Chapter Seven
Freddie and Elin drove until they ran out of land at the Gulf of Mexico in a little town near Pensacola, Florida, called Perdido Key. They rented a room in an oceanfront hotel and took to the beach. Though it wasn’t quite warm enough to swim, it was a hell of a lot warmer than it was at home.
He sent his mother a text to let her know where they were and left his phone in the room, determined to punch out as much as he could and take full advantage of the rare opportunity for a getaway with the woman he loved.
They had things to talk about before they could head back to their real lives, and this was certainly a beautiful place to kill a week.
“Will you rub sunscreen on my back?” Elin asked, holding out the bottle.
“I’d love to.”
She smiled at his predictable response. He was never shy about how badly he wanted her all the time. They’d yet to make love since she’d been hurt, and he was hoping they’d get back on track in that area this week as well.
As he smoothed the sunscreen over her soft skin, Freddie thought about how close he’d come to losing her.
During his career as a cop, he’d seen punches to the face kill people on more than one occasion.
She could’ve been killed when she hit her head on the way down or choked to death on her own blood. In so many ways it could’ve been worse.
“Why’d you stop?” she asked.
“Sorry. I was thinking.”
“About what?”
“How grateful I am that you’re okay—or that you’re on your way to being okay again. As bad as it was, it could’ve been so much worse.”
“I know.”
He finished applying the sunscreen and handed the tube back to her, rubbing what was left on his face and then sitting back in his chair, trying to relax.
They were hundreds of miles from DC, but the stress had come with him.
So many thoughts circled around in his mind, making him crazy as he tried to reason his way through what’d happened.
The way Stahl had set them all up and how he needed to tell Elin that before Stahl went to court again and the whole mess was broadcast to the world.
“Hey, baby,” he said.
“Hmm?”
“So there’s some stuff we need to talk about.”
“Didn’t we talk for two days in the car?”
“Other stuff, about work and the case against Elliott and Stahl and all that. There’re a few things I’ve been wanting to tell you, but it never seemed like the right time, what with your injuries and how you were in so much pain. I didn’t want to add to it.”
She sat up in her chair and looked over at him. “Add to it how?”
“So the thing with Elliott coming to the gym and stalking you and getting physical with you.”
“What about it?”
“It was all part of Stahl’s set up. He hired Elliott to pursue you and to bring things to a head that day because he wanted me out of the picture when he went after Sam.”
Her mouth fell open in shock. “Are you kidding me? The whole thing was a big plan?”
“Yeah. From what I’ve been told, Stahl figured I’d do exactly what I did when you were attacked and run to your side, which left Sam shorthanded and alone that day.
” Freddie reached for her hand, and she gave it willingly.
“And then I did something that I probably shouldn’t have done, but I’m not sorry I did it. ”
“What did you do?”
“I went into the jail and beat the shit out of Elliott.”
“Freddie! I told you I didn’t want you to do that. Oh my God! That’s why you’re off this week, isn’t it? You got in trouble.”
“Yes.”
“Freddie… Why did you do that? You know better.”
“After what he did to you, you have to ask me why?”
“Yes, I’m asking why! He was in jail, facing charges. Why couldn’t that have been enough for you?”
“He laid hands on you. He hurt what’s mine after terrorizing you for weeks. There was no way I could let that go.”
“You should have.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
“And now you’re suspended for a week, presumably without pay that we need. So what’re we doing here?” She gestured to the sand and water. “We can’t afford it.”
“Yes, we can. I have money put away. We’ll be fine.” He picked up a pile of sand and let it spill through his fingers, nervous about what else he needed to say to her. “We never talked about the rest of what happened with Elliott.”
“What do you mean?”
“The stalking and all that. Before the assault.”
“Oh. That.”
“Yeah, that. Ever since that day, I can’t stop thinking about how you kept that from me, and maybe if you’d told me…” He didn’t want to say they might’ve caught on to Stahl’s plan, saved Lori’s life and Sam from the hell that she went through. He’d never put that on Elin.
“It’s all my fault,” she said softly. “Everything that happened to me and Sam and Alex’s mom.”
“No, it’s not your fault. None of it is your fault.
That’s not why I told you. But the thought of any guy hassling you and me being oblivious…
We can’t operate that way. If you’re in trouble, I’m in trouble.
