Promise to Defend

by Diana Gardin

  Everything goes dark.

  22

  Olive

  “I swear to God, Ghost. I’m going to kill the motherfucker. The only reason he’s still breathing is because I’m not leaving her here alone.”

  Ronin? His voice sounds like it’s reaching me from at least a mile away. My eyelids are heavy, and they fight against me as I struggle to open them. What’s wrong with me?

  “We’ll get him.”

  That’s Grisham’s voice. I’ve come to know it well, after being surrounded by the Night Eagle guys for the past few days.

  Who are they talking about?

  It occurs to me that I need to try harder to open my eyes.

  “Yeah, but the cops can’t touch him. No proof he did this. But I know he did. You should have seen his face yesterday in the parking garage.”

  Ronin sounds pissed. Like, really pissed. More upset than I’ve ever heard him, and I want nothing more than to put my arms around him.

  “You called Brains, right?” Grisham’s voice sounds lower, more serious now. Almost like he’s unsure of how Ronin will react.

  A sigh. And then Ronin’s voice. “Yeah. He was fucking pissed, and rightfully so. They’ll be home by morning, I’m sure. Soon as they can get a flight out of the Caribbean.”

  That jerks my consciousness into the here and now. I find it much easier for my lips to move than it is to open my sluggish eyelids.

  “N-no.” My voice sounds like I’ve been swallowing shredded glass. I clear it, and then try again. But nothing comes out, save for a raspy moan.

  Immediately, a strong hand grasps mine. “Red? Come on, sweetheart. Come on back to me.”

  When I finally peel my eyes open, it’s to find Ronin’s green eyes staring into mine. It’s that deep, mossy green, the most unusual color I’ve ever seen on a guy, that draws me in and makes me stay. I can’t look away, even though all I want to do is let my lids fall shut again. I inhale, and the telltale aroma of hospital sterility invades my nose.

  “Hey.” Ronin’s voice is warm and wraps around me like a hug. “Welcome back.”

  I blink a few times, trying to focus. “Did I hear you say…Jeremy and Rayne are coming?”

  Ronin’s eyes are full of regret. “I’m sorry. I had to call them. Brains never would have forgiven me if I hadn’t, and Rayne would have murdered me outright.”

  Tears prick at my eyes. I don’t have to struggle to remember what happened, now that I’m fully awake. “Your…truck.”

  One side of his lips tip up in a smile. Ronin leans toward me, one big hand smoothing the hair back from my face. His voice, rough and full of emotion, skates across my skin in a whisper. “You think I care about that? Seeing your big beautiful blue eyes open and focused on me, that’s all I need. I’ll get a new truck.”

  I turn toward the sound of Grisham clearing his throat. “Hey, Grisham.”

  He grins, his artfully styled spikes standing up all over the place, like he’s run his hand through his hair a million times. “Hey there, beautiful. You scared us. The Night Eagle family is out there, just waiting for you to open those eyes. I’m going to go let them know you’re awake.”

  He gets up to leave, and I turn startled eyes on Ronin. “They’re…here? For me?”

  That intense focus that’s all Ronin is meant just for me right now. “You think there’s anywhere else they were going to want to be after finding out what happened?”

  I shift, and then immediately wish I hadn’t. Ronin’s forehead wrinkles with worry. “Don’t move too much, baby. That shoulder’s going to be sore for a while.”

  Groaning, I try to fight through it and battle my way into a sitting position. Ronin’s eyes narrow as he watches me, but he doesn’t try to stop me.

  “Stubborn woman.”

  “I heard you talking. You think it was the Margianos that did this? You think Mick was behind it, don’t you?”

  He gives a simple nod, his eyes going dark with bottled-up rage.

  I shake my head. “But, Ronin…he wants to be with me. I don’t think he wants me dead. Why would he run us off the road?”

  Ronin sighs, scrubbing a hand across his face as his other hand tightens on mine. “I don’t know, Red. Because he’s fucking crazy?”

  Letting me go, he stands and paces the room. “Seems like he’s getting desperate. Why is that, Olive? Is there anything else about him that you haven’t told me yet? Something about the two of you I don’t know?”

