“I lost the Hunt and you got dragged into my mess anyway,” I said. “We shouldn’t have gone to France. We shouldn’t have gone to the paper mill. We should have just left it all alone.”
“Fuck that,” he said, taking my hand. “Those fuckers tried to kill you. No one walks away from that.”
His eyes shone, and for the first time I saw something serious burning in their depths.
Something like conviction.
It didn’t change my mind. I’d taken my search for answers about my parents too far. It had been fine when I was only putting myself at risk, but I’d almost cost the Hawks their lives.
That was something I wouldn’t do again. But now wasn’t the time to talk about it. I needed to make sure my men were okay.
The rest could wait.
“Will you be okay here for a bit?” I asked. “I want to check on Jagger.”
“I’m all good,” Vigo said. “Although I’d feel better if I hadn’t lost my bat at the paper mill.”
“You don’t need your bat.” I could only imagine the kind of damage he’d do in the hospital with it.
“Easy for you to say. You don’t have Bram out there planning to kill you.”
I stifled a smile and shook my head. “He’s not planning to kill you.”
“The fuck he’s not. You almost got blown to bits by a grenade.”
“But I didn’t.” I looked into his eyes and felt my love for him swell like a balloon in my chest. “Because of you.”
“No way we were going to let something happen to you, mouse. We love you too much to let that happen.”
He said it so casually I almost missed it.
“You… love me?”
He scowled. “Obviously.”
I bit my lower lip. “I love you too.”
His face lit up. “Really?”
I nodded. “I was so scared. So scared you might be…”
I couldn’t bring myself to say the word.
“Taking a dirt nap? Pushing up daisies? Checking the?— ”
“Stop.” I held up a hand, then nodded. “Yeah, I was scared you were dead, okay? Scared that I’d never get to tell you I love you.”
“Is this ‘I love you’ just for me?” he asked. “Or am I sharing it? Asking for a friend.”
I thought of Hawk, of Jagger. “You’re sharing it.”
He held my face in his hands. “Cool.”
He kissed me, and I almost forgot that the other two pieces of my heart were in trouble.
But just for a minute.
“I have to go see Jagger,” I said when Vigo pulled away.
