"This man holding me is the man of my dreams, Don," I told him quietly. "Tonight, someone shot at him. It doesn"t take Sherlock Holmes to follow that trail to Damian. He has family. He has children. And he has me. Talk to your son. Make him stay out of my life and leave me and everyone I love alone. Please. Please do that for me."
He sniffed, his eyes still wet and getting wetter then he nodded.
I looked back at Damian and stated in a firm voice that still shook, "I never want to see you again. If you can, for once, listen to what I say rather than what you want to hear then hear this. I never, never want to see you again. Never. No matter what. I don"t want your money. I don"t want your guilt. You cannot make up to me what you tore from me or the years I lost because your poison infected me. Do not call me. Do not come to my house. Do not f.u.c.k with my life. Do not f.u.c.k with people I care about. Go away and stay away."
"Tess," Damian whispered and it was there, right in his eyes, pain and regret.
Pain and f.u.c.king regret.
The motherf.u.c.king a.s.shole.
"Go away and stay away," I whispered back.
Then without looking at Don again, I moved my body toward the door. Brock felt my movement and let me go. But he grabbed my hand, led me out, through the yard and to the pa.s.senger side of his truck that was parked behind my car.
He bleeped the locks and opened the pa.s.senger door before I noticed what he was about.
I locked my body and looked up at him, saying softly, "I"m okay to drive."
He shook his head, gently pushing me toward the seat, saying, "Get in, baby."
"I don"t want to leave my car here," I told him.
"Get in, don"t worry about it. I"ll deal with it."
"Brock "
He closed in on me and I had to tip my head way back, he was that close.
"Up into the truck, Tess," he said softly.
I bit my lip, nodded, he moved back and I climbed up.
He rounded the hood, swung up beside me, his truck rumbled to life and off we went.
And when we hit Yale it would come to me that of the many awesome powers my man held, clairvoyance was one of them for as the adrenalin surge fled and the emotions rushed in on its tail, I lost it again, this time melting into deep, body-rocking, uncontrollable sobs.
I was so far gone, I didn"t notice us getting home. I didn"t know how I got in. I didn"t even know how I got myself curled on the bed. I was just suddenly there and I just kept crying.
I vaguely heard s.n.a.t.c.hes of Brock saying, "She"s bad, Martha, I need to deal with the police and she needs you so I need you over here soon as you can come." And also what might have been just minutes later or longer, I was too far gone to tell, "My woman lost it after it went down, I can"t come to the Station. The boys are outside investigating the area, you need to come here."
But that was all I noticed until I felt Martha crawl into bed with me, curve her body into the back of mine, her arm wrapping around and holding me tight.
I heard the voices in the living room then.
"Who"s here?" I asked through a sniffle.
"Cops, honey," she whispered. "Brock has some business he needs to tend to after what went down tonight."
Of course.
I shut my eyes tight and pressed out more tears. Finding her hand with mine at my belly, I pulled it up to my chest, held it tight with my fingers as I pressed it deep into my chest.
I opened my eyes and whispered, "He got shot at tonight."
"I know," she whispered back.
My hand clutched hers and new tears stung my eyes and nose. "I can"t lose him."
"I know, honey."
"His boys can"t lose him."
"I know."
"His family "
"Shh, Tess."
I sucked in a broken breath.
Then I stated a trembling, "I hate Damian."
Her arm gave me a squeeze and her hand twisted to hold mine.
"I do too."
I fell quiet. So did Martha.
Then I sucked in another broken breath and told her, "There"s a chicken in the oven."
"I know, I sorted it," she told me. "Are you hungry? Do you want me to get you something?"
"No, but Brock "
"He"s a big boy, honey, he can take care of himself."
"I know, but "
"Tess, honey, trust me," she said while squeezing my hand. "Right now, he"s not hungry.
Right now that man out there is concentrating on making a statement to his colleagues and trying not to rip your living room apart. He pulls his s.h.i.t together; I don"t think the first thing on his mind is going to be dinner."
I nodded then said, "I should go to him."
"No," she held me closer. "He wants you here and safe with me while he deals with that s.h.i.t. Let him have that. You do what he needs you to do and get your s.h.i.t together."
She was right.
Therefore I nodded again and settled.
She held me for a long time. The voices in the living room silenced. Brock didn"t come in.
Then she sensed I"d gotten my s.h.i.t together (and she was right), I knew this because she gave me a squeeze and said, "The chicken is burnt so I"m gonna go rustle up dinner. Time you two ate."
