10. Noah Michael Anderson
10 NOAH MICHAEL ANDERSON
Lanie
Out of the two of them, Mom had always been the more level-headed, which was why it caught me off guard to see her facing off against Jill. Not that either of my parents were fighters by nature, but if anyone was going to come to blows it would’ve been Dad. Or so I thought.
Thank God for Waverly. No way would I have gotten control over the situation if she hadn’t jumped in to save my ass. Mom was a lot scrappier than she looked and given the fact she was naked meant she was also slippery as hell. Trying to avoid grabbing certain body parts while breaking up a fight was not the easiest task to accomplish.
“Sit there and don’t move. Either of you.”
I scowled at the two women on the ground. One looked confused, which made no sense, while the other—my mother—looked like she was gearing up for another throw down. Turning away from them, a pinch of pain pulled at my side, reminding me why all of this was happening.
“Celebration’s over, people,” Noah hollered out. He, Duncan, and Koen had apparently snapped out of their stupor and were attempting to herd the crowd away from us. “Grab your clothes and head home. There’s nothing more to see here.”
“What’s gotten into you, Iris?”
A fully clothed Dave pushed his way past the dispersing townspeople, carrying a couple of blankets in his arms. After tossing one in the direction of Mom, he shook the other out and wrapped it around his wife.
“Did you know, Dave?” Dad, who was also thankfully dressed, joined us.
“Know what, Percy? That your wife seems to have snapped?”
“Let’s all take a breath here,” Waverly tried to interject, but it was no use.
“We told you years ago she needed help, but did you listen?” Dad’s shoulders slumped. “Losing Beth hurt all of us.”
“Don’t,” Dave growled. “Don’t you dare say a word about my daughter when yours is standing right there, alive and well.”
Never, in all my life, had I heard him speak with such venom. During the investigation and even after Beth’s body was discovered, Dave never once spoke about or to me in anger. He was the only one who encouraged me when I wanted to join law enforcement. Seeing the disgust in his eyes now, the puzzle pieces started to click into place.
“It wasn’t Jill, was it?” I edged closer, catching a glimpse of silver in Dave’s hand seconds before Noah shouted, “Gun,” while yanking me back by my belt loop. I was pushed unceremoniously behind him as three FBI service weapons were rapidly unholstered and aimed at their target before I could blink. Koen flanked us, sliding a gun into Noah’s open hand, while Waverly and Duncan shuffled my parents backward, then stood directly in front of them. Jill was the only person left unprotected, though she was probably the safest one there.
Slowly and with extreme caution, I stepped to the right, keeping the majority of myself concealed behind my newly appointed bodyguard. He stopped me from moving any farther with a hand on my wrist. When Noah’s eyes met mine, they were blazing.
“You can try to talk him down, but if that pistol comes up, it’s game over. I’m not risking you.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t agree. We were talking about a man I’d known and loved most of my life. If there was a way to keep this from escalating to the point of no return, I had to find it.
“Dave, look at me.”
“It was only supposed to scare you.” He tapped the black-and-silver revolver nervously against the outside of his thigh.
“The gunshots in the woods?”
“Yes,” he spat. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just wanted you to leave.”
“Why? What did I ever do to you?”
Holding his attention was my number one priority. If he stayed focused on me, he wouldn’t notice Duncan inching his way closer, or Leland creeping up from the rear.
“It’s never been about me. Jill suffered enough for the both of us. She’d finally gotten past the grief, started to act like herself again, then you showed up and it was like no time had passed. Suddenly, she was back in hell again.”
“How is that my fault?”
Dave shifted, his grip on the gun tightening.
“Easy, Lanie,” Noah spoke softly.
Fuck that! I was pissed .
“You don’t think I suffered, Dave? That I didn’t live in my own version of hell after my best friend was taken?”
“Oh fuck,” I heard behind me when I shrugged off Noah’s hand as he reached out to stop me. Fifty feet separated me from the man I once considered to be like a father. I didn’t think, I just moved.
