Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
“I’m his fiancée.” Marley’s voice drifted through his head. “Where he goes, I go.”
He was moving. No, he wasn’t the one moving. He was being moved? Pushed. Lifted? A siren wailed and lights flashed and?—
Marley’s soft fingers squeezed his hand. “Where he goes, I go.”
“I’m his fiancée!” Marley’s voice. Loud. Angry. Definitely angry. “What in the hell do you mean I can’t go in the operating room with him? Did you miss the fiancée part? Where he goes, I go and— Declan! Declan! Don’t you dare die on me!”
“I’m his fiancée.” Flat. “I’ll be staying here all night long and all day long. I will be here when he opens his eyes. Try to move me. I dare you.”
Declan opened his eyes.
Marley released a long, slow breath as she perched on the edge of his hospital bed. Her eyes felt grainy. Probably from all the tears she’d shed and the sleepless night. But she hadn’t been able to risk sleeping. Declan needed her.
And she’d been afraid he might slip away from her.
She waited a moment as he took in his surroundings. The bright, white walls. The low hum of voices coming from outside. The antiseptic smell.
His head turned. His gaze focused on her.
“Hi.” Way too hoarse. Marley cleared her throat. “Fancy meeting you in yet another hospital.”
His eyes narrowed.
Her heart drummed hard in her chest. He’d lost so much blood. His skin had turned deathly pale, and she’d been utterly terrified.
“Pro tip.” Still too hoarse. “If you’re shot, tell someone. I had this stupidly sexy billionaire guy tell me that once. Life changing info, right there. Lifesaving, too. Because if people know you’ve been shot, they can, oh, I don’t know— help you. ” She wanted to pounce on him. To hold him tight and never, ever let go.
But he hadn’t smiled at her feeble joke. He just kept staring at her with that hard, fierce expression on his face.
Marley released another breath. “Do you remember me?” She’d asked him the same question the first time he’d awoken in a hospital and found her at his bedside. Surely, he remembered her, though. There had been no blows to the head. No brain injuries. Just massive blood loss.
Declan stared back at her with his dangerous gaze, and the hazel swirled. In the next instant, his hand flew out and clamped around her wrist. Sure enough, just that touch from him had her pulse racing like crazy.
Different hospital, same story.
“I absolutely remember you.” Gruff. Deep. Rumbling. “Not like a man can forget his fiancée.”
If possible, her pulse thundered even faster.
“Pretty sure I also remember…” Declan winced. Hissed out a breath. “I remember you telling me that you loved me.”
“Yes.” Not like she would deny it.
“Did you say it…because you thought I was dying?”
She leaned closer to him. Her hair trailed over her right shoulder. “I said it because it’s true.” She searched his gaze. “I love you, Declan Flynn.”
He lifted her hand. Brought it to his lips. “And I would kill and die for you, Marley Jones.”
Yeah, he already had killed for her. As for the dying…“Don’t you plan on dying anytime soon, understand? Maybe eighty years from now when you’ve long since skated past your one hundredth birthday and we have a swarm of grandkids and great-grandkids around us. Then you can die, with me at your side and with a smile on your face.” She leaned forward and brushed her lips over his. “But not before that, understand? Don’t leave me, Declan, not when I just found you.”
“Marley, I don’t deserve you.” His voice was slightly hoarse. Probably because he’d had a tube down his throat during the surgery. The long surgery that had terrified her. “You should have left me when you had the chance,” he added.
No. “Leaving you was never in the cards for me.”
He blinked. “It was…when you found out about Glass…”
“I wasn’t going to leave you. I was pissed that you’d taken risks like that for me. You didn’t need to handle my monster.” What if the attack had come back on Declan?
“I will always face your monsters.”
Damn him. Being sweet and scary at the same time for her. “You and my brothers are gonna have to talk.”
A furrow appeared between his eyes. “They won’t…like me.”
“No, they’ll probably love you.” He had no idea what would come his way with Eb and Jake. But he would find out, soon enough. “I love you, so they will one hundred percent love you, too.”
He shook his head. “I don’t…fit in.”
“You fit with me,” Marley told him, meaning those words with all of her being. “You fit me perfectly. I love you, Declan.” She needed to give him those words again. And again. And again.
The faint lines near his mouth deepened. “I don’t know that I feel love—the way you do.”