  I watch him prowl around the room like a caged panther. I have no idea what he’s getting at. “No. Why would you even think that? I’ve told you everything.”

  Ronin halts, facing me. The look of doubt on his face hurts. It really hurts, but I school my features so it’s not obvious. What’s going on with him?

  “Really? Because the last time it was my job to protect a woman, I didn’t know the whole story, and she ended up dead.”

  As soon as the words are out, he looks like he wants to suck them right back in again. But he can’t.

  The door to the hospital room swings open, and a nurse bustles in. I tear my gaze off of Ronin, thankful for the interruption.

  “A little birdie told me you were awake,” the petite, pretty woman with short sienna-brown hair says. She stops at the computer near the bed and types in a few things, before straightening and heading toward me. Wrapping a blood pressure cuff around my upper arm, she smiles and tilts her head toward Ronin. “Couldn’t get this one to leave your side, not even to get checked out himself.”

  My eyes flit to Ronin. “Are you hurt?” Concern fills me up, even though I’m still stinging from his words.

  He shakes his head, his voice cracking the air like a whip. “I’m fine.”

  He stands by the window, arms folded across his broad chest. I remember that we were in the water, but his clothes are dry. And then I realize that he’s wearing something different from what he was, and that someone must have brought him a change of clothes.

  The door squeaks open again, just a crack, and Berkeley’s blond head of curls peeks around it.

  “Okay if I come in?” she asks.

  The nurse nods as she places the blood pressure cuff aside and sticks a thermometer in my mouth. Berkeley eyes Ronin, obviously picking up on the tension in the room, and perches in the chair at the side of the bed. She reaches for my hand, giving me a sweet smile, and lets the nurse finish checking my vitals.

  “Well, you’re in pretty good shape for a girl who swallowed as much water as you did,” the nurse finally says. She gives me a wink. “I think you’ll be just fine, but a doctor will be in soon to check on you.”

  I thank her, and the second she leaves the room, Berkeley turns to Ronin. “Ronin, why don’t you go grab a coffee? I’ll stay with Olive.”

  Her tone is bright and full of concern, but I know exactly what she’s doing. Apparently Ronin does, too, but instead of arguing he nods. I can’t say that doesn’t hurt.

  He gives me a long look before he leaves the room. “I’ll be back in a little bit. Don’t leave her alone, Berk.”

  She gives him a nod and a smile, and he exits. As soon as he’s gone, I burst into tears.

  “Oh, honey.” Berkeley bypasses my hand and climbs right into my bed.

  Berkeley and I have been friends and coworkers for a couple of years, but this is definitely a new level for our friendship. It’s somehow not awkward at all, though, because she’s seriously the warmest human being I’ve ever met. And I’m crying, and my sister isn’t here, and I need her.

  She curls up at my side and slings an arm over me. Luckily, she’s on the side without a painful shoulder, and I’m just glad for her warmth and her no-strings-attached friendship.

  “What happened?” she asks softly. “With Ronin, I mean.”

  I sniff. “I don’t know, Berk. We…we’ve been getting close, you know?”

  She pulls back, looking up at me. “How close?”

  With a sigh, I give her a look that lets her know e
xactly how close. “Close.”

  She nods. “I knew it! I knew it at the wedding. I could tell by the way he kept looking at you.”

  “Well, apparently, he’s mad at me right now. He thinks I’m not telling him everything about M.J., that I’m hiding something. But I’m not, I swear it.” The words tumble out in a rush, because I’m just trying so hard to understand where Ronin is coming from right now.

  Berkeley’s whiskey-colored eyes are soft and sympathetic. “Has he told you about his wife?”

  Pain causes my heartbeat to stutter. “Yes.”

  “And you must realize that he still carries all kinds of guilt for her death, right? Even though he wasn’t even in the country when it happened?” Berkeley strokes my hair.

  I assumed as much, yes. Ronin seems like he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, and as hard as he’s trying to find his wife’s killer seven years later, I know that guilt is a big part of the force that’s driving him.

