In the Line of Fire: Hot Desert Heroes, Book 1

by Jett Munroe

  “I’m fine, I’m fine.” She fluttered her free hand in front of her face as if to stave off tears.

  He didn’t know why women did that. Did flapping their hands around actually succeed in stopping the waterworks?

  She got herself under control. “Rafe, Quincy, and Gabe were all here. They went home a few hours ago, once they knew you were all right.” Guilt flashed across her face. “Ty’s still here, out in the waiting room. I told him he could go home, but he said he’d wait until I was ready to go, and I didn’t want to go until you woke up and I got to talk to you.” Her hand tightened slightly around his. “Your friend Alex was here too. Why didn’t you ever mention him to me?”

  He shrugged then cursed under his breath as the movement jarred his shoulder. “Never came up, I guess.”

  “He said you lost your parents when you were ten, and went to live with his family.”

  He had nothing to add to that, so he stayed silent.

  She opened her mouth then closed it again. “We’ll talk about it later,” she finally said. “I don’t want to upset you.”

  “I’m not upset,” he retorted. He didn’t know why he hadn’t told her about his parents. About Alex. He just hadn’t.

  “Okay,” she said in a soothing voice that grated on his nerves.

  “Fuck, you act like I’m lyin’ on my deathbed. You wanna talk about my parents dyin’ in an auto accident? You wanna talk about Alex? Then let’s talk about my parents and Alex.” He glared at her.

  She blinked then gave him wide eyes. “Why are you like this? I just asked you a question, Beck. I didn’t mean we had to talk about it right this minute.”

  “You brought it up, sweetheart,” he said. Even to his own ears his voice sounded harsh. Much harsher than it needed to be. He needed to shut the fuck up before he said something he’d regret.

  “Well, I’m sorry I did,” she muttered.

  “I’ve been tellin’ you all along, Laney, if you can’t accept there are some things I can’t talk about then there’s no future for us. You need to decide because I don’t want to keep goin’ through all this back-and-forth with you. When I’m ready, I’ll tell you. But until then I’d appreciate it if you’d stop hassling me.”

  She rolled her lips between her teeth and looked down. After a few seconds she whispered, “Don’t worry. I won’t be hassling you anymore.”

  “Good.” He started getting drowsy again. He closed his eyes and dug his head into the pillow. “Need a shot of morphine,” he muttered. “Shoulder’s on fire.”

  She withdrew her hand. “Here,” she whispered and placed a small cylindrical device under his palm. “That’s the controller for the infusion pump. Just press the button at the top.”

  He fumbled around until he found it. He pressed it, and even though he knew it was too soon for the drug to have hit his system, he felt nearly immediate relief.

  Delaney sat a few moments and watched him drift to sleep. Her heart was like a wad of lead in her chest. Beck had just made it very clear to her where she stood. If there were happy and light moments in his life, he was willing to share those. But when he had troubled times, difficult times, even from his childhood, he shut her out.

  That was not a healthy relationship. And she’d already had an unhealthy relationship. She did not want, did not need, another one. She rose from the chair and leaned over him. Brushing hair away from his wide forehead, she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his damp skin. “We could have had a spectacular life together,” she told him softly. “I will always love you, Beck, until the stars fall from the sky and the sun refuses to shine. Goodbye. My only love.”

  She straightened, unable to contain a sob, and picked up her purse from another chair against the wall. Turning toward the hall, she stopped upon seeing Ty standing in the doorway. From the look on his face he’d been there awhile. “I’m ready to go now,” she whispered and brushed past him.

  It wasn’t until they were walking out of the hospital that he said, “He was under the influence of the drugs; you do realize that, right? He didn’t mean what he said.”

  “Where are you parked?” she asked, choosing to ignore his words.

  He pointed and she headed that way.

  “Laney.”

  She clenched her jaw. “It’s not the first time he’s said that to me, Ty. So under the influence or not, he meant every word. Now, can we not talk about this and you take me home?” She had a tenuous grip on her emotions and talking about it would only make her cry. She’d been doing too much of that today. She didn’t want to do it anymore.

