Chapter Thirty-Six
The emergency room waiting area was crowded.
Quiet, except for the occasional moan. People slumped in chairs.
Hospital personnel behind a glass barricade.
The rest behind locked doors that only swung open with an access badge.
Metal detectors and security guards. Everything was white and beige. Sterile and yet dirty at the same time.
Isabella wanted to scream.
The only reason she didn’t march to the check-in desk and demand answers was the two men hemming her in as if they expected her to break down in a loud, messy, spectacular way.
It was a tempting idea. But she wouldn’t. She’d stay strong.
For Danny.
Nathan and Lachlan hadn’t left her side since the ambulance doors had closed.
She’d never met Lachlan before, but after watching him argue with the police about letting her leave the scene, she realized he was a force to be reckoned with.
He was the president of Dìleas Security Agency and had left his pregnant wife to come to Charlotte because Danny had called and told them she was missing.
One of the officers had retrieved her shoes from the storage unit before she came to the hospital, so at least she was no longer barefoot.
Sitting between them, she felt physically dwarfed.
Even the people nearby angled subtly away, instinctively avoiding the space the two men occupied.
She could see why. Nathan, Danny’s former SEAL team leader, looked like a biker with his tattoos, short, spiky hair, and perpetual five o’clock shadow, while Lachlan’s striking good looks did nothing to soften the aura of danger surrounding him.
At Lachlan’s insistence, an ER nurse assessed her.
Other than the nick on her cheek from where Talia’s bullet had struck the concrete block wall, she didn’t seem worse for the wear.
Physically, anyway. The nurse applied an antibiotic cream to her cheek and advised her to follow up with her doctor to make sure she suffered no side effects from whatever drug Talia had given her.
“Danny’ll be okay,” Nathan assured her for what was probably the fifth time since they’d arrived. “He’s been shot before.”
Every muscle in her body constricted.
“Christ, ya bawbag, that’s not what she needed to hear,” Lachlan snarled.
She’d find them humorous if her entire being wasn’t focused on the doors that led into the ER bay. Like everyone else, she was a fan of that new emergency room TV drama everyone was talking about.
Now, all she could think of was a team of doctors and nurses standing over Danny as his blood pressure cratered.
Or maybe he’d coded and someone was up on his gurney giving him chest compressions, cracking his ribs.
Tears blurred her vision.
A large hand captured hers and squeezed. She looked up at Nathan to find him watching her closely. His thumb swiped away the tear that slid down her cheek.
This was everything she’d tried to avoid in her life. The chaos. The lack of control. Then Danny swept into her life, disrupting her sense of stability.
Was it worth it?
God, yes.
Loving Danny Mayhew would never be safe. Or boring.
She smiled at Nathan and squeezed his fingers in return. “I’ll be okay.”
“I know you will, darlin’.”
The doors to the ER bays hissed open and spat out a woman in navy blue scrubs. “Strickland?” she called out. “Bella Strickland?”
Isabella jumped to her feet.
“Here.” She wound her way through the people in the waiting room, Nathan and Lachlan following.
“I’m Isa—, I’m Bella.” Her hands shook, then her knees, as the rigid control she’d hung onto finally slipped.
If this woman was using the name only Danny referred to her by, that meant he was conscious. He was alive.
The nurse gave her a reassuring smile. “Mr. Mayhew is on his way to surgery. There’s a waiting room on the second floor. The surgeon will be out to speak with you as soon as she’s finished.”
“How is he?” Lachlan asked.
“He’s stable.”
When they got to the surgical waiting room, Lachlan offered to get her coffee from the cafeteria. When he returned, he handed her a cup and two protein bars.
“You need to eat something.”
Her stomach didn’t agree, but she thanked him and accepted the offering. Her gaze strayed to the large screen that showed the status of patients in the surgical trauma operating room, then the two recovery units.
The ID number they’d assigned Danny showed him in the OR.
There was a faint buzz, then Lachlan reached into his pocket, bringing his phone to his ear.
“Senator Strickland.” His gaze flicked to Isabella.
“She’s uninjured other than a cut to her cheek.
Danny’s in the OR now.” He paused, listening to whatever her father was saying.
“We’re in the waiting room on the second floor. ”
He hung up and faced her. “Your parents are on their way.”
Her brows furrowed. “They’re in Charlotte?”
“I contacted them last night when Danny called Nathan. They flew in this morning.”
