Seeing something on the counter beside him, Logan reached over and picked it up, examining it closely. “What’s this?”
“The laser that drove her cat insane…” I started to explain, but then an idea hit me. “Give it to me.”
Taking it out his hand, I ran through to Garrett’s room, snatching up the binoculars he’d been showing me the day he arrived. Making my way back to where the men were waiting for me, I gestured for them to follow me and crawled until I was under the window.
“What are we doing?” Jarrod asked, watching as I took the protectors off either side of the binoculars.
Not taking my eyes off the house, I passed them across to him. “You’re going to use these to tell me exactly what he’s doing and which direction he’s looking in,” I said, turning on the laser. “And I’m going to get the cat to lose his shit.”
“What’s that going to do?” Alex asked, looking at me like I’d lost my mind, and maybe I had but this was the best option to get to Rose that we had at this moment.
Figuring it out, DB grinned at me through the dim light coming in through the window from outside. “You smart bastard. Dad, you didn’t see the damage the cat did last time.”
Life wasn’t black and white, it was a billion different shades of both until they met in the middle, so the trick wasn’t to approach situations like they were just those two colors. The law was very clear to a policeman and the general public, but when you were dealing with it, you had to toe a gray line – and that’s what I was doing now. I was thinking outside the box, and I was using what I could to save my woman and brother. A laser, and one big assed cat.
Chapter Nineteen
Rose
When I first saw the little red dot moving across the wall, I was sure I was seeing things because of how hard he’d punched me – a-fucking-gain! But then when it started to move around, I realized what it was and almost cried with relief.
“Can I call my cat?” I asked Chad, who was standing eating his sandwich. The asshole had dragged me through to the kitchen to make it and then dragged me back, which was totally unnecessary because if he’d asked me to walk beside him, I would have! Now I was going to have bruises around my arm to match the new ones on my face.
“Like I give a fuck!” See, totally unnecessary. A simple yes or no would have sufficed.
“Rex!” I called, knowing he’d come running thinking he was going to get some of the food. He might be fat, but my kitty cat had manners and waited to be invited first. Sure enough, only seconds later he was prowling through the doorway, sniffing the floor for crumbs. “Come here, baby.”
With what looked like half of the sandwich in his mouth, he garbled, “Looks like a tiger.”
Jumping up beside me, Rex dug his nails into my thigh, waiting for me to hold something out for him. But I had something better for him, something he loved even more than food, and it was pretty much the only other thing in the world that made him move. Carefully so that Big Foot didn’t see, I turned his head toward where the red dot was waiting for him.
“Look baby,” I cooed quietly in his ear. “It’s the pretty you love.” There was no way in hell this cat understood anything apart from food and treat, but the second it started to move in a circle he was on it.
Picking up a cushion, I covered my face and called out, “Hey, Garratt, remember that time you had the laser?”
And then it all went to shit. There were growls from the feline who was in a laser frenzy, thuds, screeching, hisses, the sound of something smashing, curses coming from Chad… but I didn’t move the cushion at any point during the massacre. I didn’t even look when I heard a gun shooting and something breaking behind me, but you can bet your ass that I dropped down off the couch and crawled behind it.
Just then, the front door crashed open, and a voice bellowed, “Don’t move, stay down.”
Doing my best not to cry, I curled up and leaned my forehead on the back of my hands in relief. I wasn’t a crier - it just never seemed like it solved anything - but I’d never been in a situation like this so I figured it would be acceptable if I gave in and did it. That resolve went to shit when a hand gently rubbed over my back and then lifted my chin up, showing me concerned eyes belonging to Garrett.
Seeing I was ok, he winked and grinned widely at me. “Got her. She’s spooked, but ok.”
All the resolve I’d been blowing hot air about seconds earlier left me and I burst into tears, watching as the smile slid from his face and turned into a horrified expression. I was vaguely aware of voices in the room on the other side of the couch, but all the shock, fear and relief had taken over, making it impossible to make out who they belonged to.
