My dreaming about my future with Devolin came to an abrupt halt when I heard my phone chime.
“Yo,” I greeted the caller.
“Mr. Kippers?”
“Speaking.”
“It’s Hugh at Riverside Estates. I was informed that if I saw Ms. Taylor on the premises to contact you.”
My heart beat at a wild gallop. “Where is she, Hugh?”
“She went up in the elevator, so I assume she must have gone to her apartment,” he said, a phone ringing in the background. “I haven’t left my desk all night, and she hasn’t come down.”
“Thanks, Hugh.” Instead of hanging up right away, my gut told me to hold on.
“Mr. Kippers, that’s the tenants’ line, do you mind holding for a sec?”
“Not at all.”
Soon enough, I’d know why I’d waited.
Ring after ring, the man named Hugh fielded calls until he came back to the line.
“I think you better get here,” he said. “I’ve just received three calls reporting something sounding like gunshots coming from Ms. Taylor’s unit.”
“Hang up and call 911,” I told him. “I’m on my way.”
Pocketing my phone, I rushed to my safe, pulled my weapon and some extra bullets, shoving those in my pocket, and the weapon in the back waistband of my pants. Grabbing my keys, I locked the door to the house that would no longer be just mine, if I had anything to do about it, and jumped in my truck while hitting Shane’s contact.
“Just got the call,” the man answered. “I’m on my way to the scene now.”
“Good.” I hung up, started my truck, put it in reverse, then hit Brycen’s contact.
“What’s up?”
“Get your ass to Devolin’s and call the guys,” I told him.
“She back?”
“Yeah, but we’ve got a problem. Shots fired. No one’s come out yet.”
“Be there in ten. I’ll round up the crew.”
Hanging up, I threw my phone into the middle console and floored it.
Five minutes is all it took me to get to Devolin’s. It had been enough time for emergency personnel to start crowding the place.
Parking in the only free spot I could find in front of the building, I took my keys out, grabbed my phone, locked my vehicle, and ran across the road to Shane, who was talking to his partner.
“D,” he greeted me.
“Give it to me straight,” I demanded.
“No one’s come in or out. We’ve got a few witnesses stating that they’d only heard the one shot. Some are stating up to three. The lady next door was the one who confirmed three,” he explained, pointing to Devolin’s neighbor.
“I’m going in,” I told him and made to head for the door.
The man stopped me with a hand to the chest. “Not without backup, you’re not.” His face brokered no argument, and doing so would only waste precious time.
“Fine.”
“I’ll lead.” He did just that. I followed on his heels, Will, his partner hot at our backs.
“Do we know who’s in there with her?” I asked as we entered the elevator.
“No idea, but the neighbor thought she’d heard two women,” Shane said.
The fact that Devolin wasn’t up against a man filled me with relief, but when it came to guns, it didn’t matter if you were a man or a woman. What mattered was if the person manning the weapon knew how to shoot. The worst kind of shooter, however, was the inexperienced one.
With that thought, I vowed that I would be bringing Devolin to a shooting range and teaching her all there was to know about defending herself with a weapon. Adding on to that, I’d teach her in hand-to-hand too, while I was at it.
There was no way my woman would ever be caught in a situation like this, or like the one she’d ended up in a week ago, ever again.
As the elevator arrived at the twelfth floor, my focus returned on the task at hand.
A few doors opened as we walked down the hall toward Devolin’s unit. Residents watched us, relief palpable that the authorities were in the building.
Will ordered each neighbor to shut and lock their doors, and that they’d be notified when it would be safe to leave their homes.
When 1203 loomed in front of us, half an apartment length away, Shane turned to his partner and me. “I’ll go in, Will’s got my back. Not that I don’t trust you, man, but you’re emotionally vested in this, and you’re not wearing Kevlar.” He pulled his weapon, as did the rest of us.
I nodded.
We were almost right up on the door when we heard a loud shriek, some grunting, followed by the crash of broken glass.
My body went solid at, “You fucking bitch! I’m going to kill you!”
I knew that voice.
“Guys, I know that voice,” I told them over the ensuing scuffle going on. “My ex.” I was seriously regretting not getting Brycen to look her up now.
“For real?” Will said at the same time Shane said, “Psycho Suzie?”
“The one and only,” I replied.
Before we even breached the door to Devolin’s apartment, a gun went off. Repeatedly. Five times to be exact before Shane made his move.
“Freeze!” he yelled, Will next to him.
As for me, I was thinking the worst. Especially as the gun kept firing until I could hear the sound of its trigger clicking.
“Devolin, put the gun down,” Shane ordered.
That’s when I rushed to action, freezing as soon as I took in the sight of her.
It was apparent that the woman was in shock. Letting her arms fall limply at her sides, the hand holding the gun shook before it released the weapon, allowing it to thump against the carpeted floor.
“You need to teach me how to shoot,” she whispered before she hit the floor hard.
Rushing to her side, I fell to my knees beside her, feeling for a pulse, and finding a strong one. Looking up, Shane met my gaze and shook his head as he removed his hand from Suzanna’s carotid.