Forty feet.
“Beth was the other half of my soul. She was my sister in every way that counted.”
Thirty .
“She was stubborn as shit. Everyone knew it. Once she had her mind made up, there was no way you were changing it, but I still tried.”
Twenty.
“I spent hours trying to convince her to stay with me. Hours. You wanna know what real pain is, Dave?”
Ten.
Five.
One.
“Ask me what the last words I ever spoke to my best friend were.”
He cleared his throat. “What were they?”
You could’ve heard a pin drop on the grass-covered field. That’s how quiet it had become.
A lone tear tracked down my cheek as I heard the words over and over in my head. It was the worst fight we’d ever had. Horrible things were said by both of us that we never got to take back.
“I said, ‘I hate you.”’
“Oh, Alaina,” Mom cried out.
“I told my best friend, a person I loved with all my heart, that she was reckless and I hated her.” Dave’s eyes welled and I knew it was over. Without looking, I reached out, taking the gun from his hand. He didn’t resist. “I’ve spent all these years knowing, as she took her last breath, she thought those words were true. That’s the kind of pain I’ve had to live with.”
Without another word, I turned, collapsing into Noah’s waiting arms.
“I want to go home.”
The stars looked the same in Colorado as they did in Huntington. They hung above the mountain ranges like they were painted on the sky by a stroke of an artist’s brush. At least that’s how Beth used to describe them. We spent countless hours gazing up at the heavens while sharing our dreams for the future. If I’d known then hers would be cut short, I would’ve paid closer attention to the sound of her voice and the curve of her smile. All I had left were whispers of her memory. But they’d never be enough.
“I’d ask how you’re holding up, though I’ve never been one to ask foolish questions.”
Waverly lowered herself down, sitting on the top step of my parents’ porch next to me. I suspected there’d been quite a battle between her and Noah to see who got to come out here first. In all honesty, I was glad she’d won. Not that I didn’t want him. I wanted him every minute of every day. But right then, I needed her no-bullshit attitude to yank me out of my pity party.
“Where’s Dave?”
My parents and Noah had spirited me away from the field earlier, leaving my team to deal with the aftermath. Normally, I would’ve balked over leaving someone else to clean up my mess, but this whole situation was about as far from normal as you could get.
“Duncan has him locked down at your brother’s place for now.”
I nodded, staring straight ahead into the darkness.
“When I mentioned choices earlier,” she started, “the assumption was Jill fired those shots. If you’d wanted to circumvent the system in order to get a sick woman the help she needed, I would’ve had your back.”
“Well,” I scoffed. “That’s no longer an option.”
“Not entirely.”
“What do you mean?”
She twisted sideways; a sea of emotion flitting across her face. “He’s going to jail, Lanie. I refuse to stop it. The question is for how long?”
Waverly didn’t follow a specific set of rules, but everything she did had a purpose. It took me a minute to comprehend what she’d set up from the beginning; what she’d done to make certain I had no regrets.
“There’s no police report.”
She shook her head once. “No, there’s not.”
“And you blocked the Denver PD when they wanted my statement.”
“Also true.”
“Holy shit, Waverly.”
“Like I said, Agent Biggs”––she bumped me with her shoulder––“Dave Benson will spend time behind bars, but it’s your call as to what charges he’ll be facing.”
“How do I know the right move here?”
“Go with your gut. It’s the best tool in our box.” The door creaked open and I knew instantly who was behind us. “I'm surprised it took you this long, Agent Anderson. ”
“I gave you four minutes instead of three. You should be grateful.”
As the two of them traded places, he slipped his jacket around my shoulders. Funny thing was, I hadn’t even noticed the cold until his warmth surrounded me.
“I’ll remember you said that the next time I’m handing out shitty assignments,” she snorted.
The door creaked a second time, then closed with a loud bang as it smacked against the frame. We fell into a comfortable silence while I gathered my thoughts.
