Throughout all of that and the days that passed Xander had remained my tall, menacing, silent sentry. He was there when Danika visited. He was there when Rox and the rest of the girls came, and when the guys from work stopped by. He was there when my dad’s crew came by for a couple hours before visiting hours ended each day. He was there when I fell asleep and when I woke up. He hadn’t left my room for more than a couple of minutes since I woke up, but he also hadn’t said a word to me, and not being able to get a read on him was driving me crazy.
If it had just been the two of us at any point, the silence would’ve become too much to bear, but as the days ticked by, I had a constant stream of visitors passing through my door.
I’d been in the hospital for exactly a week, and today was the day I’d finally been granted my freedom.
Or so I thought.
The minute the doctor signed my discharge papers my dad and his boys had started arguing over where I’d be going. The only thing they agreed on was that I wouldn’t be returning to my house, and I couldn’t say I was upset with that decision. As much as I’d loved the place, it would forever be tainted by what John had done.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to go back.
“Gotta say, I agree with Scoot. Think we should take our girl home.” That was Cannon, and when I turned my head to look up at all six foot four inches of hazel-eyed hotness glaring at the group with his thick arms crossed over his solid chest, I wanted to punch the hell out of him.
“She’s not goin’ to Tennessee. Hope Valley’s her home now,” Roxanne threw in, standing close to my dad.
Side note: The guys being here meant that, not only did they get to catch up with me, but they also got to scope out Dad’s new woman. And it didn’t surprise me one damn bit that they all approved.
“Maybe we can set her up with an apartment then. Find a place, explain the situation, get her set up quick,” Fletch—the most reasonable of the crew—suggested.
“That’ll take a day at the very least. Probably two,” Danno argued. “What the hell’s she supposed to do ’til then?”
I pulled in a deep breath and parted my lips, prepared to scream bloody murder, when the door to the room swung open. Halfway through this ridiculous conversation, Xander had disappeared to parts unknown. I thought he’d wised up and made a run for it, but now he was pushing an empty wheelchair toward my bed.
He brought it to a stop by the foot of the bed where I was sitting and engaged the brakes, speaking for the first time in days. “In you go, Shortcake.” Moving to my side, he put his hands on me and gingerly helped me to my feet, giving me no other choice but to move with him or risk hurting myself as he guided me into the wheelchair.
“What the hell’s he doin’?” Cannon asked, pointing at Xander while giving a perplexed look to the group.
Roxanne’s lips curved into a Cheshire cat grin as she replied, “Looks like while you boys were screwin’ around, arguin’ over stupid shit, he was makin’ a decision.”
“And that would be?” Banks asked with a menacing scowl.
It was Xander who answered that. “That she’s comin’ to the cabin with me.”
Scooter’s face twisted with shock. “’Scuse the fuck outta me, but when did we decide that?”
“We didn’t decide shit,” Xander responded. “I did. She’s been to the cabin and likes it there. I got a dog she loves, and a bathroom half stuffed with her shit already.”
Fletch cast a curious look to Dad. “Why’s he got her stuff in his bathroom?”
To which Dad answered, “Cause he’s her man.”
This wasn’t happening.
Looking to the ceiling, I issued a silent prayer to the heavens.
Dear God, Sage Winthrop here. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, how about you send down one of those bolts of lightning right about now and strike me dead?
Apparently, the big man upstairs wasn’t feeling all that magnanimous, because I was still alive and kicking, and the insane conversation was still flowing around me.
“He’s her man? Seriously?” Danno asked, his eyes going big. “Goddamn dude’s half giant, half Yeti. How the fuck did that happen?”
“Doesn’t matter how it happened,” Dad shot back, his back going straight. “All that matters is it happened. End of discussion.”
Oh for the love of Elton John’s tiny dancer.
“He’s not my man,” I said, my low, raspy voice catching the attention of the idiots around the room.
