“T-trial? I didn’t know—”
“The district attorney decided there was enough evidence to prosecute. I see Detective Schroeder didn’t let you know.” He said under his breath, “Notsurprised.”
I shook my head, my lip quivering. Everything was happening too quickly, my brain throbbing.Please don’t take him away from me.
The man slipped his notepad back into his pocket. “Well, I think that is all for now. I heard you had a fundraiser. I’d meant to stop on by, but you know how it goes. Sometimes you just can’t get out of bed.”
The small talk jolted my system back online and I leaned against Jere with a pleasant smile as if we were all friends just catching up. “I understand, believe me. And most of the time when you do get out of bed, you want to face-plant on the floor and not move for a week.”
Detective Rosemont made a nondescript sound, but I could see he was agitated by the whole thing, a little muscle ticking in the corner of his eye. I made a mental note to examine thewhyof him helping us later.
“I’m sorry, I didn't ask—how did it happen?”
He frowned and glanced at his arm in the sling. “A fleeing suspect ran into me.”
It was vague as shit, but it didn’t matter in the end. I nodded. “Well, thank you, Detective Rosemont for updating us on the case.”
He moved to step out the front door but stopped, glared back at us and down to our linked hands. “You understand this is theonlyget-out-of-jail-free-card you will ever get? Don’t waste it.”
“Yes, of course, thank you so much.”
He started to leave again but stopped with one foot in the door. “Oh, and one more thing. Did you know Freddy Burton and his good buddy, Richard Ulrich were on the job when they assaulted you? There might be something there legally speaking.” He reached into his pocket again and withdrew a business card with fancy writing then handed it to me. “You might think about giving a lawyer a call. This guy? Hegets offon winning. Tell him I dropped his name, and he will likely take your case if he thinks there is one.”
“Thank you, Detective,” I said, inadvertently crushing the card in my hand. He cast a look of supreme annoyance and muttered something as he left. I held my breath until he was in his car and pulling out of the driveway. I threw myself against the door, slamming it closed and locked it. I couldn’t help noticing how nice the cold wood was against my burning skin. Jere scooped me against him, crushing me. “Let’s sit down.”
We practically collapsed on the couch. He couldn’t look at me, so I took his hand, kissed his bloody knuckles. “I'm so sorry, Jere. I never asked how this affected you. I can’t imagine what it was like for you seeing me in the hospital, bloody and bandaged.”
His brows sank low. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
I touched his cheek and slowly, he dragged his eyes to me, and I saw the raw emotion there. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask how you were handling it.”
“I’d do anything for you, Danny. I’dmurderfor you. I was going to—Iwantedto—but if I did that then I wouldn’t be around to protect you and take care of you. It would make you sad to see me in jail and I know you’d blame yourself. And also… I don’t want you to think bad of me.”
“I don’t think bad of you. How could I? I love you. I always have.”
He drew in a shaky breath. “I’m not my father, but there is a piece of him inside of me.”
“It’s okay,” I murmured and kissed him chastely, relieved he was still here with me and not in the back of a squad car. “Will you promise me something? The next time you feel the need to go out and avenge me, you’ll let me know so we can talk about it.”
He nodded sheepishly. “I promise.”
“And, I’m going to say something, but I don’t want it to go to your head. What you did, as scary as it is, makes me want to jump your bones.”
I savored the sight of his smirk curling up into a proud grin. He cleared his throat. “I have another confession to make. Do you remember that summer when we were young and used to catch lightning bugs? You let me take them home one night and I broke the jar? Well, I kinda’...lied. It didn’t happen the way I told it. My father broke the jar and smashed the bugs.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“I knew you hadn’t told me the truth, but you seemed so upset over it I didn’t ask.” I rubbed circles around his back, needing him to relax. I’d known he had a dark side in the same way he had a fragile side.
“I’m sorry I lied about it,” he rasped. “I didn’t want to tell you because I was scared you wouldn’t want to be my friend anymore.”
I was going to die from sweetness overload. Was it possible he could get any more adorable? I pulled him to my lips by the back of his neck, tasting the salt of tears. “I love you, Jere no matter what.”
“Love you too.”
“Now let me properly take care of these hands,” I commanded.