“Good.” When this was over and she had time to feel things beyond her concern for Danny, she’d want them around.
She returned her attention to the monitor. Patient 136984325.
Still in the OR.
Another twenty minutes passed. There was an old-fashioned analog clock on the wall. Isabella passed the time watching how long it took the second hand to make a full circuit. What was taking so long?
“Mayhew?” The woman seated at the desk in the waiting area called out. “Mayhew family?”
“Here.” Isabella rushed over to the desk.
“The surgeon wanted me to let you know that everything went well. Mr. Mayhew is out of surgery and in recovery.”
Isabella’s knees threatened to give way. “Oh, thank God.”
“As soon as he’s through recovery and been assigned a room, I’ll let you know.”
“Isabella.” Nathan’s eyes held a note of apology. “We’ve held off the police for as long as we can. They need to talk to you.”
She looked down at her black tennis skort and the purple scoop-neck shell she’d worn to the wine bar.
Was it just last night? It felt like ages ago.
“I’m not leaving the hospital.”
“The detective is here. Lachlan told him he had to wait until we knew about Danny.”
She followed his gaze to where Lachlan was speaking with a man in a suit, a badge clipped to his belt.
“You can wait for your father if that will make you feel better—” Nathan began.
“No. I can handle this on my own.” She gave the detective a brief nod. “Tell me as soon as Danny’s in a room.”
Because nothing was going to keep her away.
Danny awoke for the second time in a different, unfamiliar room. This one had walls, not curtains. It was quiet, without the steady hum of voices and footsteps. And while he still didn’t feel completely normal, he wasn’t as groggy as he’d been earlier.
“You’re awake.” Bella.
Relief washed through him at the sound of her voice.
He turned his head.
She sat next to him, looking exhausted but still beautiful. He raked her with his gaze, looking for injuries. The only thing he could see was a cut on her cheek.
“Are you hurt?” He croaked the words through a throat that felt as dry as desert sand.
She stood and held a straw to his lips. He sucked in soothing, cold water.
“No.” Her smile fled. Fear darkened her eyes. “You could have died.”
The tremor in her lips had him struggling to sit. Pain knifed through his back and side.
A gentle hand pressed against his chest. “You’re going to rip your stitches.” The bed whirred as it lifted, slowly elevating his torso.
“It’s not like this—” the words stumbled out of him. “My job. I wear a vest. I have a team. I—”
“I know.” She brushed his hair away from his face.
He waited for her to say more. When she didn’t, an ache took up residence beneath his sternum. This was where she told him she couldn’t handle his life. His job.
“Talia?” he asked.
Her face crumpled. “She’s…” Her voice trailed off.
He could figure out the rest. He’d managed to get off a couple of shots after being hit. Not that he regretted anything. She’d been trying to kill Bella.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You saved me.” Her hand slid from his hair, and he wanted it back. “I can’t believe she lied to me for so many years.”
The laugh she gave was self-deprecating, and it set his teeth on edge. “I used to think I could control everything in my life, and it would keep me safe,” she said.
“It’s not your fault.”
“I know.”
His skepticism must have shown on his face.
She twined her fingers with his and squeezed.
“I know. Talia’s childhood wasn’t my fault.
Nor was how she chose to cope with it—or rather not cope.
” Her mouth turned down at the corners. “I spent so many years letting her manipulate every fear I had that I never realized how small I’d let my world become.
She wanted my life so badly that she never built one of her own. ”
They both fell silent.
Bella spoke first. “Nathan followed up on Miran Hassan’s death. The Los Angeles police confirmed he died of natural causes, and Talia wasn’t even in Los Angeles when he died.”
“So she didn’t kill him.”
She shook her head. “No. But I think it was his death that set her off. That, and you coming back into my life.”
“I sure as hell won’t apologize for that.”
A faint smile brightened Bella’s pale features. “Good. I don’t want you to.”
Her smile slipped away. Her finger traced over the metal railing on his hospital bed, gathering herself as if preparing a speech.
Tension tightened his shoulders.
“I hate seeing you in this bed,” she whispered.
Better than in a metal drawer. His coping mechanism during deployment had always been dark humor, but she probably wouldn’t appreciate it the way his teammates had, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Your job scares me,” she continued.
The ache beneath his sternum deepened.
“But I love you.” She leaned in. Held his stare. “You didn’t just protect me. You gave me the skills to protect myself—and I did. And I refuse to play it safe if it means giving you up.”
