Hush - Fighting Fate #2

by Maree Green

  Shit.

  But I needed to know. I needed to have some peace of mind. How hurt was he? Was he even still alive?

  “He was at the warehouse with me tonight. He’d been shot…”

  The officer continued to look at me blankly. “Maybe you should check the hospitals, but if he was involved in the ring we’ve just brought down then you won’t get many answers. Until everything’s been processed, we won’t be releasing any names, and security is at maximum.”

  Oh god. I hadn’t even thought of that. What if I couldn’t find out?

  Defeated, I muttered a quiet thank you and went back over to Mom. A few minutes later, Lillian rushed through the door. With one quick look at Mom, she pulled her to her feet and wrapped her in a tight hug.

  Aiden stopped in front of me and gave me a long, assessing look. Needless to say, after almost four days of minimal sleep, stress over what Aaron was going to do to me, being caught up in the middle of a drug war, and now the uncertainty of Noah’s condition, I was more than a little unstable.

  My throat thickened and tears swam in my eyes.

  “Oh, sweetheart…” Aiden said before pulling me into his arms.

  I didn’t break down. I wouldn’t until I knew Mom was okay and I was away from sympathetic eyes. Instead, I let the few tears that were swimming on the surface fall, content with Aiden’s reassuring hold.

  When they had us both safely inside their house, and Lillian got Mom showered, fed and sedated in bed, I finally let my defenses down.

  By the time I came out of the shower, Mia was home from her date night at the movies with Jace. She’d been mortified when she found out Aiden had been trying to call her, but of course she’d turned her cell off while she’d been in the movie theatre.

  Behind her closed bedroom door, her expression was one of complete and utter panic. “God, Kaeli. What happened?”

  Making myself comfortable on her bed, I started at the beginning, telling her all about how Ken had changed not long after Mom had married him and the monster he’d become. I told her about the beatings, the verbal smack downs and the threats. I told her in detail about the blackmail and the Den, and the horror I’d felt in it all.

  Then I told her about Noah.

  Her eyes widened as I described everything I went through with him. The way he’d protected me, the way he’d comforted me, the way he’d risked his life for me. I told her I was pretty sure he was an undercover cop, but there was no way for me to know, or to find out if he was even alive.

  By the end of my story, she was in tears.

  “Oh, Kaeli. I feel so horrible. I feel like I should’ve known - should’ve been able to help you.”

  I shook my head intently. “I’m so glad you didn’t. God, can you imagine what Jace and Aiden would’ve done?”

  She cringed, knowing full well they’d have done whatever they could to protect her. To protect me.

  “Noah though, Kaeli. Noah sounds amazing. I’m so glad he was there for you. I hope he’s okay.”

  I felt the weight of it looming over me. “I hope so too…”

  A knock on the door interrupted us and Mia dashed over to open it a crack. I couldn’t see him, but I could tell by the low timbre of his voice that it was Jace. Mia whispered something back and then shut the door.

  She sighed as she turned to face me. “All the guys are here,” she said. “Aiden told them you needed to rest, but they’re all really worried about you.”

  I nodded and climbed off the bed.

  “You don’t have to go see them, babe. They’ll understand.”

  “It’s okay. They deserve to know.”

  She took my hand and squeezed it. “I’ll leave it up to you, okay? Tell them as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. I won’t say anything you don’t.”

  I nodded. I knew she was talking about Noah. The guys were all incredibly protective with us girls and wouldn’t take too kindly to some other guy stepping in.

  As soon as I walked in the room I was enveloped in a pair of arms. Jace.

  “Jesus, girl. You scared the crap out of us.”

  Next it was Dean. Then Matt.

  I ended up in Aiden’s arms and he immediately pulled me over to the lounge.

  “What the hell happened?” Matt said, eyes wide. “The news channels are exploding and the whole area around your house is crawling with cops.”

  I cringed. Somehow I didn’t think the neighbors were ever going to look at us the same again.

