Flattening Stormy’s hand along his jaw, he placed his palm over it, absorbing her warmth, her scent. This woman had been with him every step of this journey, fighting for him, fighting with him, allowing him to show her every angle of his soul, and still, here she was, offering him solace in all the ugliness.
Wrapping his fingers around hers he held on, pressed her deeper into his flesh, fighting off a profound sense of loss.
“Don’t we look a sight,” Stormy said.
He opened his eyes and smiled. “Like we’ve been spit from the womb of the earth.”
“I was thinking more like the ass of the earth.”
He laughed. Unable to stop himself, he leaned in and kissed her. “Thought I’d lost you, beautiful.”
“I was praying for Lynx.”
“Thank you, darlin’, your prayers were answered, but now I’m gonna need you to go to the hospital with these kind folks. Refrain from giving them the trouble you’ve given me, let them take care of you, yeah.”
It had to be something in the way he said it because she frowned and leveled him with a penetrating look.
“You’re not coming with me, are you? Not to the hospital, or Louisiana, or France?”
He placed their joined hands against his knee, avoiding her gaze. “I stay breaking our agreements don’t I, Sienna Red?” he said, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. “There’s a lot I can live with, Stormy, but you dying and me not being able to protect you is not one of them. If Lynx hadn’t been here, you’d be dead. I love you, woman; hard, too much, so damn much. And that means I do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Even if it means letting you go.”
Stormy nodded and motioned for him to help her stand. “You’re always sacrificing and protecting, aren’t you Lucas Beaumont? It’s an admirable quality…until it isn’t.” She reached up and kissed him again. “I love you, too. Hard. But I can’t be the only one willing to fight for it; did it before, sweetness, didn’t turn out well for me.”
She let the EMTs take her from him and place her on the gurney.
“Thanks for the adventure, Big Country Beaumont. I’m going to Louisiana to continue my adventure. Hope life works out for you.”
He trailed them out the door, confused, watched them place her in the ambulance.
“Oh!” She called out before they closed the door and he was ready to leap in there and drag her back to him. “Mama wanted you to call her, something about a confession.”
The doors closed, and within seconds the ambulance pulled away, taking her away from him at an alarming speed.
What just happened? She just left him like it was nothing.
Wasn’t she supposed to fight to get him to change his mind? He would have fought. What kind of fucking love wasthat? It wasn’t; her ass didn’t love him. If she had, she wouldn’t have just walked away, wouldn’t have just let him go.
“You kinda stupid, yeah?” Armand said beside him. “But I guess blood will tell. Beaumonts have always been foolish about love.”
Epilogue
Big Country sat in his granddaddy’s chair watching the chaos around him with forced calm. He’d warned them, told them he needed time, some space; but did they listen, oh no, they descended like a goddamn locust plague.
Merlee and Garret were the first to return, but that was the plan and purpose all along. Mama had arrived less than ten hours later, but he knew Mama would come, ofcourseMama would come, he’d been abandoned, and Lynx had almost died.
Mr. and Mrs. Jung, Lynx’s parents, arrived hours after Mama, but they had stayed a few days and left. The bickering between Mama and Mrs. Jung made him want to put a bullet in his own head. Lynx had joined the Brood nearly ten years ago and Mrs. Jung still blamed Mama for ruining Lynx’s career as a trauma surgeon. The two women had gone at it nearly every hour on the hour until Lynx asked his parents to return to their home in Canada.
Closing his eyes, he rested his head on the chair. All he wanted was some peace, just a minuscule moment of contentment similar to what he felt when he’d put his head on Stormy’s breasts, fill his hands with their bounty…
Not so much as a by your leave,he wanted to shout.
It didn’t matter that he’d told her to go; he was being the bigger person. His ass should’ve known better, should’ve realized she wouldn’t stay if she believed she wasn’t wanted.Damn woman, she should have known I wasn’t in my right mind.
He’d been shot, stabbed, beaten up, thought he’d lost her, had his best friend nearlykilled, not to mention the fact that he’d faced his worst demons and survived. That was too much shit to go through and be expected to make rational decisions. She was a damn therapist—she should’ve known that shit. But no, by the time the crime scene had been cleared and he’d gone to the hospital to check on Lynx, ask her to forgive him for his reactivity, she’d left, been released back into the wilds of life to roam without him. She’d been gone almost a week and he was trying, Lord knows he was, but things didn’t look good for her future right now.
“Woman, you are crazy!” Mama shouted, as she moved quickly from one side of the house to the other. Lynx’s mother shouted something back on speaker phone. “Do you even know your son? The idea of him marrying a good girl ishysterical, he needs someone who—”
Big Country refused to open his eyes, and he sure as shit didn’t plan on telling Lynx thathishead was on the chopping block now. Served the bastard right for going behind his back and colluding with Mama. That was a violation that came with consequences.