Another hand rubbed over my shoulder, and a deep voice I recognized as Jarrod’s said, “Hey, you’re freaking your man out, honey. We’re holding him back from tearing the big dude’s head off, wanna help us out?”
Shifting so that I was on my knees, I peered over the back of the couch, seeing that DB’s dad and Logan were holding Raoul back while DB kneeled beside Chad. Seeing me looking at him, he sagged with relief against the men and shook them off. “For fuck’s sake, I’m good.”
Not taking his eyes off me, he turned like he was about to walk toward me when there was a roar followed by a thud and a gunshot. Like I was watching one of my worst nightmares playing out in front of me, a patch on Raoul’s shirt opened up as his body jerked backward. The other men moved immediately as Jarrod pulled me back down behind the couch just as something hit it, then he was covering me with his body. On the other side I could hear a struggle, but then deep growls and barks drowned it all out along with the sound of someone screaming.
I was only aware how hard I was shaking and crying when Jarrod tried to settle me, ordering me to stay down as I went to get back up to check on Raoul.
Then I heard the words that shattered my heart, making it impossible to breathe. “Fuck, I can’t feel a pulse. Dad, tell them to send an ambulance, there’s no pulse, and he’s not breathing. Logan, start compressions.”
I felt Jarrod’s groan, but I didn’t hear it over the rushing in my ears from how hard I was crying now. Every day almost had revolved around him for the last year of my life, and he’d been the best part of all of them.
Pressing my face against Jarrod’s chest, I sobbed, “We left it too long.”
Raoul
Fuck me with a cactus, that hurt. I’d been shot in the vest before, but there had always been more distance than this one. The pain in my chest paled in comparison to what I’d just seen happen when Ranger jumped at the arm Chad was pointing the gun with, though, clamping down on it just as he went to shoot where Rose was. It had gone off – and she definitely needed a new couch – but it had hit the cushions that you sat on instead of a thinner part of it that the bullet might have passed through.
I’d tried to get up to call Ranger off so Alex could put the cuffs on Chad, seeing as how he’d head butted DB when he’d thrown him off his back, but something had happened that stopped me. That something mainly consisted of Chad’s face turning purple as his eyes bulged slightly, and then he dropped to the floor and had what looked like a small fit. And then it had all stopped. Now, they were all working on him and trying to get a pulse back, while I sat staring at it all in shock.
“You ok?” Garrett asked, checking me over.
“Got me in the vest,” I wheezed, still winded by it. Never let anyone tell you otherwise, vests might save your life, but it still hurt like a motherfucker getting shot while you were wearing one. “Rose?”
“She’s good, bro. Jarrod’s got her,” he reassured me, pulling my shirt out to check I wasn’t bleeding. Seeing something, he pressed his tongue to his teeth and whistled. “Well, the good news is that you’re gonna need a new vest because man this one stinks. The bad news is, you’re gonna need a new vest and your shirt’s toast.”
Needing to make sure she was ok with my own eyes, I shook him off and started crawling over to the couch. A no
ise like a tortured animal came from behind it, and I heard her sob, “We left it too long.”
Hearing how scared and upset she was, I tried to crawl faster, but every pull on the side of my body that had been hit had me clenching my teeth. It was like being hit with a baseball bat and stabbed at the same time. Finally - fucking finally - I rounded the couch and saw Jarrod holding her head against his chest, rocking her back and forth as he talked quietly to her. Seeing me, he nodded and unwrapped his arms once I was beside them, giving me space to lift her up and hold her tightly against me. Fuck the pain, fuck all of it. She was ok, she hadn’t been shot and killed. She was ok.
I hadn’t cried in years, not since I was a kid if I remembered correctly, but fuck me if I didn’t feel one traveling down my cheek as she cried like her heart was broken. Needing to see her eyes, I gently tilted her head back. “Why are you crying, my Rose?”
