Flint’s gaze shifted back to the car and spotted a flash of magenta in the backseat. Not moving. Shit. He met Shiloh’s half-delirious gaze, noted her tight grip on her charge’s arm. “Hang tight, Lio.” Then he turned to Goldie. “I’ve got Darby. Stay back.”
He slid the last few feet, the angle of the ground so steep he had to brace himself on a tree to keep from falling on his ass and running into the car. One glance inside showed that Darby was unconscious, probably because she was also untethered by a safety belt. Stupid. Flint supposed he’d be more angry if he hadn’t been bailing Bryce’s ass out for the last quarter-century. He couldn’t fuck it up, or Goldie might never forgive him. Or herself.
With one slow, studied move, Flint opened the back door wide, careful not to shift its weight. “Darby. Can you hear me?” No response. She was out cold, sprawled across the backseat, one leg bent close to her body and the other ankle easily within his reach. How the fuck…? He couldn’t add his own weight to the vehicle without risking it tumbling to the road below, but without any leverage how could he safely get her out? And where the fuck was Aven?
Crouching low to keep his balance strong, Flint grabbed onto the tree holding his weight and reached the other towards Darby’s legs. He pulled her bent leg gingerly, hoping he wasn’t doing any more damage, until her ankles lined up side by side and he could wrap his big hand around both, get a firm grip. He forced himself to take a deep breath. Once Darby was in motion he had to be ready to keep a tight grip, to keep her unconscious body with him, even if the car started to move out from under her, tried to take her with it. He wasn’t letting go of the most important person in Goldie’s life, not even to save his own. If Darby went over the edge, Flint was going with her. And he really didn’t want shit to go down that way.
The first pull went fine. Flint was able to move Darby a decent amount, until she was fully horizontal on the backseat, her legs halfway out the door, and the car didn’t do more than creak in its shaky hold. The next pull would shift her weight drastically.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, dripping into his eyes, and Flint twisted his head to wipe it on his shirt sleeve. He caught Goldie’s eye as he did, saw the bald worry there, the fear over her sister’s life, the desperation to know Darby was safe. Flint’s gut clenched. He had to give her that.
He heaved Darby’s legs up and out of the doorway with one hand, holding her by the ankles like a baby, his other hand still locked onto the small tree nearby. The car shifted and sank half a foot further down the hill. Goldie screamed. Shiloh talked her down.
Flint’s muscles strained with the effort as he held tight to Darby’s limp form and lifted, raising to his full height and pulling straight up until her head was free, until his deltoids screamed with the angle and the weight just as the hatchback gave up the ghost and slid over the edge, screams erupting from the road below as it tumbled through the trees. An unholy metallic crunch exploded on the street below. Flint prayed no one was hurt down there.
Arms shaking with his efforts, Flint started to lower Darby gently to the ground just as a woman with straight, black hair and harsh bangs half-slid down the hill to them, shouting, “I’m a nurse!” Flint let her take over Darby’s care, himself only concerned with getting to Goldie.
But she was already heading right for him, landing in Flint’s arms and gripping tight to his shirt with both hands. Just before his eyes closed in primal satisfaction he saw Shiloh slip off into the underbrush, her ruined arm held close to her side. She’d be back in two minutes at a hundred percent, if she could just get clear of humans and shift herself back to health. Flint could hear sirens screaming from up the hill. Getting louder.
Goldie’s slight form shook in Flint’s arms, her voice cracking against his chest. “Flint...” She couldn’t say anymore. Flint held her close, rocking her body with his, until with a shaky breath Goldie straightened and looked around his arm to Darby’s unnaturally-still body lying on the ground behind him.
Chapter 29 - Broken Family
Sturdy white shoes topped with lavender scrub pants stopped in front of Goldie’s downcast gaze. She’d been waiting for hours in the hospital’s emergency unit before being brought upstairs to the rooms for admitted patients. It had to be late, close to midnight. Goldie looked up into the kind face of an older woman. “You can see your sister now.”
Goldie’s heart hitched for a moment before she remembered that only Flint was with her, and he already knew their secret. Bryce would be here soon to take over so they could go home and clean up. And anyway, she wasn’t even sure the secret mattered that much anymore.
