Vic also suspected that Roland had some paid help in the authority. That was why Vic decided to not include the authority tonight.
What was taking Roland so long to get here? Vic didn’t like waiting. His aunt used to say he had the least amount of patience than anyone she had ever met. He always laughed because his uncle was extremely protective and didn’t let that many people near his mate.
Thinking about his aunt and uncle and growing up with his cousin made him realize how important family was. For the first time, he understood why his uncle was so protective and so gentle with his aunt. She was human, but his uncle was full Decaros. Vic, being a full Decaros, rarely showed his emotions, though he felt them. Now, having met Lexi and fallen in love with her, he understood why his uncle was so overly protective. Vic wanted to get Lexi back, wrap her in bubble, and lock her in a secure room where no one could ever touch her. He chuckled silently, picturing Lexi’s reaction if he went full protective mode. She would have a few words to say on that subject. He just wanted a chance to hold her again, to tell her how much in love he was with her. Most of all, he just wanted her to be safe and alive. Blade’s voice crackled over the communications device and interrupted his thoughts.
“Vic, there’s a car pulling into the marina. It’s one of Roland’s black sedans.”
Vic turned to Stratford and cracked his knuckles. “They’re here.”
Chapter 18
Where was he? Lexi looked around the dark. Ever since they had pulled into the marina, she had been trying to locate Vic. She wanted to warn him that this was all an ambush and to get out while he could. Roland must have anticipated that, because he had covered her mouth and tied her hands in front of her. The lighting wasn’t very good and she had a hard making out shapes.
“Ah...there’s your lover,” Marcus whispered in her ear.
When had he moved behind her? She tried to shrug away from him but he grabbed her arm and dragged her alongside him. She halted her movements when she caught sight of Vic. He was standing larger than life, a dark figure against the grey sky. The closer she got the more of him she could see. She knew Dan was there somewhere too but she only had eyes for Vic.
Her heart jumped and she wanted to physically leap into his arms. If there were any doubts to how she felt about Vic, those doubts were gone. She was in love with him, totally and completely without question. Only now he was facing off with Marcus who was intent on killing him. She had to warn him somehow. She struggled against her binds but Marcus shook her arm to get her to be still.
*****
It took all of Vic’s control not to attack Roland. Watching him manhandle Lexi left him furious. His Decaros side was beginning to show as his horns started to rise up. He wanted to rip Roland’s arms off.
“Vic man, are you listening?” Isaac’s voice came over the line. It shook him from his thoughts.
“What?”
“Roland’s men are spread out and surrounding you. Keep to the shadows until we have locked down all their positions.”
“Stick to the shadows, got it.” He took a step back and motioned for Dan to do the same.
“Why don’t you bring Mr. Stratford forward so that we can do this exchange” Roland called out.
“Sure, after you send Lexi forward first. When she gets halfway between us, I’ll release Stratford.”
Marcus laughed. “You must think I’m a fool.”
“We can send them both at the same time then.” Vic knew he wouldn’t go for the first option — he was counting on that.
“Yes, let’s do that.” Marcus released Lexi’s arm and pushed her forward.
Vic motioned for Stratford to stand and start moving forward. Vic whispered to Stratford as he passed by him. “Remember…” Stratford nodded as though he understood, but didn’t say anything.
*****
Lexi stumbled forward and glared back at Marcus. She wanted to hurt him in the worst way possible. She moved slowly, her eyes moving from Vic’s shadowy face to Dan’s as he approached. What was going on? She felt eyes on her from the shadows; she assumed those belonged to Marcus’s men. Didn’t Vic know this was a set up? She had to warn him somehow.
As she was passing Dan, he reached out and grabbed her arm, halting her. She looked over at him. “What?”
“Now!” Vic yelled.
Everything happened so fast. The dim lighting went completely black. She couldn’t see anything. Then Dan was pulling her toward some trees. She tripped and fell and took him down with her. She reached down, trying to take off her heels. As soon as she grabbed one in each hand, she shoved herself off of the ground, clawing at Dan and scrambling to regain momentum.
“Come on, Lexi! We’ve got to get out of here! We’re in the line of fire!”
“What?” That’s when she heard the gunfire. Fuck! She felt like she was in the middle of a war zone.
As she got to her feet she turned to follow Dan, but he looked at her with a strange look spreading across his face. She spotted a patch of red on his shoulder. “Oh, God.” He started to fall to his knees. She reached out to try to catch him as he fell. They both went down.
