“The Rawlings girl and who tried to kill you.” Her bringing up the case had me thinking back to the night in the room talking to Xerxes.
“I hope you’re not being serious.”
Her face scrunched up before it relaxed, and she laughed in an airy, sarcastic way. “Oh, I’m completely serious. Somebody tried to kill you—”
“You do realize that you were in the car too, right? That meant that you might also be a target.”
Her frown deepened at my words the realization that she too had been in just as much danger seeming to wash over her. It had been on my mind for the last few hours she’d been gone. Only the appearance of Faith had taken my mind from that direction. Somebody being after me didn’t bother me. But someone coming for her was an entirely different issue and I needed to figure out who the hell would make a move that would cost them their life.
“Well, fuck. I hadn’t thought of it since you took the worst of it all.”
“Thanks.”
She hit my foot playfully, a move that I knew she’d done without realizing the intimacy of her actions. “That’s not how I meant it and you know it. But despite how you feel about things you would’ve been pissed if you didn’t feel like you’d done your duty to protect me so at least you can be secure in that aspect.”
“That sure you know me?” She was right, but I still wondered what made her so confident in her response. She shifted, and I took in the way she looked for the first time. Fresh face withher hair pulled back. She was wearing a linen pants set and the matching shirt was open with a tank top underneath.
“I know you’re honorable. And you made a promise that I’d always be safe with you. So far, you’re doing a smashing job. No pun intended about the current state of your vehicle.”
The nurse walked in before I could ask her if she wanted to come sit on my face, talking to me like that. I was grateful for the distraction because I was once again feeling shit. The physical pain wasn’t the issue; it was the mental aspect. The realization that someone had gotten too close and now Asha was potentially in harm’s way and I’d come close to failing her. The idea of her being harmed did something to me and I knew it was the effect of the emotions I wasn’t trying to remember I could feel.
It took two days for me to get out of the medical facility that we had based in DC. That was the beauty of the network that we had. No matter where we were help was always close by and I released myself because two days down was the most I could handle. My head was still hurting and I hadn’t discussed with anyone that I was getting out of the facility.
Except Alec.
My work car was fucked up and if I drove my personal one then I would need to pull it out of the garage at Asha’s home. I didn’t want to linger with the moves I needed to make so whenhe pulled up out of the facility I wasted no time sliding into his front seat.
Shifting around was uncomfortable even with the clothing Asha had left for me. It was all casual since she thought I’d still be in the hospital but I could make it work. Lounge pants, a t-shirt and slides were all that I had on me besides my wallet and my guns. I wasn’t about to make this run without my gun.
“Where to?”
I pulled out my phone and tossed it to him. The address was already pulled up and I didn’t feel like saying much. My head was hurting again and I needed my energy for what we were about to get into.
“That’s his address.”
Alec nodded before handing me my phone back and I tucked it into my pocket as he pulled off from the curb.
“He know we’re coming?”
I huffed and kept my eyes closed as I felt Alec whip us through traffic. “Hell nah. Element of surprise.”
“Ah. I’ll make sure to have my shit at hand then.” Alec sounded way too excited but clearly he needed to feel useful and I was happy to give him the opportunity.
“I’d hate to think you were slacking.” I peeked my eyes open to gauge his reaction.
“Never that.” We drove silently for a few miles before I saw him glance at me from the corner of his eye. “You good?”
“Head hurts like a bitch but other than that, just bumps.”
“You sure you should be out here and not at home? I know you ain’t let wifey know that you checked yourself out.”
“They have strict instructions not to give her any information on my release and to just say that I’m resting.”
He shook his head and sighed like he was sick of my shit. “Oh, you’re trying to have her call this shit off.”
“You think she’s going to go that far?”
He scoffed and since he was the person who’d witnessed our interactions up close and personal I valued what he had to say.
