Chapter 32 Payton
PAYTON
I blinked, then widened my eyes, desperate to keep track of the mirage happening right in front of me.
Mav, Tarron, and Reed burst into the room with a clanging roar as the door nearly fell off its hinges.
They wore enough weapons to take down a small army, and I caught myself when I started trying to count them in some kind of attempt to hold the vision in place.
Jack leaped away from me when the door slammed back.
The knife he’d been pressing into my cheek swung around, then clattered to the floor as he tried to whip his pistol from the holster at his back.
Reed and Mav dove for Jack. Mav shouted, “Don’t discharge your weapon unless you have to. It’ll ricochet.”
Reed grunted, and then his arms were around Jack’s waist, and the two of them staggered backward. Mav ripped the gun from Jack before it cleared the holster and shoved it into his pocket.
Tarron rushed toward me and fell to his knees. “Payton?”
I shook my head slowly. “You’re not real.” I didn’t dare look away from Jack.
Either I was dead already and I’d found them in the afterlife—an afterlife which didn’t exactly embody what I’d expected of death—or I’d suffered a mental breakdown.
Both options sucked.
Mav wrenched Jack’s arms behind his back and wrapped a white cord around them.
Jack winced and twisted, which caused him to fall toward the right.
Reed went down with him, making sure he didn’t break free of the restraints.
“Can I kill him?” Reed straddled Jack’s waist, his pistol jammed into the bottom of Jack’s jaw, and his finger tightening on the trigger.
“Don’t. Please don’t kill me. It’s not my fault.” Jack blubbered and twisted. His shoulders skated across the concrete floor.
He tried to work his way out from under Reed, but he moved with Jack, never letting the gun slacken against his jaw.
Mav grimaced as he shook his head. “No. We’ll let the law handle Jack.” He rolled to his feet and brushed his hands against his thighs.
Reed, still staring down at Jack, asked, “Then can I at least knock out a few teeth?”
Jack continued to splutter and plead.
It should make me feel good.
Hearing him beg as I’d begged was the ultimate revenge.
But all I felt was a deep, empty hollowness.
A cold feeling pitched in the bottom of my stomach, the weight of it like a rock in my gut.
I whimpered and tried to cross my arms over the uncomfortable feeling, but they were still pinned behind my back.
Tarron sawed at the restraints around my ankles.
I’d pulled on them so long the knots were impossible, and Jack had used enough rope to make a bridge across the Hudson River.
All the fear and anger I’d harbored for Jack melded into something I couldn’t explain.
With his hands tied and Reed leaning over him, he was no longer dangerous.
Mav’s grin turned wicked. “I won’t stop you.”
“Thank fuck.” Reed switched the gun to his left hand, reared back with the right, and landed a blow on Jack’s chin that knocked him unconscious.
Reed grunted his satisfaction and stood, turning to look at me and Tarron. “You don’t have those fucking restraints off yet?”
“He got crafty this time.” Tarron grunted and yanked.
The bonds around my ankles fell away, and he tore into the ones at my wrists with renewed vengeance.
“Almost there, Payton.” The calm way he spoke eased the weight of disbelief. “I think she’s in shock. She hasn’t said a word.”
Why? Why would I speak and ruin this amazing moment where they were all alive?
It wasn’t real.
The minute I spoke or tried to touch them, it would all vanish. It always did.
A hitch in my breath turned into a sob. “You’re not really here. I’m dreaming again. I don’t want to wake up.”
“Payton.” Mav bent at the waist.
His gray eyes swam with emotion when he cupped my cheek in one hand and rubbed his thumb over my lips. “We’re here.”
The bonds at my wrists fell away.
I wrenched my arms around in front of me and exploded up from the chair so fast it fell over with a clatter.
My sobs shook my body, but I couldn’t stop them, didn’t even have the desire to try.
I grabbed them around their necks and pulled them in, breathing in their scents.
They stayed with me.
Hands brushed my sides and their arms locked around me. It took the combined effort of all my senses to make it real. “You’re alive.”
“Yes.” Tarron kissed my cheek. “We’re here. We’ll always come for you.”
