Chapter 10 #2
Then there was the sound of paper tearing, and Macie’s anguished voice crying out, “No!”
“Now,” Colt whispered—and as a unit, the three soldiers entered the room.
Colt had time to see Macie on her knees on the floor, in front of scattered pieces of paper and other odds and ends.
Theodore Dorentes saw them before Macie did, and he lunged for her with the taser he held in his hand.
Later, Colt mused that perhaps he would’ve reacted differently if the man had come after him with the taser…but he didn’t. He targeted Macie, who wasn’t even looking at him and couldn’t protect herself.
Colt threw himself at Teddy. The prongs of the taser crackled in the oddly quiet room, but Colt didn’t even feel them touch his chest. His arm was already moving toward the other man’s face and even though the electricity moving through Colt’s system jammed up his nerves, he threw his body weight behind his fist and managed to crash into Teddy with his body as he fell.
He felt Teddy’s nose break under his fist, and his head snapped back with the power of the punch.
Both men landed in a heap just feet from Macie. In seconds, Ghost was pulling Teddy out from under Colt and kicking the taser away. Colt forced his body to move, thankful that, once his fist had hit Teddy’s face, the man had dropped the device.
By the time Colt had regained his senses and turned to Macie, Truck had already wrapped her in his arms and turned his back, protecting his sister from whatever might happen next.
Colt crawled to the siblings and jerked at Truck’s arm. Surprisingly, Truck let go of his sister and all but thrust her into Colt’s arms. He felt Macie trembling, and assumed the same position Truck had, holding her in his arms and protecting her by turning his back to the room.
Within moments, the room was full of several pissed-off, hyped-up Special Forces soldiers, but all Colt could do was bury his face in Macie’s hair and rock back and forth.
Eventually, he realized that instead of being hysterical, she was trying to calm him.
“I’m okay, Colt. You got here in time. I’m okay.”
Taking a deep breath, Colt picked his head up and realized that he’d been crying, and he hadn’t even noticed. Macie shifted in his embrace and wiped the tears from his cheeks. “I’m fine,” she whispered.
“He’s dead,” Ghost said matter-of-factly.
“Dead?” Macie gasped.
It was the tone of her voice that snapped Colt out of the daze he’d been in. He stood and helped Macie to her feet as well. Then he pressed her cheek to his chest and turned to look at Teddy and Ghost.
The man was lying on the floor, his eyes open and staring unseeingly up at the ceiling.
“If I had to guess, I’d say you severed an artery in his brain. The force of his head twisting probably broke the artery, then him hitting the ground didn’t help any. He’s definitely dead,” Ghost confirmed.
“Fuck,” Colt said under his breath. He hadn’t meant to kill the man, just to keep him from hurting Macie.
“Self-defense,” Lucky said definitively.
Colt turned to look at him. “It was, but I’m not sure anyone will believe me.”
“They will when they see the video,” Lucky said nonchalantly.
“Video?” Macie asked, her voice muffled from being pressed against Colt’s chest.
“Never leave home without it,” Lucky quipped. “Grabbed your ladder and was going to breach the window after you made your move. I caught it all on video. Commander, you were definitely protecting Macie from being further harmed.”
Colt closed his eyes in relief.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at Truck. “Owe you, sir. Huge.”
Colt eyed the large man and pressed his luck while he could. “I want permission to ask your sister to marry me. Since her dad is an asshole, I’ve got no one to ask but you.”
He heard Macie gasp and felt her tighten her arms around him, but Colt kept his gaze on Truck’s.
The two men eyed each other for a long moment before Truck nodded. “One condition.”
“Name it,” Colt said.
“I want to be there to give her away. Don’t care if you do a courthouse quickie, fly to Vegas, or have the full-blown shindig. I want to be there.”
“Deal,” Colt said without having to think about it. It wasn’t even a concession, he’d already planned to ask Truck to be at their wedding, wherever and whenever it happened.
“Ma’am?” Grover said in his deep, rumbly voice.
Colt turned to see his soldier holding pieces of paper that had been torn.
Macie gasped and reached for it with a cry. She held the sonogram of her long-lost baby in her hands and sobbed.