She looked over at Flint, next to her. They were holding hands, had been for hours. Having him beside her was so comforting.
She disentangled herself from him. He squeezed her fingers one time before letting her go. She followed the nurse.
Goldie pushed into the hospital room. Darby was in the bed, sitting up, looking at her. Oh, thank goodness. Her sister was going to be okay. Her head was bandaged, both her eyes were blackened, she had a concussion and scratches on her face, plus her left wrist was in a splint, but it could have easily been so much worse.
Goldie’s nerves took over, making her babble. “Hey, puddin’. Actually, I guess I can’t call you that anymore, can I? Diamond girl, more like. Takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’. I’ve never seen you quiet for so long, though.”
Darby’s eyes narrowed. “What in the hell were you doing?”
Guilt flooded Goldie. Her fault. “He was behind us, he kept coming faster. I thought he was going to run us off the road. I screwed up.”
Screwed up so big it almost killed the person I was trying to save. The only family I’ve got left. “I panicked. I took that curve too fast and ended up in the wrong lane and ran off the road and into the trees.” She reached towards the goose egg on Darby’s head, but her sister flinched away and Goldie withdrew her hand. She hadn’t meant to hurt Darby, but to save her. But she hadn’t even been able to do that.
“Flint saved you. He dragged you out of the car just before it went over the edge. You probably would have died if he hadn’t been there.” A hot tear tracked down Goldie’s cheek.
Darby spoke, her voice sounding confused. Unsure. Not like her sister at all. “Maybe I should have gone with him. I should have at least seen who he was.”
Goldie gaped at her sister. Darby had done some reckless things in her life but this was beyond the pale. “Creepy letter guy? Stalker guy? Dar, no. You said you were so scared you couldn’t stop shaking! Why would you even say that?”
Darby’s face was still turned away, but even in the shadows Goldie could see the blush so dark on her bare cheeks it was as if she still wore all her makeup. Ruby lips pressed firmly together until all the color faded, then flushed red again as Darby delivered her next bombshell. “I never said I was scared.”
Goldie blinked at her sister. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. You dove into my car, Darby.”
Darby slapped the bed with her unbandaged hand. “I know! But I didn’t see him chasing us.” She jammed one long fingernail between her teeth, worrying the edge as she glared at Goldie with narrowed eyes. “You sure you didn’t just panic about falling in love and decide to take me down with you?”
Outrage blocked Goldie’s voice, but not for long. Within seconds all of the grievances she had against her sister had added their weight, pushing the clog free and spewing themselves between them. “Take you down with me? Are you out of your damn mind, Dar? I came because you called me! I’ve been pulling you up behind me, kicking and screaming, for years! Who do you think kept us together after Mama and Daddy died?”
Darby’s jaw dropped but Goldie wasn’t near done. “Who ran interference with Tallulah so you could have a normal teenage rebellion? Who did your chores so you could work on your art? Dammit, Darby, I’ve been breaking my back to give you a good life for the last twelve years!”
Proof she was feeling her old self, Darby sho
uted back, the barest accent slicing the edges of her words. “Well I sure as shit didn’t ask ya to! Bless it, Goldie, I been tryin’ to get free o’ y’all my whole damn life!”
Been trying to-? What? Goldie’s thoughts spun in a tornado of hurt. This wasn’t Darby’s usual fight-picking drama. She was out for blood. Was something else going on? Darby’s expression turned contemptuous, her tone mocking, way past her usual pestering. This was too far, even for Darby. “But noooooo, not Orphan Princess Goldie. We gotta do what she says, or else her fairy tale might not come true. Well, news flash, Tinderella, ain’t no Prince Charming out there. What you got is the best you gon’ get, so just stop running around in glass shoes before you slice your damn feet to pieces!”
Goldie stood there, stunned, for two beats before she turned and left. She had to get out. The nurse in lavender was on her way to the door, a concerned look on her face. Goldie stammered an apology as tears blinded her, running hot down her cheeks. Everything was falling apart.
