CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Pierce drove with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on Charley’s thigh. Thankfully, Zane had picked up his Jeep for him and had it waiting at the hospital.
San Diego moved past them in a blur of lights and late-evening traffic. Charley was quiet and looking out the window most of the way, occasionally blinking like she was trying to force herself out of the memory loop playing behind her eyes.
When he turned into his neighborhood, the security gate slid open, and he eased the Jeep through, headlights sweeping over clean sidewalks and trimmed hedges. It was a quiet neighborhood not far from the base.
He pulled into his driveway and cut the engine.
The silence that followed was even louder.
Charley didn’t move right away. She sat there, as if she were bracing herself for the next thing.
Pierce exhaled slowly, then reached across the center console and placed his hand over hers.
She looked up at him, and the moment their eyes met, something in his chest tightened.
The turmoil in her gaze wasn’t dramatic, and it wasn’t hysterical or frantic.
It was worse than that. It was controlled.
Contained. Like she was holding herself together by sheer force of will, and if she loosened her grip even a fraction, she would come undone.
It broke his heart.
“Hey,” he said quietly.
Charley swallowed. “Hey.”
Pierce lifted his hand from hers and brought it to her cheek, cupping her face with gentle pressure. Her skin was warm under his palm, and it grounded him just as much as it did her.
“You’re not alone in this,” he said, voice steady even though his insides felt anything but. “Do you hear me? Not for a second. We’re going to get answers. Whatever it takes.”
Her lips pressed together, then softened. A faint smile tried to appear; it was real enough to give him a sliver of relief.
“I know,” she whispered.
Pierce leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead, lingering there a moment longer than necessary. Not because he was trying to be dramatic, but because he needed her to feel it. Needed her to understand he wasn’t going anywhere.
When he pulled back, she blinked hard, and he could see the shine in her eyes even before she looked away.
He got out first and walked around to her side, opening the door. She stepped out carefully, moving like her body still hadn’t caught up with everything that had happened. Pierce grabbed the two bags they’d picked up from her place.
As he shut her door, the headlights from Ray’s truck rolled in behind him, followed by Jessica’s car.
Pierce didn’t need to look closely to know they had decided, without even saying it out loud, that Charley wasn’t going to be left alone tonight. His team didn’t do “go home and call if you need anything.” They did “we’re here, whether you like it or not.”
He nodded once to Ray, and Ray returned it in that quiet way of his that said, We’ve got you.
Pierce turned back to Charley and set his hand gently at the small of her back, guiding her toward the stairs of the front porch. He did push, and didn’t steer like she couldn’t handle herself. He was just there as a steady point of contact.
They walked up the steps to his place, the warm porch light casting a welcoming glow. Pierce unlocked the door and ushered her inside.
Inside, voices drifted from the kitchen area.
Cole’s low laugh. Seth murmurs, and Zane’s quieter tone. The guys were already there, sprawled in his living space like they owned it. Well, Seth did live there. He was renting one of Pierce’s spare rooms until he found something of his own.
Charley’s eyes flicked toward the sound, then away.
Pierce kept his hand on her back and led her down the hallway to his bedroom. He had already decided she could sleep there if she wanted to. If she wanted the couch, that was fine too. All that mattered was that she was in his house.
He pushed the door open and stepped aside to let her walk in first.
“Bathroom’s right there,” he said quietly, pointing to the right. “If you want a shower, towels are in the closet. Take whatever you need.”
Charley nodded, her gaze roaming his room like she was trying to absorb the normalcy of it. The bed was made neatly. His dresser was too organized for a man who claimed he wasn’t particular. A framed photo of the team sat on the shelf next to a challenge coin display.
She took a small breath. “Okay.”
Pierce started to turn toward the door to give her privacy.
But before he could take a step, her fingers curled around his hand. She tugged him back gently, not forcefully, just enough that he turned toward her again. Then she stepped close and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her forehead against his chest.
For a second, Pierce didn’t move. The unexpected intimacy hit him like a soft punch.
Then his arms came around her automatically, pulling her in and holding her like she was something he had been afraid to lose ever since Ray told him what had happened.
“I know I’ve already said this, but thank you,” she whispered, voice muffled against him.
His throat tightened.
“For what?” he asked, though he already knew.
