Things We Never Got Over

by Lucy Score

  “Yeah. You can tell me, kid. I’m trustworthy as shit,” Duncan said, apparently forgetting that he’d just threatened the lives of her mother and aunt only minutes ago.

  “Just tell him where you absconded it, and he’ll send his men to go get it,” Tina said, enunciating slowly.

  That was definitely not the right use of the word absconded.

  Duncan nudged me with his elbow. “Go take the tape off her mouth.”

  I approached Waylay and leaned in. “It’s me, Naomi,” I whispered.

  She crossed her eyes as if to say “Duh.” Waylon stood up and licked my shin.

  “Oh, now he likes you,” Duncan said. “Dogs are as fickle as bitches. An hour ago, he couldn’t stop growlin’ at you, now he wants to hump your leg.”

  I peeled back the corner of the tape.

  “Sorry, kiddo,” I whispered and yanked the tape free.

  “Son of a goddamn bitch, ow!” Waylay yelled.

  I suddenly missed Knox from the depths of my soul.

  “Tell me where the drive is, kid,” Duncan said. The gun appeared in my peripheral vision as he advanced on us.

  Waylay took what looked like a heroic breath. “I hid it at the library in Knockemout. I taped it under a shelf in the historical fiction section.”

  Smart, smart girl. If Duncan sent his men to break into the library, they’d essentially be breaking into a police station.

  “Thank you for telling us. I’m very proud of you for your honesty and integrity,” Tina said in what I assumed was her impression of me. She sounded British.

  “You’ll probably want to go get that now while the library’s closed,” I said to Duncan.

  “Yeah maybe,” he said, but his eyes were on Tina, and he looked thoughtful.

  “I guess I’ll go get that chicken,” I said, edging toward the door.

  “Not so fast.”

  I felt cold metal at the base of my neck and froze. Tina’s plan officially sucked.

  Waylon growled low. And that, too, made me miss Knox. Even if the man didn’t love me, I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to turn Duncan’s face into an abstract painting.

  “My whole life, everyone’s underestimated me,” Duncan said conversationally. “Called me an idiot. Said I was stupid and dumb. So I went with it. Played the moron. People don’t watch what they’re saying around a moron. And they don’t try as hard to hide what they’re doing, Naomi.”

  Crap.

  “You two are the morons here. You actually think I’d fall for the ol’ switcheroo?” he scoffed.

  “How did you know?” I asked, stalling for time.

  “Your tits aren’t crooked.”

  “You mean Tina’s aren’t.”

  “No, dumbass. Tina’s are crooked. Yours aren’t. Who’s the idiot now?” He said this while gesturing with the gun.

  Since it wasn’t trained on me, I turned to face him.

  Tina was frantically trying to work Waylay’s bonds free.

  Knee. Balls. Nose.

  Knox’s instructions came back to me almost as if he were standing next to me.

  “I liked you, Tina. Really fucking liked you and now I hafta kill you. How do you think that makes me feel?” He raised his gun, and I knew somewhere deep inside that this time he intended to use it.

  Tina was looking at me hard. And for once in my life, I could read her mind.

  “Hey, Duncan?” I said.

  The second his eyes were on me, everything moved in slow motion. Tina gave Waylay’s chair a shove out of the line of fire and dove in the opposite direction, reaching for the pizza box.

  “This!” I grabbed his shoulders and rammed my knee up into his crotch. The gun went off as he doubled over.

  My ears rang. But I could still hear Knox in my head.

  Nose.

  Clinging to his shoulders, I brought my knee up again, and this time connected with his face.

  I couldn’t hear if there was a crunch, but judging by the way the man crumpled to the ground, I’d done it correctly.

  Over the ringing in my ears, I thought I heard more shots. But they sounded like they were farther away. A siren too.

  I left Duncan where he lay and sprinted to Waylay. Spinning her chair around, I was beyond relieved to see she was unharmed.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, as my shaking fingers started to untie her.

  “That was awesome, Aunt Naomi!” she said.

