First Love: A Superbundle Boxed Set of Seven New Adult Romances (174 page)

From the look the agent—and yes, I’m pretty sure this one is a real agent—gives me as he catches me groping uselessly at Lexi’s hip, I think it must look like we we’re trying to go out with a bang. Pun intended.

Lexi manages to stifle her gasp, so it’s more like a squeak, and the agent quickly cuts us free then leads us back through the house to the front door. Seeing the SWAT team surrounding the front of my house is one hell of a major mind-fuck. One, because they’re there, and two, because I never heard a sound. They’re like government ninjas or something.

Four agents spread out, peeking around the corners and filing into the house, while the agent who rescued me and Lexi shakes my hand but holds a finger to his lips, instructing us to remain silent. Staying silent is about the hardest thing he could ask me to do, because I want to scream at him that my girlfriend is likely in the barn, and more than likely she’s in way worse trouble than I was.

A yell comes from the back of the house, and then more officers and agents are piling out of the woods as I follow the first team around the side of the house. After a minute of chaos, everything falls eerily still. One suspect is apprehended from by the back door, the one I consider fake agent number three. The one who pretended to be O’Brien is pulled from the SUV, and that just leaves the tall thin guy.
 

And Angel.

Molly bolts from the woods, but she doesn’t run to me. She darts directly to the hay barn and scratches at the door like a pint sized homing beacon. That’s all the indication I need. As I run, I’m praying I’m not too late and terrified of what I might find.

And then I hear her screams.
 

“Nick, don’t! No!”
 

Her last cry comes out garbled, like she’s choking on blood or being choked, and it is the most excruciating thing in the world to be on the other side, unable to see her but hearing that. Then she falls silent, and I realize that’s even worse.
 

“Angel!” I reach the door at the same time as the lead agent and together we start rolling it to the side. It sticks at first—it often gets clumps of dirt and debris stuck in the track—and then it slides open, revealing a scene that knocks the breath right out of my chest.

The tall skinny guy, who I’m now assuming is Nick, has Angel held in front of him like a shield with the muzzle of his gun pressed to the side of her head. Her face is tilted slightly upward, and her eyes are closed. What hurts me the most is the look of peace on her face, unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

She may have accepted her fate, but I haven’t. My Angel isn’t earning her wings today.

The Agent beside me has his gun drawn and pointed at Angel and Nick, but he doesn’t have a clear shot. “FBI! Put the gun down and your hands up!”
 

A sinister smile steals across Nick’s face, and I know there’s no chance in hell he’s going to surrender. I don’t know if Nick is going to try to use her to bargain his way out of here or if he’s going to kill her for pure revenge, but neither option is acceptable. “Angel!”

Her eyes snap open, and one tear starts down her cheek. She looks so frightened and yet so strong. There’s a fire in her eyes, and I know she’s still with me. I need to say something I know she’ll understand but Nick won’t for this to be successful, so I pick a common phrase from our game and I pray she gets it. “Angel, feign!”
 

It takes less than a second for recognition to register in her eyes, and her knees drop out from underneath her without any warning, in a perfect imitation of “Feign Death” from WarQuest. She falls to the ground limp, and Nick’s jaw falls open. Before he can reposition his gun, the agent beside me takes his shot.

The bullet plows into Nick’s shoulder, and he staggers, clutching at his wound as his gun falls to the dirt floor of the barn. Agents rush into the barn, quickly immobilizing Nick while I sprint to Angel.

She weakly lifts her head to look at me as I scoop her up in my arms, keeping her shivering body pressed tight against my chest.

“I never thought being a gamer would save my life.” Her eyes flutter and then remain closed.
 

It’s only then that I get my first good look at her. Half of her face is an exotic blend of swollen red and bruised purple. Sawdust, twigs, and leaves are caked in her hair. Angry handprints criss-cross her throat as if he attempted to strangle her several times. There are several rips in her jeans, and she’s missing a shoe.
 

She has never looked more beautiful.

My front yard has turned into alphabet soup. There are jackets and vests with the letters DEA, FBI, PPD and SWAT. I have no idea where they all came from or how long they’ve been here, but then again, I wasn’t really paying attention to them. The only thing that matters to me is the girl in my arms.

