When Slate steps towards me, I fling myself into his arms. After everything I’ve been through, all I want is to feel his arms around me.
When I turn my face up to get a kiss, his hand comes up but stops just short of touching my face. “Are you okay?” he asks. “What did those ignorant fucks do to you?”
“Not a lot,” I tell him. “I wanted to escape. They wanted to arrest me. Obviously, I didn’t win that battle, but it’s just a few bruises I got trying to get away. No one touched me.”
He tugs me closer, wrapping his arms around me with infinite care. His protective stance tells me he doesn’t want anything to happen to his baby mama. Before I get a chance to ask if we can get the hell out of here, his dad and brothers are standing around us.
Rock calls out to their cop friend, “Morgan, how close to done are we here?”
The officer steps close. Bringing his hand down from his earpiece he quietly gives them a report. “The building is secure. All company personnel are being detained, including the REACH security team they sent. Local officers are combing the offices now. This is looking like a good bust.”
Jasper digs a bag out of his pocket. I can see my flash drive inside it, and he hands it to the officer. “The shit you’ll find on this will make your hair stand on end. Seriously, this is the information that will bury REACH for the foreseeable future.”
The officer happily takes it from him, and they walk off talking about it. His family disperses.
This whole time, Slate’s attention stayed on me. “What were you thinking of, coming here alone?” he asks.
I swallow thickly. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. You were going after my stalker, so I thought I’d be safe. I didn’t expect it to go the way it did, but when I saw the restricted area, I knew I had to act today in case they shifted the evidence.” My chest hurts as the memories march through my head. “I managed to get out through the ceiling crawlspace.”
Slate’s brows fly up. “You climbed through the ceiling?”
“Yeah, I didn’t really have a choice.”
“Well from now on, I’m gonna see that you have nothing but choices in life. I guarantee those bastards won’t touch you again.”
I give him a hug and when I finally pull back enough for him to look at my face again his thumb strokes my cheek gently. This man of mine does not look happy.
“Can we leave now?” I ask, eager to put some distance between myself and this place.
“We sure as fuck can. We’d better stay in the area overnight in case the local cops need us, but then I’ll take you home.”
“Home?” I ask.
“Cedar Falls. Because if I have any say in the matter, that’s where you and my little girl are gonna be. I want us to be a proper family.”
I feel something relax in me.Home. Cedar Falls is the first time I’ve felt safe and secure in years and the thought of making a life there with Slate is everything I could have ever dreamed of.“You’re my home, babe. Let’s go.” If I’m honest, I’ve had enough action and adventure to last a lifetime. Maybe my days as an investigative reporter are over for good after all.
Slate puts me on the back of his bike and we ride away, leaving the police and his club brothers to deal with the mess we left behind. I feel a little guilty about that, but I’m exhausted. Riding the open road on the back of his bike is the perfect transition from chaos to peace. We’re riding with the setting sun behind us, and it warms my back. I just hold onto Slate and daydream about snuggling up with him safe and sound at long last.
***
When we get to the motel, Slate locks the door behind us and checks the windows before finally letting himself relax. When he approaches, I take a step towards him without thinking. He slips his arms around me and guides me to the bed. When we’re standing there face-to-face, he murmurs, “I’m sorry I didn’t get there a lot fuckin’ sooner.”
My emotions are a jumble. “It’s not your fault,” I tell him. “To be honest, seeing them all get arrested and knowing that REACH will be held accountable made it all worth it.”
“I knew that you’d feel that way.” He pauses for a moment and then tells me quietly, “I think you should know that this whole situation went far deeper than we thought. When we found Neal, Striker hacked his devices and found an encryption protocol for the information on your flash drive. We discovered part of what you scooped up was personnel files that included contract killers. REACH had put a bounty on your head and Neal was desperate to get the information back because therecords you had on your flash drive proved he’d killed several individuals at the behest of the company.”
Shock roils through my gut. “That’s why he went after me so hard. I could never understand why his stalking felt like he had a personal grudge against me. Now, it all makes sense.”
“And that’s not all,” he tells me. “REACH is filled with soulless corporate fuckin’ profiteers. They were hired to protect US interests and deliver supplies to hard-to-reach places. What no one fuckin’ knew was that their side gig involved secret illegal operations, like trading weapons and information with Islamist groups, in deals backed by Russian nationalists. Those shady partnerships cost the lives of American soldiers and Afghan civilians alike.”
My hand flies to my throat. “I never even suspected the corruption ran that deep.”
“It doesn’t matter. Your instincts told you they were corrupt and it turned out you were on the right track all along. Because of you, those assholes are gonna wind up behind bars.” He says that with such profound respect that tugs at my emotions.
My voice is shaky when I speak. “I appreciate that you came for me, even though you were mad at me. It says a lot about you as a person.”
His forehead touches mine for a long breath. “Being mad has nothing to do with it. I’ll always come for you, no matter what. I fuckin’ love you and want you to be my old lady.”