Like I had a magic power, she stopped mid sob, opening her eyes up and staring at me like she was looking at a freaking ghost. “How hard a hit to the head did she get, Garrett?” I called, a new reason for panicking taking over the longer she stared at me.
“She thought you’d died, man,” Jarrod answered, getting back up on his feet and walking out from behind the couch to where the others were. “She saw you get shot and then they started saying there was no pulse. Shit, for a second, I thought you were gone, too, but then I remembered what a stubborn asshole you were.”
There was so much I wanted to say, so many things I had to say, but instead I chose probably the worst time to tell her how I felt. “I fucking love you, Rose. And I’m totally buying your cat a gazelle or whatever lions eat.”
And then tears, snot, and all, she threw her head back and burst out laughing. With a strength I didn’t know she had, she pulled me down on top of her, kissing me hard, and definitely wet given how hard she’d been crying. I gave not one shit, I poured my heart and soul into that kiss, relieved that she was ok and that the threat of Chad Vernon was now gone.
Pulling back slightly, she whispered against my mouth, “I fucking love you, too.”
Chapter Twenty
Raoul
Three months later…
Time flies when you’re having fun, and it really had flown. The night it had all gone down in Rose’s living room, Ellis had come bursting in through the door and almost lost his shit when he saw the bullet hole in the couch while they’d worked on Chad on the floor. He’d seen that she was ok when we stood up, and if the man wasn’t already dead, I think he would have made it happen with his own hands.
And he was dead - no matter how hard they tried to resuscitate him - Chad was DOA at the hospital in Piersville. The cause of death had been a heart attack, most likely brought on by his abuse of the anabolic steroids.
Rose no longer had to look over her shoulder and be watched twenty-four hours a day, and Tana was free to live her life the way she wanted to. I couldn’t say that justice had been served because to me the definition of that was him rotting inside a jail cell, but a form of justice had been. And the biggest irony, the autopsy findings proved he’d died as a result of his own stupidity with the substances we’d found in his house. Karma!
I’d been checked over by the doctors, and all they’d found was what Doctor Simpson had described as, “A fuck ton of fucking bad bruising.” He didn’t need to tell me that, I lived that shit for days afterward when the muscles and tissues screamed every time I even breathed. Fortunately, I had my own nurse who insisted on running around to look after me. I also had an influx of visitors, including Rissa and Hogan, who thanked me for saving their daughter’s life. In all honesty, I’d just moved the laser, it had been Rex and Ranger who’d saved her, but apparently no one else was in agreement with that.
Which brought me to now, facing Rissa and Hogan in their living room. It was my day off, and with Rose at work, I’d decided to get it out of the way so that I could move on.
Clearing my throat, I nervously fiddled with the handle on my cup. “I’ve loved your daughter for a long time,” I told them honestly. “I wanted to do this months ago, but then I thought about it and decided that waiting would be better for us and allow us to grow stronger,” I said around the lump in my throat that refused to budge. “But I was wrong, so now I’m here asking for your permission to marry her.”
“What do you mean when you say you were wrong?” Rissa asked, her hand stroking Hogan’s back bringing my nerves up to DEFCON 1 level when I saw how tightly bunched the muscles in his arms were.
Avoiding eye contact with him and focusing on the parent that was smiling at me, I explained, “We haven’t grown stronger because we were already rock solid. I’ve never been a romantic guy – I think I’m allergic to it,” I chuckled, the smile dropping from my face when Hogan’s eyes narrowed at me. “But she’s it for me, and I’d give her all the romance in the world if she wanted it. Hell, I’d give her a kidney if she wanted it.”
Swear to God I heard him mutter something about my balls.
Smiling brightly at me, Rissa held up a finger. “Will you give us a second?” she requested, standing up and tugging on Hogan’s arm. “I’m just going to have a word with my husband in the other room.”
