Chapter Fifteen
Archer
“E CHO, WAIT, HOLD on,” I bellowed.
“I can’t believe you!” she hissed. “Is this what your life is like all the time? Getting into fist fights twice a day?”
“I swear to you it’s not,” I said. “I know it makes me look like some sort of brute but—”
“I came here tonight because I thought maybe I’d overreacted about the whole Ezra thing, but now I see I was right and that this has all been a big mistake.”
“Mistake? You’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me, and I’m sure that’s the last thing you want to hear right now, but there’s no way in hell I’m gonna let you walk away because of my dumbass.”
“ Let me ? You’ll let me walk away. I’m not your woman… I’m not your old lady or whatever.” She scowled. “You’re just some guy I barely know.”
A burning pain hit my chest and I frowned. “You know that’s not true. You know who I am. I just fucked up, that’s all.”
“No, that’s not all,” she snapped. “You make choices and twice today, you’ve chosen violence.”
“Come on, I barely touched Ezra.”
“There.” She jabbed a finger toward me. “Right there, the very fact that you can downplay assaulting a man in public”
“A man who was about to assault you,” I pointed out.
“He was going to grab my arm,” she countered.
“Which he should have lost one of his for.”
“See?” She threw her arms in the air. “You’re glorifying violence.”
I crossed my arms. “And you’re minimizing that creep’s actions.”
“What about that guy in there?” She waved a hand toward the door. “He’s one of your club brothers, isn’t he?”
“That guy? No fuckin’ way,” I hissed. “He’s a prospect who I’m hoping won’t be around for much longer.”
“So, you were beating him up because you don’t like him?”
“No, I don’t like him, but if you must know, I was kicking his ass because of something he said about you.”
“Me?”
I cocked my head. “Well, indirectly, anyway.”
“So, let me get this straight,” she said. “You’re saying you’ve chosen violence twice today because of me?”
“Yes.” I shrugged. “I’m not using you as an excuse, but you are the reason. I take full responsibility for my actions, but you’ve done something to me. You’ve awakened an instinct to protect you at any cost. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before and I’m sorry if I scared you.”
“Am I supposed to find all of this romantic?”
“I can’t tell you how to feel, Echo. I just want you to know it’s the truth.” I closed the distance between us. “This is my life, baby, but I promise you most of my time is not spent getting into fights and I promise I’ll do better to keep this shit away from you in the future.”
“Future? You really think we can have a future together?”
“It’s all I think about.” I grinned. “Besides, you already said you’d marry me, and I’m a firm practitioner of the no take backs rule.”
She dropped her head to my chest and let out a frustrated groan. “What am I going to do with you?”
“You’re going to come back inside and let me show you off.”
“And you’ll apologize to that man you hit?” she asked.
“Not a chance in hell. ”
“It was worth a try,” she grumbled.
I chuckled, kissing her quickly before taking her hand and leading her back inside.
* * *
The next day, I’d cleared my schedule because I had a mission.
Echo’s rich kid ex-boyfriend, Ezra Biddle, lived alone in a twenty-two-hundred square foot craftsman style house overlooking the Willamette River in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
It was modest compared to the ten-million-dollar super homes surrounding it, but its riverfront location was magnificent.
The home’s interior was clearly decorated by someone who knew what they were doing.
From everything Echo had told me about Ezra, and from the one brief but dramatic time I’d met him, I doubted it was him.
I loved the furniture used throughout the home, especially the Chesterfield tufted leather sofa in the front room.
Not only was the leather work impeccable, but the sofa was also extremely comfortable.
Good news for me as I sat in it for almost an hour before Ezra got home.
He came through the front door with shopping bags in both arms. Too busy navigating the door handle and his load to notice me sitting there. Once he’d closed and locked the door behind him, I announced my presence.
“Hello, Ezra,” I said, calmly.
Ezra screamed like a bitch, dropping his bags to the floor .
I held up the pistol I was holding for him to see. “Scream again and it’ll be the last sound you ever make. Understand?”
Ezra covered his mouth with his hands and nodded furiously.
“Good. Take a seat,” I said, motioning to chair opposite me.
Ezra did as he was told.
“H…How d…did you get in h…here?”
“Impressive, huh?”
Ezra looked at the security system control panel on the wall.
“Your system is disabled. Including the panic button and voice activation. My hacker said you have one of the best security setups he’s come across. Fortunately for me, he’s better.”
