by M. S. Parker
“Rylan, I wanted to tell you.” Zeke was pleading now. “But I didn't want to lose you.”
“You're my best friend, Zeke,” Rylan said. “I don't care if you're gay. It doesn't change anything.”
Zeke looked at Rylan and then at me. His expression hardened. “No, it doesn't, does it? You love her. Not me.”
“Not like that, no,” Rylan's voice was gentle. “I'm sorry.”
“You're sorry.” Zeke laughed. “I've always been there for you. I picked you up when your heart was broken and who do you choose? Her.” He turned around, running his hand through his hair. “I thought about just ending it.”
I glanced at Rylan and saw that his face had drained of color.
“But then I thought, why should I do that? Let the bitch who hurt you get to have you?”
Rylan tensed and I put my hand on his arm, shaking my head. I didn't care what Zeke said about me. He was on the edge and one wrong move could push him over.
Zeke turned back towards me and that's when I saw the bulge under the back of his shirt. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but he was already pulling out the gun and pointing it at me. His hand was shaking and I froze.
“Then I figured I'd just kill her.” He looked at Rylan. “But you'd never forgive me for that, would you?” His arm moved until he was pointing at Rylan. “So I thought, you can't hold grudges after death, right? So if I kill you and then me, we'll be together. Forever. Right? Leave her behind to suffer.”
I didn't even think about. I just moved, two quick steps and I was between Rylan and the gun.
“Not him,” I said firmly. I felt Rylan try to move and Zeke's hand twitched.
“Jenna,” Rylan said.
I could hear the desperation in Rylan's voice, but I didn't look at him. I couldn't get distracted.
“If you have to kill someone, let it be me. Not him.” I kept my voice even. “If you love him, you can't kill him.”
“I love him,” Zeke said, his eyes filled with angry tears. “But I can't have him. Why should I let you?”
“I'm offering myself in his place, Zeke. He can't get mad at you for that.”
“Like hell,” Rylan muttered, his breathing was harsh and raged behind me.
It didn't look like Zeke had heard him. There was a desperate light in Zeke's eyes, and I was hoping it meant I was getting through to him. At least enough that if he shot someone, it'd be me.
“If I'm out of the way, you won't lose him.” I took a step closer to Zeke, my heart pounding in my chest. I needed to be sure that if he fired, I was the only one getting hurt.
His hand began to shake and I knew I had to do something. I could keep trying to talk him down and hope he'd lower his gun before he accidentally pulled the trigger. Or, I could try to take the gun. I was close enough to reach him. I just didn't know which action would put Rylan in the least amount of danger.
Zeke's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched, the gun growing more steady. “You're trying to trick me.”
I took another step, putting myself less than a foot from the barrel of the gun.
“Jenna...”
I heard Rylan move behind me and knew he was trying to figure out a way to get me away from Zeke. I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't let Rylan risk his life. I continued to speak to Zeke in the same calm voice. “I'm not tricking you.” I spread my arms wide. “Go ahead.”
“No!”
I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and Zeke shifted his attention. The gun started to move and I acted. I grabbed Zeke's wrist, twisting it and squeezing, hoping he'd drop the gun. He yanked his arm back, pulling me close, and for one full, eternal minute, we struggled, the gun between us. Rylan was there, reaching for us, and then, a muffled bang.
Our feet tangled and we fell. I could feel hot liquid soaking my shirt and wondered if I was in shock, if the vague sensation of heat was all I would feel until my brain processed what had happened. It had to be bad if I couldn't feel it. I'd read somewhere that people rarely felt an initial killing wound.
“Jenna.” Rylan's voice was frantic.
I felt his hands on my shoulders and he pulled me off of Zeke. I looked up at him, my heart twisting at the pain on his face.
My hand hurt.
The realization hit me. My hand hurt. There was a faint pain in my side, but nothing new, nothing sharp.
“I'm okay.”
Rylan pulled up my shirt, his hands moving over my stomach, looking for a wound.
