“That could work,” Alex said with a pensive glance into space.
“Good luck,” Ava answered as she wrapped an arm around Alex.
“Thanks, babe. Let’s hope you’re home soon.” He pulled her closer, pressing his forehead against hers. “I don’t want to go.”
“I’ll be okay, Alex,” she whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He kissed her lips softly before he slowly backed away from her. “Give Gizmo a kiss from me.”
“I’d like to keep that kiss for myself, but fine. I’ll give it toGiz.” With a fleeting smile, he stepped through the door with Kyle, his heart aching. Worry coursed through him as he took one last glance before he swung the door shut behind him.
He froze the image in his mind of Ava in her sweats, offering him a soft smile and a wave.
An ominous thought bounced around in his head as they climbed into the van to return to the Hamptons. What if this would be the last time he saw Ava?
CHAPTER 22
AVA
Ava pressed a cool cloth against Sebastian’s head to combat the warmth in his body, a response to the unfettered pain he experienced from a surgery done with no anesthesia or pain medication.
Kyle had left a supply of pain pills, but with him still unconscious, she hadn’t been able to get any into his system.
She grabbed hold of her phone, toggling on the display to check for any new messages. None showed up.
With a lick of her lips, she tossed it to the side to continue her nursing duties. Her mind continued to dwell on Alex and Kyle’s next mission: guilting Chris into leaving or incriminating himself.
Her stomach rolled as she imagined him paying the price for The Board’s misdeeds. But then again, he had been the one who had nearly robbed her of her life.
A life she now desperately clung to with every fiber of herbeing. While she’d been married to Alex for nearly two decades, her life had never felt as complete as it had the moment he’d said he loved her.
And even then, she’d been terrified to lose him.
She still was, though now it was a new type of fear. Fear that The Board would cost them each other.
Sebastian groaned, pulling her thoughts back to the present. His head thrashed back and forth on the dining room table where he still lay.
She rose to her feet, leaning over him as she patted his cheeks. “Hey, Shadow, you awake?”
His eyelashes fluttered open, and his features pinched with both pain and confusion. “Ugh, what happened?”
“You were shot. Kyle removed the bullet, but you lost a lot of blood. How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been shot,” he answered.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. This wasn’t the easiest of surgeries, and we had a complication. But I do have some pain pills that you can take now to see if we can get the pain under control.”
“Help me up.”
“What?” Ava leaned back, shaking her head. “Nope. That’s not happening. You were shot. You had surgery a few hours ago with a crude blood transfusion courtesy of Alex. You’re not going to go wandering around the house.”
“There are things that need–” His voice cut off as he groaned in pain.
“Uh-huh. Things that need done that either I will do, or you will wait to do. You can’t even get a sentence out.” She backed from the table toward the kitchen. “Don’t move. I’m getting water for the pills.”
“Ava!” he yelled as she rolled her eyes, making her way to the refrigerator for a bottle of water.
She twisted off the cap as she returned to the dining room. “Stop yelling at me. It’s not my fault you got shot.”
