"Don't know. But I'm gonna find out." Some of the steel left his voice when he spoke to me, but his body was still rock hard, tension rolling of him.
Josh popped his thumb in his mouth, and I kissed him again. "It wasn't me he was trying to hit, was it?" If Hunter was out of the way, I was a much easier target.
"I'll take care of this, Lulu. I promise you."
A wave of nausea hit me. Two thoughts coming at me at once. Hunter could take care of this, or he could die trying. He would put himself in danger to protect us. I loathed that with everything in me. So much so I could actually feel my blood pressure spike, sending black spots dancing across my vision, making my limbs weak.
The second thought sent panic, terror through me so hard and fast, I struggled to breathe. "What if they'd hit Josh?" I shoved down the thought. It was unthinkable, unbearable. "What if they come after us again?" The adrenaline that had been thrumming through me burnt away with the rush of intense fear, and that's when I felt something warm trickle down my arm. That's when I felt the pain.
I looked down and gasped. Blood covered my right arm, soaking through my shirt, dripping onto the seat.
"Lulu?" Hunter glanced at me in the rear view mirror.
I grabbed a T-shirt lying beside me on the floor and pressed it to my arm. "I think . . . I think I've been hit."
"What?"
"I'm bleeding."
The car wrenched to the side and Hunter angled his body, reaching through the seats and pulled the shirt away to get a look. I winced.
He cursed several times. "It's a graze. Thank fuck. Keep pressure on it, baby. I'll get someone up to my apartment to stitch you up. I'm not taking you back out in the open."
Josh pulled his thumb from his mouth. "Fuck," he parroted.
Wonderful.
"Shit," Hunter growled.
"Shit," Josh mimicked, lips curled up at the sides, obviously pleased with himself.
Hunter stared at Josh for a couple beats, then gave up, turned back in his seat, keyed in a text, and we were driving again.
Jude, Zeke, and Van were there when we arrived. They were all carrying guns and not bothering to conceal them as they rushed us inside Hunter's apartment building. Zeke left again as soon as we were secured-to take position across the street, he said.
Neco arrived with an older man a short time later, a man with salt and pepper hair and an impatient, harried looking expression. The doctor Hunter mentioned. He gave me a shot to numb my wound, which was just a graze and not that bad, stitched me up, gave me some antibiotics, and left again.
I looked up at Van when the door shut. "You have your own doctor on call?"
"We pay him well, and he's available when we need him," he said from his position in front of the breakfast bar.
Hunter had a job that required a doctor on the payroll, a doctor who was on call? The guy hadn't batted an eyelid at what was so obviously a bullet wound. This was something else to lock away and not think about until all this was over.
It was just another reason why Josh and I couldn't stay. As if reading my mind, Van piped up again. "We don't use him very often, Lulu, and we're not the only ones that pay him to do his job and keep his mouth shut."
People come to us when a situation is too dangerous for anyone else, and we . . . fix it for them.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Right. Good to know." That was a complete lie. I didn't want to know. I didn't need to know. And by tomorrow, after I'd shored up my mental defenses, I would have pushed it way down, all of it, with everything else. When it was time to leave, I'd think about it then and only then.
Josh, my tough little cookie, had fallen asleep not long after we'd gotten back. He'd curled up on the couch beside me and drifted off. Hunter had carried him to bed when the good doctor arrived.
The door was opened again and the cops walked in, obviously here to take my statement. Jude walked over to greet them, filling them in. I realized they were the same cops that I spoke to in the hospital, after Pierce had finished with me. They seemed to know each other.
"Does Jude know those guys?"
Hunter was standing behind me, a steady, unwavering presence. Other than taking Josh to bed, he hadn't moved. His hand came down on the back of my neck, fingers curling in. He kissed the top of my head. "Jude used to be a cop."
"Oh." I turned in my seat to look at him. "He was a cop? But you guys . . . you . . . you know . . ."
