Ride Rough

by Laura Kaye

  His grin was sadistic and cruel. “Enjoyed my little calling card, did ya?” He didn’t give her the chance to answer, because as soon as he was close enough, he roughly grabbed her arm and tugged her against him. He spun her so her back was to his front, then he dragged her away from Charlie’s reach. His forearm pressed savagely into her throat, choking her as she struggled to keep her heels under her. “Because of you,” he hissed into her ear, “I lost everything I had. And now you’re going to see how that feels, starting with him.”

  Woodson lifted the gun.

  Becca had to do some—

  The syringe!

  In her rage and terror, it seemed to her that he moved in slow motion. And that she did, too. An eternity seemed to pass as he took aim and she reached into the pocket of her maxi dress. Uncapped the syringe. Jabbed it into Woodson’s thigh.

  The world froze for an eternity.

  Woodson shouted.

  The gun fired.

  She stumbled as he did, his arm still squeezing her throat.

  And then she was falling, falling backward with him, as the gun fired again.

  NICK WATCHED AS the women made their way up the aisle. When Kat got closer, she grinned and made a face at him, but then her gaze shifted to his left. To Beckett. And hell if the look his sister was giving his friend wasn’t how Becca sometimes looked at Nick. For as much as Nick had been thrown by Beckett’s interest in Kat, the two of them had proven to be damn good for each other.

  As Kat took her place, Nick searched for Becca. And found the doors to the first floor closed again. He frowned. Maybe it was to allow the bride to make a grand entrance once the wedding march began? Nick stretched his neck and rolled his shoulders. Probably made him an asshole, but he really wanted this rehearsal to be over.

  He stared at the doors. The same music continued on. A prickle ran over his scalp. He looked to his teammates, standing at his left. But his gut had already decided. “I don’t like this.” No, more than that. “Something’s fucking wrong.”

  The men took off as a unit. “Kat, get everyone in the limo and keep them there,” Nick heard Beckett say. “Go.”

  Becca. Jesus Christ, Becca. Where are you?

  Nick full out sprinted down the courtyard. Two security guards spilled out from the gatehouse and filled in behind them.

  “Go around to the side and take the shot through a window if you have it,” Nick called. Easy and Marz broke off. Guns in hand, the remaining three slowed as they approached the doors. Curtains covered the glass, keeping Nick from seeing inside. In a quiet jog, they hugged the building as they got closer, then Nick used hand signals to communicate the plan. Him on one side, Beckett and Marz on the other. Beckett would force entry, Marz would provide sweeping cover and fire, and Nick would take out the target—assuming he had a shot. There were three friendlies inside.

  It was the only way he could think of Becca as his brain shifted to ice-cold operational mode.

  Gunfire. One shot. Then another.

  And it didn’t fucking sound like it had come from the exterior of the building. It had come from inside.

  No! Not Becca! Not my sunshine!

  With a violent kick, Beckett exploded open the doors. A scream from inside.

  Nick swept in to witness something he would never forget for the rest of his life. Becca on the floor on top of Woodson. She wrestled a gun away from him, then rose on stumbling, unsure feet, the gun trained right at the man’s head.

  Nick didn’t know whether to be terrified, proud, or completely fucking dumbfounded.

  Gun trained on Woodson, Nick slowly came around so he had a clear view of the man and of Becca’s face.

  “Becca, are you okay?” Nick asked, his heart a goddamned freight train in his chest. Seriously. The adrenaline coursing through him was strong enough to knock him off his feet, and as strong as the relief he felt at seeing Becca on hers. But she didn’t seem to hear him. “Becca.”

  “I should kill you,” she said, the tone of her voice something he’d never heard before. “I should.” Despite the shudders racking her body, she gripped the weapon stably, competently. Her finger sat on the trigger.

  Nick glanced to Woodson to find him unconscious, then all his focus narrowed in on her, even as his teammates moved around the room. Still vigilant, Nick moved closer. “Becca, it’s me. It’s over.”

  She shook her head. “I should,” she said again, her face crumpling.

