a reason to live(67)

He’d often wondered how Max had kept his cool during the incident with Stetson. But the rage sweeping through his body answered his question. He didn’t. He just hid it. Hid it like Shane was doing now when all he wanted to do was launch one of Maxine’s chairs through her window.

“What’s our next move?” Shane asked.

“I’ve got a call in to Jack. He’s got a buddy in the FBI I’m hopin’ can pull some strings and help us out with manpower. If Heller’s still in the area, which I think he is, we’ll need to flush him out,” Max answered.

“I’ll have men posted outside Maxine’s until we can mount a search,” Chester said.

Thinking about Heller’s need for revenge it occurred to Shane the man might want revenge on anyone who took away his ability to hide. He hadn’t gone after her until Stetson died. Until then, he’d been content with being dead. But Stetson’s death was on Max and Mia, not Sage.

“If Heller’s hell bent on exactin’ revenge, you need to keep an eye on Mia as well as your back,” he warned Max. “You two cut off his gravy train.”

It was clear to Shane that Max hadn’t come to the same conclusion. He went from murderous to tightly wired in a matter of seconds. Which upped the ante in Shane’s mind. Normally, he would have pitied any man who messed with Mia, but in this case, he couldn’t give a fuck. If Heller came near either woman, he was a dead man.

“Are you stayin’ here or goin’ home?” Max asked between his teeth.

“I’m not leavin’ Sage.”

Max raised a brow, relaxing a fraction.

“Finally pulled your head out?”

“All the way out,” Shane answered with a grin. “The abyss isn’t a bad place to be.”

“Thank fuck for that,” Max sighed. “I thought I was gonna have to kick your ass.”

Shane scoffed. “The Hunter side may have handed down all the brawn, but I have enough in me you’d have been sorely tested. If my memory serves, you tried to beat the shit out of me when I plugged your ass with buckshot, and it didn’t end the way you thought it would.”

“I remember that,” Chester guffawed. “In fact, I remember it so well, I think I’ll make amends now,” he continued, moving forward to put out his hand.

Shane looked down and frowned as he took it.

“For what?”

“I’m shakin’ it now before you find out I helped Maxine in her ploy to get you and Sage together.”

Shane blinked.

“The deck?” Shane asked.

“Had my eyes closed the whole time.”

He looked to Max and shook his head. “She’s a pain in my ass.”

“Welcome to my world,” Max gruffed. “But in this case, I’m not complaining.”

Shane heard a giggle from behind him and turned to find Sage standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame as she took in the confrontation. She looked tired, but her eyes were bright with humor from Chester’s confession. Her auburn hair lay around her shoulders, still damp from a shower. Void of makeup, her ivory complexion was dappled with freckles from the sun. She was wearing a white cotton gown covered by a matching robe, looking every bit the angel she was. His angel. His saving grace from the hell he’d been lost in the past twelve months. His to protect and love. His to lounge around with on a lazy afternoon while he tasted her body and sampled her hidden desire. His to peel back the layers from until he unwrapped her secrets and unearthed her mysteries.

“Back in bed,” Shane ordered, moving toward her.

“I could say the same thing to you. You were shot today and you’re on your feet as if nothing happened.”

“Flesh wound. Nothin’ to worry about.”

“I’ll be back in the morning once I talk to Jack. Keep that gun close,” Max said as Shane wrapped his arm around Sage’s back. He jerked his chin at Max, leveling him with a dark scowl, and then led Sage to her bedroom.

Maxine called out as he opened her door, so he turned and found her heading toward him. When she reached him, she put her hand to his face and smiled, running her thumb across his cheek as his own mother had when he was a child.

“Being broken because your heart is pure makes you human in the most beautiful way,” Maxine whispered. “It’s when you overcome being shattered—allowing love to seal the cracks in your soul—that it becomes its own kind of beautiful.” Beautifully broken. Beautifully healed.”

Shane didn’t hesitate to wrap her in a hug. “You’re a nosy old woman and a pain in my ass. But I love you for it,” he whispered back.