Angel moans against me, and it’s nothing like the erotic little moans that dreams are made of; this is the sound of nightmares. It’s strangled and pain-filled and leaves me feeling useless. I don’t know how to help her.

An agent claps me on the back with a friendly hand. “Hang tight, son, an ambulance is on the way.”

Forty Seven

Angel

The room around me is so bright I instantly snap my eyes closed again. I would completely believe it if someone told me I’d died and gone to heaven. Not because of the whole ‘go into the light’ thing, but because Arion is holding my hand.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Arion’s voice is thick with emotion that tells me just how close I came to not waking up. As if the aching in nearly every part of my body didn’t deliver the message.

Slowly, I let my eyes fall open. “Hi.” My brain isn’t fully functioning yet, and it’s all I can manage. Jumbled thoughts rest just below the surface, but my tongue can’t seem to access them.

“Do you need me to get a nurse? Are you in pain?” Arion’s forehead is pinched and drawn, and I swear I think he’s aged several years in the time I’ve been asleep.
 

Just how long
have
I been asleep? My mouth is drier than a cotton ball as I swallow, lifting my head to look around the room. Monitors flash silently beside me, and an IV drips life into my arm.
 
I’m glad I slept through them inserting it. A dry-erase board is tacked to the wall, beneath a simple clock. According to it, today is Friday, and my nurse is Julia.
 

Getting Julia in here for some pain medication is a fantastic idea, because I’m pretty sure the side of my face is about to fall off, considering how it’s throbbing. I try to nod at Arion, but that makes my throat hurt and I gasp as my eyes water.

Arion is instantly leaning over me with panic-filled eyes. “What is it, baby?”

A nurse sweeps into the room on a cloud of floral scrubs and offers a kind smile that instantly makes me feel taken care of. “How ’bout some water, honey. Let’s see if we can get rid of that sandpaper, huh?” She doesn’t wait for my answer, and Arion moves back a step, giving the nurse room but never letting go of my hand. The straw she presses to my lips is hard and a bit awkward, but I manage a few sips of water.
 
You’d think it was the nectar of the gods, considering how much good it did.

“Thank you.” I smile gratefully at the nurse.

“Can she have more pain medication?” Arion is hovering beside me like a worried hummingbird.

The nurse—I check her tag, and it does say Julia—shakes her head. “Not just yet. Someone from the FBI is waiting to talk to her, and the doctor will want to check on her as well.” Julia presses a few buttons on the monitor over my head; it beeps and then falls silent again. “Do you think you can manage to answer a few questions for them?”

“Yeah, send them in.” I don’t want to, but I want to get it over with.

“Okay, honey, there’s a call button right here on the side of your bed. If the visit gets to be too much, just buzz me, and I’ll chase them away. Don’t exhaust yourself.” She pushes a button on the bottom of the bed, and it starts to incline beneath me until I’m part sitting, but still laying down.

Arion moves closer to my side as soon as she leaves. “Are you really okay?”

“Yes, Arion. Relax!” I love him, but his hovering is going to drive me fucking batty.
Oh, my God.
I love him. Like honest to goodness, truly, completely, stupid birds singing beneath rainbows sort of love him. My eyes lock on his face. “Arion—”

“Shhh.” He presses a finger against my mouth. “What was it you told me? Don’t you dare waste those perfect words on this imperfect moment. Wait until I can take you home and then don’t worry—I’ll let you scream it all night long.”

My body may feel bruised, but parts of me are definitely not broken. His words send an instant jolt of heat right between my legs.
 

I’m just about to tell him how much I like that idea when a sharp knock echoes from the doorway. “Ms. Sterling, may I come in?” A short, familiar man with thick dark hair and skeptical brown eyes pokes his head into the room.

Filling my lungs to scream, I realize just how battered and achy my ribs truly are, but it doesn’t matter, I scream my battered and bruised head off. I frantically claw at Arion’s hand, pointing toward the door. “That’s Officer Lopez—he works for Nick!”

“Just listen to what he says, Angel. Do you trust me?”

“I don’t trust him!” I jab my finger in Lopez’s direction.