They looked from me to my dad who gave a lazy shrug. “They’re goin’ through a rough patch.”
I was going to kill him. I just got him back, and I was going to kill him dead.
I opened my mouth to argue that it wasn’t a rough patch, we weren’t together, and that I didn’t want to stay with Xander in his cabin when Dad cut me a warning look. “Doc told you to rest those vocal cords, angel baby. You still sound like a frog bein’ strangled, so no talkin’.”
I clamped my lips together and tried to launch a fireball with my eyes. Had I been feeling up to snuff, I would have argued anyway, just for the sake of it, but the truth was, it still hurt like a mother to talk.
The swelling was going down but the ugly purple and blue finger-shaped bruises John had given me were still clear as day.
Cannon shot Xander an ugly look that I didn’t think said good things about the days to come.
“You wanna see her, Linc’ll give you my address. You can come any time, but I’m warnin’ you now, any of you do a thing to agitate her and I’ll remove you myself.”
And that was the last thing he said before he unlocked the brakes and wheeled me out of the hospital room.
I turned to give my dad a pleading look over my shoulder, but all I got in return was a jaunty wave and a “See you in a few, precious,” before the door closed on them.
Neither of us said a word as he wheeled me into the elevator that took us down to the lobby, and that silence remained the whole time it took for him to get us through the lobby, out the door, and to his truck that was idling at the curb.
We were in the truck and driving down the road for ten minutes before I finally found the nerve to look over at him.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” I croaked, holding back a wince.
He kept his eyes forward as he murmured, “Don’t talk, baby. Rest your voice.”
“Xander, please, listen to me—”
“If me listenin’ means you’re talkin’, then that’s not gonna happen. Your throat is fucked. You need to stop.”
“You haven’t talked to me for a week. You haven’t left my side, but this is the first time you’ve said a single word to me. Us staying together is not a good idea.”
I actually got a response to that one. “I haven’t said a word ’cause you’ve needed to concentrate on healin’, not havin’ a conversation with me. You went through somethin’ really fuckin’ serious, Shortcake. You needed time to process so you could move forward. I didn’t talk to you ’cause I wanted to give you the space to do that, but no way in fuck I was leavin’ your side. Not after what you went through.”
My eyes went wide and my lips parted in surprise. “So . . . you aren’t mad at me? For not telling you who John really was, or letting him get away with hitting me that first time?”
“Fuck no,” he clipped. “Gotta admit, I was stunned to hear you’d been married, but not mad. Knew you had a past, and knew his name was John, so after a few seconds, that knowledge settled. As for that fucker hittin’ you before. No way in hell that’s your fault. You did what you felt you had to do to move on and build a new life. Don’t fault you for those decisions. Only time I got pissed was when that motherfucker of an ex kissed you right in front of me, but I’ll deal. Now, stop talkin’.”
His last comment felt like a punch to the stomach. He’d deal with another man kissing me because we were no longer together, and it was a part of moving on.
It amazed me that, with everything I’d gone
through recently, the pain of not having Xander anymore could still be so goddamn fresh.
I faced forward and stared out the windshield, mumbling, “I think I’d like to go stay with Dad and Rox.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“It’s not your call,” I snapped as much as I could. “You don’t have a say in this, Xander.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Sage. You got no other option but my cabin where I know the lay of the land and can keep you safe. You try and go anywhere else, I’ll find you and carry your ass back. Until I can make sure you’re out of danger, you aren’t goin’ anywhere, so you might as well accept that now and stop . . . talkin’.”
“God, you’re such an asshole,” I croaked.
He was quiet for a second, then, “You think if I pulled the truck over right now and kissed you, it’d get you to stop talkin’? I’m more than willin’ to give it a shot. Gotta tell you, been missin’ that mouth for weeks, so I’d jump at the chance if you think it’ll work.”
That sent a zing from my nipples to my core that I couldn’t possibly ignore. I knew that because I tried telling myself it was just a static shock. But one stupid mention of him kissing me, and I felt my panties get damp.