Neco chuckled from his spot across the room, leaning against the wall. "We do what we have to do to get a job done, and that sure as hell doesn't usually include shooting shit up all over the city. You get me?"
Nope. Not really. "Right."
That's when the police joined us and the conversation about law breaking ended while they took everyone's statements.
It was late when they finally left. I was exhausted, close to passing out.
Hunter shut the door behind Van, who was the last to leave, and walked back to me. He didn't give me any warning, just slid his arms around me, one at my back, the other behind my knees, and lifted me off the couch.
He kissed my temple. "Come on, baby. Let's get you cleaned up."
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, and suddenly remembered about the plans I'd made for tonight. "What about Ruby? She'll think I blew her off."
"Neco filled her in."
"Oh . . . that's good, I like her."
"You do?"
"Mmmhmm. Maybe we could be friends?" I said against his T-shirt. I'd never really had friends, besides Bret, who'd turned out to be a traitorous bastard. I liked the idea of having one.
"Jesus," Hunter said, and carried me from the living room.
Hunter
I was barely hanging on to my shit.
I'd just checked Josh for the hundredth time. He'd been out cold when I'd looked in a few minutes ago. His little body looked so damn tiny in that big bed. And even though I'd been able to see his chest rising and falling, I'd rested my hand lightly against him so I could feel it.
I'd been the target today; I knew that much. Lulu was right-Pierce wanted me out of the way. Instead, he'd accidently hit Lulu. Thank fuck it was only a graze, it could have been so much worse.
One thing I knew for sure-he wasn't going to stop. It was a dumb move for Pierce to come after her now. His shit had been blown wide open, but then the guy was a sick fuck. The kind of man who would blackmail and rape his own stepdaughter, a kid he'd had under his care since she was twelve years old. The guy was unpredictable at best. As far as I was concerned, the fucker needed to be put down, and I wanted to be the one to do it.
I'd do anything to keep Lulu and Josh safe. Anything.
Lulu tucked herself in close, wrapped her arms around my neck, and I held her back, as tight as I could without hurting her any more than she already was. How much more could she take before she broke completely?
I carried her into my bedroom and sat her on the bed. She started to protest, but I slid my hand from the side of her throat into her hair and made her look at me. "Let me take care of you."
I needed her to understand, needed her to let me do this.
"You don't need to. I can take care of it."
"Fuck." I shook my head. "Let me do this for you."
Lulu being Lulu, she got it. Eyes wide, she stared up at me and nodded. "Okay."
Fuck. So fucking strong, so determined to take it all on alone. She trusted me with her body, to protect her, but she was guarding her heart. She'd locked it away and thrown away the fucking key.
Her shirt was torn from the bullet. The doc had cleaned around the wound, but dried blood covered the rest of her arm. "I'm gonna need to cut this off." Lifting it over her head would just cause her more pain. I pulled my blade from my boot and flicked it open.
Cutting through the fabric carefully, I bunched it up and threw it in the trash by the bed. There was blood on her side as well, and the sight of it fired up the rage still hammering me.
I was so focused, trying to get myself back under control, I didn't see her hands lifting to my face. But then she cupped my jaw, rubbed her thumb across my five-o'clock shadow, trying to comfort me. "I'm fine, Hunter."
I hadn't even realized I was clenching my teeth until she touched me. "You're not, Lulu. You're so far from fucking fine it's not funny." I grabbed her hand and held it in mine, even when she tried to pull away. She sat there, holding it together, like nothing had happened. So fucking closed off, so deep in denial. I snapped. "Someone shot at us. You or Josh could have been seriously injured . . . or worse."
She flinched, but there was no chance of keeping this in, acting like everything was fucking fine. I released her hand and curled my fingers around either side of her neck, thumbs under her chin to make her look at me. "That's not fine. You are hurting yourself, babe. You're hurting yourself and I won't let you, not anymore." I hissed out a pained breath. "Let me in, Lulu."