My breath hitches. It’s over. I’m free.
As if summoned by my thoughts, he rushes to me and I’m in the safety of his arms. The gentle sway of his body rocks me, and I clutch his blood-soaked shirt. He cups my cheek with his good arm, holding me to him. I feel the pressure of his mouth against the top of my head. His lips move against my scalp, but his words are vibrations. I pull away and watch his lips.
I love you.
A smile tiptoes across my face.
I love you too. My lips move, the cadence of my voice hums in my throat, but I can barely hear it. He pulls me back to his chest.
I can’t force myself to look away from Dominick, his expensive-suited corpse lying in a pool of his own blood, a grim reminder of what I’ve done. What I had to do to save Jonah and my mom. And myself.
I search the recesses of my heart for regret, guilt, horror. Nothing. I’ve just killed my dad, the man responsible for my life. And all I feel is . . . relief.
Jonah
“You guys okay?” Blake walks up from my truck to the steps of the cabin where Raven and I sit.
As soon as I could, I dragged Raven out of there. It was the only way to get her to stop staring at Dominick’s dead body.
I haven’t left her side, except to run in and clean Dominick’s filthy blood off my face. The makeshift tourniquet I pulled together with a ripped sheet has my head clearing.
“Better. We’re starting to get our hearing back.” I run my lips along the top of Raven’s head, breathing in deep. “You make the call?”
“Yeah. Made it on my way to the truck. They should be here soon.” Standing on the lower step, Blake leans against the banister. “Need anything?”
I give Raven a squeeze. “Baby?”
She shakes her head.
Milena is sitting on a rock nearby, but she keeps her distance, probably not sure how Raven feels about her. What she did tonight redeems her in my book. I owe my entire life to Milena. But ultimately, forgiveness is Raven’s to give.
Minutes tick by before sirens and bright lights descend on us. An ambulance, fire truck, and a handful of police cars pull up to the cabin. Paramedics and cops unload in a hurry until we’re surrounded by uniforms.
“Mr. Slade, I’m Kevin.” One EMT that rushed out from the back of the ambulance meets us on the steps. He pulls back the fabric of my shirt to examine my shoulder. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah. Take care of her head. I’ll wait.” I motion to Raven who is slumped against my good side.
Kevin sidesteps and pulls back Raven’s hair to check out her forehead. “Ma’am, are you injured anywhere else?”
She glares at me, but doesn’t argue. “No. Just the cut on my head.”
A smile pulls at my lips. I look forward to a lifetime of dirty looks from her.
“All right. Mr. Slade, let’s get you into the ambulance and get some IV fluids started. I’ll have Roger come and take care of . . .”
“My wife.” I glare at Kevin. “Make sure Roger knows.”
The sound of Raven’s giggle is better than any pain medication.
“Yes, sir, ‘Assassin’. By the way, great fight tonight.” The eager EMT is a fan. Good to know.
“Yes, it was.” I lock eyes with Raven. “Best fight of my life.”
Kevin puts his hand out to help me up. I’m tired and dizzy from blood loss, but this guy looks like a noodle in scrubs. I shake him off and push to standing. Oh, shit. Gripping the handrail, I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the vertigo away. Raven presses into my side, using her body as support until my head stops spinning.
She walks me down the few steps to the dirt. I pull her in for a hug before we’re dealt with by our assigned EMTs.
The angry mark above her head is no longer bleeding. I run my knuckles down her cheek, grateful that a cut is all they got on her. “Get your head taken care of.” I kiss her longer than I should for the audience we have, but f**k ’em.
A team of EMTs rush into the cabin. Roger scurries up with some kind of a field medical kit and gets to work on Raven’s head.
I drag my body to the ambulance where Kevin asks me to climb inside.
“Mind if you treat me out here?” There’s no way I’m letting Raven out of my sight. It should be comforting being surrounded by cops, but with Dominick’s far reach, I need to stay alert.
“Oh, I don’t—”
I spear Kevin with a glare that has him nodding.
“Yeah, sure thing, ‘Assassin.’ I’ll just pop a stretcher up here.”
“Thanks.”
Kevin moves some equipment to just outside the ambulances back doors. He moves around my shoulder doing some shit. I don’t pay attention, but instead keep my focus on my girl. I pull my eyes away from her to watch them wheel Dominick’s sheet-covered corpse from the cabin. Vince is next. It looks like they’ve got him awake and talking. I should have aimed higher.
A cop with a note pad asks me questions. I answer them until he’s satisfied and walks away. He moves to questioning Raven next. Milena jumps to her side.
“Hey, man. How’s the shoulder?” Blake plops down next to me at the back end of the ambulance.
“It’s all right.” I’m not concerned about my f**king shoulder.
Both Milena and Raven talk and nod as they most likely retell the night’s events. I wish I could hear what they’re saying.
“She’s going to be okay, ya know.”
I don’t take my eyes off my girl. “How do you know that? She just killed someone.”
Blake shrugs. “Cops said they’d been looking for something on Morretti for years. The guy’s operation was locked up tighter than a Royce Gracie shoulder hold. This little situation was the Golden Goose taking a big fat dump right in their laps.”