  “You stupid piece of shit!” Tina had the pizza gun trained on Duncan as he got to his hands and knees. “You were gonna shoot my daughter, my sister, and me?”

  “Mom, the cops are here,” Waylay called as I finally freed her wrists.

  Tina gave Duncan a kick to his mid-section. “You’re lucky I don’t have time to shoot you.” Then she turned away from him. “Here,” she said, handing me the gun.

  I held it at arm’s length and prayed it wouldn’t go off.

  “You’re not seriously running, are you?” I asked.

  It was an admittedly stupid question.

  Of course my sister was running. It’s what she did after making a mess.

  Tina grabbed a grungy black duffel bag off the floor and shoved several stacks of cash into it. Then she dumped the rest of the pizza on top, leaving the piece with the bullet hole.

  “I’m allergic to cops,” she said, hitching the strap over her shoulder, and looked at her daughter. “See ya around, kid.”

  “Bye, Mom,” Waylay said, waving with her freed hand.

  Behind me, Duncan groaned on the floor. Waylon growled.

  “Been fun. Thanks for the skirt, Goody. Take care of my kid,” she said with a little salute and then she disappeared out the window onto the fire escape.

  The rope finally loosened and I threw it to the floor.

  “She’ll be back,” Waylay predicted, standing up and shaking out her hands.

  I didn’t doubt it.

  “Come on. Let’s get out of here,” I said, putting the gun down and untying Waylon’s leash from the leg of the desk. It wasn’t just my hands that were shaking. Now it was my entire body. I wasn’t going to feel safe until we were home at Liza’s. Maybe not even then.

  The image of the gun pointing at my niece was permanently engraved in my brain. I doubted I’d ever sleep again.

  “Aunt Naomi!”

  The panic in Waylay’s voice had me spinning around. Instinctively, I put myself between her and danger and right into Duncan’s bruising grip.

  His hand closed around my neck, cutting off my breath.

  Blood poured from his nose. For the briefest moment, I felt a flicker of satisfaction that I’d done that. I’d stood up to him. But the moment was fleeting as blackness crept in along the edges of my vision.

  “You ruined everything!” he howled.

  Time froze and solidified into a picture of the end as he brought the gun to my head.

  This couldn’t be how it ended. Not with Waylay watching. Not with help in the building.

  Not without Knox.

  I felt Waylay’s arms come around me from behind. One last hug. I couldn’t move or speak. I couldn’t tell her to run. My world was going dark.

  The door burst open, startling me and Duncan. He turned his head in time to see one of his men fall backwards into the room. Scratch that. He didn’t fall. The man was thrown like a ragdoll.

  With the last of my energy, I landed a kick to Duncan’s shin.

  “Waylay run!” someone ordered. The voice sounded so beautifully familiar, yet so far away.

  Help was in the room.

  Waylay would be okay.

  I slipped into the darkness.

  FORTY-NINE

  THE CAVALRY

  Knox

  I hit him low and hard, driving his body into the floor. Some part of me was aware of Naomi crumpling to the ground.

  I needed to go to her. But I couldn’t stop hitting the man beneath me.

  My fist plowed into his face again and again until someone hooked me from be
hind and pulled me back.

  “Enough,” Lucian said.

  Duncan Hugo ceased to exist to me.

  There was only Naomi and Waylay. Waylay knelt next to her, holding her hand to her chest. The tears welling in her blue eyes knifed into my gut.

  “Wake up, Aunt Naomi,” she whispered.

  I closed the distance and grabbed Waylay, hugging her to me.

  “Make her wake up, Knox,” she begged.

  My idiot dog crawled his way between them and started to howl.

  Lucian was on his phone, holding his fingers to Naomi’s bruised neck. “We need an ambulance,” he said tersely.

  Still clutching Waylay to me, I leaned over Naomi and cupped the face of the woman I loved. The woman I’d lost. The woman I couldn’t live without.

  “Wake the fuck up, Daze,” I growled. My eyes and throat burned. My vision blurred as hot tears clouded everything.