  “Yes.”

  She sighs. “I’ve never seen him the way he’s been tonight, Olive. You know he swam to shore with you unconscious in his arms? I think he thought he was going to lose you. When we all got to the hospital and you were still unconscious, he was a freaking wreck. It looked like he was being torn apart from the inside out.”

  I think about that, trying to picture it. And then I try to imagine what I would have been like if the situation were reversed. If, after everything Ronin and I have been through in such a short amount of time, something had happened to him and I was helpless to fix it.

  Yeah, that would have devastated me to the core.

  “He was?” My voice is a whisper.

  Berkeley gives a firm nod. “He was. He’s obviously so invested in you. It reminds me of the way Dare was when we first got together, and especially the way he was after I was kidnapped. Afterward, I heard that he would have stopped at nothing to find me.

  “And the way Grisham went after Greta when her stalker got ahold of her? He was a man possessed, I swear. That was Ronin, tonight. Jesus, when these men fall for a woman, they fall hard. And Ronin Shaw, as I live and breathe, is falling for you.”

  Her words spark hope in my heart. “Do you really think so?”

  She rolls her eyes. “Girl, you’ve lost your mind if you think otherwise. So if he’s upset right now, it’s because he feels helpless and he doesn’t know what to do about it. The team’s going to rally around him, they always do, and he’ll be all right. Just bear with him, okay?”

  I lay my head against her shoulder. “All right.”

  She grabs my hand and squeezes hard. “And if you ever scare me like that again, Olive Alexander, I’ll kill you myself.”

  Laughter bubbles up inside me. “Okay.”

  We stay like that for a while, just talking about everything and nothing, and it’s so casual and normal despite the ordeal I just experienced that I’m lulled back into a sleepy comfort.

  When Ronin walks back into the room, hands in the pockets of his black sexy sweatpants, and his eyes immediately finding mine, Berkeley shifts and rises off the bed.

  “Welp,” she announces. “I’m going to grab my husband and get on out of here. Call me when they release you, Olive. Okay?”

  I thank her, barely able to take my eyes off the man standing at the foot of my bed, and she leaves the room with a knowing smile on her face.

  As soon as the door closes behind her, Ronin is sitting in the chair beside the bed. His hand snakes around the back of my neck, pulling me toward him with gentle insistence, and his forehead meets mine.

  “I’m sorry.” His voice is rough, thick with emotion. “I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. If you knew how it felt, pulling your unconscious body out of the water and giving you mouth-to-mouth until the paramedics arrived…”

  “You did that?” I interrupt him.

  He nods, eyes downcast, forehead still touching mine. “I was fucking scared, Red. More scared than I’ve been since…” His voice trails away, and he doesn’t have to finish the sentence for me to know he’s thinking about his wife again.

  “I tried,” I offer. “I just couldn’t hold my breath that long.”

  He inhales.

  “But,” I continue. “I’m okay now, Ronin. Thanks to you. Can you imagine what would have happened if I’d gone off that bridge by myself? You saved my life tonight. The next time that I say I don’t need you, and that I can take care of myself all by myself, I want you to remind me of this moment, okay?”

  He chuckles, and our breaths mingles as we stare at each other. Our lips touch, but neither of us move to deepen the kiss. We just rest there, breathing each other in.

  “I don’t want to lose you.” Ronin’s voice is nothing but a whisper.

  I sigh. “Then don’t lose me.”

  “I don’t plan on it.”

  He kisses me then, his lips soft and gentle in a way that they never have been before. It’s a kiss that melts me, cuts me straight to the heart.

  If I’m not careful, I’m going to fall in love with this man. And I know, without a doubt, that if that happens there will be no looking back.

  23

  Ronin

  When the door to Olive’s hospital room creaks open, I glance up. I’m sitting in the chair beside her bed, but she’s been sleeping for the past four hours or so. I keep thinking that I should sleep, too, but I can’t take my eyes off her. So I’ve just been sitting in the chair beside her bed.

  Watching over her.

  Sayward steps in, and I rise from the chair, stretching my arms over my head.

