Chapter 21 #2
“Oh, my God!” I scramble to press the call button at the side of the bed for the nurse, then take his face in my hands, leaning over him. “Liam. I’m right here. Can you hear me?”
The tiniest flicker of a smile pulls at his lips.
I glance toward the door. “Willow!”
My scream comes out a little unhinged, but after waiting for so long, after feeling like I wasn’t breathing since the moment his eyes last closed, I can’t contain the emotions bubbling inside me any more.
A second later, she pops her head around the corner, her eyes wide with concern. “What?”
Tears stream down my cheeks as I release a choked laugh and smile at her. “He’s awake!”
* * *
LIAM
Footsteps move away.
I blink a few more times, trying to clear away the dark fog enveloping my mind.
Slowly, bits and pieces of memories filter through it.
Lucky waking me…
Giz growling…
Movement outside…
The men in black with guns…
Pain…
Fear…
It hits me now, flooding back in.
But Lucky’s face appears above me, those warm blue eyes filled with tears somehow soothing the panic almost instantly.
“Hey!” Her soft hands cup my cheeks and she smiles, but it’s such a contradiction to what I see in her gaze. “Welcome back.”
Back?
The low, constant beeping sound at my left slowly registers.
A hospital.
I’m in the hospital…
And then that memory returns.
The gunshot.
The blinding, searing agony in my shoulder.
Fuuuck…
As my brain fully comes back online, the dull ache there registering now, even through the haze of drugs they must have given me.
Lucky’s fingers drift across my cheeks, as if she needs to feel me to really believe I’m here. “How you feeling?”
I groan, shifting slightly in the bed, trying to find a more comfortable position, but moving isn’t a good idea. Pain spikes, and I grit my teeth. “Like I got shot.”
It’s meant to be funny, but the small laugh it brings only makes my shoulder hurt more. I wince, instantly regretting it.
Joking is bad…
Noted.
Tears stream down Lucky’s face, and she bites her trembling lip, trying to keep from completely breaking down.
“Hey…” I lift my hand, to reach for her, but something tugs at it. The IV cords prevent me from raising it too high. I manage to get my palm around her wrist and squeeze. “Don’t cry. I’m…okay.”
At least, I think I am.
The pain sucks, as does this feeling that I’m missing something.
A giant gap in my memory that ends with my axe in the back of the man threatening all of us…
“What happened, Bluebell?”
She sniffles, finally releasing my face to swipe away the tears from her cheeks. “Don’t worry about that right now. Everyone is safe. The nurse will be here soon.”
I shake my head, trying to push myself up slightly despite the pain it causes, needing to be closer to her. “I don’t want the nurse. Just want you.”
Lucky is the only thing I can even think about in this moment. Holding her. Soothing her distress. Feeling her pressed against me and knowing she’s all right.
But she gently places a hand on my right shoulder, nudging me down. “I’m not going to let you hurt yourself.”
She leans in, kissing me softly, letting her lips linger over mine in an assurance that she can’t voice. When she pulls away, her gaze has cleared a little. Some of that panic and worry has melted away, but enough lingers there that I can already tell what she’s going to say before she does.
“I’m so sorry, Liam. For everything. They could have killed you. They could have—”
I squeeze her wrist, tugging her hand from me to twine our fingers together. “I’m okay. Please tell me what happened after I passed out.”
Lucky releases a heavy sigh. “Connor and I brought you here while Killian called the sheriff and dealt with what was left at the homestead.”
“What about Gizmo?”
Her lips curl, relief in her gaze. “He’s okay. Elaine came and took him to the vet to get checked out. He’s with her right now until we can go home.”
Home.
The mountain.
The place that has always meant safety and security.
All that was shattered last night.
That evil man tried to destroy it, tried to demolish what we have, what we’ve built. He tried to take Lucky from me.
Anger rises, tightening my grip on her. “He’s dead, right?”
I don’t need to clarify which he I’m asking about.
Lucky nods. “He is.”
A relieved breath rushes from my lungs. “Thank God…did you talk to the sheriff?”
She shakes her head and glances nervously toward the hallway. “Not yet. They’ve been keeping him out of the room because they knew I wasn’t in any mindset to speak to him while I was waiting for you to wake up.”
I nod, trying to imagine how frantic she must have been, given how I know I would feel if anything had happened to her. “Probably a good thing.”
Tony Briggs is an excellent sheriff, committed to his job and role, but he’s also an incredible human being. A friend to the McBrides for a very long time.
He wouldn’t push to talk to Lucky if he knew she needed time, which she clearly did. Even now that I’m awake, she’s still trembling, still barely clinging to her composure, trying to keep it together for me.
She releases a heavy sigh and buries her face against my chest. “I’m just so glad you’re all right.”
I wrap my good arm around her and hold her there, letting her cry, letting her release everything she’s been trying to hold in this entire time for my sake.
Lucky doesn’t need to hide anything from me.
She has never had to.
Certainly not now, after she saved my life. Lorell would have killed me in that barn if she hadn’t ignored my order to stay in the cabin. If Gizmo hadn’t come in and attacked him, and if she hadn’t had the strength to face him, Connor wouldn’t have had time to get to us. And I wouldn’t be here.
Her quiet sobs fill the room, and I run my fingers through her hair gently, trying to soothe her the only way I can right now. “I’m not going anywhere, Bluebell.”
