by Flora Burgos
Holding the phone to his ear, the Russian grabbed Courtney by the hair and yanked her toward him, muttering, "You will scream."
Steadfastly, she bit down on her lip and refused to make a single sound. In frustration, he released her hair and backhanded her again. The force caused her to bite through her lip, and blood leaked down her chin. Still, she remained silent. This angered him, so he grabbed her around the throat, squeezing until she saw stars, and though she couldn't stop the gasp that broke through her bloodied mouth, she didn't so much as whimper. When she was on the verge of passing out from a lack of oxygen, he released her and watched her, cocking his head curiously. Cole continued to yell through the phone, but Courtney made not that first sound as she regarded her torturer in abject curiosity, waiting to see what he would do next. Nausea roiled in her stomach when he grinned, and she saw that he was missing teeth; the grin only made him look even more sinister than he already had. Then he snapped, stood, and reached into his pocket. She knew when he pulled out the pocket knife that she should have screamed, but from the sadistically pleased look on his face, she also knew it was way too late.
He flipped open the pocket knife and winked at her before resuming his crouched position next to her and taking hold of her handcuffed hand. For the first few seconds, she was able to hold out and not scream, but self-preservation and intense pain, the like of which she had never felt, quickly overwhelmed her, and she screamed herself into unconsciousness. The last thing she heard was a satisfied Russian voice saying, "Now, moy drug, my guns?"
Monique was laughing. She wondered how someone as good as Cole had gotten tied up with someone as evil as the French woman and her Russian counterpart, but then she slipped into blissful relief.
WHEN SHE CAME TO, SHE realized that several hours had passed and she was gagged and cuffed to a bed in what appeared to be a cheap motel room. She looked around and saw Monique sitting in a chair a couple of feet from where she lay, but the man was nowhere to be seen. Monique paused in filing her nails and smiled when she saw that Courtney was awake. "Ah, cherie, I see you are finally awake. Shall I keep you company while these men take care of the dreadful business?"
Courtney didn't so much as blink, but Monique still drew her chair closer and spoke again in her heavy accent, "When I saw you, I did not know that you would be so useful. I just needed Cole to get me out. He married me, in name only, to get me, how do you say, emergency citizenship? He did not want to, but his boss told him he must. If not, then he would go to prison. Treason. Tsk tsk. Then I saw you and the game, well, it changed, no? The day I saw you, I knew I could have so much more, so I gave Cole the whiskey, and when he was asleep, I stripped us both and told him we had made love. Easy as that, he comes with me and you are no more." She dusted her hands together to show how quickly she had gotten rid of the competition. "My lover, he did not know that I was carrying his baby, so I told Cole that it was his." She lifted an eyebrow and smirked as if she expected Courtney to admire her cunning behavior. "He took another contract, and I had the baby. When he saw it was not his, I had met mon amie, Alexie, and we work together. Later, I gave Cole his divorce, but other plans were in place." She shrugged. "Either way, I win."
Several things hit Courtney at once, but she struggled not to let it show on her face. First and foremost was that the pinky on her right hand hurt so bad she was terrified to look at it, in fear that she would be missing part of the digit. Second, Cole wasn't a father. He hadn't slept with this woman, and her father had been right. And for some reason, Cole felt he had needed to marry her to get her emergency citizenship.
Before Monique could say anything further, they both heard someone moving the doorknob, and then the Russian, who she now knew was named Alexie, stalked in. "All is in place. The switch will take place in thirty minutes. When I have my guns, you get your money, and we are no more." This he said to Monique, who nodded and went back to filing her nails saying, "Then we wait, no?"
He never glanced at Courtney, and she was ok with that. It seemed her role in this whole thing was done. He sat down and then immediately jumped back to his feet when the door he had walked through moments before exploded off its hinges and smoke filled the room following a loud bang. Courtney screamed now, but it was useless with the gag silencing her. No one would be able to hear her over the commotion.