Her vision was blurry, her cheeks flaming hot. Her sister. Her own sister had said those hateful words to her. She headed for where she remembered the elevator being.
A shout behind her. Flint. Goldie turned, blinked, saw him jogging to catch up to her. A confused Bryce stared after them both, standing outside her sister’s room holding a four-pack of chocolate pudding and some DVDs. At least someone was still in Darby’s good graces and could look after her. Goldie fixed her eyes frontward and stalked down the hallway, no longer crying. No, ma’am. Not at all.
Flint called her name again as Goldie stabbed at the elevator’s down button and crossed her arms, but she was too preoccupied to answer. Her sister in the hospital for who knows how long, her car totaled again and in ways she couldn’t possibly hope Riot would be able to repair. Her insurance was going to skyrocket, she was back to bumming rides off her fellow therapists, and at any moment a vampire could cross her path and she’d be off and running on a mission to poke more holes in him than a paranormal romance novel plot. Life was going just great.
A strong, gentle hand at her elbow felt like a blow and Goldie flinched away from Flint’s comforting touch. She could get through this as long as nobody was nice to her. Could be strong, figure out the next step, and get her life back on track, just as long as nobody allowed for her to be anything less.
No such luck. Flint’s tender hands reached for Goldie’s chin, trying to lift her gaze to his, but she pulled away. She couldn’t handle the sympathy she knew she’d find there.
And still he didn’t give up, leading her into the elevator when it arrived, pressing the button for the ground floor, and silently taking her in his firm, steady embrace as the doors closed on the two of them alone. Oh, no. Oh, no no no. He cradled her crossed arms and heavy head against his chest and the feeling was so seductively safe that for a moment Goldie almost gave in, gave it all up to him the way she wanted to deep down in the marrow of her bones. If anyone could take it, Flint could… right?
His chest rumbled under his deep, masculine voice in her ear. “What happened?”
She realized then that up until now, he hadn’t asked. Until she had seen Darby and knew she was okay and could finally think about something else, Flint hadn’t pressed her to. He was a good man. Bear. She needed to get as far away from him as possible.
Wait, what? But it was true, at this moment Goldie wanted nothing so much as to push him away and run as fast as she could to somewhere nobody could ever find her. Not a vampire, not Darby’s stalker, and definitely not Flint. She didn’t care how reliable he had turned out to be, she wasn’t taking that chance again. Not with her sister’s life… or her own heart. The stakes were too high.
“The guy, he showed up at the diner. I had to save Darby.” And she’d done a bang up job. Crap.
Flint flinched. He pulled just his head back, his arms still surrounding her in patient warmth, and tried to look at her. Goldie kept her head down, her arms crossed to shield herself, to keep him at a distance.
“Shiloh was at the Bear Claw, Goldie. Watching Darby. Plus Molly, ‘Nando, and who-knows-how-many other shifters who know how safe Darby needs to be.”
Goldie shook her head, her own guilt doubling. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Flint released Goldie to walk out, his expression still one of concerned confusion. She aimed for the parking lot and Flint’s black SUV, spitting over her shoulder. “Well, I didn’t know that! She was scared and I did… what I did.”
Flint jogged ahead of her and opened the passenger door, his warm brown eyes connecting with hers. “I wish you would trust me.”
So do I! She waited until Flint climbed in the driver’s side and gave him both barrels of crazy, feeling so completely out of control that it was like she was a different person. “Vampires chasing me, people turning into animals, lies, fights, people turning up dead, my sister hurt, my car wrecked for the second time. Nice little Cause y’all got here, don’t mind me if I still haven’t signed up.”
She glared at Flint as he drove, frustrated at his lack of reaction. “Oh, one more thing. I made out with you in your brother’s driveway. Like I’ve always told my sister not to do. You can bet she couldn’t get enough of teasing me.” Not that it had been his fault, but she was so mad and not thinking straight.
Flint was silent for a moment before changing topics. “The guy in the car behind you. I had someone follow him. He wasn’t a vampire.”