  God. Home was Beck’s condo. She was, in essence, homeless. Well, she had friends. As soon as she had her sobfest she’d call one of them, pack a suitcase, and go couch surfing until she found another place. She’d started over once before, she could do it again.

  * * * * *

  The drive to downtown was accomplished in silence. When she reached the door to Beck’s condo, she murmured her thanks to Ty and bolted inside. She barely made it two feet before she crumbled into a heap on the floor. Her heavy heart broke when she hit, and she sobbed like she never had in her life. When the storm broke, her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and it hurt. She got to her feet and shuffled to the guest room. Dropping her purse on the bed, she pulled out her cell phone and called her oldest and dearest friend. When Rachel answered, Delaney whispered, “I need you to come get me.”

  “Honey, what’s wrong?”

  Delaney felt the tears start up again. “I can’t…” she swallowed and fought for, and won, control, “…I can’t talk about it right now. Just… Will you come get me? I need to spend the night somewhere that’s not here.”

  “I’m on my way,” her friend responded.

  “I’ll wait for you by the ramada.” Delaney said goodbye and ended the call. Then she hauled one of her suitcases out of the closet and threw in some clothes, not really paying attention to what she was packing. She dumped a couple of pairs of shoes into the case, then went into the guest bathroom and brought back an armful of her toiletries. She snapped the suitcase shut and carried it out into the small foyer. Backtracking to the kitchen, she pulled the key to the condo off her key ring and laid it on the countertop. She grabbed a pen and pad, one she usually used for the weekly grocery list, and jotted off a quick note to Beck, folding it and placing the key on top of it. Then she grabbed her suitcase and walked away from her life with him.

  * * * * *

  The next morning Beck stared at Ty. “What?”

  Ty’s dark eyes stared right back at him, but unlike the shock Beck figured were in his based on what his friend had just told him, Ty’s eyes held disgust and no little fury. “You told her you were tired of all the back-and-forth, that you didn’t want her hasslin’ you. And this you told her after she asked about your parents and Kemp, somethin’ I know about you but you apparently never shared with her.”

  “I…” Beck shook his head. He vaguely remembered Delaney being there, and had just as vague a recollection of having a conversation with her, but he didn’t recall the content. Fuck.

  “She assured you that she would not be hasslin’ you anymore.” Ty crossed his arms. “I did not get a good feelin’ about that. And it appears I was right, because when I went downstairs to the office this mornin’, at the front desk there was a nice young woman named Suzanne who was from a temp agency. So I decided to check your place. Looks like some of Delaney’s clothes are gone, and for sure there’s no women’s stuff in the bathroom. Either one of ’em.” He paused, then added quietly, “She left a note for you, man. I didn’t read it, but the key to your place was on top of it.”

  Beck threw back his covers with a muttered curse. “Where are my clothes?”

  “Don’t think you’ve been discharged yet.”

  “I. Don’t. Care.” If he’d said all that to Delaney, he’d fucked up with
her in a bigger way than usual. He had to salvage their relationship now. He maneuvered out of bed, swaying slightly once he’d found his feet. “Where’re my clothes?” he asked again.

  Ty shrugged. “Check in there.” He pointed to the small dresser against the wall, between the two beds in the room.

  Beck yanked open the top drawer, cursing when the action sent a twinge of pain through his shoulder. There were his clothes, bloody and wrinkled, but they’d have to do. Hell, if he had to he’d walk out of the hospital in this fucking gown. At least he had underwear on.

  He got one foot into the leg of his jeans and almost fell flat on his face. He would have, had Ty not leaped forward and caught him. “Fuckin’ stubborn bastard,” his friend muttered. “Sit down before you face-plant on the floor.” He guided Beck to the chair Delaney had sat on the day before and helped him to sit with much more gentleness than Beck knew he felt at the moment.