A dark shape rushed into the room and fired once at the Russian, dropping him where he stood. Monique was scrambling to her feet while reaching to the table beside her to grab the gun she had set aside, but before her fingers could brush it, the same person fired once at her and she fell as well.
The person rushed the bed, and Courtney freaked. She couldn't handle any more. She was about to die in some drug deal slash terrorist plot gone awry. Her feet were shuffling against the coverlet on the bed, trying to gain traction while she screamed into the gag, trying to move away from the person approaching her in the smoke. Somehow, she heard her name. It was enough to cause her to pause, and then she sagged into the mattress as Cole leaned in on one knee and without asking her how she was or anything, reached into her hair and pulled loose one of the bobby pins long forgotten from her early morning hairstyle session in preparation for her friends’ wedding. Deftly, he bent the pin and shoved it into the keyhole on the cuff attached to her hand and wiggled it. Immediately, it released, and he swept her into his arms, and without even removing her gag, he turned and jogged out of the room with her in his arms.
For the second time that day, he watched as paramedics loaded someone he couldn't live without into an ambulance, and for the second time that day, he put on the flashers of Courtney's truck and chased the ambulance as fast as he could.
Chapter 16
WHEN COURTNEY CAME to, all she felt was pain. It was everywhere, and it was nowhere. Deep within her soul and also outside her. Her lip had been stitched, her pinky was saved, though she would have a wicked scar to remember the occasion, and she was covered in bruises, but emotionally, she felt like she had taken an even bigger beating. It all swirled around her mind as she surfaced into consciousness, then dove back into blissful nothingness.
At some point, they managed to get her pain to a tolerable level and moved her to her own room, and damn, if this wasn't reminiscent of the beginning of her friendship with Katherine; except this time, it was her who had been beaten to hell, although not anywhere near as badly as her friend had been. She had a nifty little pump that she could mash a button on to get a drip of pain medication, and it would numb the pain enough for her to ride the waves of euphoria once more, so she didn’t even mind that she was all alone. She didn’t even realize that her brother and Cole hadn’t come to see her and that she had yet to see her parents. She had no idea that the doctors were keeping them all back for her protection. Finally, her parents rushed in, and she was aware of snippets of their frantic reactions, followed by her beautiful, angry brother, who had a firm hold of Claire.
It was after they had all left, yet time was such an illogical thing when on those kinds of medications, when Cole entered. He sat by her side sullenly. He didn’t speak and didn’t touch her, only watched her ride the ebb and flow of the medication.
Once the nurses were certain that they had gotten her ahead of the pain, they took the pump away and switched her to oral pain meds, and then clarity began to set in. When the sun rose and the kitchen staff had delivered a cup of chicken broth and black coffee, and Courtney had gotten up to wash her face and use the restroom, that was when Cole set on finally giving it to her. Only he didn't do it in the way that she expected.
Instead, he broke the silence by saying, "I gathered from your rambling that she filled you in on the backstory of why I was in the situation I was in, so there's no point in rehashing that right now. What you gotta know, Baby Girl, is that I'm done. I'm done hurting you. If you are done with me, then it's time for both of us to move on, once and for all. For years, we've been holding on to this thing between us but still running, and I can't. Not any
more. Not ever again." His voice was rough and cracked as he spoke, but he stayed where he sat in the chair next to her bed, so close yet so very far away. "I swear to you that I will love you until the day I die, but either we move forward, or we move on."
Courtney's eyes overflowed, and desperately she asked, "What changed? What happened to talking and going from there?"
Cole stood up and paced away from the bed, and she didn't think he was going to respond until the words sounded torn from him. "God, Courtney, I almost got you fucking killed. I've spent a decade causing you pain, and to top it off, my shit almost gets you killed. What the fuck do you expect me to say? I caused this. My actions caused a psychopath and a vindictive bitch to come after you for no reason other than the fact that I love you. Me loving you could literally get you killed. Do you not understand that? So, if I am not a part of your life and keeping you safe, then I'm out. And that means all the way out."