Chapter 54
Devolin
Pain. So much fiery pain. That’s what I woke up to.
“You know,” I heard whispered in my ear, “we really have to stop meeting like this.”
“Please tell me it’s over,” I whispered.
Dalton’s hand was clasped around mine. “It’s over, sweetheart.”
My entire body sighed with my relief, and everything went black in the back of that ambulance.
“Ms. Taylor?” A nurse walked into my room.
“Yes?”
“We’ve got a gentleman here who says he’s your fiancé.”
“My fiancé?”
The woman nodded. “He’s putting up quite a fuss out there and scaring the patients.”
There was only one person I knew who’d be like that. “Let him in.”
Dalton appeared in my hospital room’s doorway, looking beaten with worry, his clothes soiled by what I knew was blood––I’d been covered in it by the time they’d shown up––and defeated.
“Kip.” I extended my hand to him.
It seemed to be all he needed to move closer. He didn’t say anything. He simply took his seat next to me, holding my hand in both of his. Lifting it to his mouth, he began to kiss my bruised and scraped up knuckles. Opening my palm, he then pressed it to his cheek and held it there.
“You fucking scared the life out of me, sweetheart.” My thumb rubbed over his unkempt scruff. “I thought I’d lost you for good when I heard those shots.”
My breath burned in my throat at the tortured look on his face. “I should have come back after I shot that bruiser, and stayed,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“You should have.” He turned his head to the side, kissing my wrist. “But I understand why you didn’t. Still…it doesn’t mean I liked it.”
I couldn’t help the small smirk that played at my lips. “I kind of got the sense of that from your
messages.”
“I’ve been miserable without you,” he confessed.
“Kip?”
“Yeah?”
“I missed you too, baby,” I told him. “Now, kiss me.”
He didn’t hesitate. Leaning over me, his hand found that strand of hair of mine he loved to play with so much. “With pleasure.”
The moment our lips met, I knew we’d be okay.
Pulling away, Dalton’s eyes traveled my face studying me. “I wasn’t sure I’d get to do that again.”
“Mmm.” Arching my head up, I pressed my lips against his for another quick taste, before letting it drop to my pillow. Then I asked about what the nurse had told me. “So…fiancée?”
He shrugged. “They’re only letting family in to see you, I very well couldn’t tell them I was your brother.”
My eyes burned. “No, you couldn’t do that.” Swallowing the growing lump in my throat, I whispered the next thing to pop into my head. “I killed two people.”
“Shh.” Dalton covered my mouth with his fingers, his other hand tightening around the hand he had yet to let go of. “Shane’s on it. You’ll be in the clear before you leave here.”
I shook my head, tears sliding down my face. “There’s no coming back from that, Dalton.”
Staying true to the kind of man he is, he didn’t sugarcoat things. “You’ll never forget, sweetheart.” His eyes were flaming with fury, but they were gentle too. “It was you or them. They didn’t give you a choice to be who you are.”
My brows knitted together. “A killer?”
“No.” This came out sure and final. “A survivor.” I melted. “Some people give up. Some play along, thinking they’ll be set free if they conform to others’ demands. Others…they fight. You’re a fighter, Devolin. A survivor. You had an entire lifetime of practice, so it’s engrained in you.”
“I so fucking love you, you know,” I mumbled through my now steady-flowing tears.
“I so fucking love you too, sweetheart.”
“Has anyone called Mom?” I asked.
Hank sat on the chair next to my bed, while Morgan sat on the other, Theo standing behind his wife.
Shane had come looking for Dalton. Even though they’d been on task together, formalities with JPD needed to be observed. That meant my man had a statement to deliver.
“She flew back this morning.” A man I wouldn’t have recognized, if it weren’t for his eyes and hair, walked through the door. I shared the same hints of reds as him, his definitely greyer now however. “I’m sure she’ll be here shortly. I was on an earlier flight.”
I gulped. “D-dad?”
“Hi, sweetheart.”
The term of endearment grated on me, and I’m sure everyone knew it, what with the room growing thick with tension. After all this time, I only had two more words for the man who used to be my favorite person in the world. “Get out!”
“Dev—”
“The woman said to leave.” This came from Hank, who got to his feet, Theo coming to his side. A show of loyalty and protection.
I fucking loved these people. For the thousandth time today, I kicked myself for running when I had, even if at the time, I knew it was what I needed. My rest. Time to think things over, to simmer down from my snit.
“I want to talk to my little girl,” my father demanded.
“You don’t have a little girl,” I spat. “You had a daughter. One who you let rot in a hospital bed because you couldn’t deal with her illness. Now, I only have a mother. That’s all. Now get out!”
The room buzzed with awareness the moment my father reached into his back pocket. I guess anyone—law enforcement or military—would brace with such a move, especially when one of their own had just been shot. He pulled out his wallet, fished out a business card, and handed it to Hank.
“My number, if you need anything.” With one last glance my way, the man turned and left my room.
