An Act of Redemption

by K. C. Lynn

  “Hey, Miranda. Sorry I’m not seeing you again under better circumstances.”

  “Me, too,” she whispers.

  He puts a hand on her back and guides her to a chair. Janey and I sit on either side of her and Jaxson takes the seat next to me. He wraps an arm around my shoulders and kisses the top of my head. I keep hold of Miranda’s hand but lean into him, feeling emotionally spent.

  Sawyer ends up coming back with food and drinks. I have no appetite whatsoever, but Jaxson forces me to eat a little. Cooper shows up not long after we finish eating, looking as upset as everyone else in the room. He and the guys go to a corner to discuss things quietly. Something I’m grateful for because I don’t want to hear about tonight’s events, not right now. Nothing matters at the moment but Logan.

  Three excruciating hours later a doctor steps into the waiting room, dressed in sky blue scrubs and a cap, scanning the waiting room. “Knight family.”

  We all stand. My stomach twists painfully as I try to gauge his expression. His eyes are sharp and focused but sweat dots his forehead beneath his cap, showing signs of stress.

  Miranda grabs Janey’s hand and mine. “We’re Logan’s family.”

  “I’m Doctor Vale. Logan is out of surgery.”

  “How is my son, Doctor?” she asks, her question barely above a whisper.

  My heart thunders in my ears as I wait for his response. “He’s in stable condition right now, but he lost a significant amount of blood from his injuries. He received multiple blood transfusions, and I was able to remove the bullets—all six of them.” A sob of relief escapes me and I sink against Jaxson. Doctor Vale’s eyes lock on mine. “He’s lucky. He was shot very close to his heart, an inch to the left and it would have been fatal. Due to the close proximity of the bullet, it took quite a bit longer than expected to remove it without causing further damage to the surrounding tissue. Fortunately, there is no damage to his heart or lungs.”

  “Oh thank God.” Janey cries, hugging Miranda.

  I cling to Jaxson, his arms squeezing me tight. “I told you he’d pull through,” he says, close to my ear, but there’s no denying the relief in his voice. He was as worried as the rest of us.

  “Can we see him?” I ask the doctor, praying he says yes.

  He hesitates before nodding. “Yes, however, only one at a time. He’s stable, but he needs rest. He’s in recovery right now and then we’ll transfer him to a private room in the intensive care unit, where he can be more comfortable and we can keep a closer eye on him as he heals.”

  I look to Miranda and Janey, knowing I should offer for them to go first, but the words don’t come out of my mouth. Miranda smiles. “You go first.”

  “Are you sure?” I ask, feeling guilty, but not enough to give up the chance at being able to see him right now.

  “Yes, I know he’d want you to be the first person he sees when he opens his eyes. So you should be the first to go in.”

  “Thank you.” I hug her then turn to Jaxson.

  “Go on, kid. I’ll wait here for you.”

  Giving him a small smile, I follow the doctor down the corridor, my feet not moving fast enough. He leads me into the post-op room where a nurse is hanging a bag full of clear fluid on the IV pole next to the bed. I falter as I take in the amount of monitors and machines hooked up to him, my heart twisting at the sight. To see him looking anything less than powerful guts me.

  He’s alive, Anna, that’s all that matters.

  The doctor puts a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll give you some privacy.”

  “Thank you, Doctor Vale, for everything.”

  “You’re welcome.” After a gentle squeeze to my shoulder, he and the nurse walk out and leave me alone with Logan.

  I pull a chair next to the bed and take his hand, hating how lifeless it feels as he sleeps off the anesthesia. “You stupid, courageous, honorable man,” I choke out. As angry as I am at what he did, I know it was an act of honor. He sacrificed himself to save the rest of us, and it’s his courage that makes me love him as much as I do.

