Chapter 21 #2
“I see those wheels turning,” Duke said. “Don’t get caught up in the what ifs right now. You need your head on straight, just like before a hard ride.”
Jaw dropped, he chanced a quick peek at Duke. “Are you kidding me right now? You’re comparing this to bull riding.”
Duke shrugged. “It’s what we both know. Before we get on that bull, we can’t think about falling off or being trapped under it.
The second we let our minds wander down that road, we’re done.
Finished. We’ve already lost. This is the same.
Thinking about anything other than getting to Celine and bringing her home safely will only mess you up. Neither of those will do her any good.”
Lane blew out a long breath. “Makes sense, but that’s a lot easier said than done.
Falling off a bull might have destroyed my career, but it led me to something so much better than I’d planned.
Losing Celine—” his voice cracked and he sniffed to hold back the emotion pressing against his sinus cavity.
“Dude, stop. Now.”
“You’re right.” He might have said the words but couldn’t completely believe them. Until he had her back in his arms, nothing would be right in his world. No matter how much he told himself or Duke otherwise.
“They’re turning,” Duke said, craning his neck to look outside the driver’s side window.
The sirens shut off, the eerie silence only enhancing the darkness of his thoughts. “They don’t want Kevin to know we’re here.”
“Smart.”
Lane kept up with the cruisers, taking another turn. The house came into view with Kevin’s vehicle parked outside. A light shone through the front window. He parked beside Spencer and jumped down from his truck.
Maddie climbed out of her own cruiser and pulled out her weapon.
“What’s the plan?” He had to stop himself from running into the house. Anticipation tightened his stomach muscles, and he secured his own weapon in his hands.
“Maddie and I will approach the front door. You and Duke go to the back. Should be a door that leads into the kitchen. Make sure he doesn’t try to get away,” Spencer said.
Lane glanced at Duke, relieved to see him holding his own gun. “Ready?”
“Always.”
Lane jogged around the side of the old house. He peered into the windows, but drapes kept him from seeing anything beyond the glass. At the back of the house, a small wooden deck led to a white door. He bounded up the steps and checked the handle. “It’s unlocked,” he whispered.
“Give Maddie and Spencer a few seconds before you do anything stupid,” Duke said.
A fist of frustration closed around his heart. He had to get inside. Waiting only endangered Celine’s life even more.
The sound of a gunshot blasted his eardrums. He shoved open the door and burst inside. A second blast reached his ears seconds before he spotted Celine chained to a chair in the living room. Her face was red and bruised. Her body shook and blood covered her hand.
He charged forward, his gun trained ahead.
Her eyes landed on him and a sob escaped from her throat. “Lane! Watch out!”
Something shifted in the corner of his eye at the same second he noticed Maddie and Spencer laying on the floor in puddles of blood.
Kevin stood in the corner of the living room, a sneer twisting his mouth. “Now you, I’ll enjoy shooting more than the rest.”
Before he could discharge his weapon, another gunshot shattered his reality.
Kevin crumpled to the ground. Eyes closed. Weapon on the ground.
“Told you I had your back,” Duke said.
Relief seeped through Lane’s system, but he didn’t have time to respond. He ran to Celine and dropped to his knees in front of her. Smoothing his palms around her jawline, he resisted the urge to press kisses on her battered face. “He hurt you.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, her voice shaky. “But Maddie and Spencer. He shot them.”
“I’ve got 911 on the line,” Duke said. “Spencer had already let them know they might be needed, and they should be here any second.”
Maddie groaned and rolled to her side. “Sonofabitch, that hurts.” She pressed a hand to her calf and hissed out a sharp breath then focused on Spencer laying in front of her. “Where’s he shot?” she asked, fear clear in her voice.
Duke dropped to the floor beside Spencer. Blood stained his pants. “Upper thigh. Looks bad.”
“Oh God,” Celine said.
Lane wanted to comfort her, pull her in his arms and tell her everything would be okay.
But their friend needed help, and shot or not, the asshole who’d tortured them all needed to be secured.
He’d already proven capable of fooling people around him.
The blood pooling from wherever the bullet wound might be was real, but Lane wasn’t convinced he was as unconscious as he appeared.
“Take these.” Maddie tossed handcuffs his way.
Lane snatched them from the air and snapped them on Kevin’s wrist. The other man didn’t move, and Lane had to fight the instinct to punch the asshole. With him not a threat, Lane returned to Celine’s side while Duke pressed down on Spencer’s leg.
A knock on the door broke into the chaos of the room seconds before it burst open and two medics rushed inside.
Maddie spouted out information, but the words all rang in his ears. The actions blurred in his vision. All his focus, all his energy was trained on Celine.
Lane pulled out a pocketknife and severed the rusted chain attaching Celine to the chair.
She fell into his arms, her tears soaking his T-shirt.
He held her tight, pressing lips to the top of her head and smoothing her matted hair from her face. “Where did he hurt you?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’m okay. I’m with you now.”
He pulled back and stared down at her “It does matter. You need checked over. I don’t want one inch of you in pain. Not one inch of you marred or broken.”
“He didn’t do anything that can’t be fixed. Now that I’m with you.”
He couldn’t hold back any longer, didn’t want to. “I was so damn scared, Celine. I thought I’d lost you for good. Thought Parker had lost his mother. I never want to feel like that again. I love you. I love you more than you’ll ever know.”
Crushing his mouth to hers, he savored her taste, her touch, her smell. Memorized the feel of her in his arms and vowed to hold her close every day for the rest of his life.