“And I don’t blame you for that, Ms. Sterling. But please, let me try to explain.”

“Fine, talk, but don’t come any closer.” I shrink back as far as I can get in the bed.

“I’ve been undercover in the Los Reyas cartel for over two years now. Because we knew other law enforcement officers were involved within the organization, it was necessary for me to go undercover as an officer, so that my cover wouldn’t be blown as I came in contact with them. One of my primary purposes was the pursuit of the necessary information to seek out as many of them as I could. I understand why you are afraid of me. As part of my role, I’ve said some nasty things. To you and others.”

“Did you attack Johanna?”

“No, Ma’am. I tried to stop it, but I was too late. But it is as you suspect. Nick roughed her up, looking for information on your whereabouts.”

Arion squeezes my hand. “Johanna is out of her coma, and she is talking to the Tucson Police Department. She’ll be yet another witness against Nick. When Kevin contacted IAB, they contacted Officer Lopez and made a show of arresting him, so they could extract him safely. Otherwise, he might have been killed to make sure he didn’t give away anything.”

Lopez is nodding his agreement. “Unfortunately, one of the actual officers who was dirty was able to get his hands on the report, and they were able to trace from Kevin to Mr. Chadwell and then from Mr. Chadwell’s phone to your phone.”

“So, is it over then?” I’m not even sure what I consider over, but it’s the best question I can think of.

“Nick Guatieri is behind bars, awaiting trial. You will be instrumental in keeping him there if you agree to testify. We have rounded up a lot of his organization, but the truth is, we won’t be able to hold them. Not all of them, anyway. We have enough internal evidence to make sure the officers who assaulted you, Mr. Chadwell, and Ms. Martin are put away for a very long time.”

“Who?” I look to Arion for confirmation.

“Lexi,” he says.

“Lexi was there?”

He nods. “She’s all right.”

“She’ll need to testify as well—she overheard a lot of their plans, and that information will be invaluable in showing intent and conspiracy.”

My headache is reaching stratospheric levels, and I just want this interview or whatever it is to be over. “So what do you need from me?”

Officer Lopez’s eyes glass over. “I needed to say I’m sorry, first and foremost. Beyond that, I wanted to ask what happened between you and Nick while you were alone in the hay barn. I think that’s the only part of the day’s events we haven’t been able to unravel.”

I let my head drift to the side while I think about what to say. There are so many possible answers, but does any of it change anything? I think maybe only one thing does. My eyes seek out Arion’s, and it’s to him that I’m speaking, because he’s the only one who will really understand what it means. “Nick tried to rape me. I fought back.”

Forty Eight

Arion

I’m not the kind of guy that cries. At all. But damn if tears don’t force their way down my face as I hear my girl say she fought back. And by the way she’s looking at me, I know she did it for me. How does a guy even respond to something like that?

I hate Nick for what he’s done to her, and part of me thinks prison is too damn good for him. But I love Angel for coming out stronger on the other side. I know she thinks I’m stuck on my idealized image of her, but it isn’t that. I just know she’s so much more than she gives herself credit for.

Her eyes are starting to flutter as she reaches up, softly touching my cheek. Leave it to her to remind me I haven’t shaved, because I haven’t left her bedside.

“I think she’s had enough.” I look pointedly at Lopez.

“I’ll leave you be, then. You have my card, right, Mr. Chadwell?”
 

It’s stuffed in my back pocket where he gave it to me out at the farm while I waited for the ambulance to come for Angel. “Yeah.”

Lopez leaves, and I stare at Angel, absolutely enthralled by her beauty and heart. The bruises covering much of her body have begun to turn varying shades of ugly, but her liveliness still shines through, as brilliant as ever.
 

Nurse Julia slips into the room and injects a syringe of clear liquid into Angel’s IV, and it isn’t long before Angel’s eyes drift closed and I think she’s asleep. I’m just about to take up my spot as sentinel in the chair near the wall when she looks at me from beneath heavy, thick lashes, giving me a smile that could melt ice.
 

“I just wanted to see if you were still here.” She slurs her words as the medication tugs her closer to sleep.

“I’m not going anywhere.” I can’t think of anything that would convince me to leave her side. But deep down, I still think she’s going to leave mine.