Chapter 21
21
“H old this,” Nikki said to Beau, handing over the weapon she’d collected as she readied to jump in after Conrad. There’d been blood on his shirt. He must have been hit.
“Not a chance,” Beau said, pulling her back a few steps away from the embankment.
“What the hell, Beau?”
“You go in there now, and Conrad would do whatever it took to save you, including get himself killed,” Beau said, holding on tight as she fought to free her arms.
One big yank, and she managed to break his grasp. It was just long enough for his words to sink in.
“Do you care about him?” she asked, shocked by the realization.
“Of course, I do,” Beau said like it should be common knowledge. “Why wouldn’t I? He’s my brother. Plus, he’s the only one who accepted me without hesitation and stood by me when everyone else wanted to kick me out.”
“I thought you came here to kill us,” she said, still processing the shift.
“Why?” he asked, then shook his head. “Never mind. I came here to warn Lukas about our partner.”
Heads popped up, and Conrad gasped for air. They almost immediately went back underwater.
Under normal circumstances, Conrad would be able to overpower Heath in a heartbeat. The fact it was a contest meant Conrad was seriously injured.
“He’s hurt,” she said.
“I know.”
“What are we going to do about that?” she asked.
“Firing a shot is too risky,” Beau said. “I’ve shown my hand to Heath. He won’t trust me any longer.”
“Why didn’t you grab your brother and leave?”
“He would never have gone for it,” Beau said. “Have you seen the way he looks at you? The man wouldn’t leave you here with Heath to fend for yourself.”
Those words would bring comfort under normal circumstances. But the man she was in love with was fighting for his life a few feet away, and there wasn’t anything she could do to help him. If anything happened to Conrad, her heart would die with him.
The realization should scare the hell out of her. It didn’t. Instead, a comfort like a warm blanket on a cold night wrapped around her and spread through her.
For the first time in Nikki’s life, she knew what true love felt like.
The wrinkles in the water stopped. And then a flurry of bubbles were followed by nothing.
“I need to go to him,” she said, knowing full well that would be a mistake. If Conrad did have the upper hand, she could ruin it.
Standing here, doing nothing, shattered her.
One more second.
Conrad struggled to hold his breath as Heath’s body went limp. The man wasn’t dead. Contrary to popular belief, drowning meant drifting away, passing out never to wake again.
When Conrad was certain going limp wasn’t an act and his own lungs felt like they might explode, he pushed off the bottom of the lake.
He broke surface with a gasp and a chug. Water had gotten in his lungs, causing a coughing fit. Before he let go of Heath, Nikki and Beau were in the water, flanking him, lifting him up as Heath sank.
Once he was securely above water, they pulled Heath up.
“Is he…?” Nikki couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.
“No,” Conrad managed to say through a coughing jag.
Beau nodded, pulled Heath from the water, and then began CPR. His brother must have realized Conrad didn’t want Heath dead. Justice wouldn’t be served unless Heath was punished for what he’d done. The only way justice could be served was by Heath living out the rest of his days behind bars with plenty of time to think about what he’d done wrong and plenty of folks around him ready to remind him that he was no longer the big man in charge.
Conrad lay on his back on the embankment, trying his level best to catch his breath. There was something he needed to say to Nikki, and it couldn’t wait.
He closed his eyes and dug deep to find the words.
Fear like he’d never known welled up, trying to consume him. What if she didn’t feel the same? Shouldn’t he play his cards right? Wait? See what happened next? Not stick his neck out?
And worse, would he lose her by speaking up?
“Nikki,” he managed to get out.
“Shhh,” she said. “We don’t have to talk right now.”
He found her gaze. Hers flitted to his before shifting back to the blood pumping out of his neck.
“You’re hurt, Conrad,” she said, taking off her sweater and then using it to stem the blood flow. “You’re losing blood.”
There were tears in her eyes. A few broke free and fell, dropping onto his chest as he lay there.
“No, this can’t wait,” he said, especially if he didn’t make it off this embankment.
To one side, Heath spit water out and gasped for air.
Beau was on the phone, calling for emergency services.
“Please don’t leave me,” Nikki said. “I just found you.”
Conrad wanted to tell her that he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. Except, his vision blurred, and concentrating was getting harder and harder.
He was tired. That was all. The physical fight with Heath underwater had taken a toll on him.
All he needed to do was close his eyes for a few minutes and he’d be fine.
As he drifted off, he heard the words, “I love you. Don’t leave me.”
They repeated like an echo.
And then everything went dark.
Nikki paced, waiting for word she would be allowed in Conrad’s room post-surgery. A bullet fragment was caught in his neck. Two millimeters over, and he would have been a dead man. The metal would have struck his jugular vein, and he would have died from loss of blood before the paramedics got to him.
Beau sat in a chair, slumped against the backrest. Neither of them had left this hallway, not to eat or get coffee.
Kade came rushing into the hall, balancing a cardboard drink holder that was loaded. “I’m here now.”
His gaze slid to Beau. “Why is he here?”
“He’s the only reason any of us are still alive,” Nikki started, then recounted the events after taking the caffeine offering.
Kade stood quietly for a long moment before turning his attention toward Beau. “I’ve been an asshole to you since you first arrived.”
“Who could blame you after the way I waltzed in hot?” Beau asked with a shrug.
“That’s not the point,” Kade said. “I should’ve been more like Conrad. I should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt and welcomed you into the family.”
Beau stood up, trying not to look like he cared about Kade’s approval as much as he obviously did.