I don’t say anything, but God, I hope he’s right.
“Guess ole Vinnie started singing like a canary the second they got him conscious. F**ker gave away everything. Even told them he roughed up Guy and stole his cell phone.”
“He roughed up Guy? Is he okay? Wait, does Raven know?” I watch Raven. Her body language is relaxed. They must be finishing up.
“Yeah, he’s good. A few bruises and a gnarly concussion. That’s how they got Raven out of the arena. They sent her a text from Guy’s phone. Fucking a**holes. Threatened to kill him if she didn’t cooperate with Candy.”
The name grates on my nerves. “And what about her? They gonna arrest her?”
He leans back, crosses his arms over his chest. “Yup. She’ll go down for kidnapping and whatever else the prosecutor can scrape up.”
I exhale a long breath. Guess keeping Vince alive was a good thing.
“Don’t you let her cry one tear for that dick.” Blake looks to the ambulance that holds Dominick’s body then back to Raven. “She’s a sweet girl, and sweet girls feel shit for shitty people. Don’t let it eat her up inside. She saved your life.”
I turn a glare on my friend. “Yeah, she did. And don’t think I’ve forgotten about your broken promise, ass.”
“Dude, she forced me. I got her out, but she threatened to tell the women of Vegas that I’ve got a needle dick.” He throws his hands up in mock surrender. “I can’t let that happen. I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”
“How hard is it to keep a f**king promise?”
He shrugs, but has the decency to look embarrassed. “Your girl can be persuasive.”
“Ass.” I chuckle and turn back to Milena and Raven, making a mental note to take it out on him in the octagon once my shoulder heals.
“Milena’s f**king hot as hell.” There’s a smile in his voice.
I glare at him, but can’t help the curl in my lips. “Are you seriously talking about my girl’s mom? Sick fuck.”
“What? I know hot when I see it, and Milena’s smokin’.” He stands and holds out his hand. “Keys. I’ll follow Milena home in the truck and bring it by in the morning. I’m assuming you’ll be riding down the hill in this.” He motions to the ambulance. “I’d offer to take Raven home, but knowing you, you ain’t letting your girl out of your sight for . . . well, ever.”
I toss him my keys. “Thanks, man.”
He looks away and nods. Guy code for, no problem, you’d do it for me. Fuck yeah, I would.
Blake turns on his heel.
“Hey, B. You keep your dick to yourself around Milena, ya hear?”
He stops, looks to the ground, and shakes his head. He continues walking and turns over his shoulder. “I don’t do chicks with kids, remember?”
I laugh to myself and watch as Raven finishes up. She turns away from the group of police who frantically fill their note pads and heads in my direction. She has a blanket from the EMT wrapped around her shoulders. Her head wound is clean and covered with a butterfly bandage.
Standing, I pull her into my arms. “Hey.” I push the blanket down to kiss her neck at my spot. “You okay?” She curls in tight, just like she always does, as if she was carved from my own form.
“Yeah. I’m great.” The smile in her voice is unmistakable.
“Mr. Slade, it’s about time we get going,” Kevin says from inside the ambulance.
“Come on. Let’s get this over with so we can go home.” I move to help her inside the vehicle.
“Oh, no, she can’t come.” Kevin wags his finger as I one-arm lift Raven into the ambulance. “But if she wants to, she can meet . . . you . . . um . . .”
Raven and I are inside, settled on a stretcher, completely ignoring his rant.
“Well, okay. I guess she can come.” He must finally realize that he’ll be riding in another vehicle before she does. Smart kid.
“Thanks, Kevin.” I pull Raven into my arms and kiss her head. “I appreciate your flexibility.”
Raven’s body jumps with silent laughter as she hides her smile in my chest. I wrap her up tighter, thinking about how close I was to losing this. Losing her.
The ambulance fires up and we head back to Vegas. Raven’s breathing slows to the rhythm of sleep. Even with my shoulder on fire, tired as hell, and minus a shitload of blood, I don’t sleep. Instead, my mind conjures plans—plans for the future we now have sealed. And I’m not wasting a single second.
“Kevin, I need you to do me a favor.”
“Sure thing, ‘Assassin.’”
“I need to make a phone call.”
Raven
Beep-Beep-Beep.
The gentle sound brings me back to consciousness. I blink several times into the dark before lifting my head from my warm pillow. I observe my surroundings, thankful to see the lights of medical equipment rather than log walls. I’m not in the cabin, but in the hospital with Jonah.
My head swirls with the events from this morning. The cops told me that Guy was safe. They even gave me a phone so I could call him. He apologized for not being at the fight to protect me. I reassured him that Dominick was out to get his way, no matter what.
Katherine showed up and sat with my mom while Jonah was poked and x-rayed. The doctor said that that the bullet went straight through without injuring anything vital, but they had to do surgery. Three hours later, we were put in a private room. I assured Katherine and my mom that I was okay. There was no way I was leaving Jonah’s side. I traded my bloody clothes for a pair of clean scrubs, crawled in bed with Jonah, and fell asleep.