“Does it make me a bad person if I said I wish it had been Jill?”
“No, Lanie. It makes you human.”
“Sure would sting a helluva lot less if it had been.”
Betrayal was a hard pill to swallow. It sliced deep, cutting through a lifetime of memories without warning or remorse.
“I hate this for you.” Strong fingers threaded through mine, squeezing gently. “I’d take it all away if I could.”
“I know.” Closing my eyes, I leaned into him. “What would you do? Be real with me. Don’t hold back.”
“I’d throw the fucking book at him and not think twice.”
“Okay, maybe hold back a little.” I grinned, not at all shocked by his response.
“Sorry, Darlin’, but Dave sealed his fate the second he pulled the trigger. No one forced him to choose violence.”
“You’re right.”
“I’ll support whatever you decide.” Warm lips pressed against my temple. “I’d lose my mind if something happened to you.”
“I know.”
“Do you? Because I seem to recall telling you not to put yourself in danger again, yet you did it anyway. ”
“Careful, Noah. Your Dom side is showing.”
“Oh, just wait, Little Lamb.” His teeth nipped my earlobe. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Noah
Second-degree assault was the charge Lanie and the Denver prosecutor Waverly contacted agreed upon. Dave pled guilty at his arraignment, and would be facing five years in prison instead of the twenty-four associated with first degree. Lucky for him, Lanie wasn’t me. I’d have let the bastard rot. He deserved way worse than he was getting, in my opinion.
Jill was another story all together. Something inside her broke when Dave was put into handcuffs. She went from inconsolable to despondent when the police cruiser pulled away. Amazingly, it was Iris who stepped up to the plate. She arranged for Jill to be accepted into a facility in Arizona, which specialized in grief counseling after the loss of a child. From what Iris explained, the place was similar to Juniper Springs––minus the pot. It shouldn’t have taken another tragedy before Jill got the help she needed, but what was done was done.
That all happened two days ago and since the dust had finally settled somewhat, we were on our way home. With the Bratva threat still out there, Duncan offered to drive the SUV so Lanie and I could fly back with Waverly and Koen. “Safety in numbers,” he said.
I smiled, thinking about how this little community not only rallied around Lanie, they turned out in a big way to see us off. Even the little old lady, who’d threatened me with shoveling pig shit our first night here, pulled me in for a hug. It was a bittersweet ending, but it wasn’t goodbye. We’d return in a few months for Lee and Amy’s wedding, plus Lanie’s parents were already planning a trip to Huntington.
“How many text messages did you have from the girls?” I asked about halfway through our four-hour flight.
“Sixty-seven, if you only count the ones from the past week.”
“They missed you.”
“You have no idea how much I missed them.”
She went back to scrolling through her phone as mine vibrated in my back pocket. The past two and a half weeks of being cut off from our friends was an experience I didn’t want to replicate any time soon. They were as essential to us as breathing.
Pulling out my cell, I tapped on the screen to open the message from Keaton.
Keaton: It’s done. You owe me.
Me: Thank you and don’t worry, I’ll handle any fallout.
Keaton: You’re damn right you will. No way am I taking the blame.
Keaton: Oh, and be prepared. Henley and Jade have a welcome home dinner planned.
Me: I figured they’d do something.
Keaton: I’ll see you in a few hours.
Me: You picking us up from the airport?
Keaton: Nope. I value my life too much. Good luck, lol.
Me: Asshole.
“Was that Keaton?” Lanie settled back against the sofa, a perk of flying in a private jet. It seemed I owed my partner more than one favor.
“Yup. How’s your side?”
“It feels fine. Like nothing ever happened.”
Her stitches came out this morning, right before we boarded the plane. Scarring would be minimal, especially if she massaged a little vitamin E oil into it every day. I’d already volunteered for the task.