Colt felt helpless. He didn’t know what to do to make this better.
“Can I see it?” Brain asked.
Macie let the other man take the pieces from her.
“I think I can fix this,” Brain said, once he’d examined the sonogram.
Colt glared at him, not wanting him to get Macie’s hopes up.
“You can?” she asked.
“Well, I can’t make it perfect, but I can scan the pieces, and put them back together on the computer and reprint it. It won’t be like new, but it’ll be pretty darn close,” Brain said with confidence.
Colt could see Truck looking on with the saddest expression on his face as he realized what Brain was holding, and why his sister was so upset. It was obvious brother and sister needed to talk.
“I’d appreciate that,” Macie said, her voice breaking.
“I’ve called the police,” Ghost said, interrupting the moment. “I would advise that everyone but Truck, Macie, myself, the commander, and Lucky disappear. Lucky, we need you to stay since you have the video. Leave everything where it is. Evidence.”
Colt knew he should be taking control instead of Ghost, but the only person he was concerned about at the moment was Macie. He picked her up and carried her out of the room and headed downstairs to await the cops.
Two hours later, Macie felt as if her head was going to explode. She was sitting on Colt’s lap on the couch, with his arms around her. Truck had gotten her a Vistaril tablet, but it hadn’t helped the anxiety migraine that had begun the moment she’d woken up in Trigger’s Porsche with Teddy driving.
She’d explained to the police at least three times everything she remembered. Teddy had bragged he’d killed the two thugs who’d broken into her apartment because they’d failed in their attempts at recovering her keepsake box. That was why the cops hadn’t been able to find them.
Then she’d learned he’d stashed a small amount of drugs in her box, but that wasn’t why he was so desperate to get his hands on it again.
He’d also put a list of his suppliers in there.
He knew if she found it and gave it to the cops, he was a dead man.
His suppliers would kill him for being so careless.
For someone as desperate as he was, he was also scarily patient.
He’d waited weeks for Macie to show back up at her apartment so he could confront her himself and find out what she’d done with the shoebox.
It was fairly obvious that he’d planned on killing her, just like he had his “friends,” after he got the list back.
Macie was glad to find out Trigger was all right. Apparently, Teddy had beaten him after tasing him a second time, to try to ensure he was knocked out for a long while, giving Teddy time to get to Killeen and collect his list.
She made sure the officers interviewing her knew she believed Teddy when he’d said he was going to kill her.
Colt had reassured her before the cops got there that he wouldn’t be arrested.
The “stand your ground” law that the state of Texas had meant that he didn’t need to attempt to retreat on his own property before using deadly force to defend himself or Macie.
Colt really had saved her life. Macie had no doubt about that and she also had no doubt Teddy would’ve tortured her before he’d killed her if he had the chance.
Thanks to Lucky, who apparently always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and his video, the cops didn’t arrest Colt.
After checking his background and finding out what he did on the Army post, they’d warned him not to leave town and to be available for any questions they might have, but they didn’t handcuff him and bring him to the station to be questioned.
Macie kept her eyes averted when the coroner came and wheeled Teddy’s body out of the house. The entire situation seemed surreal to her.
Truck, Ghost, and Lucky had stayed the entire time the police questioned her and Colt.
At one point, Truck disappeared upstairs and came back down with her shoebox.
He carefully placed it next to her laptop on the dining room table and gave her a look, which Macie knew meant he would want to talk about its contents later.
Looking at her laptop, Macie winced.
“What is it? Are you in pain?” Colt asked.
“No. I mean, yes, but it’s not that,” Macie said. “I went to my apartment to get a file I needed to help an author with her website, but I never did get it, and she still needs help.”
“I’m sure she’ll understand,” Truck said.
“No. She won’t. You don’t get it. These authors rely on me to get their work done. Yeah, she might feel bad about what happened, but that doesn’t mean she still doesn’t need her websites fixed.”
“You can do it tomorrow,” Colt said softly. “I’ll have one of the guys go to your apartment and pack up all your stuff and bring it here. Then you won’t have to worry what you have and don’t have anymore.”