Instead of acknowledging his question, I clamped my mouth shut, crossed my arms over my chest, and glared out the windshield, pretending I wasn’t secretly wanting him to do exactly what he’d just threatened.
At my sudden silence, his chuckle filled the cab, setting off another zing. “That’s what I thought. But you change your mind, you just write a note to let me know.”
Since I couldn’t talk, I used the remainder of the drive to shout every cussword I knew at him in my head.
I even made up some new ones for good measure.
Chapter Thirty-One
Xander
When I pushed through the doors of Alpha Omega, the majority of the overhead lights were off. Only a few had been flipped on to light the way.
It was after ten thirty at night. This shit needed to get done, and I needed to get back to Sage.
She’d been at my cabin for two days, and most of that time she was sleeping because the pain meds kept her knocked out cold. She hadn’t moved from my bed in that time, and with her back, Bear hadn’t moved from her side except to eat and go to the bathroom.
I’d never given any thought to the dog sleeping in my bed before, mainly because he’d just never done it.
But with Sage there, things had changed. Bear had claimed her, and with that done, he’d become a permanent inside dog who slept in a big soft bed. His wanderer spirit had been tamed.
And I didn’t blame him one damn bit. Hell, if I didn’t have to be here, I’d be right there with him. But this meeting had to happen. That was the only reason I’d left Sage’s side.
Moving through the reception area, I turned down the hall and made my way to the conference room, taking in the faces of everyone sitting around the table. Linc, Marco, Cord, Hunter, West, Dalton, Trent, Bryce, Judge, Scooter, Fletch, Banks, Roxanne, and fucking Cannon.
That son of a bitch had gone out of his way since arriving in town to be in Sage’s space as often as possible, always telling stories of their past relationship that made her smile or laugh fondly. Never in my life had I been jealous of another guy, but I couldn’t stand fucking Cannon Banks.
“Everything good?” Judge asked when I hit the room and headed for the last empty chair at the table.
“All good,” I answered. “Sage is sleepin’ and Danno’s currently camped out in front of my television so he can be close until I get back. Which needs to be soon, so we need to get this shit done.”
With that, Lincoln got the ball rolling. “As everyone at this table knows, we haven’t been able to get a lock on Davenport. Surprising as it is to all of us, the bastard’s smarter than we thought, ’specially considering he was fuckin’ dumb enough to leave his DNA all over the goddamn crime scene.”
“Fucker probably thought she’d keep quiet,” Fletch clipped.
Lincoln pushed on, ignoring the mood in the room. “Yeah, well, because he’s proven himself slippery, instead of usin’ all our resources to hunt Davenport, we shifted the focus to Lorelei Winthrop, since she’s the one he wants.”
I felt a sudden wave of energy roll off Judge and slam into everyone. “You got intel on Lorelei?”
That was the question I knew was coming, but still dreaded all the same. I let Linc handle the first half of the answer, explaining, “We did a deep dig, and were able to find out she’d been nailin’ Davenport for a while before Sage found out, then for an even longer while. She was workin’ a long con in order to rip him off, and we were able to uncover what it was she took that he’s so desperate to get back.”
“And that is?” Banks asked, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the table.
“Five hundred grand he’s been launderin’ through his investment firm for the loan shark he’s currently in so deep with his only choices were to clean the dirty money, or say goodbye to his testicles.”
“Goddamn, you gotta be fuckin’ shittin’ me,” Scooter grunted. “That stupid bitch jacked a loan shark’s cash?”
“That she did. And we uncovered somethin’ else while we were digging into her that proves that’s not even close to the worst she’s done.”
“What the fuck else is she doin’?” Cannon spit out, “Sellin’ newborn babies on the black market?”
Linc looked to me, giving me a jerk of his chin in silent order to proceed since I’d been the one to personally uncover that woman’s level of devious, evil bitch.