“W…What do you want? I d…don’t have any cash here,” Ezra stammered.
“If I wanted to steal from you, I’d already be gone by the time you got home. But I’m not a thief and you don’t have anything of value to me. In fact, it’s you who wants what I have,” I said.
Ezra began to whimper.
“You know that night at the mall I thought I’d made myself clear that I didn’t want you bothering me or Echo ever again. Then, today I got a summons in the mail.”
“I t…told you I was gonna s…sue.”
“And I told you to back the fuck off,” I replied, leveling my gun at his head.”
“I’m s…sorry. P…please. Oh, God, please don’t kill me. ”
“I didn’t come here to kill you. I came here to make a deal with you.”
“A deal?”
“That’s right,” I said, lowering my gun. “A deal. Not a proposal or a mutual understanding, a deal. I will set the terms, you will agree, and then we’ll shake hands. Understand?”
Ezra nodded.
“Good. My terms are simple. I only need two things from you. First thing tomorrow you’re gonna call your lawyer and withdraw your lawsuit.
Tell him after some reflection on the matter, you’ve decided to drop the matter entirely.
You will not mention this conversation to him or anyone else, ever.
This is the last time you and I will ever see each other.
And the last time you saw Echo is the last time.
If I ever have to pay you another visit, it will be to put a bullet in your skull. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Stand up,” I ordered.
Ezra stood, his legs visibly shaking.
I stood up and put my pistol in the waistband of my jeans.
“Now that we’ve come to an agreement we shake on it like gentlemen,” I said, extending my hand.
As soon as Ezra gave me his hand, I grabbed his wrist with my left, let go of his hand and took hold of his right pinky finger and snapped it. Ezra screamed in pain as I kept my grip tight on his wrist.
“That’s how you sign my agreement, understand?”
“Yes, yes, oh fuck,” he screamed .
“Good, because you need to sign the duplicate,” I said, breaking his ring finger next.
Ezra dropped to his knees, matted in sweat, writhing in pain.
“Is our deal sealed or do you need to sign in triplicate?” I asked, grabbing his middle finger.
“No! I understand. I p…promise.”
“Good, because if you ever come anywhere near Echo again, I’ll break every bone in your body before I kill you.”
With that, I took off. Leaving Ezra on the floor with his shopping bags to cry into his new Gucci shirts.
* * *
Echo
Almost a month later, my relationship with Archer was going swimmingly. My relationship with my job, not so much. I dragged myself through my door at seven-thirty-seven, having been up since five a.m. I was exhausted , both physically and emotionally.
Today had been a day of nothing but challenges for me, and it had taken a toll. If I was being honest, the last few days had also taken a toll, but today was rough, with Judy being my last patient of the day, and she was close to the end, which was the worst of it.
I had just set my kettle on the stove to boil when my doorbell rang. I flipped off the gas, and headed to my front door, opening it to find Archer holding take out bags and a bottle of my favorite wine. “ Hey.”
“Um, hi, what are you doing here? I thought you had your club meeting.”
“Hatch changed it to officers only, so I thought you might want Thai, wine, a massage and a bath, then to sleep.”
I nearly burst into tears. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” He followed me into the kitchen and set everything on the island. “My sister even let me borrow their table.”
“She has a massage table?”
Archer nodded. “Ruin had a knee injury a while ago, so they bought it so the massage therapist didn’t need to bring it every time.”
“Oh my god.” That’s when I did burst into tears.
“Okay, baby, come here,” he said, pulling me into his arms.
“I’m so tired.”
“I know.”
“I need a week off.”
“Take a week off,” he said.
I huffed. “I can’t take a week off, Archer. I’ve got a full patient load already and with Bridgewater closing, I’m sure I’m going to get more.”
“What’s Bridgwater?”
“It’s the senior living home just off the freeway.”
“Oh, the really nice one over by the Fred Meyer?”
I nodded. “It recently lost its federal funding and with private grants drying up, it’s projected to close by the end of the year.”
“That’s not good,” he breathed out.
I sighed. “No, it’s not. So, there’s no time for me to take a day off.”
“You don’t get vacation time?”
“Yes, I get vacation time, but right now isn’t a good time to take it.”
“Right, but you don’t work tomorrow, right?”
I sighed, burrowing into his chest. “No, I don’t work tomorrow, unless one of my patients has an emergency.”