She pulled away and I rolled to my back to look at her.
She hadn"t even taken off her coat.
She came right to me and didn"t take off her coat.
Fresh tears. .h.i.t my eyes but I beat them back and started to suggest, "Maybe you shouldn"t "
"I"m not going to cook, Tess. Riviera."
Well that was a relief.
"Chile rellenos," I ordered and she grinned.
That was to say she grinned before she muttered, "Like I don"t know that," as she rolled off the bed, rounded it, shot me another grin then she disappeared.
She would know I liked the Riviera"s chile rellenos considering I"d eaten approximately seven hundred and twenty-two plates filled with them while sitting across from her.
I gave it awhile before I got up, went to the bathroom, took my contacts out, washed my face and then went back to the bedroom to grab my gla.s.ses.
Then I moved out to the living room to see Brock standing just inside the front door talking to Levi and Lenore.
This was interesting.
Quick update: Lenore had not gone away. Lenore was around for Christmas lunch and New Year"s dinner with the Lucas clan. When I quizzed Brock about this, he told me he had no clue and when I pressed him to get the dirt, he told me had no intention of giving his brother the third degree about his love life. He said this firmly therefore I let it go reluctantly.
But I was thinking good thoughts.
"Hey, Tess," Levi called, his hazel eyes gentle on me in a way that was sweetly familiar mostly because his brother often looked at me the same way.
"Hey, Levi," my eyes went to Lenore, "hey, Lenore."
"Hey, honey," she said softly.
I got close and Brock claimed me, arm around the shoulders, tucking my front to his side.
I tipped my head back to look up at him and he informed me, "They went and got your car. It"s all good."
It wasn"t all good. It wouldn"t be all good for awhile.
But at least it was somewhat good for now.
I looked to Levi and Lenore. "Thanks guys."
"Not a problem," Levi rumbled.
"Are you staying for Mexican?" I asked.
"No, we already ate, Tess, and we gotta go. But thanks," Levi answered.
I nodded.
Lenore smiled at me.
Levi looked to his brother and gave him a chin lift.
"I"ll walk you out," Brock muttered then looked down at me. "Stay here, babe, yeah?"
I nodded, gave out cheek kisses, hugs and more words of grat.i.tude and Brock walked out behind his brother and his brother"s girl.
I closed the door behind them but stared out the little window, exhausted from my terror-filled, adrenalin-surge, tantrum-throwing, crying-jag evening but not so exhausted I couldn"t be nosy about Lenore and Levi.
And I saw that I was right to think good thoughts. As they walked down my walk, Levi slid his arm around her shoulders and Lenore slid hers around his waist. Bonus was when they stopped at Levi"s SUV to talk with Brock, Levi kept her close and Lenore rested the side of her head on his shoulder and when she did, it appeared Levi held her even closer.
Excellent.
After playing busybody, I walked to the kitchen. I had two cold ones popped open by the time Brock got back and I was taking a huge freaking swallow from mine.
Brock walked right to me and I had to jerk my arms to the side because when he walked to me, he didn"t stop. He folded his arms around me and pulled me deep.
Then, against the top of my hair, he asked, "You good?"
"I think that was cathartic," I said to his chest, my arms snaking around him.
"Good," he muttered into my hair.
"I still feel the need to get drunk," I went on and he chuckled. "Blotto," I changed my mind as to the state of drunkenness I aimed to achieve and Brock kept chuckling. Then I changed my mind again, "No, s.h.i.tfaced. Totally."
His arms gave me a squeeze before one of them released me and my head went back just as his hand wrapped around my neck, his thumb stroking my jaw.
"Have at it, sweetness," he said quietly.
I sucked in breath.
Then I asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he answered immediately.
"Brock " I started warningly but stopped when he shook his head, his thumb stopped stroking and his fingers grew tight.
"I could be wrong, babe, but you got through. I don"t know if he was behind the s.h.i.t that went down in front of your house tonight but if he was, it won"t happen again. You wounded him. No, you crushed him. Whatever f.u.c.ked up s.h.i.t that"s in his head that makes him tick, it unscrambled and he focused long enough for your message to get through. Even if I miss my guess and he still intends to d.i.c.k with you, I suspect his father will move mountains to try and make him stop."
"Well, that"s good news," and it was, "but I was talking about you getting shot at."