Ever.
It would literally take death to rip me away from this woman.
Movement in the doorway catches my attention, and I glance up to see Tony walk in, followed by Killian, Connor, and Willow, who holds a sleeping Niall against her chest.
The sheriff grins, inclining his head toward me. “Glad to see you awake.”
Lucky lifts her head, swiping at her tear-stained cheeks.
I offer Tony a returned smile. “Good to be awake.”
Killian, Connor, and Willow all look like they’re fighting back the same emotions overtaking Lucky and me right now.
Tony pulls off his hat, his gaze locking with Lucky’s. “The boys have filled me in on everything that’s been happening the last several weeks.” It flickers over to me. “I wish you two would’ve come to me. Would’ve told me the situation.”
The admonishment in his tone is overshadowed by the hurt that we didn’t come to him.
Killian leans against the door jamb, arms crossed over his chest, his jaw hard. “You’re too good at your job, Tony. You would’ve brought her in on the open warrant and handed her over to the FBI.”
Which is why Lucky was so terrified of having a conversation with him, despite the fact that Tony is a good friend.
She knew the clerks from the bank would tell the police about her involvement, even if they believed she was truly a hostage. And once she ran…that only made her look more guilty and gave them reason to suspect her.
He nods slowly. “You’re right. I probably would have. But at least I could have prevented this”—he spreads out a hand toward me—“from happening.”
Maybe he’s right.
If we had gone to him after Lucky came clean to me, if she had been taken into custody and held while the FBI investigated her story, that death squad never would have come for her.
McBride Mountain and the homestead wouldn’t have ended up on the Lorell family’s radar or hit list. But the thought of her being alone, terrified, in some cell somewhere, wondering if she had been abandoned by me, by us, after we promised to protect her, never would have allowed me to take that route.
Especially because there was a very real chance she wouldn’t be believed.
“What happens now?” My question comes out shaky, barely a whisper. “With Lucky…with…everything.”
Connor cringes and looks away, and Willow offers a sympathetic look.
The sheriff locks his gaze with Lucky. “I spoke with Agent Michaelson from the local Columbia FBI field office. He’s in charge of the investigation into the bank robbery and flew in to manage what happened at the homestead as soon as I contacted them.
He’s there now, collecting evidence and assisting the Charlotte FBI officers.
I’ve told them what I know, but”—his eyes shift over me with an apology in them before they move back to Lucky—“you’re going to have to meet with them—today—to give them any information you have about those men up there and what happened with the robbery. ”
I tighten my grip on Lucky’s hand, swallowing thickly. “Is she going to be arrested?”
He shrugs. “I honestly don’t know what they plan to do, but I’m not going to arrest her now. I know she’s not going anywhere. Not as long as you’re here.” He points to me, then offers Lucky an apologetic smile. “I’ll leave you guys alone.”
As he says the words, a nurse bustles in, glaring at everyone congregated just inside the door. “All of you need to get out.”
Lucky’s grip tightens on my hand, and she shakes her head. “I’m not leaving.”
I can’t fight the smile that pulls at my lips, despite my growing discomfort the longer I’m awake. “She’s not leaving.”
The nurse releases an exasperated sigh. “Fine.” She swings an arm toward Connor, Killian, and Willow. “Everyone else though—out.”
She closes the door behind the rest of them and comes over to the machines to my left, checking the various readouts. “How are you feeling?”
Instead of looking at her, I watch Lucky to see how she’s doing after that conversation with the sheriff.
She appears surprisingly calm, considering that the FBI will show up soon and whisk her away for an interview—and potential arrest if they don’t get the warrant that was issued after the robbery vacated.
“I’m okay.”
“I can see that…”
I glance over at the nurse, and she offers a little half grin, her gaze dipping to where my hand is still clenched around Lucky’s.
“How’s the pain?”
Terrible.
But I don’t want Lucky to worry about me any more.
It isn’t anything I can’t deal with.
I swallow thickly. “Okay.”
The nurse gives me a reproachful look. “You know you don’t have to lie just because she’s here.”
Lucky narrows her eyes on me, squeezing my hand. “If you’re in pain, you need to tell her so she can help you.”
There’s a plea in her voice, to stop being tough or trying to protect her and to think about myself for once—even if she won’t say it out loud.
I chuckle at how intense she glares at me and wince. “Okay, it’s not great.”
Lucky immediately flinches, her body tensing with the knowledge that I’m in pain, and I can see it in her eyes, the guilt she’s going to allow to overwhelm her.
“I would do it again, Lucky. Anything to keep you safe.” I tug her gently until she leans closer to me, until I can release her hand and draw her face to mine, pausing just before our lips touch. “You are now. No one will ever threaten you again.”
Tears brim in her eyes. “Everything horrible in my life that led me to McBride mountain led me to you. I know you would do anything for me. Even if I don’t deserve it.”
The reservation in her voice, the fact that she might actually believe those final words, hurts more than the gunshot did. “You deserve everything, Bluebell. You deserve the entire world.”
She kisses me softly. “I don’t need the entire world, Liam. I just need you to get better and get to sleep. You need your rest.”
I shake my head. “Not until you promise me something.”
“What’s that?”
Cupping her face, I hold her in place, ensuring she can’t look away. “You’re done running.”
Tears spill down her cheeks, and she nods. “I’m done running. The only place I’m ever going to run again is into your arms.”