  Taking a deep breath, I repeated my story, but this time, I left out my feelings for Noah, only telling them that there was someone there I felt safe with, and I thought he might’ve been an undercover cop. I pled with them to keep that to themselves, just in case he needed to keep his identity under wraps.

  At the end of my talk, there was a lot of swearing, some pacing, and then a lot of silence. Another round of hugs came, this time longer and more crushing, and then some more swearing.

  “Do you know if Aaron was caught?” Dean asked after the swearing had simmered down.

  “No. I can’t get any information at all at the moment. It was such a massive bust. I think they’re trying to make sure nothing’s left to chance.”

  “Yeah, but it would help if we knew if we had to keep a lookout for him,” Matt said. By the tone of his voice, it sounded like he wouldn’t mind if Aaron was still out and about.

  “If I never saw Aaron again it would be too soon,” I said quietly.

  Chapter 52

  Noah

  When I came to, I was lying in a hospital bed with an IV stuck in my arm and the mother of all aches in my shoulder. There was also another one in my side. I found that one out when I went to move.

  Hissing through my teeth, I tried to mentally process the pain before I erupted into a chorus of curses.

  “It can’t possibly be that bad.”

  I turned my head at the sound of my father’s voice and found him sitting on the chair beside the bed with his elbows resting on his knees. It was one of the best damn sights I’d seen in the last year and a half.

  I chuckled, then instantly regretted it as a sharp pain shot through my stomach. “Fuck.”

  Dad shook his head, but he was smiling. “You better clean that up before you come home,” he said, standing up and leaning over to hug me. “It won’t matter that you’ve taken a couple of bullets when your mother hears you cursing like that.”

  I groaned, but the thought of Mom disciplining me was awesome. I’d gone without for too long, and I wanted to have it all back again. Including my mom badgering me.

  “You have no idea how good it is to see you,” I said, my voice unsurprisingly rough.

  Dad gave me a look as he sat back down. “I think I have a little bit of an idea.”

  I dropped my head back against the pillows and glanced up at the ceiling, blowing out a breath. “Tell me what happened.”

  When I was only met with silence, I turned my head back to him. He was watching me with a deep intensity, his jaw clenching and unclenching. At my look, he took a deep breath.

  “I’m not sure how you got the bullet to your side, but the one in your shoulder came courtesy of one of the S.W.A.T. guys.”

  I nodded, remembering the moment all too clearly. “Yeah, he didn’t have much of a choice. One of TJ’s guys was with me. He had to make it look real and he only had a split second to decide.”

  Dad nodded, but I could tell he still didn’t like it. I chuckled a little because I knew it was only because it was me. If it had been anyone else, he would’ve said it made tactical sense.

  I scowled when I remembered how I got the other one. “And the one in my stomach was from Pock,” I said through gritted teeth. “He was about to shoot Kaeli down so I threw myself in front of her.”

  The thought of Kaeli made me realize I didn’t know what had happened to her.

  “Is Kaeli okay? Did she get out alright?”

  Dad gave me a strange look. “Yeah. I saw her d
own at the station with her mom.” He paused, eyeing me warningly. “She asked about you, you know. Using your real name…”

  I gave him a guilty look. “But she was okay, wasn’t she? Was her mom okay? Did they get Ken? And Aaron?”

  Exhaling heavily, he shifted back in his seat. “She was fine from what I could see. Her mom looked pretty banged up. She had her arm in a sling. As for Ken, he’s dead. He pulled a handgun on Mike when they cracked the place so he shot him. I don’t know anything about his son.”

  Relief and worry came at once. I was fucking ecstatic Ken was dead. That fucker had put Kaeli and her mom through way too much for me to feel anything else, but not knowing if Aaron had been apprehended was a real big worry, especially considering he was the one who’d kidnapped her in the first place.

  “What else? Did they get Mr. X?”

