Freeing Tuesday (24 page)

I glare at him. “I know enough, but here’s how I see it. Her past doesn’t matter to me. She’s a good person now. I’ve seen it. I see it every day. She struggles with the past that was
forced
onto her. And, if you honestly think she would choose that life and killing people for the hell of it, well,
you
don’t really know her. It’s not her past you should be looking at with her. It’s her future.”

“Holy shit,” he whispers and shakes his head.

“Holy shit, what?”

“You love her.”

“Holy shit,” I whisper. There’s no fucking way that I fell in love. I’ve been working to keep myself out of this situation and in walks Tuesday fucking Weston and blows my whole world to pieces. “Holy shit.”

A flurry of motion between the paramedics working on her brings me back around. What I hear is something about coding and no pulse. What I feel is my entire world shattering. Go figure, I just realize that I love her now this and there’s nothing I can do but sit back and pray that she makes it through.

Tuesday

“Tuesday.” I hear from beside me. “Tuesday, look at me.”

My eyes are closed. I closed them because I had blood running into them and it was starting to sting. That and I am really dizzy, everything is spinning. The last thing I remember is Evan telling me everything is going to be ok. But this isn’t Evan’s voice in my ear. No, this is…

Alex.

I flip my head toward him so fast I’m surprised my head doesn’t spin all the way around exorcism style. He is beautiful. His body is no longer withering away and he’s not pale and looking like he could fall apart at any moment. He is back to how he was when I first met him.

His shirt strains against the muscles in his arms. I reach out to touch him but hesitate. What if it’s all in my mind? What if I touch him and he disappears? I’m not sure I can handle that right now.

He smiles softly at me, “It’s ok, Tuesday.”

My fingers brush tentatively up his jaw until they reach his hair. The last time I ran my fingers through it like this there wasn’t this much there. I thread it through my fingers and lean into him.

“I miss you, Alex.” He tugs me so I’m straddling his thighs and when I look up we’re back in his bedroom on his bed. The one place I couldn’t bring myself to go after he died. His fingers slide across my cheek and catch the tears that I thought I was holding back.

“I miss you too,” he mumbles against my cheek. “So… you and Evan, huh?” My eyes widen in horror as I fumble for the words that so desperately need to come out of my mouth. He kisses me lightly on the corner of the mouth and smiles. “It’s alright, baby. I know he’s good for you.”

“Do we have to talk about this?” I bury my face in his neck and inhale. God, I miss the smell of Alex.

His chest rumbles as he laughs at me. “That’s why you’re here isn’t it?”

“What?” I pull back and stare him straight in the eye. “I don’t know why I’m here.” This is the first time since I noticed it was Alex that I even thought it was a bit odd. Why would I be talking to Alex about Evan?

“You have to move on, Tuesday. Not just from me, but from everything. If you don’t you’re going to lose everything you deserve.”

I laugh but it’s a hollow sound. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but with what I’ve done in my life, I don’t deserve anything but the death penalty.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Yeah, you may have killed some people and done some illegal shit when you were younger, but you have more than made up for that since.”

I try to look away. Look anywhere but at him and listen to what is coming out of his mouth, but I can’t. My eyes drink him in as I try to memorize every inch of him again.

“I know you don’t believe me, but you have. You saved Abby. You care for Izzy and she loves you so much. You keep my family from falling apart... You saved me.”

“Yeah,” I scoff, “I did a real bang up job saving you.”

“You couldn’t do anything to save me physically, but you saved my heart.” One of his hands runs through my hair while the other holds firmly onto my hand. “I was so messed up after Cara died and I planned on never letting another girl in. I was like Abby was, just less obvious about it. Then I met you and no matter how hard I tried to fight it and no matter how hard you tried to keep away, there was no stopping what my heart felt. What Evan told you is true, even if I wasn’t smart enough to tell you. I did, I do, love you Tuesday.”

I’m bawling by the time he tells me he loves me. I can barely breathe and he’s just sitting there letting me cry. Every now and then he reaches up and wipes the tears away from my face. “I… love…you… too,” I say between sobbing and gasping for air.

“But you don’t just love me anymore.”

I shrug, “I don’t know how I feel about Evan. I shouldn’t be with anyone. He might be dead because of me.”

“He’s fine,” he says, “but you would have been dead without him tonight.”

“Wait, I’m not dead? I’m kinda thinking I’m dead because I’m here with you.”

He chuckles at my confused expression and kisses me lightly. “You didn’t think getting out of the whole Evan thing was going to be that easy did you? You need to learn to live like you should, not how you have been and Evan can help you with that.”

My chest starts pounding painfully and everything gets a little hazy as he tells me he loves me one last time. The pain in my chest is increasing so much that I have to close my eyes. When I open them again Alex is gone and there is a bright as fuck light shining over my face and people are everywhere. My entire body hurts and I’m starting to think I was better off with Alex. There wasn’t any pain there.

I can’t make out what anyone is saying because they’re all talking at once. My shoulder is burning and I frantically search the room for Evan but I don’t find him. I do, however, find Agent Frey standing alone in the corner with his head hung.

A nurse turns towards him and his head snaps up, eyes trained on me and starts to close in on me.

“Evan?” I croak.  It hurts to talk. It hurts to move but most of all it hurts not knowing what happened to Evan after I was out.

