Rowdy(97)

Jimbo was curled up on the other side of me. He was getting too big to be allowed on the furniture but he hadn’t left Salem’s side since the police had cleared out and I think the poor guy was feeling bad he hadn’t been able to help. The dog’s big, golden eyes were locked on Salem as she murmured in her sleep and twitched. I reached out with my other hand and petted him on the top of his wide head.

“It’s okay, fella. It’s hard to keep your lady safe.” He blew out noise through his nose like he knew exactly what I was talking about and the tip of his tail flipped back and forth.

I looked down at Salem and saw that her brows were furrowed and that she had deep lines etched between the raven arches. I used my fingertip to smooth them out and sighed.

“It’s probably the worst time ever to tell you this, but I . .” She suddenly turned so that she was lying on her back and looking directly up at me. That endlessly black gaze had my past, my future, all my secrets, and every dream I had ever had in them. It was like looking into forever and knowing that she was always going to be there right at the center of it. “ . . . love you. I will love you unendingly and forever.”

Her long lashes swept down for just a moment and then lifted back up. Like stars in the night sky I could see her feelings for me twinkling up at me from the midnight depths.

“I love you, too. I couldn’t do this without you. You always made me stronger than I ever was alone. I’ve always needed a reason to stay; with you that has never been the case. With you staying is the only option I have because the only place I want to be is wherever you are at.”

That was the only thing I had ever wanted her to say to me. I bent down so I could kiss her softly. “It might have taken me a long-ass time to figure out the difference between first love and real love, but, Salem, there is nothing more real than what I feel for you.”

She was going to respond but her cell phone went off and we both went stiff and stared at each other with big, nervous eyes. I reached for the phone and winced a little when I saw that Royal’s was the number on the screen. I couldn’t believe my hands were actually shaking as I swiped across the screen to answer the call.

“Hello.”

“Rowdy?” Her voice was low and I could hear a lot of commotion in the background of wherever she was calling me from.

“Yeah, I’m with Salem. Do you have any news?”

Salem pulled herself up and clutched my free hand with both of her own. She was pale and her dark eyes looked like they were swallowing up her entire face. The fear shining out of them settled like a rock in my gut and made my chest twist with the need to be able to do something for her.

“Maybe I should talk to Salem.” Royal’s voice stayed steady and low but her words shook like an earthquake through my entire being.

My heart sank and my fingers curled around Salem’s hands reflexively. “I’ll just put you on speaker.”

“Okay.” She waited a second as I moved the phone away from my ear and held it between me and my girl after switching on the speaker.

“Go ahead, Royal.”

She sighed over the line and I heard sirens and commotion in the background. “First of all, Poppy is all right. She’s in an ambulance on the way to a hospital in Albuquerque.”

Salem made a noise and fell forward so that her forehead was resting on my shoulder. “Thank God.”

“Yeah. The State Patrol picked up on the alert for the car her husband was driving after he had already crossed the state border. It looks like he was headed back to Texas with her.”

“Figures.” I was relieved, but there was something about the way Royal was talking, the distant, professionally smooth recounting of events, that was off-putting. I could literally feel the other shoe waiting to drop.

“Umm . . . Poppy was in pretty bad shape when the cops finally got to her. I don’t know what the extent of the injuries is but I know it isn’t good.” I could tell she was glossing it over for Salem’s sake. Fat tears were glittering on Salem’s black lashes and I could tell she was reading between the lines as well.

“What else, Royal? Just lay it all out so we can work on getting to New Mexico as soon as possible.”

She sighed again and finally her cop persona cracked just a little. Her voice quivered just a little bit and there was just enough of a thread of emotion in it to turn her from her professional role into a friend.

“The husband didn’t go easily. The cops cornered him at a rest stop after a forty-five-minute car chase. He still had the gun.” She paused for a second and I froze as Salem’s nails dug into my skin hard enough to break the skin. “There was a standoff.”