“You don’t have to feel it my way. Feel it yours. Feel it your way, Declan.”
“I feel…like I breathe better when you’re near me. Like I want to fight anyone who’d ever hurt you. Like…like I’ve been in the dark, and someone finally turned on a light for me.”
Tears stung her eyes. “I like the way you feel love.”
“I want to be good, for you, but I’m scared I can’t be.”
“You are plenty good, Declan. You stood in front of Parker so that James wouldn’t shoot him. You saved Parker even though you knew he wanted to destroy you. And you?—”
The door opened behind her.
She glanced back.
Speak of the devil.
Parker had just been pushed into the room. Parker still wore his hospital gown. He looked far too pale—just like Declan—and an IV pole wheeled beside him. And, behind Parker, Hunter was the one pushing the wheelchair.
“Well, well, well…” Hunter chimed. “Look who is back in the land of the living. I call that perfect timing.” His words were mocking, but his expression showed his relief at seeing Declan awake. “Someone wanted to come and tell you how damn grateful he is to be alive. You see the detective here? Turns out he doesn’t remember exactly what happened in the house before he was shot. He remembers going toward the house. He remembers slipping inside—can’t believe a cop would commit a B&E, but he confessed to doing the deed—and then… bam. End of memory.”
Parker flinched.
“Poor guy doesn’t remember anything else. Docs say it is probably because of the trauma from the gunshot.”
Marley started to move closer to Parker.
Declan tightened his hold on her wrist. “Stay. Please.”
Ah, it was that rough please that got to her.
Parker glanced at her, then at Declan. “Heard I have you to thank for the fact that I’m still alive.”
“You do.” Marley was adamant. “He shielded you with his body.”
Parker’s jaw clenched. “ Thank you,” he bit out.
Behind him, Hunter flashed a broad smile. “Was that hard? It wasn’t, was it? Didn’t kill anyone. ” He began to reverse the chair. “Let’s give them some privacy?—”
“I remember everything,” Declan said.
“Good for you,” Parker muttered.
“I suspect you do, too. You owe me no favors. If you want me locked away, do it.”
Parker opened his mouth to speak—and the hospital door opened again. Royal strolled in, easing around Parker and his wheelchair with a quick, side glance. Then he paused at the foot of the hospital bed to study Declan. After a long moment of study, Royal nodded. “You’ll survive. Good to know.” He paused. “I was afraid that you’d die and leave your whole fortune to me. Do you have any idea what a pain in the ass that would have been for me?”
“Glad I stayed alive and didn’t inconvenience you,” Declan returned. And he…smiled. A real smile. Not a dangerous one. Not a menacing one. Not a smile that never reached his eyes. This smile—it tilted his lips, it flashed his strong, white teeth, and it lit his gaze. He looked happy. Really, truly happy.
I want him to smile like that so much more.
Royal blinked, as if caught off guard, and then he pointed at Marley. “You.”
“Me—what?”
“You scared the hell out of me.” He shuddered. “For a minute there, I thought you’d attacked the bad guy with the Van Gogh. New rule, we don’t use the Gogh on our enemies. Not ever. We use much, much cheaper art.”
Fine. She’d just make a mental note of that request. No, I won’t. I’ll use whatever is handy.
Royal glanced back at the detective. “Feeling grateful because my brother saved your life?”
Parker frowned.
“Marley told me the story.” Royal rubbed a hand over his chin. “How Declan bravely stood between you and a bullet. And to think that you were trying to send him to jail. I hope someone learned a valuable lesson.”
Parker growled.
“Parker mistakenly thought Declan might have something to do with the death of a prison inmate called Sebastian Glass back in Georgia,” Hunter explained to Royal. “Don’t worry. I helped him to see the error of his ways. The guards at the prison have admitted they made a mistake letting Glass in with general pop, and Glass—being the asshole he was—he antagonized the wrong prisoners. No way Declan could be involved in something like that.”
Parker’s gaze was on Declan. “No way.”
“Now, I’ll just get him back to his room…” Hunter wheeled Parker back a bit.
“Wait.” Declan pushed up in the bed. Then winced in pain.
“You have to take it easy,” Marley murmured. She hated his pain.
“He was shot, too,” Declan groused as he eyed Parker. “And he’s rolling around. I can’t let the cop get ahead of me.” He pushed up a little bit more. “I don’t want you always gunning for me, Parker. If you’ve got an issue, say that shit now. I’m tired of my enemies hiding.”