  Releasing a sad breath, I lean down and place my lips to his knuckles while hot tears slip down my face. “Your Anna. Forever,” I whisper.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Logan

  Three Weeks Later

  I’m sitting up in the hospital bed watching my girl bustle around, enjoying the beautiful view of her ass as she bends over to finish packing up my suitcase. I’m glad to be getting the hell out of here today and going home. I’ve been going crazy these past few weeks. The bed sucks, the food sucks even more and most importantly there’s no privacy. I need to go home and sleep in the same bed as my girl. I need to feel her naked body against mine, something I didn’t think I would ever feel again.

  “Logan, did you hear me?” My eyes snap to Anna’s face to see her looking over her shoulder, watching me ogle her ass. She stands with her hands on her hips, her lush mouth lifting with an amused smile.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Don’t you what me.”

  “You can’t expect me not to stare at your ass when you’re wearing those shorts, Anna. It’s impossible.”

  “You would look at my ass with or without the shorts.”

  “That’s very true,” I agree, not ashamed to admit it.

  With a giggle she moves toward me, her long, sexy legs closing the distance between us. I turn and drop my feet on the floor. She stops about a foot in front of me—not close enough. Reaching out, I hook my finger in the front of her shorts and pull her between my legs. Her hands grip my shoulders to steady herself and mine move to the part of her body I couldn’t stop staring at—her ass.

  Leaning in, I kiss the swell of her breasts, outlining her fitted, red tank top, her sweet scent penetrating my senses and making my dick hard.

  Jesus, I need her in the worst way.

  “Mmm.” She moans, her fingers clutching my hair. “Stop that. It’s hard to resist and you heard what the doctor said, nothing strenuous for at least two more weeks.”

  “Fuck that. I heard no such thing.”

  “Yes, you did and we’re going to be good when we go home and follow orders.”

  “Actually, I don’t plan on being good at all when I get you home. Not one bit,” I mumble against her soft skin.

  “Yes, you are, because I don’t want you to end up back here. Not ever again.” The soft note to her voice has me looking up at her. Her sad, brown eyes peer down at me, striking me like a physical blow to my healing body.

  “No being sad, baby.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be. I just want you to be better.”

  “I am better, and I’m going to keep getting better. If I wasn’t okay to go home the doctors wouldn’t release me.”

  She shakes her head. “I know, you’re right. I’m sorry for being such a downer. I guess I’m just nervous.”

  I pull her in closer to me, hating the fear in her eyes, something that I know will take a while to erase after the clusterfuck we just got out of. “I know these past few weeks have been hard, but you don’t need to worry any more, Anna. The feds have what they need; everyone who had a part in what happened to me is either dead or being locked up. No one will ever hurt us again, I promise. Okay?”

  She nods. “Yeah, okay.”

  “Give me your mouth, baby. Let me taste what’s mine.” She leans down and gives me what I want, her sweet flavor flooding my senses and soothing my broken body. “This.” I groan against her lips. “This right here, Anna—it’s all that fucking matters, it’s all that we need. Just each other.”

  “Yes.”

  Reaching up, I cup her soft cheek, brushing my thumb across her lip. “We’re okay,” I tell her again, staring back into her warm eyes. “Say it.”

  “We’re okay.”

  “Forever.”

  “Forever,” she whispers.

  A knock on the door breaks us out of our moment. Anna steps back and turns just as it opens to reveal Cooper. “Hey
.” He glances back and forth between us. “Am I interrupting?”

  “No, no, not at all.” Anna lies. “Come in. I’m just packing up the rest of his stuff. He’s getting discharged today,” she tells him, her smile genuine.

  “So I heard. That’s good news, especially for Doctor Sissy. I don’t think he enjoyed putting up with those three burly bastards over the last few weeks.” Cooper chuckles, referring to Jaxson, Sawyer and Cade who dislike Doctor Carson, or rather Doctor Sissy, as they like to call him. In the past he has hit on their women and it’s something they refuse to let go.

  “Thankfully, they acted civil…well for the most part,” Anna adds with a smile.

  He grunts. “No punches were thrown. They were very civil.”

  “True.” She snickers. “Anyway, glad you’re here, I need to make a few phone calls before we leave. You can take care of him while I’m gone.”