I’d practiced this speech five times with Garrett and six times with Jarrod. Hell, I’d even asked for a cheat sheet from Ellis to help me get through this without their dad killing me. Not once through all the rehearsals and rewrites had the possibility of them needing to discuss it in the other room come up. Turning my hands so that I could see the points I’d written on my palms, I re-read them and thought about what I’d said. I hadn’t missed anything or worded it wrongly, I was sure of it.
A cough from the doorway had me quickly turning my hands palm down again, and I looked up and saw Hogan standing and looking unsure. “You want to marry Rose?”
Blinking at him, I nodded, unsure of where this was going.
Tilting his head to the side, he listened to something behind him and muttered back, and then turned back to me. “How much do you want us to pay you for her?”
Thinking I’d misheard, I thought through all the connotations of his question. “How much do I want for her?”
Shifting slightly as Rissa peeked her head through the small gap between his arm and the wall, he shrugged. “Yeah. How much are you expecting us to pay you for her?”
Standing up, I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “I’m not sure if you’re trying to buy me off, but I’m marrying her no matter what.”
Trying to push past her husband and elbowing him when he refused to budge, Rissa explained, “What my husband’s trying to ask - badly I might add,” she glared at him, “is how much you want from us for taking her off our hands?”
It was like I was in an alternate universe or something, because I could have sworn they were offering me money to marry the most amazing woman in the world. It didn’t make sense. “I’m still not sure I…”
Rissa cracked before Hogan did, holding onto his arm and laughing so hard she almost slipped down the wall. “I’m sorry…it’s your face. You just look so confused,” she wheezed, holding her size and laughing even harder.
“That’s because I am confused,” I muttered, still trying to figure it all out.
This time Hogan allowed it when she went to push past him, following behind her to sit back in their seats. Wiping under her eyes, Rissa took a minute to get her composure back.
“Years ago, when my granddaddy asked my mee maw’s daddy if he could marry her, he pulled this exact same stunt on him. Years later, remembering it, my granddaddy pulled it on my daddy,” she explained, smiling brightly at her husband. “When we had Rose, he told Hogan that it was now tradition so he had to do it because he’d be able to tell if he was the man we wanted our daughter to spend the rest of her life with. At the time, Hogan had called bullshit and said there was no way he was going to do it, until he met you.”
“So, you were testing me?” I clarified, not a
t all pissed off like you’d expect. I was fucking relieved. For a minute, I thought I was going to have to take her dad down for trying to buy me off, but now I saw it for what it was. I also saw where Rose got her sense of humor from, and I knew that in years to come, I’d be doing this exact same thing to the son of a bitch who thought he was man enough to marry my daughter.
Not beating around the bush, Hogan held my eyes and said more seriously than I’d ever heard him say anything before, “Absolutely.”
“Did I pass?”
Thinking over it for a second, he unfolded his tall body from the couch, and then took a step toward me. “Welcome to the family, son,” he rumbled, holding his arms out.
Closing the distance, I threw my arms around him, my heart beating a mile a minute at what this meant. I was happy, fucking beside myself with it.
That was until Rissa asked, “How are you going to ask her, honey?”
Here’s where I had an issue. I. Had. No. Fucking. Clue!
Rose
Raoul had moved in with me last month, preferring the extra space of my house to the one he’d been living in. Garrett now lived in it on his own, and he loved it. It was close to us, it was close to town, it was close to the police department, and he had space to do what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it. He was still on inactive duty and would be for another fifteen months, but so far he was adjusting well to life outside the military. My brother’s business partner Mace helped this because he was a former marine and he got how hard it was to adjust from military life to a civilian one. The two of them had become close, and I think it also helped Mace who had periods of withdrawing into himself. Like I kept telling Garrett, though, it was one day at a time. He was also good friends with Zuri, and a lot of the time when I saw him at work it was because he was there to see her, but only as friends as he kept telling me. He’d friend zoned himself there, not the other way around. Where he saw friends only, I saw the beginnings of something beautiful, but we’d just have to see.
Classy AF: Cheap Thrills Series Book 3 Page 18