*****
“Lexi!” Vic jumped to avoid being hit. He watched as she and Stratford fell. He saw what looked like blood on her hands but he couldn’t see where she had been shot.
He growled with frustration because he couldn’t get to her. He shot at one of Roland’s men hidden on a nearby boat. He
hit his mark, and the guy fell into the water. Vic moved on, firing and ducking to avoid shots fired at him. He reached for his earpiece.
“Do you have a visual on Roland yet?”
Isaac answered. “Not yet. Keep low, Vic, they may not see as well in the dark as we do, but that doesn’t mean they might not get lucky and hit you.”
“Can you tell what’s happening with Lexi? She and Stratford went down but I can’t tell which one of them is injured.”
“I’ll try to get some eyes on them. Stay low and stay put until we have Roland’s men taken out.”
Fuck that. He had to get to Lexi. What if she had been shot and was bleeding to death? He couldn’t lose her. He stayed low and moved his way toward the last place that he had seen Lexi. As he moved closer, he saw Stratford on the ground with Lexi crouched over him. She had her hands pressed against his bleeding shoulder.
“Lexi!”
She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. “Vic! Dan’s been shot!”
“Stay there, I’m coming to you!” He had to get her out of danger. A bullet whizzed by her head. That was close — too close.
Just as he was about to reach her, she was jerked up and away from him. He crouched, pointing his gun up at Roland. The man held Lexi in front of him as he made her walk backward.
“Coward! Hiding behind a woman instead of fighting me like a man!” He stood up, despite the gunfire around him. He made himself a target in the hope that he would give Lexi the opportunity to break free and make a run for it.
*****
She winced as Marcus dragged her backward. Her bare foot stepped on a rock. Then she felt something in her hand. She glanced down to see her shoe in her hand. She must have grabbed it when Marcus yanked her away from Dan. She gripped the shoe hard. She wasn’t going to go down without a fight and she wasn’t going to let Marcus get a shot at Vic.
“Vic, get out of here!” Lexi yelled, trying to break free of Marcus He was standing out in the open, creating a huge target. She would kick his ass later for scaring her like that. She glanced over at Dan. His eyes were trained on her but he had lost so much blood. If they didn’t get him to a hospital soon, he would not survive.
Chapter 19
Lexi stomped on Marcus’s toes hard, making him loosen his grip. She didn’t think — she just clutched her shoe tightly in her hand. Then she whirled around and stabbed the heel of her shoe into the side of Marcus’s head. She shoved him backward and turned to run toward Dan.
She couldn’t hear much at first because of the gunfire. Then it was suddenly very, very quiet. She looked up and felt relief as she saw Vic and his team putting cuffs on Roland and the rest of his men. He came over to her and knelt down to check on Dan.
“He’s lost a lot of blood.” Lexi felt like she was in shock. There were times in her marriage where she wanted to kill Dan for being such an ass, but she didn’t really want him hurt or worse ... dead.
“Isaac called for an ambulance the moment we realized that he was shot. They’ll be here any moment. Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “I have a few bruises, but otherwise I am fine. Just feeling really shaken from all of this.”
Vic reached out and caressed her cheek gently, wiping away her tears. She leaned her face against his warmth, wanting nothing more than to go to him. The several ambulances arrived behind them. She watched dazed as the paramedics rushed to Dan’s side inspecting his gunshot wound. She let go of Vic as he went to check on his crew to make sure they were okay.
The paramedics lifted Dan and began to load him in the back of the ambulance. Lexi felt that she needed to go with the paramedics because she knew all of Dan’s medical history. She waved Vic over and told him what she was going to do. Vic said that he had to remain behind to help hand over Marcus and his people to the local authority. As the ambulance doors closed, she looked up and caught one last glimpse of Vic, then the doors closed and he was out of sight. She hadn’t even told him that she loved him. Would she see him again?
*****
Vic growled at the idiot officer who took his time processing Marcus Roland and his men. He had wanted to go with Lexi but the paramedics only had room for Lexi and Dan in the back of the ambulance. He hoped to be done with the questioning but the officers — one in particular — prolonged it.
“Can we go?” Vic asked, grumbling.
The officer glared at him before nodding his head.
“Just don’t leave the planet until we have gotten the statements of everyone involved.”
“Fine, thanks.” He left the interrogation room in a hurry. If their friend with the authority hadn’t vouched for this officer, he would have thought that the guy was on Roland’s payroll. He didn’t have time for any of that. He had to get to the hospital.