  Dad grinned proudly. “Yep. And it was all you. Walt had no leads what-so-ever that indicated the exchange was going down last night. Without you, they had dick.”

  I exhaled heavily. “Jesus…” I was so glad I managed to get the message to them. “I heard TJ and Vinnie went down..?”

  Dad nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think Walt was quite expecting it to go down the way it did.”

  “Did anyone get away?”

  “Not from TJ’s gang. TJ, Vincent and Mark all died at the scene. Mitch, David and Ivan were all taken to hospital, where Mitch later died from blood loss.”

  I frowned in confusion before remembering Pock’s real name was Mark, and Mac’s name was Ivan. Then the last part caught up with me. “Mitch died?”

  Dad gave me a mock melancholy look. “Yeah. It wasn’t too hard to pull off considering you did almost die from blood loss.”

  Shit. “Does Mom know?”

  “That you almost died? You think I’m that stupid I’d tell her?”

  I chuckled a little. Mom would’ve been a force to be reckoned with if she knew.

  “Adam knows though. He was there. Took a bit to convince him he couldn’t work on you from what I’ve heard too.”

  I gaped at him. I shuddered to think of my oldest brother in the middle of everything that went down last night. I knew as a paramedic he’d probably been in some pretty shitty situations before, but that had been like a fucking warzone.

  “You did good, son,” Dad said quietly.

  I looked up to meet his gaze and was almost knocked over by the pride and respect I saw there. A lump formed in my throat. “Thanks, Dad.”

  He cleared his throat a little. “So, you going to be alright for visitors? Your mom and brothers will probably be here soon. I’m surprised Walt’s been able to keep them away for this long.”

  I laughed, causing that fucking shooting pain to stab me in the stomach again. Grumbling, I shifted to try to make myself more comfortable. “Tell me. What’ve I missed out on?”

  Dad gave me a tight lipped smile. “Adam’s engaged.”

  “What? Holy shit. Really?” I shook my head. At twenty-six I shouldn’t have been surprised, especially since he and Kara had been together so long, but as far as I was aware, they’d never expressed any interest in getting married before.

  “I’m assuming to Kara,” I said hesitantly. I hated that I had to question it, but I knew better than anyone that anything could happen in eighteen months.

  Dad laughed. “Of course. That boy will never look at another girl again. They’ve actually been ready for a while, but they wouldn’t dream of doing it without you there. Heck, they wouldn’t even have their damned engagement party without you.”

  Something inside my chest warmed. I mean, I didn’t like that they had to put their life on hold for me, but I loved that I hadn’t been excluded from anything. “What about Isaac? What’s he up to?”

  Dad rolled his eyes. “Like anyone’s going to be able to hold that boy down. He just did some calendar shoot with the guys from the station for some children’s charity, so now he has more women chasing him than normal.”

  I laughed as much as I could without it hurting. Isaac was a fireman, so I could imagine the kind of calendar shoot he was talking about.

  “Micah’s still at Oak Ridge Elementary. He’s teaching sixth grade this year. And of course, Eli’s still at college.”

  I sighed. I really couldn’t wait to see everyone. “So, what now?”

  With a slightly worrying stare, Dad exhaled heavily. “Now,” he said. “You recover. And then you’re off to rehab.”

  I closed my eyes in defeat. Damn it. That was going to suck.

  Chapter 53

  Kaeli

  Leaning back against the closed locker door, I pursed my lips and stared out across the green. With the exception of the actual graduation ceremony, I had now officially finished high school. And I wasn’t quite sure what to think.

  The last month had been like a blur in my memory. The day after the bust, Mom had been informed Ken hadn’t survived the gunshot wound he’d received when he’d resisted arrest. That night all the names of those involved had been released to the media, and I’d suddenly found myself the topic of gossip wherever I went.

  It didn’t particularly bother me. I was just happy Ken was no longer around to terrorize us, but the guys hadn’t agreed with me. I hadn’t known it at the time, but apparently they’d verbally smacked down half the school for talking crap about me, and threatened to beat up anyone who even dared to look my way. It was unnecessary, but I had to admit, it was nice to know they had my back.