  God, his heart was fucking breaking. “No, you shouldn’t. No matter how much he deserves it, you don’t want a death on your hands. Any death. You don’t want that. And I don’t want that for you.”

  Beckett moved around behind Becca, poised to disarm her if he needed to, but Nick gave a single shake of his head.

  Nick crouched to force himself closer to her line of sight. “Becca. Sunshine. Look at me.”

  Shattered blue eyes cut to him, but her gun remained trained on the unconscious man who’d wreaked such havoc on their lives. “Is . . . is Charlie . . .”

  “I’m okay,” Charlie said, sitting up against the wall by the door. “I’m okay, Becca.”

  Nick spared a quick glance to her brother. Okay, but hit in the shoulder. Shane was taping gauze to the wound from a kit open on the floor beside him. Jeremy was crouched on Charlie’s other side, his head against the guy’s good shoulder.

  “He’s okay?” she asked, like she wasn’t quite processing the information.

  “Yeah. Charlie’s okay. It’s all over.” Slowly, Nick reached out toward her, his hand gesturing for the gun. “You did so good, Becca. You took Woodson out. You saved Charlie. Let me take it from here.” The how of it all, Nick didn’t yet know, but there was no doubting that Becca had saved this fucking day.

  Nick’s hand fell on the barrel of the gun. Exerted pressure. Forced it down and away.

  Finally, she let it go.

  It was like the gun had been holding her up.

  Her legs went out beneath her. Beckett was right there and caught her as she sagged to the floor.

  Nick was to her in an instant. He handed the gun off to Beckett and took Becca into his arms.

  “Charlie,” she rasped.

  “He’s right here,” Nick said.

  She turned within his embrace, a tortured gasp spilling out of her when she saw her brother. Blood had soaked a crimson circle through the gauze.

  “It’s just a scratch,” Charlie said. “I’m fine.”

  Movement in the doorway. Chen and his team. “I got here as fast as I could,” Chen said. “Are you all okay?”

  Hell if Nick knew. “Can you stand?” he asked Becca. He wanted to get her out of there, away from Woodson.

  “Yeah,” she said as he helped her up. She needed the help. Adrenaline had her shaking like she was freezing, and her teeth were chattering.

  Nick shrugged out of his suit coat and wrapped it around her.

  “What’s that?” Chen asked, pointing at the floor by Woodson’s leg.

  A syringe.

  “Diazepam,” Becca said in a weak voice.

  “Smart,” Chen said in that deadpan way he had.

  Not smart. Fucking brilliant. When had she done that?

  As they watched, one of Chen’s men cuffed Woodson’s hands.

  “Can we go home?” Becca asked, her voice taking on a flat, odd quality. “I just want to go home.”

  His arm around her, Nick pulled her in against his chest and stroked her hair. He looked to Shane and Charlie.

  “He needs stitches, but not surgery. Went clean through the meat above his collarbone,” Shane said.

  “Can you fix it up at home?” Charlie asked Shane.

  Shane pressed his lips into a tight line. “The job will be neater and less painful if we take you to the hospital.”

  Shaking his head, Charlie looked from Shane to Nick. “I don’t care about that. I want to take Becca home.”

  “Your call,” Nick said to his best friend.

  “Okay,” Sh
ane said after a moment. “Let’s get you up.” He and Jeremy both helped Charlie stand.

  “He was gonna kill all of you. That was his plan,” Becca said out of nowhere.

  Chen’s gaze swung to Becca, as did several of the other men’s. “Did he tell you how he knew to come here?”

  “Just that someone in housekeeping at the hospital found one of our wedding invitations and gave it to him,” Becca said. Well, that answered some questions right there.

  “He came from the basement,” Sonya said from where she hovered with her security team at the door.

  “We’ll get to the bottom of it all,” Chen said. “Go home. I’ll touch base in a while.”

  “What’s your plan with him?” Nick asked, giving Woodson one last glance.

  “The less you know, the better.” Chen gave him a pointed look.

  Nick knew he didn’t have to say anything more, so he just nodded and guided Becca toward the door. “Then let’s go home.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Becca felt like she was trapped in the dark at the bottom of a well. Somewhere, she knew there was a way out, but as she felt around with blind hands, she couldn’t find the ladder. She couldn’t find the light.