“Rylan, I'm okay.” I put my good hand over one of his and the touch seemed to break through his panic. He looked at me. “I'm okay. It's not my blood.”
Shit. It wasn't my blood.
I saw the relief on Rylan's face immediately change into horror as he realized the same thing I did. I hadn't been the one who was shot.
As Rylan released me, I scrambled to my feet and headed for the phone. Unlike most techies, Rylan still had a landline for emergencies. I dialed 911 as I came back over to kneel at Zeke's other side. Rylan's hands were pressed against Zeke's abdomen.
I barely heard myself giving the dispatcher the address. Zeke's face was pale, a sheen of sweat glistening on his skin. His mouth was moving as if he was trying to speak, but Rylan kept telling him to be quiet. I put the phone down, ignoring the dispatcher asking me to stay on the line. I reached across Zeke and put my hand over Rylan's. He glanced at me and then looked back down at his friend. He wrapped his hands around Zeke's.
“I'm sorry,” Zeke said.
“Stop trying to talk,” Rylan said sharply.
“No.” Zeke grimaced. “Let me talk.”
Rylan's lips flattened, but he stopped protesting.
“I'm sorry,” Zeke said again. “Sorry I never told you. I've been in love with you for so long. I thought you'd see it one day. See that I was best for you. And then you met Jenna.” He looked over at me. “I was jealous because he loves you in a way he never loved me. I'm sorry. Please, forgive me.”
“We can talk about that later,” Rylan said.
“Please,” Zeke begged, looking back at his friend. “I can't die knowing you're mad at me.”
“You're not going to die,” Rylan said firmly.
“Rylan.” Zeke's voice sounded weak. “Jenna, please.” He spoke to me, but didn't take his eyes off Rylan.
“I forgive you,” I said.
“I do too,” Rylan said.
With my hands on his side, I could feel the relief go through his body. And then the tension went with it. Shit. I looked at Zeke's face and saw his eyes starting to close.
“Stay awake,” I ordered. I wanted to shake him, but I couldn't take my hands away from where I was pressing against his wound. “Dammit, Zeke! You are not allowed to die, you hear me!”
Rylan leaned over his friend and grabbed his shoulders. “Zeke! Wake up, dammit! You don't get to do this!”
I could still feel the blood beneath my hands, but I wondered just how long it was going to last.
Chapter 29
I really thought Rylan was going to punch the police officer who told him he couldn't ride in the ambulance with Zeke, but then he'd seen me, covered with his friend's blood, hands shaking, and he'd realized I needed him. I never would've asked him to stay rather than go – who knew how bad Zeke was – but I was glad he'd made the decision to stay. Zeke would have doctors taking care of him. I was willing to admit, for the first time, that I needed someone to take care of me.
Right now, I was even more grateful for Rylan's presence than before. Detective McPhee had arrived shortly after the ambulance had left and wanted to take our statements separately. Rylan had threatened to call Agent Matthews and so now we were sitting at the kitchen table, giving Detective McPhee our joint statement. I was doing most of the talking. Rylan was holding my good hand, his grip firm, but I could tell that his thoughts were only half present. Zeke had been in and out of consciousness when the paramedics had taken him away, their expressions blank, telling us nothing about
his condition.
“So, Miss Lang, for the second time in two days, you're involved in a violent altercation.” Detective McPhee gave me a disapproving look.
“If you take a look at my past, it's not exactly unusual.” My tone was sharp.
Rylan squeezed my hand and I knew he was telling me to ease up.
“Three people wanted to kill you and none of them managed to do it. That's quite exceptional.” Detective McPhee didn't seem fazed by my annoyed tone.
“She's an exceptional woman,” Rylan interjected, his voice polite, but with the kind of steel in it that he'd used to become one of the youngest and richest CEOs in the country. “And Zeke didn't come here to kill her. Well, not exactly anyway.”
“Still.” Detective McPhee raised an eyebrow.
I sighed. I was far too tired to deal with this. “Are you going to arrest me?”
“Excuse me?” She seemed surprised by my question.