Her golden eyes darkened to amber, and her tongue peeked out to swipe her bottom lip—a gesture that threatened to send his dick half-mast if not for the morphine haze.
“And there have been times with you where being without control has been very rewarding.” She grinned before leaning in to give him a soft kiss.
He groaned as visions of Bella, blindfolded, restrained, and naked, played in his head.
An alarm blared from the machine monitoring his heart rate. “Damn, woman.” He breathed through his nose and tried to calm his racing pulse.
Bella loved him.
He needed to reward her with some honesty of his own.
“I’ve lived my entire life looking for…something.” He lifted his shoulder as heat crept into his cheeks. “Always moving, always chasing the chaos. Stability was boring. I never let anyone into my life long enough to even contemplate settling down.”
He breathed deep and opened his soul. “I love you, Bella. Hell, I think I loved you when we were teenagers and I threatened every guy at school to stay away from you. When Jaynie died, you were the only one I wanted to share my pain with. I choose you. Wherever I go, I’m always coming home to you.
” He lifted his hand and caressed her cheek. “You’re stuck with me.”
Her eyes filled with tears, but warmth softened her expression. “Fair warning. Just because I’m willing to accept some chaos in my life doesn’t mean you can leave your dirty socks and underwear all over my floor.”
He grinned. “I promise, I’m not Trip—I know how to pick up after myself. But just because I’m willing to accept some stability in my life doesn’t mean I’m giving up my avant-garde fashion aesthetic.”
She laughed. “Avant-garde? You mean the tropical shirt with taco-eating dinosaurs on it? Or the pink flamingos? Or the ones with penguins doing the hula?” She arched a brow.
A knock on the door interrupted them. Nathan popped his head into the room. “Is it safe to enter?”
Isabella whispered, “I think your entire company is out there. They were banned to the cafeteria earlier.”
Her parents were also out there somewhere, waiting to see Danny. To thank him for saving their daughter.
Nathan appeared, and behind him Lachlan, Caleb, and Tavari. Nathan held out his phone to Danny. “Someone wants to cuss you out for not waiting for backup, but he can’t because he did the same damn thing when his lady was kidnapped.”
Danny took the phone. Ryder’s face was on the screen from his home in London, and behind him, his fiancée, Nathalie. “Mate, good to see you’re alive.” Ryder’s mouth quirked. “I guess now would be a good time to approve the leave you’ve been asking me for.”
“At least a month, and then I want to base out of Charlotte when I return.” The words fell out of Danny’s mouth. He looked up to see Isabella’s mouth forming an O.
Bad timing, but now that it was out, he forged ahead. “Caleb’s making it work from Arizona. Charlotte’s a day’s drive from DC, plus it’s got a major airport—”
“Christ, here we go,” Lachlan muttered. “Why do we even pay for office space?”
“Think of the frequent flyer miles the guys will rack up,” Nathan said.
“—and I’ll keep my apartment. Dìleas can use it as temporary quarters whenever guys are in town on business.”
Ryder rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. “I’ll approve it if Lachlan and Nathan sign off.” Through the screen, Nathalie smiled and nodded.
Danny looked expectantly at his other bosses.
“I’m okay with it,” Nathan said.
Lachlan threw up his hands. “As if I have any say in my own bloody company.” He scowled at Danny. “Now that I know you’re going to live, I’m going home to my wife.”
Nathan fist-bumped Danny. “Where he goes, I go. Emily sends her love. We’ll be in touch.”
Caleb’s lips quirked. “At least I was smart enough to wear a vest when I went after Lopez.”
Danny grinned back. “Fuck you, asshole. I was in a hurry.”
Tavari snorted. “You’re lucky you’re here to make jokes.”
They said their goodbyes, and the men of Dìleas slipped out of the room, leaving Danny alone with Bella.
“Wow,” she said when the door finally closed, “You guys are a lot when you’re all in one room.”
“We’re brothers. We watch each other’s six.” His eyes were getting heavy, and he could feel himself slipping under. “But no one means more to me than you.”
Her lips brushed his cheek. “Not even Consuela?” Her voice was light. Amused.
“Now you’re playing dirty.” He sighed. “Not even my beloved Consuela and the sexy purr of her V-8 engine.” His eyelids fluttered shut. He tried to open them again. To see Bella’s beautiful face. To assure himself she really was here. And his. But the damn things sealed shut.
“Sleep.” Butterfly kisses on his lips. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”