He burst out of the authority station. Isaac was there with transportation.
“Where’s Blade?”
“We were let go early and Blade went to the hospital to guard Stratford and Miss Tanner. I stayed behind to keep you updated on everything.”
They got into the van that Isaac had rented. Isaac drove while Vic sat in the passenger’s side. “Update me. How’s Lexi?”
“Lexi was treated for minor bruises and scratches. She’s fine. Stratford had to have surgery. He is still listed in critical condition. Lexi hasn’t left the hospital. Her assistant manager was the woman injured when the bar blew up. Lexi has been spending time visiting her as well. She is about to be released to go home.”
“Lexi must be exhausted.”
“Blade said that she refuses to go home until she knows that Stratford will live.”
Vic sighed as he ran his hand through his thick hair. “This was a royal clusterfuck.”
“Jagger called,” Isaac told him.
“What did he say?”
“He is on his way.”
“Why?”
“I explained your situation with Lexi and he is coming to take over transporting Stratford back when he is released, so that you can deal with everything else.”
Vic growled. “I can do my damn job.”
“Hey man, he’s just trying to help. Take the time off and try to convince her to come back with you.”
“She might say no.”
“She might say yes. She doesn’t have a business now because Roland destroyed it. She’ll have to rebuild and she can do that just as easily on Fin-Dieskau as she can here. Isn’t there an empty building next to Daniela’s restaurant?”
Vic silently thought about what Isaac was saying. “Yes. What if I ask her to come back to Fin-Dieskau with me and she says no?”
“What if she says yes? Are you ready to open your life up for a steady relationship?”
“I ... I am. I want her more than anyone I have ever met before.”
“Then you need to tell her that. Tell her how you feel about her, and be ready to fight to keep her. Love is too precious to let it slip through your fingers, not when there is something you can do to prevent that. I can tell you right now, if you let this chance go — if you let her go —you will be missing out on the best thing that ever happened to you. You don’t know if you’ll have a second chance at this kind of love again.” Isaac’s voice took on a sad tone.
He glanced over at the other man knowing that Isaac had suffered some kind of a loss in his past one that he rarely talked about. “Thanks, Isaac. I’m going to fight for her no matter what.”
Isaac smiled. “Glad to hear, because we’re here.” He pulled into a parking spot in front of the hospital. “Go get your girl.”
Vic got out, silently praying that he could convince Lexi to give him a chance.
Chapter 20
Lexi paced the room and waited for the nurses to bring Dan back from surgery. She hadn’t heard anything from Vic. She tried to get some information from the stoic bounty hunter Blade, but he wasn’t much for talking. All he would say was that Vic was still being questioned by the authority. He had said as much in only a few words. I
t was very annoying.
“I can’t take this anymore!” She walked out into the hallway, intending to go outside for some fresh air. She stopped walking as two men got off the elevator nearby.
“Vic.” She whispered his name.
He looked at her and she couldn’t stop herself. She started walking, then jogging, then full-out running before she threw herself into his arms. “Vic! Oh God, I was so worried about you.”
He squeezed her tightly against him. “Baby, are you okay?”
“I was so scared, Vic. When all the shooting started I wanted to find you … then Dan got shot … he needed me to stop the flow of the blood … so much blood…” The gateway to her tears broke and she shook as she cried in his arms. She was lost in the emotional release that she had been holding inside.
She felt Vic’s arms wrap around her legs, then he lifted her in his arms. He and the other bounty hunter Isaac said something, but she didn’t pay attention to them. It wasn’t until she felt herself being lowered inside a van that she calmed down enough to question him.
“What’s going on? Where are we going?” She watched as he walked around to the driver’s side and got in.
“I think we should go back to your place and have some alone time.”
“Okay, but I haven’t had a chance to fix anything that Roland’s men had messed up yet.”
He paused, turning the van on and looking at her with his dark eyes.
“I don’t care about that, I just want to be alone with you so that I can remove your clothes and kiss every inch of you slowly until you nearly go insane from the pleasure. Then I plan to fuck you for hours.”
Lexi felt her pussy clench with need. She gulped and tried to keep her breathing under control.
“Drive fast.”
*****
Vic made record time getting them back to her apartment. She refused to let him carry her in. She could walk and she didn’t want to draw any more attention from her neighbors. She hoped to avoid her landlord until she was able to get a construction crew out to make repairs. “Crap.”