Even though her head hurt, and she wanted nothing more to sit in a dark room and sleep, Macie turned to Colt. “Did you just ask me to move in with you?”
“No,” he said. “I told you that you’re moving in with me.”
Macie snorted and closed her eyes. She put her head on his shoulder and sighed. “I’m too tired and my head hurts too much to argue with you right now.”
She heard rustling, and she heard Truck and Lefty say their goodbyes to Colt. Then the room was silent, and still Macie didn’t open her eyes.
“If you truly don’t want to move in, I’m willing to compromise,” Colt told her softly.
Finally feeling mellow because of the pill she’d taken, Macie said, “There’s nothing I want more than to move in with you, Colt. I just can’t help but wonder what everyone else will think. We haven’t known each other that long.”
“I don’t care,” Colt said after a moment.
“And I don’t care what anyone else thinks.
I only care about what you think. If you honestly think it’s too fast, then I’ll back off and we can have sleepovers at each other’s places.
I want you to be comfortable with our relationship.
But I’ll tell you where I stand—I’ve already been looking at rings.
I’ve asked your brother for permission to ask you to marry me.
I’ve warned my superior officer that I might need some time off in the near future so I can go on my honeymoon…
and I’ve been asking around to learn who’s the best OBGYN in the area.
I’m in this for the long haul, hon. I can’t replace the daughter you lost, but I can do whatever it takes to give you more children. ”
“You want kids?” she asked incredulously.
“Honestly? I didn’t before I met you. But now I can’t stop thinking about what an amazing mother you’ll be.
I can almost picture your beautiful eyes and features on our children.
If you don’t mind me being an old fart by the time they get into high school, then I’m willing to give you as many children as you want. ”
Macie could feel her heart beating fast in her chest, but for once today it wasn’t because of her anxiety. Oh, she was still nervous as hell about moving in with Colt, but she couldn’t help but be excited about the prospect of spending the rest of her life with him.
“If you get thrown in prison will I get conjugal visits?” she teased.
Colt rolled his eyes. “Thanks to Lucky, I’m not going to prison. Are you… I didn’t mean to kill him,” Colt said, and Macie could hear the uneasiness in his tone. She hated that he was unsure about her reaction to what he’d done.
Forcing her eyes open, she sat up and straddled the man she loved.
She stared him in the eyes and said clearly, “I know you didn’t.
And you did what you had to do. I feel safer with every day that passes because of you.
I know that you’ll be the most protective dad any kid could ever have, and that eases my mind. ”
He sighed in relief.
“But I’m always going to be a nervous wreck,” Macie warned him. “And if we have kids, it’ll probably get worse. I’m going to need you to balance that out with our children. The last thing I want is for them to learn to be afraid of the world like I am.”
“You’re not afraid of the world,” Colt countered.
“And I love you exactly the way you are. You make me feel needed. Sure, I could go out and find a woman who was sure of herself one hundred percent of the time and who could take care of herself and all fourteen of her kids, but that’s not what I want.
That’s not who I want. I want you. Every gorgeous, beautiful inch of you.
You’re not flawed in my eyes, Macie. You’re perfect, and I’ll remind you every day of our lives if you let me. ”
“I’d love to move in with you,” Macie told him quietly.
“Good. I’ll call my men in the morning, and your stuff will be here by noon, and you can fix your author’s website, and we can be back in bed trying to make a baby by dinner time.”
Macie rolled her eyes and chuckled. He was pushing his luck, but she didn’t call him on it. “I’m ready for a nap,” she said instead.
Without a word, Colt stood, taking Macie with him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and felt his hands under her ass, holding her to him as he walked toward the stairs. He took her to the guest room and laid her on the queen-size bed.
When she started to ask, he put his finger over her lips. “Just for tonight. Tomorrow is soon enough to face any lingering demons in that room. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said. Then, as an afterthought, she asked, “Is there a way out of this room…just in case?”
He smiled down at her and brushed her hair off her forehead and nodded toward the window. “I went out and bought rope ladders after you jumped out of your apartment window. There’s one in every room on this floor.”
“I love you,” Macie said as she shut her eyes.
She felt Colt’s lips on her forehead and heard him say, “I love you, too.”