  I almost missed it. The flicker of those long lashes. Then I was sure it was a hallucination when those beautiful fucking hazel eyes opened.

  “Coffee,” she croaked.

  Christ, I loved this woman.

  Waylay tensed against me, her arm nearly choking me around the neck. “You didn’t leave me!”

  “Thank fucking God,” Lucian whispered, swiping the back of his hand over his brow and collapsing back on his elbows on the floor.

  “Of course I didn’t leave you,” Naomi rasped. The bruises on her throat made me want to end the life of the man who’d put them there. But I had a more important priority.

  “Welcome back, Daze,” I whispered. I leaned down and pressed my mouth to her cheek, breathing her in.

  “Knox,” she sighed. “You came.”

  Before I could answer, the side door I’d used to sneak in while Lucian created the distraction burst open. I saw the gun and the gleam in the man’s eyes and knew what was about to happen. Operating on instinct, I pulled Waylay to my front and used my body to pin her and Naomi to the ground.

  Two shots rang out in rapid succession, but I felt nothing. No pain. Just my girls, warm and alive beneath me.

  I chanced a glance up and saw the gunman on the floor.

  “You fucking idiots,” Nash said, leaning against the wall. He had a cut on his face, blood on his t-shirt, and was sweating profusely.

  “You did that right-handed?” Lucian asked, impressed.

  My brother flicked him off as he slid down the wall. “I told you idiots I’m fucking good at my job.”

  “Are we alive?” Waylay asked under me.

  “We’re alive, honey,” Naomi assured her.

  Carefully, I eased my weight off them. They both stared up at me with identical grins. I pointed at Waylay. “You’re gettin’ a damn birthday party. And after that, we’re gettin’ married,” I told Naomi.

  Naomi’s eyes went wide, and she reached for me, hands frantically prodding my torso.

  “What’s wrong, baby?”

  “Are you shot? Did you hit your head?”

  “No, Daze. I’m fine.”

  “Did I hit my head?”

  “No, baby.”

  “I must have. I thought I heard you just say we were getting married.”

  “You think I’m dumb enough to let you two go?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Waylay, Lucian, and Nash said together.

  “Can I have a dress for the party and a dress for the wedding?” Waylay asked.

  “You can have ten dresses,” I promised her.

  “You’re going to spoil her,” Naomi said, running her hand over Waylay’s hair.

  “Fucking right I am. I’m gonna spoil you too.”

  Her smile put pieces back together inside me that I hadn’t even noticed were broken.

  “Where’s Duncan?” Waylay asked.

  Lucian got to his feet and scanned the space. “He’s gone.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Nash muttered. “This is why amateurs shouldn’t get involved in police business.”

  “I can’t wait till I’m a grown-up and I can swear all the time,” Waylay announced.

  We all heard footsteps on the stairs at the same time. Nash shifted to point his gun at the door. I pulled mine from the waistband of my jeans and aimed.

  Lina and Sloane burst into the room together.

  “Christ, I could have shot you,” Nash complained, lowering his gun. “What the hell are you doing here? How’d you find us?”

  Sloane looked a little green around the gills. “We followed Nash.”

  “You left a trail of bodies from the parking lot. Didn’t leave any fun for the rest of us,” Lina said, kneeling next to my brother. Gently, she pushed the sleeve of his shirt up. “Popped your stitches, hotshot.”

  “Can barely feel it,” Nash lied through his teeth.

  Sloane spotted Naomi and started toward us. But Lucian was already in motion crossing the room like a god about to crush a mortal.

  They met in the middle of the room, stopping inches apart.

  “I told you to stay in town,” he snarled.

  “Get out of my way, you big…” Her voice trailed off, and I saw she was staring at the body Nash had dropped. Her face went white.

  “Sloane.” When the librarian didn’t look at him, Lucian grasped her chin and firmly turned it toward him.

  “Knee. Balls. Nose,” Naomi whispered to me.

  “That’s my girl.” I gave her a squeeze.

  “Naomi, you okay?” Lina called from where she was tending my brother.

  “I’m pretty great,” Naomi said, looking up at me with the kind of smile that could light up a man’s life.

