“Baseball, huh? You better not be a Mets fan.”
Doc clutches his heart. “God, no. Red Sox and Mariners all the way. I’ve never understood why the National League won’t adopt the designated hitter.”
My laugh lifts a little of the weight threatening to crush my heart. No amount of wishing can make my dreams come true. But for tonight, I can pretend I have a future with this amazing man at my side.
The poundingon the door wakes us moments before a woman’s shout. “Doc, it’s Raelynn! In thirty seconds, you better be decent!”
We scramble for our clothes. Doc pulls on a pair of sleep pants seconds before Raelynn bursts into the room.
“What is it?” he asks.
My heart pounds so hard, I’m surprised no one else can hear it. It’s not quite 3:00 a.m. according to the clock on the nightstand. Something isverywrong.
Raelynn is dressed all in black, her hair pulled into a high ponytail. Oh, God. Her left ear is…half gone.
“Get your gear, Doc. Inara and Wyatt got hit at your place an hour ago. They killed one of the assholes, but Wyatt took a bullet to his bad leg. Through and through. Inara stopped the bleedin’, but he’s havin’ trouble walkin’.”
It wasn’t supposed to be this soon. We should have had more time. How did they find his house so quickly?
“I need five minutes.” Doc beelines for the bathroom, while I sink down onto the mattress.
“Natasha,” Raelynn says, sitting next to me and resting a hand on my shoulder, “Graham’s gonna stay here with you while Doc takes care of Wyatt. You okay with that?”
I don’t want to let Doc out of my sight. But I’m not sure I can face this man—Wyatt—who almost died for me. Then something Raelynn said clicks into place.
“You said…they killedoneof the men. How many were there?”
“Two.” She reaches up and brushes her fingers over the remains of her left ear. “West has the other one. He’ll get what he can out of the pig fucker.”
I choke back a sob. “He’s going to kill him?”
Raelynn’s eyes harden, and she purses her lips for a beat. “Darlin’, the idjits after you ain’t gonna stop until they’re no longer breathin’. We’ve been at this for a long time.” She shakes her head with a little huff. “Well, Ry has. I’ve only been with Hidden Agenda for a couple of years. But my first job? Graham’s guy was kidnapped. The asshole didn’t ask for ransom. His plan was to drug Q until the man was so messed up, he’d sign over his whole company. Then Alec was gonna kill him. That psychopath had destroyed half a dozen lives—and murdered at least two people—and he wasn’t even forty.”
My eyes start to burn with the threat of tears. I’ve cried more in the past week than I have since my brother was murdered. I can’t seem to stop.
“He’s…dead now?” I ask.
“In about a million tiny pieces spread out over the Utah desert. Ry put a bullet in his head and West set off a whole mess of explosives. Couldn’t leave any evidence behind.” She pats my knee once more as Doc emerges from the bathroom. “What I’mtryin’ to tell you, darlin’, is that we don’t kill for the sake of killin’. But sometimes, it’s the only way. This is one of those times.”
Doc, now dressed in a pair of black pants and a gray t-shirt, reaches for one of the duffel bags, but Raelynn beats him to it. “Now Iknowyou ain’t in fightin’ shape, sugar. I got this.”
I snap my gaze to Doc’s. Jealousy rears up, unfamiliar and unwelcome.
Doc pulls me to my feet, slides one hand into my hair, and kisses me until all I can think about is how quickly I’m falling in love with him. “Don’t worry, baby. She speaks Texan, remember? Sugar doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
Raelynn laughs. “Damn straight. Anyone from Texas ever calls you ‘sugar,’ what they’re really sayin’ is, ‘you’re an idjit.’ Like Doc here, who thinks a broken rib and a hole in his chest areminorinjuries.”
Her phone beeps, and she checks the screen. “Graham’s on his way up. Wyatt’s hoppin’ mad. Ry and Rip are at the warehouse tryin’ to stop him from joinin’ West and Inara for the interrogation. Time to go.”
Doc frames my face with his warm hands. “I’ll be back soon. Try to get some rest.”
He leaves me with one last kiss, and as I watch him go, I wonder how long it’ll be untilI’mthe one who’s leaving.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Doc
“How bad is it? Really?”I ask Raelynn. Her hands grip the steering wheel hard enough, her knuckles are white.
