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.