“So that’s your father, huh?” Hank pondered aloud.
“That’s dear ol’ Daddy all right!” I snickered.
“Seems nice enough a man,” he smirked.
I looked at him, Theo and Morgan and snort. “Oh sure,” I rant, “I get cancer twice, and the man bails. I graduate high school and college, the man never bothers. I end up in the hospital again with lupus because of the fucking cancer treatments, he still doesn’t care. But I get kidnapped, beaten, and shot at, and the man comes running? Yeah, a real winner. What the fuck!”
“Language, Devolin Payton Taylor!” my mother scolded, as she entered the room.
Theo lost his hold on his laughter, the sound making the walls shake as it exploded out of him. Hank was looking at me, a large grin on his face. Morgan was holding onto her stomach, giggling quietly.
“Oh, come on, Mom,” I snapped. “I think I’m entitled to a few choice words, don’t you?”
“Baby girl, I swear, when you leave this hospital, I’m locking you up.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Now why are you talking about your father, and what in the hell is going on?”
Chapter 55
Dalton
“That’s what I want to know.” I stood by Devolin’s room’s entryway, arms crossed over my chest. “Who the fuck was that I saw walk out of here five minutes before your mom showed?”
“That would be my father,” Devolin growled.
“What?” Joleen shrieked. “He’s here?”
My woman skewered her with her eyes. “You didn’t know?”
“I was with him when I got the call from Dalton that you’d been shot.”
“Mom!”
“It’s not like I get to pick where the man gets his coffee,” she said.
I smelled bullshit, but I wasn’t about to give my two cents. The woman was still pissed at me for failing to find and protect her daughter, like I’d promised I would.
“I think we should go,” Morgan said, trying to usher Dad and Theo toward the door, but my father wasn’t moving.
His eyes were fused to Joleen, much like hers now were on him.
“Officer Kippers?”
“Just Hank, Jo-Jo,” his voice came out deep.
What the fuck?
“You two know each other?” Devolin shrieked.
The two simply nodded.
It was Dad who answered everyone’s lingering question. Somewhat. “How’s business at the bookstore?”
“Good.” The older woman smiled. “We haven’t seen you visit in a while.”
He nodded. “Been busy.” Turning to me, he added, “I’ll get going.”
Without waiting for an acknowledgement, he was out, Theo saluting me as he followed, Morgan offering a sweet smile, stopping in front of me so I could bend over and kiss her cheek.
“See you later, mama.”
Before we could get into it with Joleen, for a more in depth explanation as to how she and my father knew each other, Shane and Will walked through what could have been Devolin’s revolving hospital room door.
“Hey.” Devolin forced a smile at the two officers.
“Ma’am,” Will greeted Devolin’s mother. “We’ll have to ask you to leave the room for the moment.”
When he and Joleen left the room, Shane stared at me.
“Am I in trouble?” Devolin asked. “Can he stay?”
Shane turned to her, a soft smile at his lips. “He can stay,” he confirmed. “And no, you’re not in trouble from what I’m able to tell, but your statement will help us close things down.”
She nodded. “How’d you want to do this? I can tell you what went down since that night Gordon tried to take me, or is this a Q and A kind of deal?”
I laughed internally. Here she was, looking at accommodating an investigating officer over him accommodating her.
“How about you tell me everything from the time you left NSI headquarters, to when we found you? Then we’ll fill the gaps if you leave any.”
“Ok
ay,” she said softly.
“I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be taking notes?” She shook her head to indicate that she wasn’t bothered with it. Opening the file he’d brought with him, he clicked his pen, then said, “Whenever you’re ready.”
That had possibly been the longest two hours of my entire life.
Hearing practically a minute by minute account of what Devolin had been through in the last five days had been torture for me. She hadn’t left anything out; talking about our fight, how she walked out with vengeance on her mind. My blood boiled as she recounted how she’d snuck up on Marcello Mancini as he’d beaten my dad down, then proceeded to give chase to her, but she’d shot him with his own weapon. A weapon she’d kept, telling us that it was at the bottom of the bag she’d left on her bedroom floor.
I felt guilty that my secretiveness had contributed to her running. She explained that she was so used to working on her own, that at first, it never occurred to her that she could reach out for additional help.
Devolin explained how she’d managed to get the information JPD needed to put Gordon Hewitt away.
“And what made you come home?” Shane asked.
Her eyes met mine, then just as quickly, fell to her clasped hands on her lap.
“I almost fell for Skylar’s email,” she explained.
“You tapped into the hospital’s database, didn’t you?” I asked her.
“If you were me, what would you have done?” She speared me with a look. “I had to make sure.” Turning to Shane, she continued. “I came. It was late, last night…or more like early this morning.”
My eyes widened. “You did?” Then I thought about it. “The blanket.”
“Yeah.” She smiled. “Your dad didn’t tell you?”
“No,” I grumbled. “Old man’s got some explaining to do.”
“Let’s get back on point,” Shane reminded us. “What happened after you left the hospital?”
Night Break Page 20