  Ordinarily he’d be irritated at being cast by his friends as the bad guy in his own life, but in this case he was afraid it was warranted. Ty got his feet through the legs of his jeans and yanked the material up to his knees. “Stand up,” he instructed. When Beck got to his feet, Ty matter-of-factly pulled his jeans the rest of the way up. “You’re on your own for the rest of it.”

  Beck reached with his good arm and tried to fasten the copper button at the waist with one hand and couldn’t quite manage it. When he brought his left hand down, he sucked in a sharp breath at the burst of pain and kept his arm bent at the waist to take the strain off the injured muscles of his shoulder. He looked at Ty in frustration. “A little help here.”

  “Man, you can’t even fasten your pants; you got no business checkin’ outta the hospital.”

  “Tyrell, this is important,” he said, as serious as he’d ever been. “Gettin’ Delaney back is probably the most important thing I’ll ever do in my life. Help me. Please.”

  Ty sighed and with minimal fuss fastened his jeans for him. Holding up the ripped and bloodstained T-shirt, he shook his head and said, “This is history, buddy.” He held up the suit coat, which was also bloody, with a bullet hole in the shoulder. “You’re hard on suits,” he commented.

  Beck grimaced. Two bullets to two suit coats in only a couple of months. Maybe it was time to rethink the services REG provided. “I guess I’ll just keep on the gown,” he muttered. “Help me tuck it in.”

  “Christ.” Ty started shoving material under the waistband of Beck’s jeans. “You owe me.”

  “Yes, I do.” Beck stared into his friend’s eyes. “Big-time.”

  Ty pursed his lips. “Naw, man, you don’t. This I do out of friendship. But if I have to kick your ass again when it comes to Laney, I guarantee you won’t like it.”

  Beck nodded. “My cell phone and wallet are in the drawer. Would you get them, please?”

  Ty retrieved the items and handed them to Beck. Just as he was shoving his wallet into his back right pocket and his phone into the front right one, someone knocked on the door.

  Without waiting for an answer to the knock, a nurse walked into the room. When she saw Beck standing and ready to leave, she waggled her finger at him. “Now, Mr. Townsend, the doctor hasn’t discharged you yet.”

  “Then put me down as discharged against medical advice,” he retorted. “I’m leaving.”

  She kicked up a fuss but finally backed down, only to say, “You’ll leave in a wheelchair.” When he started to protest, she overtalked him. “I insist. It’s hospital policy.”

  “Just agree, brother,” Ty muttered. “Otherwise the old battle-ax will keep you here ’til God knows when.” He winked at the older woman, who blushed then laughed.

  “Oh, you,” she said. “Wait here,” she told Beck with a stern glance.

  Within five minutes an orderly was there with a wheelchair. Beck signed discharge papers with a clear “AMA” marked, and ten minutes later he was buckled into the passenger seat of Ty’s car and they were on their way.

  * * * * *

  He entered his condo with impatient strides. Ty followed more slowly and stood just inside the entry as Beck went to the note Delaney had left. He pocketed the key and opened the note.

  Dearest Beck,

  You’re the finest man I’ll ever know. I love you. I’m sorry I couldn’t be what you needed.

  Love,

  Laney

  He swallowed the emotion clogging his throat. He’d been such a goddamn fool. He hoped to hell he hadn’t fucked it up with her so completely he couldn’t fix it.

  His legs started shaking. With a muttered imprecation he pulled out a barstool and sat his weak ass on it. He glanced at Ty. “Need to find out where she went,” he said. “This might take a while if her friends are feelin’ uncharitable.”

  Ty shook his head and closed the door, then went into the living room and plopped down on the couch. Grabbing the remote to the TV, he clicked it on then must have muted it because the sound cut off almost right away.

  Beck put his attention back on the task at hand. He tried Coffee & Confections first, thinking perhaps she’d drown her sorrows in a carrot cake muffin, but the girl who answered the phone said she wasn’t there. When he asked to talk to Lily or Andi, she asked him to wait a minute, and when she got back on the line she told him they weren’t available. She sounded nervous when she said that, so he knew they were unavailable to him.