  My gaze shoots to hers, narrowing in annoyance. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” I grumble, not appreciating the babysitter. Well, except for her, but she has to be naked while doing it.

  She rolls her eyes. “Fine. He can keep you company. Is that better?”

  She giggles at my silence and moves in to give me a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek. “Don’t frown, Logan, or your face will stay like that,” she says in a deep voice, attempting to replicate mine. I glare harder at her, not finding her sassy ass as funny as she does. “Okay, okay, I’m going now. Be good for Cooper.” Giving me a saucy little wave she walks out the door, her laughter trailing after her.

  I glance over at an amused Cooper. “Welcome to the club.”

  “What club?”

  “The one where you’re in love with a smart-ass. It’s a secret club us guys have. You can be a part of it now. I’m the president because my wife is the biggest smart-ass of all.”

  I’m not going to disagree with him there. Kayla definitely holds the cake for being a smart-ass. I chuckle, flinching slightly when pain radiates across my chest.

  “Still hurting?”

  I shrug. “Not nearly as much as last week.”

  He sits in the chair against the wall, across from me; a moment of silence stretching between us as I wait for him to say whatever’s on his mind.

  “Everything okay?” I ask, when he doesn’t say anything. “Did something happen with the case? Don’t tell me Charity went back on her statement.”

  “No, nothing like that.” He pauses, running a hand through his hair. “I came to apologize.”

  My brows furrow in confusion. “Apologize? For what?”

  “For what happened to you. To find out your cover was blown thanks to a dirty fucking cop in my department…” A heavy breath leaves him as he talks about Deputy Cunningham, a cop the mayor had under his belt. When suspicion was raised, he went snooping around Cooper’s office and found my file. He also helped set up the accident Cooper was called out to that night so no one would be around when those assholes showed up at Jaxson’s.

  Dirty motherfucker.

  He’s not the only one. Throughout these past few weeks many prominent members of society have been named—judges, lawyers, politicians, to name a few. They all would have been at that final, taking pleasure in watching someone beat a guy to death and it’s all done for entertainment and another way to make more money. It was just one big ring of fucking corruption. I was happy to know Kolan wasn’t a part of it. Cooper did some digging around and found nothing linking him to this at all and his name wasn’t brought up with everyone else’s. Guess it wasn’t him I saw at the club that night after all.

  “Jesus, it drives me fucking crazy to know that prick worked for me for five years and I had no idea,” Cooper says, drawing me from my thoughts.

  “You don’t need to apologize. What happened to me isn’t your fault. It would have happened either way. Those assholes were planning on ending me, even without knowing my cover, for the simple fact that I lost them a fuck ton of money,” I say, talking about the Sons of Death.

  “I still feel like shit about it. If not for Cunningham your cover wouldn’t have been blown. I hope the feds don’t cut him any deals, and the asshole gets charged to the fullest extent.”

  Prison sucks for anyone; I can’t imagine what it will be like for him. “I’m just glad this shit is finally over with, especially for Anna’s sake. The past few weeks have really messed her up. I just want to move on and make it better for her,” I admit.

  Something flickers in his sharp gaze. “So tell me, what’s your plan now?”

  “What do you mean?” I know exactly what he’s asking. I just don’t have an answer for him.

  “Now that you’re done with the feds. What’s your plan for work? After you’re done healing, of course.”

  I shrug. “Truthfully, I don’t know. I thought about checking out EFC but Anna doesn’t want me to fight. I’m not sure I have much of a choice though, not if I want to make a decent living.”

  He nods. “I talked with Anna a while ago, just before everything went down. She told me you always wanted to be a cop.”

  My girl and her big fucking mouth.

  I shake my head. “Yeah, well, that was a long time ago, and we both know it’s never going to happen so let’s change the subject,” I say, not in the mood to talk about this shit right now.

  “Okay, let’s change the subject.” He reaches into the inside pocket of his coat and pulls out a sealed envelope before holding it out to me.

  “What’s this?”

  “Open it and find out.”

  Taking the envelope, I open it and pull out the folded legal document. I spend minutes reading it. I read it over and over again, swearing it can’t be real. “What the hell is this?”

