“Brock?” she said again.
Fuck! The baby. Was the baby okay?
“I’m here. I’m here.”
Krista’s airbag slowly started to deflate, and she shifted in her seat to face him. “You okay?”
He let out a relieved sigh. “I’m fine. You? The baby?”
Her whole body began to shake. “I don’t know.”
Fuck.
Brock reached into his coat pocket for his phone, pulled it out and dialed Rex.
“Well, that was fucking scary,” Rex said, tipping his beer back as he sat on the couch in Brock’s living room later that night. Brock was right behind him and took up roost in his La-Z-Boy, followed by Chase who sat on the opposite end of Rex’s couch. Heath was out on a mission. They didn’t know where.
“Yeah,” Brock said with a nod, leaning back in his chair. His body ached, and he failed at keeping his groan of discomfort silent.
“You think someone cut her brakes?” Chase asked, sitting down on the opposite end of the couch from Rex, his green eyes, the same as Brock’s, looking far more serious than Brock would like.
Brock tipped his beer back and grunted. “I do,” he replied, wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist. “It’d been running perfectly fine just days ago. I meant to get her some better winter tires; the tread on them wasn’t great. But the thing had no brake fluid left, the lug nuts on the right front wheel were loosened and someone had punctured the tire.”
“Slade?” Rex asked.
Brock grunted. Who else would want Krista silenced? Only they had no way to prove it.
“I’ll see if I can pull up any traffic cam surveillance, see if he’s been out this way,” Chase offered.
Brock grunted again and nodded. He was just thankful that Krista was tucked safely in bed. They’d rushed her to the hospital, where both she and the baby had been thoroughly checked out. The impact of the airbag deploying had scared Brock shitless that something might have happened to the baby, but thankfully—sort of—poor Krista’s face had taken the majority of the impact and was bruised and banged up pretty good. So was his. But her belly and the little monkey inside were A-Okay.
“I’ll continue to keep an eye on Krista,” Rex added. “At least when she’s at work, we know she’s somewhat safe. There are too many other cops around, and now that she’s on light duty, she doesn’t have to be alone with him. We just have to watch her when she goes to work and when she leaves. And she can drive Heath’s truck until he gets back from his assignment.” Rex didn’t appear to be bothered that he was now the only one talking.
Chase nodded in acceptance and tipped up his beer.
Brock did the same but drained his. His mind wasn’t in the living room. It was in the bedroom, under the covers with his child and his or her mother. He belonged with them right now. It’s where he needed to be.
Pushing himself up to standing and not even bothering to look at either of his brothers, he walked into the kitchen, rinsed his beer bottle and placed it in the recycling. “I’m heading to bed.” And with that, he left Rex and Chase in his living room and headed down the hallway to his bedroom.
She was asleep.
Peacefully.
The hospital had given Krista Tylenol and Gravol to help with the pain and help her sleep. Her lashes fanned out across her purple mottled cheek, and her wild hair of fire looked as though someone had spread out copper threads on her pillowcase. She was stunning. Even battered and bruised, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. And he’d nearly lost her tonight.
Emotion clung hard and thick in the back of his throat, like a glob of stubborn peanut butter that just wouldn’t go away.
He’d almost lost them.
Swallowing that lump, he quickly did what he needed to do in the bathroom before silently slipping into bed next to her. His side of the bed was cool, but he needed warmth. He needed Krista’s warmth. Inching slowly, carefully behind her, he turned onto his side and tucked in behind her, protecting her and their child the way he should have done earlier that night. He let his top arm fall over her body, and his hand fell to the soft swell of her belly, where their child slept soundly.
“You’re cuddling,” she murmured, still half asleep.
“Hmmm,” was all he managed. The words just weren’t there. Only fear and anger resided inside, and they were too big, too fierce to say out loud.
“We’re okay, you know.” Her fingers intertwined with his over her stomach. He held on tight.
Still he couldn’t say anything.