“He’s alright,” Frey says, “they’re taking care of him in the other room.”

I nod lightly, “Other guy?”

His chest expands as he takes a deep breath, “Dead.”

My heart jumps at the word. I want to run away and hide. I know if he’s dead and we’re not, that Evan had to have been the one that shot him. He killed someone because of me. He’s going to have to live with that for the rest of his life.

Agent Frey sees the question in my eyes and nods as I force my next question past my lips. “What… what is going to happen?”

“Tennessee has a ‘Stand Your Ground’ self-defense law. Neither one of you will be charged for tonight’s shootings but you have one pissed off guy missing a car.”

I grimace. I totaled an amazing car tonight. “I’ll pay for it. It doesn’t matter how much he wants.”     
      

He nods, “Are you willing to talk about witness pro-“

“No,” I cut him off, “I will not go into witness protection. I was doing just fine until you guys got involved. Now, please leave.” I turn my head away from him and after a few minutes of him standing there I hear him turn and leave.

A while later I hear arguing coming from the hall and see the top of Abby’s head through the window in the door. She pushes the door open at the same time as she flips someone off.

I look at my best friend. Her face is streaked with tears as she walks into my room and rushes toward me. The warmth of her hand when she touches me makes me realize we have way too much to lose if they catch up with me again.

“You know,” I laugh lightly, trying to make my mind believe everything is going to be ok “between the two of us, I think we could keep this place in business.”

She scowls, “I’d laugh because that’s true, but this isn’t funny, Tuesday. Someone shot you and chased you down in a car. That isn’t something to joke about. Now you’re going to tell me why or I’m going to go out there and force it out of that FBI agent that just walked out.”

“Yeah, it’s not funny, you’re right.” I choke back my laughter and settle back into the pillow behind my head before launching into telling her about my fucked up life. Every wrong thing I’ve ever done. Everything I ever hid from her; I lay it all out on the line since it’s all going to be out there soon enough anyway.

She paces back and forth in front of my bed, tears brimming in her eyes and when I finish talking she just stares. She stares at me like I’m crazy. Maybe I am, maybe I should be committed.

“You… you… you fucking lied to me! You put my family,
our
family in danger!” she yells, fuming as her fists pound into the foot of the bed.  Agent Frey rushes through the door but I hold my hand up and signal for him to leave us alone. I deserve this.

My eyes fall to my lap where my hand is fidgeting with the IV. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, “as soon as they let me leave I’ll go home and grab my stuff and leave. I didn’t mean to put anyone in danger. You guys made me feel like I had family, a real family, and I didn’t want to do anything to hurt anyone.” I know I’m about to cry, I hate crying. Right now though, I feel like I’m losing every single person that I care about in my life. My body is humming like it knows I’m getting ready to run again.

Abby growls, “You don’t get it, you dipshit! I’m furious with you because you lied to me. I’m not mad at you for what you hid, just that you hid it!” She sits on the edge of the bed and pulls my hand away from my IV, saving me from pulling it out. “How are we supposed to protect you if you keep shit like this hidden from us?”

“You shouldn’t have to protect me. I kept it from you to protect you guys.”

“Family protects family,” I hear Evan’s rough voice from the doorway and my head snaps towards him.

My eyes run over him, covering every inch before I let myself believe that he really is ok. He’s pale, his hands are covered in bandages, his jeans are ripped and bloody and his shirt is missing. Other than that, he seems ok. He’s still in one piece and it doesn’t look like he has any bullet holes.

He strides over to me, eyes never leaving mine, until he reaches the side of my bed and nudges me over. I slide toward the edge, as close as I can get without pushing Abby off the other side and allow him to crawl up behind me. His arm goes around my waist, hands grip my hips and he buries his nose in the side of my neck.

His lips press once at my pulse point in my neck, once on my temple and once behind my ear before his nose slides over the shell of my ear. “Family protects family,” he repeats.

Abby grins and bends forward to kiss my cheek, “Family, no matter what.” She stands to leave but I grab her hand.

“Why are you leaving?”

“I’m going home to tell the rest of your
family
that you two are alright. Jameson was here earlier but went home to be with the girls. Everyone is worried about you two.”

She disappears behind the heavy door, leaving me with just Evan. I begin to ramble my apologies but he silences me by tilting my face towards his and pressing his lips to mine.

“You were right,” he mumbles against my lips, “it is different.”

“I am so sorry, Evan. You never should have had to do that.” I feel the tear slip from my eye. His thumb catches it and wipes it away.

“If it meant you were going to be ok I would do it all over again.” I shake my head as he speaks, vowing to myself that nothing like this will ever happen to him again. “I realized something tonight when I thought I lost you.” His eyes pierce mine when I ask him what it was. “My heart broke. It fucking shattered into these tiny little pieces when I realized I was completely in love with you and might never get the chance to tell you.”

“Wh- what…?” My heart pounds against my ribs.

“I. Love. You.” He enunciates each word, kissing me lightly between them. I wind my arm around his neck, pull him to me and bury my face into his chest where I whisper the words he just said back to him. He pulls me back. “Say it again.”

“I love you.” His lips meet mine softly. It kills me knowing I love him and I’m not sure how long I will be able to feel like this. How long would we be safe; how long I could keep him safe from my world?