“I know.” She rises on her toes and presses her lips to mine. “When it’s right, it’s right.”
I kiss her back, pouring everything I have into it. All the fear of the last few hours. All the relief. All the love I’ve been holding back because I didn’t think I deserved it.
I love this woman. And I’m never letting her go.
We break apart when Tess clears her throat. She’s standing a few feet away, grinning at us, the camcorder still in her hand.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she says, not sounding sorry at all. “But we got it. Everything. His confession, the assault, the gun—all of it.”
Claire sags against me. “It’s over?”
“It’s over.” Tess puts a hand on Claire’s arm. “He’s done.”
Sirens wail in the distance, growing closer. Teddy is still a babbling mess on the floor, clearly terrified of his impending fate.
Good. Let him rot.
As the cops shuffle in, swarming the parking garage, I hand over the gun, and they gather up the senator. Tess goes off to speak with them, negotiating with her tape.
An EMT appears at my side, frowning at my arm. “Sir, you need to come with me. That wound needs attention.”
“I’m fine. Really.”
“GSW says otherwise. Please sit, sir.” I roll my eyes but do as I’m told. “You’ll need to go to the hospital to make sure everything checks out. We can drive you?—”
“If I agree to do it, can I please drive my own car?”
Claire laughs, looking at the EMT with silent apologies. “I’ll make sure he gets there.”
“Alright, fair enough.”
I’m patched up, and it takes some convincing on Claire’s part to get me in the car and heading toward the hospital. She got a once-over too, so at least I can be glad she’s okay.
There’s still a bunch of shit we have to talk to the cops about, but they’ve released us to go to the hospital.Joy.
As we drive, Claire reaches across the console and laces her fingers through mine. Neither of us speaks for a long moment.
“Did you mean it?” she finally asks, her voice small.
I glance over at her. “Mean what?”
“What you said back there. That you love me.”
I squeeze her hand. “Every word. Did you?”
A smile tugs at her lips. “Every word.”
“Good.” I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her knuckles. “Because you’re stuck with me now.”
Apparently, hospital stays have gotten longer over the years because it takes me an entire day to get out of that place. And a hell of a lot happens during those twenty-four hours.
The news releases an update on Theodore McDowell Jr., and to absolutely no one’s surprise, he’s looking at some serious time in prison.
The detectives who Claire spoke to previously swung by, too, looking to make amends for the fact that they completely disregarded her.
During their entire visit, I sat in the hospital bed, glaring at them. Claire was nice enough, grateful for their apology, but demanding that the department do more to protect women from now on.
I watched, utterly delighted, as they were forced to listen to Claire describe the number of times they could have prevented all this.