“I'm tired and covered with blood for the second time in two days. My hand hurts and my boyfriend would like to go to the hospital and see how his friend is doing. If you're not going to arrest me, you have our statements. Before you ask, I'm not leaving Fort Collins anytime soon.”
The detective's mouth twitched. “No, Miss Lang. I'm not going to arrest you.” She glanced at Rylan. “And I have a feeling the DA will decline to press charges on this one as well.”
I didn't say anything to her implication that Rylan would make sure that was the case. Rylan did know the DA and I doubted the DA would want to prosecute me for any of the events that had happened over the past two days, even if he'd been inclined to make an example of me.
Detective McPhee started to say something else, but was interrupted by a shout from the front of the house.
“Rylan!”
His head jerked around, eyes wide. “Suzette!” he called back. He stood, releasing my hand. “That's my sister,” he said to the detective.
A moment later, Suzette was pushing her way past a pair of confused looking officers. She threw herself in her brother's arms.
“I'm okay,” he repeated the statement until I wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure Suzette or himself.
“What happened?” she asked as she stepped back.
Rylan glanced at me and I shrugged. He could tell her as much or as little as he wanted. I saw Suzette's eyes cut towards me, then widen as she saw the blood.
“It's not hers,” Rylan said. “It's Zeke's.”
“Zeke's?” Suzette's face paled. “What the hell happened here?”
Rylan told her, quickly, but without leaving anything out. I watched as myriad expressions crossed her face. Shock. Anger. Horror. Her eyes flicked over to me when Rylan started to describe how I'd stepped between him and Zeke, how I'd told Zeke to shoot me instead of Rylan.
When he finished, I expected her to hug him again, to tell him how glad she was that he was okay. What I didn't expect was her to turn towards me, tears in her eyes and throw her arms around me. I stiffened out of instinct, but managed to return the hug while looking over her shoulder at an equally bewildered-looking Rylan.
“I'm so sorry.”
For the second time today, I was getting an apology I'd never expected.
Suzette released me and took a step back, wiping her cheeks. “I owe you such an apology, Jenna. I've treated you so badly.”
I looked at Rylan and he shrugged, clearly at a loss about what was going on.
“It's not an excuse, but everything...I love my brother, Jenna.” Suzette glanced at Rylan, but then turned back to me. “He does the whole protective older brother thing, but he needs someone to protect him too.”
Protect him? From me?
“You don't know what it was like when things with Lara...ended.” She was deliberately not looking at Rylan now. “I hated her for hurting Rylan that way. He's my brother,” she repeated fiercely. “My family. And I never wanted to see him hurt like that again.”
Pieces were starting to fall into place. Suzette didn't actually hate me. It wasn't personal. She wasn't done yet though and I kept my eyes on her as she continued.
“Since Lara, he'd never really dated anyone so I didn't worry. Then he met you.” She glanced at Rylan, but his face was blank. “I remembered how he'd been with Lara, what he looked like when he was in love. But when he looked at you...what I'd seen with Lara seemed like nothing, and I knew if you...losing you would kill him.”
My heart gave a painful thump and a flood of guilt went through me at what I'd put him through. Rylan crossed to my side and put his arm around me. I leaned into him and he kissed the top of my head.
“Is there a point to this?” he asked, his tone clearly saying he didn’t appreciate what his sister was saying.
“It's not an excuse, but I just wanted to protect you. That's why I acted the way I did. I wanted things to end before they got too serious.” She had the good grace to look embarrassed. “And then I saw you after she left.” She looked at me. “And I was furious at you for hurting him. Until I realized why you'd done it.” She shook her head. “I was an idiot, Jenna. Can you forgive me?” She looked at Rylan. “And you too. I'm sorry.”
“Forgiven.” I stepped out of Rylan's embrace to put my hand on Suzette's shoulders. “We do crazy things for the people we love.”
He came forward with me and pulled both of us into his arms. Despite everything that had happened, I felt a wave of peace wash over me. There were still things to do, issues to deal with, but for the moment, things were good.
