Josh pulled into the parking lot and found a parking spot. As Mickie unbuckled her seat belt, he put a hand on her wrist. “Mickie, wait a second. I want to say something.”
“Josh, please, not today.”
“Yes. Today. I’m sorry I pushed you away like that. I’m sorry I hurt you. I told myself that I was doing it for your own good, but really, I was trying to punish myself. I think you are an amazing person, Mickie. If I could go back and fix everything so we could at least be friends, I would.”
She studied his face. “What’s changed?”
“A lot. I found my sister and, in the process, I learned a lot about myself.”
She grabbed his wrist. “You found her? It went well?”
He nodded. “Yeah, it did. Nothing I feared was real.”
“I’m happy for you, Josh. Really, I am.”
“Up! Up! Up!” Ian yelled from the backseat.
“Okay, dude, we’re coming,” Mickie said, popping open the door.
Josh came around as she let Ian free from the car seat. “Ready to do some shopping, little man?”
Mickie settled Ian on her hip. “Have you ever been shopping with a toddler?”
“Can’t say as I have.”
She laughed. “Well, you’re in for a real treat.”
* * *
HE CAME AWAKE with a sudden start and slight confusion. He’d splurged on a small grill at the grocery store. He had grilled up hamburgers while Ian and Mickie splashed in the small pool. Friends. They were trying. Having a cookout on a hot summer day, pretending everything was okay. But it wasn’t okay. They couldn’t be friends. He’d felt it. They were both acting. He needed to stop lying to himself. The euphoria of meeting Kim was wearing off and he could see he’d let his guard down. It was over. He and Mickie were over. He had to face that. Make her see it.
A long day in the sun with an energetic toddler must have wiped him out more than he’d realized. No wonder Mickie was on the brink of exhaustion all the time.
He ran a hand across his eyes. The movie had ended. Netflix was asking him what he wanted to watch next and as he fumbled for his phone to see what time it was, a loud pounding came from outside. He sat up, now very awake. The pounding resumed. Along with an extremely loud voice.
“Open this goddamn door, Samantha! I know you’re in there. That’s my kid. You ain’t got no right to keep my kid from me.”
Josh stood. Slowly, carefully. His body and mind slowed. The hyperawareness of adrenaline kicked in. It was coming from Mickie’s front door. Her monster was here. Three quiet paces brought him to the peephole at his door, but he couldn’t see anything. The pounding on her door was replaced by what sounded like kicking. As he turned to get his phone to call the police, another sound, much quieter, caught his attention. A tap on the glass of his kitchen door.
He rushed to the kitchen and opened the door. Mickie held Ian close as she rushed inside. “It’s Keith. He found us.” she whispered. Her face was pale and her blue eyes filled with terror. Ian was thankfully still sleeping.
“I know,” he whispered back. He pressed his phone into her hand. “Go to my bedroom and lock the door. Call the police. Do not come out until I get back.”
“Don’t go out there, Josh. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”
“I’m not going to argue with him. I’m going to try to stall him, buy some time for the cops to get here.”
“Please, Josh, don’t go out there.”
Touching Ian’s soft curls with one hand, he leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Go. Now. Call the cops.”
Maybe it was because he’d faced this monster as a small child or maybe it was because of the level of terror he’d seen in Mickie’s eyes, but he was slightly surprised when he opened his door and stepped out on to the small porch. He’d expected a giant of a man. A huge hulking beast. But the man beating on Mickie’s door was anything but. He was slightly built, bordering on skinny. Maybe five-eight. The guy looked over at him.
“This isn’t any of your concern, man.”
Leaning against his closed door, Josh crossed his arms. “Maybe not, but you’re waking up everyone in the neighborhood.”
Keith turned away and resumed banging on Mickie’s front door. “That’s my kid in there!”
