Chapter Thirty-Eight
S he dissolved into tears .
Not the loud, obvious kind.
She covered her face with her hands and she quietly wept. My phone rang for the third time and I wanted to throw it out the fucking window. I also wanted to pull her into my arms, but I only had one that wasn’t fucking useless right now.
My head fucked, I stared at her and remembered my kid’s face from two nights ago, how he looked when she picked him up from a dead sleep and fear instantly contorted his features. No kid should ever look like that.
I didn’t blame her.
But I did.
I could’ve fucking helped her. I could’ve had the past two years with my son.
I got robbed of that.
I swore to myself I’d never be like my parents. I’d never neglect my kids because of my own bullshit, but now I’d missed the first two years of my kid’s life.
Stewing in a fucking mess of thoughts I didn’t want to deal with, I sat there and watched her cry until the door to my room flew open and Talerco waltzed the fuck in.
The smile on his face dropped the second he saw Brooke crying. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, darlin’.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “What’d Ivy do? Do I need to kick his ass?”
Seeing him touch her, I wanted to fucking throat punch him. “Hands off,” I growled .
His smile returning, Talerco tightened his grip on her as he dared me with a look. “Whatdaya gonna do, Snipe? Seems you got good aim, but your game’s shit.” He looked down at Brooke. “Ain’t that right, darlin’? No man should make a woman cry.”
Brooke brushed at her face, but she didn’t brush off Talerco. “He didn’t. I’m fine.” She swiped at her cheeks again. “Where’s Mav?”
Talerco’s tone softened. “He’s all good, darlin’. Put him down for a nap and Ariel’s with him. He’s in good hands. And for the record?” His smile amped up. “Little man’s threshold for ice cream is three bowls.” Talon chuckled and Brooke half smiled.
I hated that Talerco had seen my kid and I hadn’t. I hated that Brooke was still wearing long-sleeved shirts, and I hated that I was in this fucking hospital bed. “What do you want, Talerco?”
Before looking at me, he gave all his attention to Brooke. “For real, you good, darlin’?” She nodded, and Talerco gave me a smile. “I came to spring you.” He raised an eyebrow and nodded toward Brooke. “Unless you’re gonna be a dick. Then I’ll leave you here for another ten to fourteen days.”
“Jesus,” I grumbled.
Talon grinned. “I’ll take that as a yes. Let me go find the doc and see what we can do.” He nodded at Brooke. “Darlin’.” Then he walked out.
She waited until the door shut. “You have a lot of friends.”
Taken off guard, I didn’t say anything, because her comment hit me like a fucking freight train.
She looked around the room like everything in it except me was interesting. “They’re all nice.” She dropped her gaze to her lap. “They really care about you.”
She didn’t have friends.
She didn’t have anyone who looked after her or Maverick. Worse, she’d been battling a fucking psychopath for close to a decade all by herself.
I was an asshole.
A complete asshole .
Exhaling, I looked at her. “I’m sorry.”
She frowned. “For what?”
“For everything you’ve been through. For being a dick.” For not getting her out of that prick’s estate thirteen days ago.
She let out a short, humorless laugh. “I was the one who stole from you.”
Yeah, she fucking did. Three years ago, she stole my heart and walked out with it. Now she was sitting across from me and she was stealing my sanity.
But I realized something.
My life would’ve fucking sucked without the Marines and my brothers. We weren’t blood, but Luna, Talerco, Sawyer, Tyler, Tank, even Christensen and Marek—those guys were my family. They looked out for me, and I looked out for them.
It fucking cut to realize no one had been looking out for her and Maverick.
I wasn’t gonna let that happen anymore. No fucking way. I opened my mouth to tell her exactly that when the door to my room opened again.
Luna walked in followed by Marek.
Luna smiled. “How’s the patient?” He glanced at Brooke. “Hey, chica. How’s the little man?”
A soft smile touched her lips. “He’s good. Apparently Talon fed him enough ice cream to last him a month, then he fell asleep.”
Luna chuckled. “I heard.” He redirected his focus to me, and his expression turned serious. “Doc says he’s getting you out. I still don’t have confirmation.”
I knew what he was talking about. I’d heard ATF had been to Christensen’s the night we’d gotten her and Mav out, and apparently the agent in charge was out for blood. Brooke wasn’t in the clear yet, and we didn’t know if any fallout from Lewis’s bullshit was going to land on her yet, so we were still in a holding pattern.
“What do you want to do?” Luna asked .
“Same plan.” Brooke didn’t know it yet, but I was coming back to the Golden Beach house with her. We were going to lie low until shit blew over for her, or until we had to make it blow over.
Luna nodded and I glanced at Dane. “Thanks for the assist.” I knew it was his sniper bullet that’d hit Lewis in the head.
“I should’ve been a few seconds earlier,” Dane countered. “My apologies.”
“No worries. We got it done.” Lewis was dead. “We good on the other?”
Pulling a phone out of his pocket, he tipped his chin at me then held the phone out to Brooke. “Dane Marek,” his deep voice rumbled. “Nice to meet you. I believe this is yours.”
Brooke took the phone. “How did you…?” She looked between Marek and the phone. “This is…” She looked at me, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Did they see this? The ATF agent?”
I glanced at Marek.
He shook his head.
“No,” I answered Brooke.
The worry lines in her expression switched to determination, and without a word, she stood. Dropping the phone to the floor, she brought her heel down and smashed the fuck out of the screen.
Then she went to town.
Her boot met that phone a half a dozen more times, and she decimated it. Then nonchalant as fuck, she bent, sifted through the carnage and plucked the sim card out. Walking into the bathroom, she tossed the sim card into the toilet, flushed, and came back out. Then with three former Marines watching her, she scooped up the remains of her confession and tossed it in the trash.
Brushing her hands off, casual as hell, she glanced at Marek. “Thanks.”
I fucking fell in love.