  “What’s up?” Keeping my voice low, I glance over my shoulder at the still-sleeping Olive as I meet Sayward next to the door.

  “How is she?” Sayward looks at Olive.

  “They’re going to release her in the morning as long as her vitals are still good.” The relief in my voice is evident, and Sayward’s eyes snap back to mine.

  “You love her?”

  I should be used to Sayward’s blunt personality by now, but she still catches me by surprise sometimes.

  “What? Uh…did you have something to ask me, Diaz?” Clearing my throat, I scratch my head.

  Do I love her? It’s a complicated question. I’ve known Olive for a while, but I’ve only gotten to know her over the past few days. And while I know that a traumatic experience can bring two people closer together, I can’t swear that’s what’s happening here. I was having all kinds of feelings for Olive before we went off that bridge. All I know now, after coming so close to losing her, is that I never want it to happen again.

  I don’t know if that’s love. It’s been so long since I felt that particular emotion, that I’m really fucking hesitant to throw that word out there.

  “I just wanted to let you know that I e-mailed you those phone records you asked for.” She pushes her glasses up on her nose.

  “Yeah? You didn’t need to come all the way down here for that, Diaz.”

  The woman is seriously a mystery.

  She shrugs. “Yeah, well. I also wanted to check in on Olive.”

  A grin tugs at my lips. “Yeah? You like her, too, huh?”

  Sayward rolls her eyes. “Whatever. She’s cool, I guess. We have nothing in common, but she’s nice.”

  Grinning outright, I nudge her with my shoulder. “Yeah, she is. Hey, thanks for the phone records. And for checking in.”

  Sayward turns for the door. “No problem. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Will do.”

  Settling back in the chair once she’s gone, I log in to my e-mail on my phone. Sure enough, the message from Sayward is there, and I open the attachment containing Lindy Hodges’s phone records. She’s also sent me Lindy’s sister, Grace’s, phone records.

  As I scan them, a slow smile crosses my lips. Sayward’s a fucking godsend. She’s already highlighted numbers that match, and then ruled them out based on the owner of the numbers. So there are a couple of numbers that both w
omen called frequently, and those belonged to friends. But there’s one number that is unaccounted for. Using the copy-and-paste feature, I shoot Sayward a quick return e-mail, asking her to find out anything she can about the number.

  After sending it, I put my phone down on my lap and let my eyes rest on Olive’s pretty, sleeping form. They gave her painkillers for her shoulder, so she’s out cold, and I’m glad she’s resting. Flashing back on the memory of her limp, lifeless body cradled in my arms as I brought her out of the water makes me clench my jaw with latent fear. What if she had been alone when it happened? What if she had swallowed even more water than she did? What if, what if?

  Just like that, I could have lost her. And I know now that I’m never going to be okay with that. This woman is mine to protect, even if I wasn’t ready to admit it to myself before.

  I’m fucking ready now.

  She’s still sleeping peacefully, lying on her back with a small mountain of pillows, her dark red hair spread out all over the pillow around her like a goddamn halo. The revenge-crazy beast inside my chest, the one that’s lived there since the day I found out about Elle, is pushed back a little further into the background. He’ll rear his ugly head sooner or later, that I know for sure, but when I look at Olive, revenge doesn’t seem like the most important thing anymore.

  Will I get justice for Elle? Yes. Without a doubt.

  But does it have to be the only thing I care about? Hell…maybe not. And maybe if I can find her killer sooner, I can start finally putting Elle’s death behind me.

  Picking up my phone again, I log on to Facebook. If there’s going to be information on the dead woman anywhere, it’ll be here. Finding the late Grace Hodges’s profile, I scan through her about facts. She was twenty-six, and although she was educated with a four-year degree, she wasn’t currently working anywhere. Or, if she was, it wasn’t listed on her Facebook profile. Noting that she attended school, both college and high school, locally, I move on to her photos. The folder is splattered with pictures of her and her sister. They were obviously close, but toward the end of her life there were a lot fewer photos starring the twins, and more photos with Grace and a group of people that weren’t in her pictures previously.