Everything in Josh went cold, silent and still. Ian. He wanted Ian? No way that’s going to happen. Josh pushed off the door and walked to the sidewalk between the two apartments. “Hey, dude. Listen. I don’t know what your problem is, but it’s time to move on. Get out of here. Now.”
Whirling away from the door, Keith stormed over to go chest-to-chest with Josh. “Think you scare me, big man? Think I won’t go through you to get to my kid? That’s my kid. Mine.”
Still feeling curiously detached, Josh tilted his head to the side as he considered the man’s eyes. They were his father’s eyes. Full of black rage that blotted out any rational thought. Like an animal in a cage, lashing out at anything that came near. Sadie was right, he realized. Even with Ruby, he’d never had that rage.
“Yeah, well, that’s what lawyers are for. This isn’t going to help.”
“The hell with lawyers and the hell with you. This ain’t none of your business.”
“Oh, it’s my business, all right. You woke me up. That makes it my business.”
In the distance, he heard the brief wail of a police siren. A solitary whoop. Probably clearing a busy intersection. Then silence. They were coming in quiet. That was a good sign. Except Keith seemed to recognize it, too.
“Bitch called the cops on me?”
“No, that would have been me,” Josh said, hoping to keep Keith focused on him. He needed to keep him here until the cops arrived.
“You called the cops?”
Josh shrugged. “You’re out here, beating on my neighbor’s door. Waking me up. Screaming and yelling.”
“She stole my kid. Took it. Judge cut off my rights. They won’t even tell me shit about my own kid.”
“Like I said, that sounds like a problem for a lawyer.”
“Lawyers don’t care!”
Right. Maybe because you tried to kill the kid by beating his mother half to death. Josh felt a stir of anger. He purposely clenched and released his fists. As much as he’d like to put a fist right through this guy’s face, he needed to keep him here, ranting and raving until the cops arrived. He flicked a glance to the street. Which should be any second.
Stall him. Lie to him. Anything. “That doesn’t seem fair. I know a great PI, maybe I can get him to look into it.”
“Screw that. I’ve got my own guy. Tracked her lying ass right down to this very spot. I’ve seen her. I know she’s in there. She’s going to give me that kid. Tonight.”
It was that last word. Tonight. It sent a chill down Josh’s spine. He stood straighter, squared his shoulders, shifting his feet apart. An aggressive stance. That was not going to happen. And where were the cops?
A sneer crossed Keith’s lips. “You going to stop me, big guy? Think you’re going to play hero? I got news for you.” He reached behind him and a gun appeared in his hand. A gun that was pointed directly at Josh’s face. “Now whatcha going to do, hero man?”
Josh unclenched his fists and held out his hands, palms up. “Come on, man, the cops are almost here. Let’s not do it like this.”
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to get my kid. Cops or no cops.”
They each saw the police cars converge from opposite ends of the street. Silent, no lights. Josh immediately stepped back from Keith and raised his hands high above his head. He had no desire to be shot, not by this ass or the police.
The next few minutes were a confusing, loud blur of shouted instructions. Four cops were pointing guns at them. Josh stretched his arms higher so the hem of his shirt
cleared his pants and turned around slowly so the police could see he didn’t have a weapon.
“Drop the gun!” a cop yelled. “Drop it!”
“Get down on your knees!” another yelled.
Josh complied, awkwardly falling on his knees while keeping his hands high.
Somewhere in the continuing commands for Keith to drop his weapon, there was one to lace his fingers behind his head. As he moved to do this, there was a loud pop followed by an instant explosion in his left upper arm. He’d been hit in the arm once by a powerful line drive off the bat of a kid who went on to play professional ball. This felt similar. The force also knocked him off his knees, facedown in the grass.
He shot me. Everything grew dim as the pain hit him. Shouted voices. More gunshots. Quiet. Then rough hands turned him over. A cop. Josh could see his lips moving, but couldn’t hear the words. Shock. You’re in shock. He rocked his head from side to side, trying to snap out of it.
“He’s not the one!”