“Your latest two enemies are dead,” Royal pointed out. “They aren’t hiding. They’re in a morgue.”
Declan kept his gaze on Parker.
Parker inclined his head. “You…aren’t what I thought.”
Marley tugged on her wrist. Reluctantly, Declan let her go. She stood by the side of the bed. By Declan’s side. “People are seldom just one thing in this world.” Something she’d learned long ago.
“That’s right,” Royal affirmed with a solemn nod. “One person’s hero is another’s villain…and another person’s villain…”
Might just be the love of my life, Marley thought. “Is someone’s hero.”
Parker gripped the arms of the wheelchair. “I doubt that anyone thinks James was a hero.”
“Bet his son did.” A retort from Hunter. For a moment, sadness slid across his face and whispered in his voice. “I…liked Cade.” His shoulders straightened. “He got past my guard, boss. It won’t happen again.”
Declan shook his head. “He got past mine, too. And so did James.” It wasn’t sadness whispering in his words. Anger rumbled in his voice. “That sonofabitch killed my mother. And then he walked back into my life and pretended to care about me—like a freaking father—for years.”
Royal and Hunter exchanged a long glance.
“I think this might be a private conversation.” Hunter whirled Parker toward the door. “Let’s get you back in your hospital bed. Don’t tell the nurse you went for a ride, will you? I don’t think you were supposed to move at all. Some shit about you being critical.”
The door closed behind them a moment later.
Marley reached for Declan’s hand. She needed to touch him, especially when he faced his past.
“The Ice Breakers have been digging non-stop since you got rolled into the hospital. Apparently, James was our father’s hitman of choice back in the day.” Royal shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “They’re connecting kills to him, left and right.”
Declan nodded.
“Our mom—I don’t know what happened yet. I have some guesses. But that’s all they are. We may never know the truth.” Royal exhaled. “I think our mom ran with me. I think Conor Flynn sent his best guy after her. I think?—”
“James put a gun to her heart and demanded that she tell him where you were. She refused. And James became enraged and shot her.” Declan squeezed Marley’s fingers. “He staged the car explosion to cover his tracks. But then he became terrified that Conor would realize what he’d done. See, our dad loved our mom. He was evil and twisted, but she was his obsession. I don’t think he wanted her dead. James crossed the line, and he realized that Conor would kill him if he ever found out the truth. So he ran. And he hid. And he stayed hidden until I took care of his monster for him.”
Silence.
All Marley wanted to do was comfort Declan. To pull him close. To tell him that she would always be with him so?—
So she did. She crawled right back into the bed with him. She threw her arms around him and held tight. “I will always be with you,” she promised. “You’re not going to have to fight alone. You won’t face monsters alone. You are going to be happy with me, Declan. We’re going to have a crazy, wild, fantastic life.” Then she kissed him. A little too hard. A little off-center. A little too desperate.
His fingers pressed to her cheek. “My Marley.” A rasp. “My world.”
“Ahem.” From Royal. “That’s one version of events. One that pretty much works in my mind, but I’ll still have the Ice Breakers keep investigating. They are top-notch. Especially since we have your hotshot PI on the team. Who knows what else she’ll uncover? She’s already making waves, I can tell you that. The woman who saved Declan Flynn—she’s building quite the reputation for herself.”
Marley pulled back so she could stare into Declan’s eyes. “I didn’t save Declan. He was the one who took a bullet for me.”
But Declan shook his head. “Yes, sweetheart, you did save me. In ways that you will probably never fully know, you saved me.”
She had to blink away the tears that wanted to fill her eyes.
“I love you, Marley.” His gaze searched hers. “Will you marry me?”
Her breath caught.
“I’ll get the ring soon, I promise, and I asked this time. Dammit, it’s not romantic. Wrong place. I can do better, I swear I can. I?—”
“Yes.” Marley kissed him. “ Yes!”
“Good,” Royal groused from the foot of the bed. “Because I’m pretty sure that for the last sixteen hours, the woman has told everyone she met that she’s already your fiancée.”
Yes, she had. A woman had to do what a woman had to do…in order to protect her man. “I love you,” she told Declan.
“I love you,” he said. No hesitation. Instant. Real. “I love you.”