  “I fucking love you,” I whispered to her. She opened her mouth, but I shook my head. “Nope. You don’t get to say it back yet. Figure I have at least a week of telling you before I’ll deserve to hear it back. Got it?”

  Her smile got impossibly brighter, and her eyes filled with tears.

  “Sorry,” she sniffled, bringing her hands to her face. “I know you don’t like tears.”

  “Think I’m okay with these,” I told her and lowered my mouth to hers.

  “Barf,” Waylay complained.

  Naomi shook with laughter against me. Blindly, I reached over and found Waylay’s face with my hand and gave the girl a gentle shove. She tipped over, laughing.

  There was another flurry of activity on the stairs, and then the doorway filled with cops. “Drop your weapons!”

  “About damn time,” Nash muttered, dropping his Glock and holding up his badge.

  I sat on the back of the ambulance in the middle of the night next to Naomi while a detective asked us yet another round of questions. I couldn’t stand to be more than a foot or two away from her. I’d almost lost her and Waylay.

  If Grim hadn’t come through… If I’d been one minute later… If Nash hadn’t been that accurate with his right hand…

  All of those ifs, and yet I was still here, holding on for dear life to the best thing that ever happened to me.

  “What the hell is this? A parade?” asked one of the uniformed officers. A motorcycle rolled in. Followed by another and another. A dozen total. They were followed by four vehicles.

  Engines cut. Doors opened. And Knockemout showed the fuck up.

  I blinked a few times when I saw Wraith helping my grandmother off the back of his bike. Lou and Amanda climbed out of their SUV and started running. Jeremiah, Stasia, and Stef were right behind them. Silver and Max jumped out of Fi’s minivan along with Milford and four of Honky Tonk’s regulars.

  Justice and Tallulah got off their respective bikes and hurried forward.

  “Can we wrap this up?” I asked the detective.

  “Just one more question, Ms. Witt,” she said. “A patrol car picked up a woman claiming to be Naomi Witt. Caught her trying to steal a Mustang two blocks from here. Do you have any idea who she might be?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Naomi groaned.

  I spotted Nash and Lucian leaving a huddle
of officers. My brother nodded for me to join them.

  I gestured for Lou to take my place. “I’ll be right back, Daze,” I told her.

  Naomi smiled up at me as her dad hustled over, Amanda on his heels. She paused long enough to give me a loud kiss on the cheek and a hard smack on the ass.

  “Thank you for saving my girls,” she whispered to me before turning her attention to her daughter. “We brought you coffee, sweetheart!”

  “You about done fucking things up?” Stef asked me.

  “I just told our girl that we’re getting married. So yeah. I’m about done.”

  “Good. Then I don’t have to destroy your life,” he said. “I leave you alone for less than two weeks, and look what happens, Witty.”

  “Oh my God, Stef! When did you get home?”

  I felt a hand in mine as I crossed the asphalt and looked down. Waylay had linked her fingers through mine. She had Waylon’s leash in her other hand. My dog looked like he just wanted to lay down and sleep for a month.

  “Did you mean it about the dresses?” she asked as we walked toward my brother.

  I released her hand and pulled her into my side with an arm around her shoulders. “Sure did, kid.”

  “Did you mean it about what you said to Aunt Naomi? About loving her and stuff?”

  I stopped us and turned her to face me. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life,” I assured her.

  “So you’re not going to leave us again?”

  I gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Never. I was miserable without you two.”

  “Me too?” she asked.

  I saw the spark of hope that she just as quickly pushed aside.

  “Way, you’re smart. You’re brave. You’re gorgeous. And I’m gonna hate it when you start dating. I fucking love you. And not just because you’re part of a package deal.”

  She looked so solemn it almost crushed my heart.

  “Will you still maybe love me if I tell you something? Something bad?”

  If Duncan Hugo put his hands on Waylay, I was going to hunt him down, chop them off, and feed them to him.

  “Kid, there is nothing you can tell me that’s going to make me not love you.”

  “Promise?”