The sobs were ripping from her, and she could barely form the words to speak when she responded, "It's not fair! Dammit. I didn't ask for any of this. All I have ever done in my entire life is love you!"
Cole moved to the bed and pulled her into his arms, kissing her hair and deep breathing, trying to calm his own racing emotions. "Baby Girl, I can’t do it. I cannot hurt you anymore when all I have ever wanted in my life is to love you every single day. To wake up by your side and know that I am with the woman meant for me. But this is killing us both. If you don’t want me, then I am setting you free. Once and for all. No more waiting on the sidelines hoping desperately that we get our chance. It’s now or never, Court. It’s destroying us both, and I can’t take it anymore.”
She couldn't catch her breath and was on the verge of a panic attack while desperately clutching his shirt in her fingers. She buried her face in his chest and wailed, “You’re the only man I have ever loved, but Cole,”—she looked up at him with tear-stained cheeks and met his eyes, holding steady with her watery stare, the seriousness of her gaze making him catch his breath—“I can’t do it. I can’t be with you while you have this job. I haven't come first since you signed away our future to join the Navy, and I can’t spend the rest of my life coming in second place. Not anymore.”
He stiffened and pulled away from her grip on his shirt, giving her a small shake when her eyes started to lower. “What are you saying, Baby Girl? Are you saying that if I want to be with you, that I have to quit? That the only way we can be together is if I walk away from my career?”
“I’m sorry, Cole, but yes. I would rather spend the rest of my life chasing the rodeo and running from what could have been than playing mistress to a career that will always be your priority. There has never been a single day that I wouldn’t have changed my whole life to be with you, but I can't unless I know you feel the same level of commitment toward me.”
He stared at her for several moments in tense silence. There was something working in his eyes, but she didn’t know what it was or what it meant. This could be it. Their final good-bye. She could be walking out of this hospital and away from the only man she had and ever would love to live a life of solitude on the road, but she had taken her stand, and she was determined to remain resolute. She couldn’t falter, couldn’t back down, no matter that the longer he was silent, the more her heart squeezed and she felt the doubt, the self-recriminations that she was forever losing him. Then, without a word, he leaned up on one thigh and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He glanced away from her only once, and that was to quickly type in some numbers on the keypad. Then his eyes came right back to hers. He didn’t say anything until there was a voice on the other end of the line. Then? Then he proceeded to seal their future by rocking her world with just three little words.
“Chief? I quit.” He hit end on the phone and dropped it to the bed as she threw herself into his arms, laughing through her tears, and Cole La Barron, a man who was ice on the battlefield and who his comrades could have sworn would never show a scintilla of emotion sniffed and swallowed back the knot in his throat where fear had been only moments before. If someone had taken a look at his face, they would have never known that the wide, beaming smile spread across his lips was the first he had truly smiled in almost a decade.
THEY WERE SNUGGLING on the hospital bed when he finally broke it all down for her and explained what had happened all those years ago. She lay there is silence as he told his story, letting him get it off of his chest once and for all.
“Monique was my contact for a covert mission in Russia. We were working on taking down a ring of arms dealers, and shit got hot, but we couldn’t get the ok to bring her stateside, so I was forced to marry her. She was my contact. My responsibility. And I never dreamed that it would last more than a few days. I came home because I couldn’t bear to be away from you and you not know what was going on. I wanted to tell you all of it after dinner, but she was at the house when we got back and caused a scene, and you took off. And I didn’t blame you.” He squeezed her to punctuate this before speaking again, “I called your dad and gave him a brief rundown and asked him to make sure you stuck around so I could talk to you in the morning. I drank myself to sleep, and when I woke up the next morning, I was lying in bed next to her, and we were both naked. I didn’t know, and I couldn’t face you thinking that I had betrayed you and everything we had planned for our future, so I took off. I dropped her off in a secure apartment in D.C., then took off on another mission. I stayed away as often as I could and only came in briefly when she had the baby to see if it was really mine. DNA proved that it wasn’t, and I filed the divorce docs and took off again. When she was dragging her feet, I came in to see what was taking so long to process the divorce and found the photos, and then your shit went down. Then I took off because I thought you were with Ev.”