  “It’s a pardon.”

  I stare at him in complete and utter shock. “Are you for fucking real right now?”

  “I would never joke about something like this.”

  “But…how? How did you do this?”

  “I went to the feds and told them they owed it to you. You deserve this. I know it, the feds know it and I think you do, too.” I continue to gape at him, completely speechless. “Look, what happened all those years ago was an accident, and we all hated that you paid for it. You were given a chance to make things right, and you more than did that. Not only doing what you did for the feds, but you also ran out of the house that night, laying your life on the line to save everyone inside. My family included. You would make a great fucking cop, Knight, and you deserve this chance to do it. Your record is wiped clean. I have a spot held for you at the police academy that starts up in a month if you want it. I could use another deputy after you finish.”

  I shake my head, not believing this is happening. “I don’t know what to say. I…” I swallow thickly, my words gruff.

  “Say you’ll accept it. Take this second chance to do what you’ve always wanted to do and come work for me.”

  I don’t think twice about taking it. I nod, not being able to form words at the moment.

  You got this, brother. Conquer the world.

  At the sound of Lewis’s last words, I drop my head in my hands, my throat and eyes burning like a motherfucker. I hear the door open and know who it is before I even hear her.

  “Hey,” Anna greets quietly. “Everything all right?”

  I keep my head down, unable to look at her right now, or anyone for that matter.

  “Yeah, we’re good. I just finished giving him the pardon. I think he’s in shock,” Cooper explains with a chuckle. Clearly, this is something she already knew about and why she left us alone. “I gotta run, I have a meeting, but we’ll talk soon, Knight.” I nod as he claps me gently on the shoulder.

  At the sound of the door shutting, Anna comes to stand in front of me. I grab her around the waist and bury my face against her slender stomach. “Thank you.” I choke out the words, knowing this is all because of her.

  Her fingers slide in my hair as she leans down, bringing her mouth to my ear. “
I’m just glad it worked out and Cooper could do this. You deserve this, Logan. You deserve to be happy and live all of your dreams.”

  Jesus, I’m the luckiest motherfucker alive to have this girl.

  I lean back to look up at her. Her hands immediately go to my face as she stares down at me. Encircling her wrist, I kiss the palm of her hand. “As long as I have you, Anna, I’ll always be happy. I don’t need anything else but you.”

  She graces me with one of her pretty smiles. “The nurse has everything we need to discharge you. Let’s go home.”

  “Yeah, baby. Let’s go home.” After signing the discharge papers and stopping at the pharmacy for my prescriptions, that’s exactly what we do.

  I walk up the stairs to my apartment building with Anna close to my side, fussing over me and trying to take my bag. “I can carry my bag. I’m good.”

  She finally relents with a huff. “Stubborn,” she grumbles, bringing a smirk to my lips. As soon as we walk in the apartment, I slam the door, pin her against it and claim her sweet mouth the same way I want her body. A sexy moan slips past her lips and her fingers clutch my shirt to bring me closer, her tongue matching mine, stroke for stroke. My hands move to cup her ass, bringing her against me. “Jesus, I fucking need you.”

  “But the doctor said—”

  “Fuck what the doctor said, he’s stupid.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” she breathes against my lips.

  “The only thing hurting right now is my cock. I need to feel you, Anna. I need to be inside of you.” I need this girl more than I need my next breath, and if loving her brings me pain, so fucking be it.

  “I need you so bad, too.” She whimpers.

  Reaching between us, I slip a hand in the front of her shorts, my fingers gliding through her soaking wet slit. “Then let me inside this sweet pussy of yours, let me take away your ache, baby.”

  Instead of letting me do exactly that, she pushes me away, careful of my wounds. I groan in disappointment and reluctantly remove my hand from her shorts. Bracing my hands, on either side of her head, I drop my forehead on her shoulder, thinking I’ve lost this battle, and it makes me want to weep like a fucking pussy. She frames my face and brings my gaze to hers, a smile gracing her sexy mouth.