If someone is hassling you, they’re hassling me.
I don’t want you keeping stuff like that from me. ”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. You were so stressed out after Gonzo got shot, and I didn’t want to add to it.”
“See, that right there, what you said. You wouldn’t be adding to anything. You’re everything to me. It hurts me that you kept something so big from me. I thought we were better than that.”
“We are better, and I wanted to tell you. I’m sorry I hurt you by not telling you, but I was afraid of what you’d do. Turns out I had good reason to be afraid.”
“I’m not sorry I confronted him.”
“What did you do to him?”
“I punched him in roughly the same place he punched you, and I kneed him in the balls.”
“Don’t they have cameras in there?”
“Covered it with my hoodie.”
“You shouldn’t have done it.”
“So I’ve been told, but I don’t regret it.”
She pushed up her sunglasses and looked over at him with the piercing blue eyes that had captivated him since the first time he met her.
“You want me to tell you things, but if I do, is this what you’re going to do?
Go after someone, assault them, endanger the career you’ve worked so hard for? Is that who you’re going to be?”
For the first time since he confronted Elliott, he experienced the slightest pang of regret for what he’d done.
If it meant she’d hold out on him about important things in the future then maybe he shouldn’t have done it.
“It’s not who I want to be, but you can’t expect me to sit on my hands and do nothing when someone attacks you. ”
“That’s exactly what I expect you to do. Can’t you see? What you did made it worse, Freddie. It got you in trouble at work, and I’m sure this incident will go on your record, which could mess up future promotions. It’s not worth it. Can’t you see that?”
“Felt worth it at the time.”
“Do you hear yourself? What happened to the good Christian boy you used to be who was so devoted to his faith that he waited to have sex until he was almost thirty?”
“He met you, fell in love and discovered he’d kill for the woman he loves.”
“Even if she doesn’t want him to do that?”
“Even then.”
She shook her head in obvious dismay.
“I’ll make you a deal. If you promise to never again keep something big like this from me, I’ll promise you that I’ll never again be violent on your behalf.”
“I’ll take that deal.”
He looked over at her and took the hand she offered to shake on their deal. “You know, you ought to marry me one of these days so we can make our deal a lifetime arrangement.”
“Are you asking?”
“What if was?”
“Do it and find out.”
Freddie felt like he’d been shot again. The burst of adrenaline that fired through him felt almost the same as it did then. Only instead of unbearable pain, there was only joy.
He got down on his knees in front of her.
“Elin…” There were, he discovered, no words to properly tell her what she meant to him.
Forced to take a moment to collect himself, the next time he looked up at her he saw tears in her eyes.
“I love you more than anything, and I always will. When you hurt, I hurt. When you’re happy, I’m happy.
There’s nothing I want more than to be happy with you forever. Will you marry me?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” She hurled herself into his arms, knocking him back into the warm sand that cushioned their landing.
“Whoa, careful. I don’t want you to reinjure anything.”
“I don’t want to be careful. I just got engaged.”
“I hate to be a stickler for details, but ‘I thought you’d never ask’ means yes, right?”
“Yes, you knucklehead,” she said, laughing, “it means yes. A thousand times yes.”
“I only needed one yes, but I’ll take a thousand.” He pushed the hair back from her face and brought her in close enough to kiss, taking it easy in deference to her injuries.
“Let’s go back to the room,” she whispered.
“What do you want to do there?”
“You.”
“Oh, well, um, okay then.”
Laughing at his bumbling response, she got up and held out her left hand for him.
“We’ll be putting a ring on this finger as soon as we find one you love.”
“I don’t need a ring. You just got yourself suspended. You can’t afford it.”
“You do need a ring, and I can afford it.” If it took him five years to pay for it, he was getting her the biggest, best ring he could find. He wanted the whole world to know she was his—and permanently off the market.
“You should call your mother.”
“I will. Later. My fiancée wants to do me. I’m not thinking about my mother right now.”
The sound of her laughter was one of his favorite things, and it had been far too long since he’d heard her laugh.
Inside their room, he directed her straight to the shower to wash off the sand.
Freddie turned on the water and followed her in, both still wearing their bathing suits.
He loved her all the time, but the sight of his gorgeous woman in a bikini was another of his favorite things.
She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. “Did that just happen out there?”