  Despite the fact that, physically, she was functioning.

  She answered questions as if by rote. She watched Shane sew up Charlie’s wound. She ate part of a piece of pizza that she didn’t taste and couldn’t finish. She let Nick change her into a pair of pajamas. She felt him touching her, but she couldn’t reach him.

  She couldn’t find the ladder. She couldn’t find the light.

  But then her friends threw her a rope.

  They’d all been sitting around on the couches in the living room for hours, just keeping one another company, just keeping her company, when suddenly Kat shot to her feet, her hands fisted, her posture indicating she was waging some great internal debate.

  And then she turned to Beckett, who was sitting with his hip resting on the back of the couch behind where she’d been. “I’m pregnant,” Kat blurted.

  The whole room froze.

  Beckett’s face was sculpture still. And then his eyes went wide. “Pregnant? Like . . . pregnant?”

  “Pregnant like you’re going to be a daddy,” she said, her voice uncertain.

  He came around the couch to her and grasped her face in his hands. And then he gave her a smile that lit up the entire room. “You’re pregnant,” he whispered, his voice absolutely reverent. One big hand dropped to her stomach. And then he wrapped her in his arms so tightly that it made Kat laugh.

  “You’re happy,” she said.

  “I’m terrified,” Beckett said. “But I’m also fucking ecstatic.”

  The whole place erupted in laughter and cheers and words of congratulations, the energy in the room shifting like the planets had just realigned.

  Light cracked through the fog clouding Becca’s heart and soul.

  “I thought I told you there better not be any goddamned children,” Nick said.

  Kat whirled. “Nick—”

  “No, it’s okay,” Beckett said, his face going serious again.

  And then Nick broke out in a deep belly laugh. “I had you. I totally had you.” He grasped Beckett’s hand and pulled him in for a back-slapping embrace. “Congratulations, man. I’m gonna be the coolest uncle ever. And you’re going to be a kick-ass dad.”

  “Dude, you have no chance of being cooler than me, so give that shit up now,” Jeremy said, hugging Kat in beside him.

  “You’re a fucking asshole,” Beckett said as he gave Nick a playful shove. But that million-dollar smile was back on the guy’s face again.

  “You totally are,” Kat said, reaching up to hug Nick next.

  Woodenly, Becca rose from the couch to offer her congratulations.

  “Well, shit,” Marz said from where he stood next to Beckett. “If we’re sharing good news, and why the hell not after this day, then I have to tell you that Emilie agreed to marry me this afternoon.” He put his arm around her and kissed her on the temple. “And to be honest, I have no idea how I lasted this long without telling you.”

  “We were going to share it tomorrow at the reception,” Emilie said, her voice cracking. “But I’m glad we did it now. We’ve been dying.”

  The smiles on the couple’s faces were absolutely brilliant with joy. Another round of jubilation erupted.

  The rope was in Becca’s hands. The light was burning off the fog.

  When everyone had a chance to offer congratulations, Sara called out, “I got accepted into college at Johns Hopkins for the fall. I’m going to finish my degree.”

  Jenna threw her arms around her sister’s shoulders. “Oh, that’s amazing, Sara. I’m so proud of you.”

  More celebrations. More light.

  Becca could tell the moment her body finally plugged back in, because suddenly she felt everything.

  “I’m so happy for all of you,” she said, her voice strained. “So, so happy.”

  Tears exploded out of her. Hot, racking, full-body tears. Sobs that had been stored up since the beginning of time.

  Someone wrapped her in their arms and sank down to the couch with her. A hand fell on her shoulder. Another on her back. Another on her knees. Someone grasped her hand.

  All she had was rope and light now, even though she couldn’t rein herself in. The tears felt like they released a poison inside her that had to be purged, so she gave herself over to them. Not that she really had a choice.

  Finally, finally, she managed a deep, shuddering breath. Tears continued to leak from her eyes, but she could see enough to realize she’d literally soaked Easy with her tears. “I’m sorry,” she croaked out.