Then he gave her a gift she hadn’t expected when he followed that up with the information that, “By the way, before you start beating yourself up over me quitting? I had already decided that I was going to, and if that weren’t enough, Dev also informed me while you were missing that when we got you back, he would murder me himself if I didn’t pick either you or the job. Baby girl, there was never a choice. I made the wrong decision a decade ago. For the rest of our lives, it’s you and me first.”
Epilogue
July fourth, several months later
THE WHOLE GANG WAS gathered around the bonfire in the pasture of the La Barron's land. Clint was in his wheelchair, a temporary confinement, as he was making strides every single day thanks to physical therapy. Devon holding a beer by the neck, gesturing with it and laughing out loud, being his larger-than-life self as per usual, but keeping an eagle eye on Claire, who sat next to him, chewing on her fingernails with dark circles under her eyes, slowly shrinking into herself. Cole was standing by the pile of logs, laughing at whatever Ev had just said to him, and Ev looked pleased with himself, which was expected since his wife had just waddled her largely pregnant self out of the house, where she had snuck away to take a mid-evening nap. Courtney soaked it all in.
It was only about thirty minutes prior that her parents had taken off, headed for home, bumping down the drive, her mama sitting in the center of the bench seat of her daddy’s old ranch truck, which they insisted on driving because it was the only vehicle they owned with a bench seat. When she was a kid, she had been grossed out and embarrassed as all hell that her parents were so affectionate with one another, but now she saw it for the beautiful gift that it was, and she was grateful that she had such amazing role models to look up to.
Katy dropped into the chair next to Courtney with a huff and reached over to steal Courtney's glass. "I'll have a sip of that, please and thanks!"
"Woman! What if that had alcohol in it?"
Katy rolled her eyes and chugged the rest of Courtney's iced tea. "Puh-lease. We both know that you would have snatched it back if it was boozy!"
Courtney rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair, turning her face up to the star-filled sky. I
t was a couple of hours past sunset, and soon they would all watch as one of the ranch hands set off the huge fireworks display that the boys had insisted on.
After years and years of constant upheaval, Courtney's life had reached a calm state, and she knew that she would never take it for granted, in the way that she knew that Katy would never take it for granted, and to a greater extent, her boys would really never take it for granted. Her eyes caught on Claire again, and the concern she felt for the woman she had grown to love was deep in her soul. Claire could lighten up, especially when she was helping Clint with his physical therapy, but more and more lately, regardless of how hard Dev battled it, she withdrew into herself. They all pulled together and made sure she knew that she was surrounded by family and love, but Courtney was terrified that the demons of Claire's past were slowly devouring her alive.
She was distracted for a moment when Cole broke away from the fire and walked over to the bed of their truck to grab something, but Katy called her attention back before she could see what it was.
"So, um, Court? You ever get a little, ya know, freaky?"
Now, Katy had her full attention. "In what way do you mean exactly, Mrs. Married Utterly Straight Pregnant Lady?"
Katy laughed out loud, and it took her several moments to calm herself enough to continue. "Look," she said through the laughter, "I don't know if it is pregnancy hormones and the fact that I was asleep in a weird place or what, but I had the weirdest dream about you and Cole, and now I can't stop—" She burst into laughter again before calming enough to say, "Ok, ok, sorry! I'm sorry,"—snicker—"So, I had a dream that you had one of those big old leather bullwhips." She lost it again when she saw Courtney's eyes get huge and her jaw drop. "Crap, just listen! Ok, so you had one of those big bullwhip thingies, and you were chasing Cole around the house with it hollering, "Get back here and let me ride you!"" That was when she collapsed in a fit of laughter that led to tears and gasping for breath, and when Cole walked over to get Courtney and show her his surprise for her, she took one look at him and burst out laughing as well.