Mickie’s voice pulled him back to the here and now. Cops talking. Radios blaring. Neighbors coming out on their porches. He twisted to look at Mickie. “Go back inside! Don’t come out here!”
She stood on the porch. “Officer. He was trying to help me. I know him.”
“Go back inside, Mickie.”
An officer went to Mickie and led her into the apartment. Relief flooded him. He tried to sit up, but the officer at his side pressed a hand against his chest. “Stay still. The ambulance is on the way.”
“He’s trying to get to her kid.”
“He’s not going to try to do anything anymore.”
“What? Is he dead?”
“I believe so.”
“He shot me.”
“Yeah. Luckily for you, his aim is off. Instead of your head, he hit your arm. How’s it feel?”
“Like I got shot.”
The whoop of the ambulance covered up the cop’s laugh. As the paramedics were getting him on the gurney and tending to his arm, Mickie came out on the porch again, this time holding Ian.
“Get him back in the house,” Josh yelled at her. “Don’t let him see this.”
Mickie pulled Ian close so he was facing away. “Are you okay? Josh, I’m so sorry.”
He forced a smile for her. “It’ll be a better story than the bar-fight scar. Call DeShawn. He’s going to have to take over for a few days.”
“Where are you taking him?” Mickie asked.
“He’ll be at Palmetto,” a paramedic answered.
* * *
WHY IAN WASN’T crying through all this, Mickie didn’t know. He was usually very grumpy if he woke up during the night. He clung to her, silent, his big brown eyes looking around at all the faces. Again and again, she told the police through numb lips the entire story. Spelling out certain words even though she didn’t think Ian would understand. But who knew how much he remembered?
She tried to keep her voice calm, hoping it would keep Ian calm. None of it seemed real. Keith was dead. Gone. She should feel something about that. Sad. Happy. Relieved. Something. But there was nothing. She wanted to stop talking to policemen. She wanted to go to Josh. She wanted to know if he was going to be okay. To tell him how sorry she was.
“I need to make some phone calls,” she said to the fourth officer who wanted to talk to her. She still had Josh’s phone, so she used that. First, she called DeShawn. That was when the tears came. Even then, she let them roll down her cheeks. She managed to get out enough information to get him on the way to meet Josh at the hospital. Then she called Wyatt. He could tell Sadie and give the police the information he had.
When she’d handed Josh’s phone to the waiting officer, she pulled her phone out of her back pocket and called her mother.
“It’s over.”
“What do you mean? Are you guys okay?”
“Yes. He found us, but I got away. The police shot him. But my neighbor got hurt.”
Her legs began shaking and she collapsed on the couch. Silent tears still streamed down her face. He almost killed Josh.
“It’s really over?”
“He’s d-e-a-d, Mom.”
There was a hiss of breath. “God have mercy on his soul.”
Mickie felt the first tinge of anger. “God can toss him in the pits of hell for all I care.”
Ian patted at her face. “No cry, Mommy.”
“Hey, Ian,” Mickie said brightly. “Want to talk to your granny?”
“His MeMe,” her mother amended.
Mickie held the phone up to Ian’s hear. “Say hello.”
“Ya-lo. Momma. I firsty.”
“Let me get him settled and all this finished with the police and go see if Josh is okay. We’ll have a much longer talk tomorrow.”
* * *
THE NURSE AT the triage desk couldn’t give her any information. She’d borrowed Josh’s SUV, sure he wouldn’t mind, to drive to the hospital. DeShawn wasn’t in the waiting room, so she texted him. A minute later, he came out to find her.
“How is he?”
“Could be worse. Bullet went straight through, broke the bone. He’s going up to surgery to have the bone fragments cleaned up and the arm set. No major blood vessels hit. Nerve damage is going to be iffy, but he can move his fingers and wrist, which the doctors say is a good sign.”
“Can you get them to let me see him before he goes to surgery? Please?”