Blowing out a breath, I looked to Judge and warned, “You gotta keep your shit in check with what I’m about to tell you, ’cause goin’ off isn’t gonna do shit for you or your girl except fuck everything to hell.”
He stared at me for a beat, taking my warning, then gritted, “Consider me braced. Spit it out.”
So I did just that. “Sage told us what went down with your arrest and conviction. Attempted murder of an asshole who’d attacked and attempted to sexually assault your wife outside a bar, and walked away scot-free, no charges ever brought on him.”
“That’s right.”
“Found out that was ’cause your ex-bitch planned the whole thing and set you up to take the fall. The attack was staged. She was bangin’ the fucker you beat to get him to go along with her plan. Her statement to the police was that he hadn’t laid a finger on her. You came out of the bar, saw her talkin’ to him, and flipped. Attacked unprovoked. You didn’t hear any of this—one, because your attorney was a fuckin’ incompetent prick, but you couldn’t have known that at the time, and two, because you pled guilty in order to get a reduced sentence—so she didn’t have to get up on the stand during a trial and lie through her teeth.”
“Fuckin’ cunt,” Banks seethed, punching his fist into the table. He and the rest of his crew all looked like they were seconds away from committing murder. But Judge looked like he was going to be sick.
“Eleven years,” he said in a voice so low and broken it was painful to hear. “Eleven fuckin’ years of my life taken from me. My baby girl, taken from me, and you’re tellin’ me it was all ’cause of a lie? That the goddamn woman who’s finger I’d put my ring on and put my baby in, the woman I’d chosen to build a future and family with, set me up to go down for attempted murder?” he finished on a roar, shooting to his feet so fast the chair he’d been in crashed into the wall behind him, leaving a dent in the drywall.
“Feel that burn,” I ordered, repeating the words he’d given me more than a week ago that had helped me through. “Feel it, let it roll through you, then push it out.”
“Fuck that! That bitch stole everything from me!”
“And we’re gonna return the favor.”
His rage tempered at that. Roxanne put her hand on his arm and gently guided him back into his seat while his boys turned to me, Fletch asking, “What’s that mean?”
“It means I’m re
ally fuckin’ good at my job, and there isn’t a computer I can’t hack,” I responded. “I found the evidence you’ll need to prove she set you up. And to do you one better, I found that prick who was in on the whole thing with her, and Hunter was able to persuade him to make a statement to the police on your behalf. And just in case he decides to get cold feet, we got him locked down.”
Cannon met my gaze and asked, “You really think scarin’ him’ll be enough to get him to talk?”
“Probably not. But the kiddie porn I dug off his computer, including videos he posted to several underground sites and emailed to his sick-fuck buddies is. He’ll talk ’cause the deal is, he makes a statement, that shit goes away, and his position as a state senator stays safe until the next election. As soon as that statement’s made, a new deal goes into effect, one he isn’t aware of, and everything I have gets sent to the Feds by an anonymous concerned citizen.”
The tension in the room finally began to lessen, so I gave the last bit of good news I had. “Also, if it makes you feel better, I got a lock on Sage’s mom earlier today, and as soon as this meet’s over, Dalt and West are movin’ out to bring her in. We’ll get what we need for you, then we’ll use her as bait to pull out Davenport.”
“And what happens to Davenport once we get him?” Scooter inquired.
“He gets delivered to the police, gift wrapped in a pretty bow,” Linc answered. “After he pays slowly and painfully for what he did to Sage.”
Judge’s men all smiled.
Banks leaned forward, looked right at me, and asked, “What can we do to help?”
* * *
Sage
I woke when I heard a soft thud, then a second, followed quickly by the sound of clothes rustling.
Blinking to adjust my eyes to the darkness, I came fully out of my sleep and twisted to the big shadowed form near the foot of the bed.
“Xander?”
“Shh, baby,” he said softly. “Didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.”
Out of the Darkness: a Hope Valley novel Page 24