“Can we try not to have any more kidnappings?” Reed chuckled in my ear, his lips brushing my hair. “As much as I love being the hero, my heart can’t take the fear.”
I shuddered and clung tighter. “I’m good with that.” A laugh bubbled up, and when I let it out, the sound of my near hysteria rang in my ears.
“I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my whole life. But you were dead.” A second shudder rippled down my spine, and Mav rubbed his hands up and down my back in soothing motions. “You were dead.” My laughter threatened to return to sobs. “How are you not dead?”
Arms around me so I didn’t fall apart, they told me a wild and crazy story that sounded so unbelievable it had to be true.
“I performed surgery on Tarron.” Reed beamed a smile. “And he only cursed at me twice.”
“Did not. I was cursing at Maverick for getting shot and making me dig into him without anesthesia.”
“You weren’t even operating on him at the time,” Reed protested.
Maverick sighed, and they both resumed their tale. It was almost too much to take in.
From the explosion they survived, to the surgeries that could have killed them, to tracking me down, it all proved how relentless they were.
Formidable. That’s what most people would call them.
I called them mine.
I touched them anywhere I could reach.
Arms. Chests. Faces.
My trembling hands moved across every available stretch of skin.
I couldn’t help myself.
I needed the reassurance to prove they were real and I wasn’t hallucinating or having a mental breakdown.
They finished their story, and a beat of silence passed before I shifted my weight and kissed Tarron.
Sparks sizzled between us, and I lingered over the promise in his lips before kissing Mav, and then Reed.
“I could stay here with you forever, but I’d really like to get out of this room.” The moment turned passionate when I reclaimed Tarron’s lips.
He put all his passion into the kiss, his strong hand wrapped across the small of my back.
I released all the pain and sadness that had been crushing me as the weight of their supposed death finally lifted.
They were alive.
I had nothing left to hold me down.
“We’re glad you’re alive.” Reed brushed my hair behind my ear and kissed my shoulder where my shirt fell open. “When we found out you’d been taken again, we didn’t.” He stopped and cleared his throat. “We didn’t know if he’d let you live this time.”
It had been touch and go. There was no need to tell them what all had transpired. Jack had only threatened me.
“That’s the only reason that shitbag is still alive.” Mav pressed his forehead to mine when I released Tarron’s lips and leaned into him. “Nothing would have stopped me from delivering true justice if he’d taken you from us.”
They were not cold-blooded killers, but I could see them pulling the trigger on Jack.
I’d wished for it more than once.
“I need to call Dad.” My hands shook. I tried to brush them off on my thighs, but they trembled so badly that I missed completely. “How did you find me?”
“Answers later.” Mav handed me his phone. “His number is in my contacts.”
I tapped the button and held the phone to my ear.
It rang twice, then Dad’s voice boomed. “Maverick, where’s my daughter?”
“I’m here, Dad.” My knees buckled. “I’m okay.”
Tarron caught me and held me upright, giving me support as I breathed through the rush of emotions.
“Thank God.” Dad unleashed a quivering breath. “I’m so glad to hear your voice, Payton. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yep.” I sounded too chipper to be believable, but if I didn’t pretend,
I’d end up in the corner, sobbing too hard to move.
I refused to give Jack that pleasure.
He’d scared me, but he would not break me.
He’d forced me to abandon my pride and beg for my life. I’d do it again to save my child’s life. But I would not let him see me cry.
Wait.
He was knocked out cold beside Reed, who slammed a foot into Jack’s spine and leaned on it.
“I love you, Dad.”
Dad cleared his throat. Once Twice.
“Love you too. Come see me this weekend? I need to see you with my own eyes.”
“Absolutely.” I needed to see him too. But first, I had to wrap my mind around the reality that my men were alive.
Ending the call, I took Mav’s hand and pressed his knuckles into my cheek. “Can we go home?”
“Yes.” He kissed me long and slow. “As soon as we drop Jack off at the police station. They’ll be more than happy to have him in custody. Seems he has quite a list of charges waiting for him.”
“He’s been dodging the law for a while.” Reed sounded far too chipper for the gray space where we stood.
But I understood. Jack would not weasel his way out of this.
He’d suffer for his actions and justice would catch up with the man who’d put so many people at risk.