“For… all of it,” she said softly. “For being here. For not letting me… do this alone.”
Pierce closed his eyes for a moment, breathing her in. Her shampoo, faint hospital antiseptic still clinging to her skin. The reality of her in his arms. Alive and here with him in his home.
He leaned back just enough to look down at her face.
Her eyes were damp, lashes clumped slightly from tears she hadn’t fully let fall, and there was something painfully vulnerable in the way she looked up at him.
Pierce lifted his hands, framing her face, thumbs brushing lightly along her cheekbones as if he could smooth the fear right out of her.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he said quietly. “I’ll do whatever for you, Charley. Whatever you need.”
Her mouth trembled, then she gave him a real smile—still small, but stronger than the one in the Jeep.
He couldn’t help it. He leaned in and kissed her. It was tender and unhurried. Just a soft press of his lips to hers that carried everything he didn’t say out loud—I’m here. You’re safe. I’ve got you.
When he pulled back, her cheeks were a little flushed. Her eyes stayed locked on his for a beat longer than necessary.
Pierce exhaled slowly, forcing himself to step back before he forgot how to act like a gentleman.
“Go,” he murmured, tilting his chin toward the bathroom. “Shower. Or bath. Whatever helps. I’ll be in the kitchen with the others.”
Charley nodded, squeezing his hand once before letting go. “Okay.”
Pierce hesitated at the door, watching her for a moment as she stood there wounded but upright, shaken but not broken, trying so hard to keep herself composed.
Something fierce rose inside him. Protective and possessive in a way that had nothing to do with ownership and everything to do with determination.
He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door gently behind him.
As he walked toward the kitchen, the voices grew louder, the normal sounds of his team filling the air. But inside Pierce, there was only one steady, unshakable feeling.
Whoever had pulled that trigger today and hurt his woman had just made themselves Pierce’s problem.
He had spent years training for threats in foreign countries. However, never expected one to show up on his doorstep.
In the kitchen, everyone was gathered around the table like they had done a thousand times before. Only tonight the mood was different. There were no jokes. No trash talk. Just a heavy, deliberate quiet that said everyone understood this wasn’t a normal “hang at Pierce’s place” kind of night.
Ray sat at the head of the table, elbows braced on the wood.
Jessica was beside him, posture straight but eyes tired.
Seth leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, watching everything without looking like he was watching.
Cole’s fingers drummed lightly against the table in restless rhythm.
Zane sat quieter than the rest, gaze shifting from Pierce to the doorway to the hallway like he expected another shoe to drop.
Jessica was the first to speak when Pierce stepped in. “How is she?” Her voice was gentle, but there was steel under it too. Pierce knew that Jessica was very protective of Charley.
Pierce slowed near the table, bracing a hand on the back of a chair but not sitting.
He wasn’t sure he could. His body had been running on adrenaline since Ray pulled him off the grinder.
Now that he was home, with Charley safe behind a locked door, everything inside him felt like it might finally catch up.
“I don’t know how to answer that,” he admitted, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “Physically? She’s okay. A little sore.” His voice tightened slightly. “But she’s quiet. Like she’s not all the way here. She hasn’t really said much since we left the hospital.”
“That’s completely normal,” Jessica said, as if she had been expecting that answer. “She’s in shock, Pierce. It’ll hit her in waves. Give her time.”
Ray nodded once. “She’s a fighter. But this was a lot.”
Pierce exhaled, the tension in his shoulders not easing, just shifting. “I know. I just—” He stopped himself before the sentence became something rawer. I just want to fix it. But he couldn’t.
Jessica leaned forward slightly. “Also,” she added, “we called her aunt and uncle. Told them what happened and where she was. They were scared, obviously, but they’re on their way over. They should be here soon.”
Pierce’s chest tightened again, but this time it wasn’t fear. It was relief. Charley adored them. Having them here would steady her in a way none of them could.
“Good,” he said quietly. “She’ll appreciate that.”
Ray shifted in his chair and lifted his chin toward Pierce, business sliding into place like armor. “Jess and I stopped by the station on the way back,” he said. “I met with Chief Donnelly.”
Pierce looked at him. “Your friend.”
Ray nodded. “Yeah. Unfortunately, I have more bad news.”