“I owe you an apology,” Kade said. Something told Nikki those words didn’t come out of his mouth very often. When he said them, he meant them. “I’m truly sorry for my actions.”
Beau’s jaw dropped before he could regain his composure and get his response in check. “Brothers?” he said, his voice roughening.
Kade nodded. “Brothers.”
The two bear-hugged, bringing a fresh wave of tears to Nikki’s eyes. Maybe they were on the ready because she hadn’t had a chance to mourn her father. Crying had never been so easy. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d cried before this ordeal began.
And then there was Conrad. Despite being reassured that he’d come through surgery with flying colors, she needed to see him with her own eyes. She needed to know he was going to wake up and be fine. There was a hole in her chest that only he could fill.
A nurse joined them. “Nikki Guidry?”
“Yes,” she said, liking the sound of that. She was a Guidry for all the good and bad that meant.
“My patient is asking for you,” the nurse said.
Nikki gave a quick glance toward Kade and Beau. They both encouraged her to go with a nod.
Brothers.
The word struck a chord with her. The word family joined it. That was Conrad. He was her family, and she wanted him to know exactly how she felt about it. Would he remember what she’d said by the lake?
“Buzz if he needs anything,” the nurse said, standing in front of the door.
“I will,” Nikki promised before opening it and walking inside the dark room.
“Hi,” came the deep, throaty voice that sent goosebumps up and down her arms. Her stomach dropped like she was freefalling, except this time, she wasn’t afraid. She wanted to walk toward the feeling instead of run away.
“Hi,” she said as she walked around the bed and perched on the edge next to him.
His hand immediately reached for hers. More of that warmth spread through her at his lightest touch.
“You look good,” she said for lack of anything better coming to mind. Funny, she’d rehearsed what she would say to him in this moment dozens of times in the hallway. Now? All she could manage was You look good.
A slow smile spread across his perfectly straight, white teeth.
For a long moment, no one spoke. Like they didn’t need words only time to be together in silence.
And then she mustered the courage to repeat what she’d say at the lake, “Conrad, I—”
“Before you say anything…” he murmured, cutting her off. “Can I tell you something that’s been on my mind almost since the day I met you?”
She tensed, steeling herself for a rejection. Then, nodded.
“You are the most intelligent, caring, and beautiful person I’ve ever met in my life,” he began.
She exhaled a slow breath as relief washed over her. Was it too soon to feel that? Would a goodbye soon follow?
“But?” she asked.
He shot a confused look. “You’re always expecting it, aren’t you?”
Okay, now it was coming.
“Everyone leaves you, don’t they?” he continued.
“Yes,” she said, fighting back the very real tears threatening. She was a faucet today. The truth was that losing Conrad would shatter her. She’d opened her heart to him and was now keenly aware of just how vulnerable she was. She might as well have handed him a knife and told him to gut her.
Beau’s words wound back through her thoughts. Have you seen the way he looks at you?
“Nikki, I’ll never walk away from you,” Conrad said. “Not willingly.”
Did she hear those words right?
“Over the past few days, I’ve come to realize how special you are,” he said. “How much you mean to me, and how much I can’t envision my life without you in it.” He pushed up to sitting and winced.
“You’re in pain,” she said.
“This is nothing like what would happen if I lost you.”
Nikki sat there for a long moment, trying to absorb those words. “Do you really mean that, Conrad?”
“Yes,” he said. “I do. But don’t take my word for it.” He locked gazes and held on like a visible caress. “I’m in love with you, Nikki. You are my family now. If I lost you, I’d be half a person. And believe me when I say I didn’t even realize I’d been walking around a half-person all my life. I’ve never wanted or needed anyone before. So, this is new to me. But even I realize how special it is. How special you are.”
Tears broke free. He thumbed them away.
“What I’m clumsily trying to say is that I love you, Nikki Guidry. And I hope you’ll do me the great honor of marrying me.”
Those words knocked the breath out of her.
“And I would never ask you to change your name for me,” he continued. “I love you just the way you are. I’m in love with Nikki Guidry.”
Nikki couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “Would you be okay with Nikki Guidry-Sturgess?”
“Only if it’s what you want,” he said. “I don’t care as long as you say yes.”
“I think I fell in love with you when I was just a kid, Conrad,” she said. “Your kindness hit me then as much as it does now. I’m madly, deeply in love with you. And I can’t imagine spending another minute without you in my life.”
Conrad pulled her toward him and then kissed her. She hadn’t expected his breath to taste like mint. Or for him to ask her to marry him.
But she’d found true happiness and true love. She’d been through enough hard times to realize how rare and fleeting they could be.
Rather than let go, she wanted to lean in.
“I love you, Conrad,” she said when they finally pulled apart.
“Good,” he said with a smile that could seduce a nun. “Because I plan on loving you for the rest of my life and whatever comes next. And I’d like our journey to begin right now.”
One word came to mind, home.
Conrad was the home her heart longed for but never knew to expect. “Then, yes, I’ll marry you. I’ll spend the rest of my life with you. And whatever comes next.”
A slow smile spread across those thick lips of his before he kissed her. Tender. Slow. Perfect.
Today, this moment, was the only guarantee. Nikki planned to grab hold with both hands and hang on because she’d found the love of her life. She’d found home. And she’d discovered her calling, too. She would finish law school and become a victim’s rights advocate, speaking up for those who’d lost their voice. Because for the first time, her future felt right. And she was exactly where she was meant to be with the one person she couldn’t wait to do forever with...her Conrad.