Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I need to go home.” Chloe and Erik were facing each other in their nest of blankets in the living room, skin to skin, limbs entangled as the sun rose to announce a new day.
“I know.” Erik nodded. “You’ve got a show to prepare for. You’re still doing it, right?”
The concert for Danny. She hadn’t even thought about it.
Their original reason for doing it may no longer apply, but it was still a good idea.
Danny deserved to be honored. “If Lattie’s still willing.
” He’d been through a traumatic experience, too.
She’d tried calling him yesterday to check on him.
Quinn had answered, told her that Lattie was resting and wasn’t taking any calls.
That familiar feeling of guilt swarmed her.
She’d brought violence to his opera house.
She wouldn’t blame him if Lattie chose to drop her.
“He will. He’s resilient.” Erik gave her a brief, sweet kiss. “Come on. Let’s go get some breakfast, and then I’ll drive you home.”
They were on the way to the mess hall when Chloe noticed the gathering of people shouting angrily. Erik grimaced and pulled the Jeep over. “We expected this.”
“What’s going on?”
“They’re transferring Doctor Dietrich out of the brig. She’ll be doing the procedure for Jayla.”
“Is that a good idea?” After what that woman had done to Erik and the others like him, Chloe couldn’t imagine Jayla wanting that woman anywhere near her.
“She’s the only one with the experience to do it. She knows us inside and out.” Erik looked at Chloe, his expression tight. “I need to go see if I can help defuse this before things get out of hand.”
Right now, it seemed to just be a lot of yelling, but things could escalate quickly, and Chloe wasn’t sure she could blame them if it did. She hustled out of the Jeep to join Erik.
A team of six armed guards surrounded an older woman dressed in sweats, with gray-salted dark hair worn in a bun. Her face had a pinched, somewhat snooty expression, and Chloe’s first impression was that she looked like a raging bitch.
General Davies was speaking, barking orders that quieted the crowd until someone Chloe couldn’t see spoke up. “How can you trust her with Jayla? You know how many of us she killed!”
The doctor suddenly shouted, “I made you great! I made you all great! But that kind of progress comes with a price!”
“Then you should have been the one to fucking pay it!”
A chaos of shouts broke out, and the general yelled, trying to restore order as the guards tightened around the doctor. In an unexpected move, Erik pushed his way front and center, and the guards pointed their rifles at him.
Chloe’s heart jumped into her throat as fear choked her.
“Hey!” Erik yelled. “I could kill her right fucking now, but it won’t change anything.”
“She deserves it!” someone yelled.
“Yes, she does. But does Jayla deserve to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair?”
The noise level reduced to angry grumbles while Chloe stared at those weapons still pointed at Erik, holding her breath.
“She’s not free. She’s not walking away from this. But the knowledge in her head will help Jayla, so we’ll use her. She’ll be watched the whole time. She’ll never hurt one of us again.”
The general took over, ordering everyone to disperse, and as Erik strode back to Chloe, she filled her lungs with some much-needed air.
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Erik said wryly, as he took her hand. “That I’d argue for keeping that woman alive.”
He looked down at her with his forehead pinched in a concerned frown. “You’re shaking. Are you okay?”
Chloe’s mouth felt bone-dry, and her voice was barely above a whisper. “They could have shot you.”
Erik pulled her into his arms and hugged her, his mouth close to her ear when he said. “I’m so sorry I scared you. I didn’t mean to. I was never in any danger. Those guys are family, my brothers. They wouldn’t have fired without provocation.”
Chloe nodded against him but didn’t loosen the hold she had around his waist. She just wanted to hold him a little while longer. “I can’t shake this feeling that I’m going to lose you.”
Erik leaned back a bit, just enough to lightly grip her chin and lift her face to his.
“The only way you’d lose me, Chloe, is if you told me to go.
I love you. You are the best, most amazing thing that ever happened to me.
” He stroked her hair back from her face.
“I never thought anyone would ever love me, and then you came along, and…” He swallowed hard.
“You changed everything. I won’t ever give you up if I don’t have to.
I’m yours. For as long as you’ll have me. ”
Chloe’s eyes welled with tears. “How about forever?” She shot him a watery smile. “Does forever work for you?”
Erik leaned his forehead against hers. “Forever sounds just about perfect.”
Bach was playing on the classical music station Erik preferred as he drove Chloe home, but right now, he couldn’t say what piece it was.
He wasn’t paying attention; it was just background noise since he was deep in his thoughts.
It was oh so tempting to manufacture some excuse to keep Chloe at Black Bay with him, but that wouldn’t be fair to her.
She had a life to get back to. One that he was just glad she was willing to include him in.
This wasn’t goodbye, just see you later.
They’d already set up their first date for the weekend.
They were going to the beach, just like he and Chloe had talked about that night they’d gone for coffee.
Not to mention, Kong had stopped them as they were leaving Black Bay to remind Chloe about game night.
She was on the roster now, and Kong would be sure to harangue her to death if she didn’t show.
“Wait! Turn around!”
Erik’s senses came to high alert. “What is it? What’s the matter?”
“I’d like to stop at that place back there,” she said, cranking around in her seat to look behind them as Erik eased the Jeep into a parking lot to turn around. “You can take a little more time, right? Do you have to get back?”
“There’s no hurry.” He’d happily jump on any and every chance he could get to spend more time with her. “Where are we going?”
Chloe pointed, and he saw the sign for an animal rescue shelter.
“I think I’d like to get a dog.”
Erik nodded. “A good idea. A well-trained dog will protect you, warn you of a potential threat, while making criminal elements less likely to approach you.”
“Well, I was thinking more about companionship, but that stuff’s good too.”
His name was Bruce. The two-year-old lab/shepherd mix leaned heavily into the labrador side of his breeding in his features, but had the traditional brown and black coat of a German shepherd.
He had recently been taken in by the rescue after his owner passed away suddenly, and according to Judy, the woman on duty, he had attachment issues.
Bruce took immediately to Chloe and Erik, leaning against their legs as he sniffed them over, his tail wagging madly, reminding Erik so strongly of Blondie he couldn’t help but smile.
If Chloe didn’t take him, Erik would. But it would seem Chloe had fallen in love, too.
She looked to Judy and said, “When can I take him home?”
“Do you live together?”
“Not yet, but soon,” Chloe promptly volunteered, and another smile twitched at Erik’s lips. The thought of living together made his heart beat faster with excitement and anticipation.
The woman’s eyes traced over his scars. “We have an extensive vetting process.”
The old him might have taken offense, might have even snarled, but at the moment, he was too happy to care about what some random woman thought of him – unless his appearance somehow got in the way of Chloe adopting Bruce – then he’d take offense, and Judy wouldn’t like it.
“Are you military?”
Was it the pixelated camouflage pants cuffed into boots that gave him away? “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, actually. Bruce’s previous owner was retired military.”
Erik’s shoulders eased, though he hadn’t realized he’d tensed them, and Bruce leaned harder against his leg, so he dropped his hand to scratch him behind the ear.
Chloe was all smiles and practically vibrating with excitement. “Let’s get started on the paperwork.”
As they left the building, with Chloe chatting happily about the list of things she needed to get for Bruce, Erik pulled her into his arms. “So we’ll be living together soon?”
The smile on her face made his heart race. “Yes. When we’re ready. You, me, and Bruce.”
Erik couldn’t imagine anything better.