When she closed her eyes and yawned, I drew her close, rubbing circles up and down her back. We both slept like shit last night, even after a vigorous round of lovemaking. Hopefully once we were back into the swing of things, our minds would settle down. Everything else would fall into place from there.
“Love you, Lanie.”
“Love you too, Cowboy.”
I really hoped she still felt the same in a few hours.
“I never said yes, Noah Michael Anderson!”
Yup, she full named me. I’d stepped in a huge pile of shit. So why the hell couldn’t I stop smiling?
“You never said no either, Alaina Lyn Biggs.”
Poking the bear wasn’t smart, especially when said bear was a five-foot-five special agent known for her quick temper and nasty right hook. Yet, there I was, poking away. Someone really should’ve stopped me.
“Where exactly in my nonanswer did you think it gave you the right to have my entire townhouse boxed up and delivered to your house?”
“Our house, and not everything is here. I told Keaton your clothes were off-limits.”
“That’s true. He did.”
At least my best friend was attempting to help a brother out. The same couldn’t be said for his fiancée, who was seconds away from cracking up laughing. Lord knew if she exerted herself too much, she might go into early labor. Hell, she should probably be sitting down.
“I can’t even with you right now.”
When Lanie put her hands on her hips, I switched tactics, hoping to appeal to her more reasonable side.
“It’s safer for you here, Darlin’.”
“Says who?”
Uhh…damn. Tread carefully, Noah.
First off, where did the little voice in my head come from? Second…why didn’t I listen?
“Everyone?”
No. No. No, you idiot!
“How’s this for safe?” She waltzed right up to me, shoved my chest with both hands, and said the one thing guaranteed to stop me in my tracks and bring me to my knees.
“Bean bag.”
She safe-worded me.
“Fuck!”
Spinning on her heel, she stormed out my back door onto the deck, Henley hot on her trail. I should’ve been happy she didn’t insist on leaving all together. Tearing my fingers through my hair, I began to pace a path among the myriad of boxes littering my living room floor.
Keaton furrowed his brow. “She’s mad I didn’t bring her stupid bean bag couch?”
“Fuck!”
Mercifully, the doorbell spared me from having to explain further. Not that I was ashamed of my bedroom proclivities, it just wasn’t any of their business what we did behind closed doors. But based on the scathing look I received from Jade when I opened the door, I’d have to give them something. Without Koen and Keaton’s help, I didn’t stand a chance in hell of getting past Lanie’s girl squad to beg for forgiveness.
“What did you do, Noah? Jade’s phone has been blowing up for the past three minutes.”
“Fuck.” I slammed the door shut behind Koen.
“Seriously. Enough with the fucks.” Keaton walked to my fridge and grabbed three beers. He had to have brought them by earlier when he dropped off the boxes because I knew for a fact they weren’t in there before we left for Denver. “Try stringing together a complete sentence?”
“I fucked up.”
“No shit, Agent Obvious.” He handed first me, then Koen, a beer before popping the top off of his own.
“I wasn’t that late getting here. What the hell did I miss?”
For the second time in my life, I blurted, “I’m a Dom.”
Beer sprayed out of Koen’s mouth, drenching everything in its path; the floor, the couch, my shoes. Meanwhile, Keaton still had the bottle tilted back against his mouth and from what I could tell, he was draining the contents. Eventually, he set the empty bottle down on my coffee table, then scrubbed his fingers across his eyes .
“Bean bag wasn’t about her sofa, was it?”
“Not even close,” I confirmed.
“Sooo it was…?”
“Her safe word.”
“Uh hmm.” He hummed. “Makes perfect sense now.”
“What does? You fuckers still haven’t filled me in on the drama.”
While Keaton grabbed another beer, I brought Koen up to speed. Not surprisingly, he laughed his ass off when he found out I’d moved Lanie in without her knowledge, then he was pissed I didn’t include him in my plans.
“What are you gonna do?”
I thought about it for a moment and came up with only one solution.
“Beg.”