  He shook his head. “Don’t you worry about a thing. I got you.”

  She pressed her hand to his heart. “You’re a beautiful, beautiful soul, Easy. I’m so glad you’re in my life.”

  The words visibly impacted him. He gave her hand a squeeze.

  Becca turned to the others, who’d all formed a tight circle around her. “I feel that way about each and every one of you. I love you and I cherish you and you’re just . . . you’re all everything to me.” At least she wasn’t the only one crying, but she was pretty sure she saw only happy tears.

  “We feel the same way about you, Becca,” Kat said from where she knelt in front of her.

  “Yeah,” Marz said. “You’re da bomb. Then again, I’ve thought so since you made a MacGyver reference, so . . .” The men groaned. “What?” Marz asked.

  Her heart was so, so full. But something still needed to be said. Urgency flooded through her, and she whirled to face Nick, who’d been sitting behind her, holding her and stroking her back. “I want to marry you. Tomorrow,” she said. “Just like we planned. I don’t want to wait. I don’t want to put it off another second.” The words rushed out of her. She scrubbed at her face, despite the fact that her eyes seemed set to non-stop.

  Nick grasped her hands. “Becca—”

  “Please,” she said, sensing that his concern for her was going to push him in the direction of caution, of taking things slow. “The best way to fight back the darkness is with love and light. The best way to cheat death is to live life with no regrets, holding nothing back, just throwing yourself into the messy, vibrant, unexpected beauty of it. That’s what I want. I don’t care about what happened. I refuse to let that win. I don’t want to wait to be your always and forever. And for you to be mine.”

  He studied her face for a long moment, his pale eyes shiny and searching hers. Anticipation hung over the room like a balloon about to burst. “I would love nothing more than to make you my wife. As soon as humanly possible. But tomorrow will do.”

  “BECCA, ARE YOU ready? It’s five o’clock, so it’s time,” Kat said.

  Staring at herself in the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the bridal room at the inn, Becca nodded. One by one, her friends formed a tight circle behind her. Kat, one of the bravest, fiercest women she knew. Emilie
, one of the strongest and most generous. Sara, one of the most courageous and certainly the most resilient. Jenna, one of the most compassionate, with so much passion for life that she’d helped a broken man rediscover that within himself again.

  How lucky was Becca to be surrounded by such extraordinary women? The only one missing was her own mother, and a little part of Becca’s heart ached that her parents weren’t there to see everything that she and Charlie had become. But that just proved that you had to love and cherish the ones you cared about while they were in your life and never waste a single minute.

  “You look gorgeous,” Sara said.

  “We’re all fucking hot,” Kat said, making them all laugh.

  “We are pretty stunning,” Becca said. The gowns, the flowers in their hands and in their hair, the happiness radiating out from every one of their faces. “And I’m ready.”

  “Let me make sure the coast is clear. My brother has been a total crazy man about not seeing you.” Kat winked at her as she made for the door. Becca hadn’t seen Nick since they’d departed at noon for the salon. Truth be told, she was at her limit of missing him, too. “Okay, we’re good.”

  They moved out into the main space, where Becca found Charlie waiting for her. The look he gave her was full of pride and affection.

  “Are you feeling okay?” she asked him.

  “Great,” Charlie said. “I’m about to witness my favorite person on earth getting everything she ever wanted. How could I be anything but great?”

  “I love you, Charlie,” she said, gently hugging him.

  “Bridesmaids, it’s time to march,” Sonya said. The lady had seemed a little rattled when they’d first arrived, but she’d really gone above and beyond in putting Becca at ease. But if Becca was honest, she didn’t feel scarred by what had transpired there the day before. She felt freed.

  One by one, her friends made their way to the dais at the far end of the courtyard.

  “And now it’s your turn,” Sonya said as the music transitioned to the wedding march. “Congratulations, Becca.”

  “Thank you,” she said as she slipped her arm through Charlie’s good one. They stepped through the door and out into the evening sunlight. “I want this for you someday, Charlie. This happiness, this belonging. You deserve it.”