“We’renotseparating.” She turned and moved toward her bag, only to stop at the strong fingers on her arm.
“I don’t want you out of my sight either,” he whispered in her ear. “But if anything happened to you because of me, I’d never forgive myself.”
Tears of frustration built in her eyes. And anger. Because Zane had been through enough. They’dbothbeen through enough.
He lowered his head to the crook of her neck. “I’m going to find him. And I’m going to end him. I promise.”
“No.” Hell no. “You leave that to Jesse and his deputies.”
“Bonnie—”
“He’s dangerous, Zane.”
“So am I.”
Fear crept beneath her skin. “I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t.”
It didn’t feel that way. It felt like he was sand slipping between her fingers.
Unexpected tears gathered in her eyes. “Things just keep pulling us apart.”
He lowered his forehead to hers. “It won’t be forever.”
A tear trailed down her cheek. He lowered his head and kissed it away. Then his lips found hers. The kiss was long and slow. It was emotional and hungry and filled with underlying yearning. A yearning to be together. To love each other without interruption or fear.
But that wasn’t going to happen…not until Monty was gone.
It tooka lot to walk away from Bonnie. So much willpower that he wasn’t even sure how he managed.
And the second he was in the hall, all he wanted to do was turn around and go back to her. There was a fucking prisoner outbreak, for Christ’s sake. The need to be close to her, to protect her, ran so deep it was in his bones.
He pulled the door shut, looking at her brother. Noah was right. He had a target on his back. Even if Monty already knew about her, being away from her would be an extra layer of protection. She had people who could protect her, and putting her in the line of fire just to keep her by his side would be too fucking selfish. He couldn’t afford to be selfish. He had too much to lose.
“You protect her with your life,” Zane said, the words damn hard to get out. “You hear me?”
“Of course I will.”
He turned and stormed down the hall, anger almost choking him. Pounding at his ribs like a fist.
He’d expected Monty to retaliate, but this? This was so much worse than he could have ever anticipated. It was smart of him to release a van full of convicts. It meant they took the attention off him.
And the difference between Monty a year ago and now was that he had nothing to lose. He was already a man with a life sentence against his name, which meant he wasn’t bound by consequences. It made him more dangerous than anyone else.
He shoved outside, scanning the parking lot. There were already state police outside the hospital doors. Men in uniforms, also with their hands by their weapons, waiting for trouble.
This would be the new normal…for the moment, at least.
Zane didn’t have his car but he wasn’t going back to his apartment. The station wasn’t far. Walking distance.
He’d just reached it when a patrol car pulled up out front. Jesse and a deputy climbed out. They pulled a shirtless guy in jeans from the back seat. His wrists were cuffed, and he had splatters of blood on his chest.
The guy growled as he was yanked forward. “Get the fuck off me! I’m not doing more time for this. That asshole threatened my family if I left Amber Ridge. He—” He fell silent when he saw Zane, his brows tugging together. “You.”
Jesse frowned. “You know him?”
“You live here?” the guy asked, ignoring Jesse—then throwing back his head and laughing. “That’swhy he did it. You’re a dead man. You know that, right?”