“Sure. Let me talk to them and I’ll come back and sit with little man here so you can talk alone.”
As she walked down the halls of the ER, passing doors and curtained areas where people were living out possibly the worst day of their lives, her heart pounded. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking and her insides felt like a quivery, squirming ball of snakes. It was all starting to catch up with her and she was going to have to get home to her stash of Xanax soon. Before she slipped into a full-out panic attack.
She found the right cubicle and peeked through the curtain. Josh lay back on the gurney. Pale, his eyes closed, an IV running through a tube into his good arm and a thick bandage on his left arm. Tears stung at her eyes. This was all her fault. Her clenching fist made the curtain rustle on its metal rings and Josh opened his eyes.
“Hey,” he said huskily.
She quickly crossed to the bed. “Josh, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, so sorry.” She closed her fingers gently around his left hand. She lost her battle with the tears and they streamed down her cheeks. “This is all my fault.”
“No,” he said. His right hand wobbled as he reached out to her. “Don’t cry. Where’s Ian?”
“DeShawn is babysitting in the lobby. Josh. He tried to kill you! I can’t... I shouldn’t have... I should have stayed in my own place and called the police. I shouldn’t have involved you.”
“Hey. Hush.” He blinked and refocused on her face. “I’m on an ass-load of drugs here, Mickie, so I’m going to say this once. Not your fault. You did right to get Ian to safety before he broke into your apartment. I made the decision to go stall him. I was the one who screwed up. I should have stayed with you and Ian until the police got there.”
She wiped at her eyes. He was right. If it hadn’t been for Ian, she would have stayed where she was and called the police. But the idea of Keith even seeing his son filled her with a horror she didn’t want to think about. He’d planned to kill her and take Ian. She pressed her lips together and looked down at Josh’s hand, his fingers intertwined with hers.
“I love you,” she blurted out.
“Mickie...don’t.”
“No. I love you, Josh. I know why you tried to push me away, but I also know it isn’t true. I know exactly how Keith manipulated me. How he forged that instant connection with me. I knew I was being lied to and manipulated. But I was too
young, too stupid, too scared to do anything about it. You are nothing like him. And I think you know it.”
She paused, her heart pounding, and searched his face. He’d closed his eyes against her words. She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. Then the cheek. “I love you, Josh. If you aren’t ready for that, I understand, but I want you to know. It has nothing do to with tonight. I’ve loved you for quite a while now.”
She let go of his hand and stepped back. He opened his eyes and the hopelessness she saw in them almost broke her heart. He shook his head ever so slightly.
Her heart did break then. She stood looking into those dark blue eyes until a nurse flung back the curtains.
“We’re ready to roll you up for surgery now, Mr. Sanders.” She turned to Mickie. “There’s a waiting room on the second floor. Take the elevator in the waiting room. We’ll take good care of him for you, honey.”
Mickie nodded numbly as she stepped back out of the way. Turning, she fled the room. In the waiting room, she gave DeShawn directions to the OR waiting room. A few minutes later, she sat in the SUV trying to decide what to do next. The idea of going home, walking past the police tape...and oh, my god, what if the body is still there? She dug the phone out of her pocket.
“Tee? Can we sleep at your place tonight? Yes. I’ll explain when I get there.”
Ian was asleep in his car seat before she figured out how to get out of the hospital parking lot. Her head throbbed as she drove to Tee’s apartment. She needed a drink.
This was the worst and the best night of her life mashed together in the biggest mess imaginable. She was free. But a man, no matter how awful, had lost his life. Josh never even wanted to see her face again. Her heart ached for the poor police officer who’d had to take a life. Even though it had been justified, it couldn’t have been easy. All because of her. She hit the steering wheel with the palm of her hand. “Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.”
* * *
TIANA WAS WAITING for her. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything,” Mickie managed to say before breaking down again. Surely she would run out of tears soon.
“Momma sad,” Ian said.
Boss on Notice Page 24