“Of course he wasn’t a vampire. If he was I’d have been running at him, not away.” She slumped, remembering the disgust that had shot through her when she looked back and saw that tan sedan pulling out of the Bear Claw parking lot and onto the road behind her. Just the thought made her shoulders cramp with tension.
She would have sworn she could feel pure hatred radiating from the man in the driver’s seat, whose face she couldn’t quite see. Not the narrow, focused loathing of vampire hatred, that desire to kill rather than become a victim. No, this was unrestrained, unhinged evil, and it would set fire to everything in its path. Goldie had never been so scared in her life. And given the last few weeks, that was saying something.
“I wish I could open my eyes and this would all be a bad dream,” she said, speaking her heart.
Flint breathed heavily, as if pained. “All of it?”
He wasn’t saying it but she knew what he was asking. Did she want him to disappear, too? “All of it,” she replied, with more conviction than she felt. But it was true, dangit. She just wanted her sister safe and for everything to make sense again.
Flint was silent as he parked in the driveway of the duplex and followed her up the stairs to her door. He pulled a spare key from behind the brass mission-style sconce and used it to open the deadbolt and knob. Only then did Goldie realize her purse was probably still trapped in her ruined car, and she didn’t even know where that was. She stepped inside and Flint made to follow, but she turned and gave him a look. “What are you doing?”
His chocolate eyes were shrouded by his heavy brow. “You think I’m leaving you alone again?”
Goldie knew he meant her safety, but she took it wrong just to have something else to be angry about. “What, afraid one of your precious weapons will run away?”
Why did he have to look so danged sexy when he ground his teeth, the strength of his bearded jaw called into stark relief as the muscles worked before he murmured hushed words at her. “You really think that’s all you are to me?”
For the first time since the crash Flint didn’t try to meet her eye. He braced a hand on either side of the doorframe and stared at the threshold, as if he was holding himself back with an effort. “Goldie, I almost went crazy when I saw that hockey puck you call a car sliding across the road. I’ve never been so scared in my life as when I thought you were hurt.”
His eyes rose to lock on Goldie’s, and she felt a shudder move through her body that had nothing to do with fear. When Flint spoke his voice was as gravelly as the Bear Claw parking lot. “But if
you think it has one fucking thing to do with whether or not you ever kill a fucking vampire, then you’re either blind or lying to yourself.”
So she was blind. And lying to herself. So be it. It was what she knew. She looked into Flint’s sad cocoa eyes and shook her head. “I can’t.”
Hurt was written in the lines of his face “You slam me for not keeping you safe, and then you stand in my way?”
She didn’t move, scared she wouldn’t be able to keep her conviction if she did.
Flint pushed away from her door and replaced the key behind the sconce. His eyes didn’t search for hers as he spoke. “I’ll be next door if you need me. Lock the deadbolt when I go.”
Goldie shut the door behind him and did so, missing him already.
Chapter 30 - Flint Gets Nicked
An hour after hearing Goldie’s door lock behind him, Flint still couldn’t settle down. He’d made himself dinner, taken a lightning-fast shower with the bathroom door open so he could hear better, played video games with the volume muted, and generally been a nuisance to himself. What was up with Goldie, anyway? Saying she’s so angry he didn’t protect her and then, when she had the chance, not letting him protect her?! If he lived a million years he would never understand females.
And with her so mad at him he hadn’t had the chance to ask his questions: Who was the guy in the tan sedan and why was he following her and Darby? Hell, what was the guy? And was Flint going to glow green every time Goldie was in trouble? Even if it wasn’t vampires? She better get real good at that air bubble thing, or he was going to be lit up every time Goldie went for a damn walk. The good news, he guessed, was that with her car totaled and then some, she wasn’t going anywhere for a while. He felt a little guilty for celebrating her predicament, but it sure as shit made his job easier.
From the other side of the duplex Flint heard a slow, throbbing beat pick up and recognized a song by The Arctic Monkeys. He turned lights off as he moved through the duplex to his bedroom, as close as he could get to Goldie on the other side, so he could hear the words and, he was pretty sure, Goldie’s feminine voice scream-singing along. Whoa, he thought, scratching at his bare chest as he listened. Pumpkin’s feeling angsty.
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