  I still hadn’t heard anything about Noah. I’d been tempted so many times to march down to either the police station or the hospital and jump up and down until someone told me what had happened to him, but I was scared of revealing him if he was still undercover.

  So I did the next best thing. I scoured the internet every night, searching for some sign that would tell me he was alright. The only thing I’d found were reports of ‘Mitch’s’ death, alongside all the others who’d been killed during the raid. I refused to believe they could even be remotely true. He wasn’t ‘Mitch’. He was Noah. He’d told me himself.

  All I’d been left with after that were questions, mostly about my own mental state. I needed to know exactly what the hell was going on with me, if my feelings for him only stemmed from the psychological stress I’d been under and the protective role he’d played in helping me through it.

  I knew it was stupid of me to think I could feel so much for him after only a couple of months, but if I closed my eyes, I could still feel the clarity of my mind when I’d been lost in the depth of his gaze, the honesty of my emotions when I’d been absorbed deep in his changing expressions, the intense realization of our connection when I’d melted in his embrace, and I just knew what I’d been feeling wasn’t some psychobabble that evolved from traumatic events. It’d been real.

  And that was where my problem started. It’d been real for me, but what if it hadn’t been for him? What if he’d just been doing his job? What if I didn’t actually mean anything to him at all?

  I knew that if he was still alive, he most probably would’ve been out of hospital by now. So why hadn’t he been to see me? What was keeping him away? The only conclusion I could make, was that I just didn’t mean that much to him. And that hurt.

  I’d tried to hide that truth from everyone over the last few weeks, but I mustn’t have been doing a very good job at it because my loyal band of merry maker friends had tried numerous things to pep me up. They’d tried everything from social gatherings at Mia’s house, to us all pairing up at the prom.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy myself any of those times. I did. But it was just like when Ken was still around and I'd been worried about my mom. I wasn’t fully present in the moment. A part of me was somewhere else, worrying.

  Looking around at the student body as they laughed and chatted, I wondered if I would ever feel fully free like they did. I thought maybe if I knew what had happened to Noah, good or bad, I might be able to get there. Maybe. Of course I knew it would
hurt if I found out he was dead or just didn’t want to be with me, but at least I’d be able to process it and move forward. As it was, I was just living in limbo land. And it kind of sucked.

  An arm being slung over my shoulder disrupted my bitter ramblings. “Hey, hey, hey graduate…”

  Aiden.

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re such a flirt,” I grumbled.

  He frowned at me. “What’s gotten your panties in a twist, tiny?”

  “Boys…” I said without pause.

  His eyebrows rose with amusement. “Geez. And I thought the mopey mood was bad…”

  I gasped and smacked him on the arm, making him laugh. Slinging his arm back over my shoulder, he nudged me towards the door. “Come on, man-hater. We’ve got some celebrating to do.”

  Resistance was futile. I knew he’d probably just pick me up and throw me over his shoulder if I did, so I grudgingly went along.

  As soon as we made it out to the parking lot, Corey found me.

  “Hey,” he said, coming to lean on the car beside me. “How’re you going?”

  I screwed my nose up a little to show my neither good nor bad answer.

  He smiled a little before sighing. “I really owe you an apology,” he said quietly.

  I raised my eyebrow at that. “What for?”

  “Just…you know…the whole pushing you to go out with me thing…” He sighed again. “I feel so shitty about it now. You were going through so much, and I kind of added more stuff on top of it.”

  I shook my head. “You didn’t know.”

  “I know, but you did try to tell me.”

  I gave him a warm smile and bumped my shoulder against his arm. “Believe it or not, it actually helped. It was kind of like a little ray of light when everything felt so dark. So…thanks…”

  He smiled at me, but it was still sad. I knew it was probably because I looked so sad, but that was all I could manage right now.