Chapter 30
Once Suzette was convinced that we didn't hate her and that we really were okay, we told the cops we were going to be leaving. We both did a quick clean-up, put on clean clothes and grabbed a few necessities. As we walked out of the house, Rylan looked down at me and I knew what he was going to ask. He was torn between taking care of me and needing to see if Zeke was okay. I wasn't about to make him choose.
“Hospital first,” I said as I climbed into the passenger's side seat.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “We can get a room first and I can go see Zeke after we get settled in.”
I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “He may not be my best friend, but I need to know how he is too.”
I'd been trying not to think of it, trying not to think about what would happen if Zeke died. I wasn't worried about being arrested for it, but I was worried about what it would do to Rylan. And to us. We both knew it had been an accident, but would Rylan blame me if his friend died? Would Zeke's death accomplish what he'd wanted in life? Rylan choosing him over me?
“It wasn't your fault.” Rylan interrupted my thoughts. “No matter what happens, we're in this together.”
I turned so I could use my good hand to squeeze his arm. I appreciated his words, but they didn't completely ease my anxiety. I knew I wouldn't relax until I knew for sure that Zeke was going to be okay.
We made our way into the hospital and found ourselves talking to a stern-looking nurse.
“Are you family?” she asked.
“Yes,” Rylan said firmly.
I could tell the nurse was skeptical, but she didn't push it. “Mr. Wesson is resting right now. The bullet went clean through. He should be fine.”
Rylan grabbed my hand as a rush of relief nearly made me stagger.
“Can we see him?” he asked.
She raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly down the hall. A uniformed cop was already standing in front of the door.
“Aside from that,” she said. “Visiting hours are over. If you want to see him tomorrow though, you’ll have to talk to the police and get their permission.”
Rylan nodded. “Thank you, ma'am.”
The drive to the hotel was quiet, but as we headed up to our room, I spoke. “I'll call Agent Matthews. I'm sure he can get us in to see Zeke tomorrow.”
“You don't have to go,” Rylan said. “I can see him alone.”
I stopped partway into the room and turned towards him, putting my
arms around his neck. His hands automatically went to my waist. I stood up on my tiptoes and pressed my lips firmly against his.
“No. We're in it together.”
He smiled at me and lowered his head to give me a longer, much more thorough kiss. When we finally came apart, my pulse was racing and my face was flushed.
“What do you say we get cleaned up and spend the rest of the day in bed?” Rylan slid one hand lower and squeezed my ass.
I didn't even have to think. I stepped away from him and pulled the shirt over my head, dropping it on the floor as I walked towards the bathroom. He followed, shedding his own clothes as he went.
We did indeed spend the remainder of the day in bed. We made love, slow and sweet. We fucked, hard and fast. We watched tv, laughed and slept. We ordered room service and answered the door wearing just a sheet. And we didn't talk about what had happened or what we were going to do tomorrow. The only concession was when I made my call to Agent Matthews.
Monday morning, he called back to let me know that Rylan and I had permission to see Zeke if we still wanted to go. When Rylan looked at me for the answer, I had only one request.
An hour later, I was dressed in my own clothes and a couple boxes were in the trunk of Rylan's car. I didn't mind leaving a few things for movers, but I didn't feel comfortable going into the hospital again, and certainly not to see Zeke, without at least my underwear.
As we walked towards the cop, Rylan reached over and laced his fingers through mine. I didn't need him to say anything to know he was as nervous as I was. I squeezed his hand and followed him into the room.
Zeke was lying in bed, his skin still pale, but he looked better than he had the last time we'd seen him. His left hand was cuffed to the bed, but his right was free. I assumed because of the IV.
His eyes had been closed but as we moved closer, they opened. As soon as he saw Rylan, his entire face lit up for a moment before a mask slammed down. He smiled at both of us, but there was a timidity to it. Shame.
“Hey.” His voice was weak and I didn't think he was pretending. He'd lost a lot of blood yesterday.