  Colbie was next. She was at work at a new job she’d started the day before. She froze him out too. Finally he called Rachel. From the way she answered the phone, he knew Delaney was with her.

  “I need to see her, talk to her,” he told Rachel. “I said things to her I didn’t mean. Please. Ask her to let me see her.”

  “Wait a second,” came her quiet response.

  He waited several seconds, his dread increasing with each passing one, until she came back to the phone. “She’ll see you. But let me tell you something,” she said in a voice as icy as Colbie’s had been. “You say one thing that upsets her and I will rip your lungs out through your nose. You got me?”

  He appreciated the sentiment and the loyalty of friendship it depicted. It was obvious by the way the women had circled the wagons around Delaney that she had good friends.

  “If I upset her, I’ll let you,” he said in all seriousness.

  “I’ll text you my address.” She hung up and in another couple of seconds his phone chirped and showed her address.

  He and Ty got underway after he changed into clean clothes, and twenty minutes later they pulled into the driveway of a cute little adobe house not far from where Delaney used to live. “You’re coming in, right?” he asked Ty, needing the moral support. Not that he was sure he’d get it, because at this particular time Ty’s wagon was assuredly in the circle around Delaney’s camp.

  “Not gonna sit out here in the car,” Ty responded.

  They didn’t even have to ring the bell. Rachel opened the door and was waiting for them as they walked up. She gave Beck a critical up-and-down and said, “You look terrible. If you’re going to pass out, do it near a bed or we’ll just leave your ass on the floor.” Looking at Ty she mumbled, “He shouldn’t be out of the hospital yet.”

  “Wouldn’t stay in once he heard what he’d said to Laney.”

  Rachel turned startled eyes his way. “You didn’t know?”

  Beck shook his head. “I vaguely remember her being there. I talked to Ty before I spoke to her, and I don’t remember him being there at all.”

  She moved out of their way and motioned with a sweep of her arm for them to come inside. She looked at Beck and said, “Down the hall, second room on the left. She’s expecting you.” To Ty she said, “You want some coffee?”

  “Love some.”

  “It’s not as good as you get at Coffee & Confections,” Beck heard her say as he walked down the hallway, “but it’s good.�
�

  Beck wiped sweaty palms on his jeans. Ignoring the burgeoning ache in his shoulder, he paused outside the second door on the left, giving himself a silent pep talk. Do not screw this up, you fucker. She’s the best thing that will ever happen to you, and you’d better get your head out of your ass before you lose her forever.

  He rapped his knuckles on the door and heard her soft, “Come in.” He pushed open the door and walked inside, then stopped and stared at her.

  Delaney sat on the edge of the bed, still in one of her adorable little sleep-shorts-and-tank-top sets. Her face was completely bare of makeup, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen.

  Even so, she was still the most beautiful woman Beck had ever seen, and he swore right then and there that if he got her back, he’d never do anything ever again to give her such pain. He hadn’t realized how much he’d hurt her by his unwillingness to talk about his past. He closed the door behind him and sat beside her on the bed.

  She bent her knee, bringing one leg up onto the mattress, partially turning to face him. “Should you be out of the hospital?” Her voice was hoarse, quiet, hardly any life in it.

  Fuck him.

  “I’m right where I need to be,” he told her.

  She gave a slight nod but didn’t say anything.

  “Laney…” How did he start? At the beginning, he supposed. Looking down at his hands, he said, “When I was ten, one Friday night my parents had gone out on their weekly date night and on their way home their car was broadsided by a drunk driver. My dad was killed instantly.” He glanced up at her and saw he had her full attention. “My mom lasted another day, but she never woke up. I didn’t get to see either one of them again until their funeral a week later. Alex’s folks had been named guardians in my parents’ will—my dad was an orphan, and my mom’s folks died when I was a baby, and they were both only children—so I went to live with the Kemps. Which helped a lot because they were good people.”

  “Beck…” Her voice was a whisper, but had grief in it for the little boy he’d been. That was something, and he’d take it over the deadness that’d been there before.