His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series) (17 page)

He lay there on the floor with her in a tight embrace, her holding his hand like she was holding on for dear life. He didn’t know how long they lay there, but he felt like he hadn’t taken a breath since she stood in his office doorway and screamed. Until he heard her soft whisper. “Why?” It was spoken so low, he wasn’t sure if he heard it or imagined it. And then he felt her move, and she whispered again. “Why Kade?” His first thought was that he’d lost his Krista. No, he wouldn’t lose her, not this time, like the first time fuckin’ Damon Price stole her. But, this time, when he got her back, he was never letting her go. Not fuckin’ ever!

Krista turned to face him, maybe for the last time. She didn’t know. How could he bring one of the two men who stole her life, her everything, here? Why would he do something like that? She couldn’t look at him yet. She pulled away from him. She brought her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around her legs, taking time to think what to do next. She closed her eyes and laid her forehead on her drawn up knees.

“I didn’t know. I swear for Christ, baby, I didn’t know,” Kade softly moaned. She raised her head to look at him and her breath caught in her throat. He looked as though he was mourning a loss. His eyes were wet with unshed tears. Did he really not know? She’d never told him, had never told anyone. No one knew. She didn’t even know what his name was. But, she knew what he looked like. She could never forget that.

“Why do you have his picture in there?” she asked and watched him blink. A single tear ran down his cheek. He dropped his head in his hands, scrubbed at his face, and then ran his hands through his hair to the back of his neck.

“It was the case, at work,” he answered softly. “The shit that was happening at work, the case I was being kept in the dark about.” His voice rose with each sentence. “It was that piece of shit mother fucker,” he barked loudly, and then slammed his fist into the floor. “He was right there! I had him in the back seat of the fuckin’ car!” he snarled and Krista realized he was no longer talking to her, but to himself. His eyes had gone completely out of focus as though he was somewhere else entirely. “I should have fuckin’ killed him,” he snapped as he slammed his fist into the floor again, and then again and again, repeating the same thing over and over. “Should’ve fuckin’ killed him. Should’ve fuckin’ killed him.” And every time he repeated the phrase, he would slam his fist into the floor.

“Stop,” she whispered hoarsely, and then she cleared her throat and repeated. “Stop.” This time a little louder, but Kade just sat there slamming his fist into the floor, muttering those same words over and over, like she hadn’t spoken. “Stop!” She managed to yell. “Irish, please stop,” she cried out as she watched his hand become covered in blood. He finally heard her because he jerked his head up.

“Krista?” he said her name as if coming out of a dark dream.

“Irish, please stop. You’re hurting yourself,” she begged. Then she watched him look down at his hand, like he’d never seen it before. It was now completely covered in blood. Then he looked back up at her, seeming confused.

“You called me Irish?” he said, but again it sounded more like a question.

“Yes, I always call you Irish,” she answered him, slightly confused herself, because she did, didn’t she? She didn’t remember calling him anything else.

“No, baby, not always. Twice now, when I’ve lost my Krista, you just called me Kade.” He reached his hand out to her, but stopped and dropped it, then reached out for her with his other hand, the one not covered in blood. He brushed her cheek. “My beautiful Krista,” he murmured to her, his eyes sweeping across her face. “You’re safe. I’ll always keep you safe,” he said tenderly. She looked into his eyes and she knew, at that moment without a doubt, she knew. She didn’t know when it happened, probably the moment she looked into those beautiful green eyes of his for the first time, and now it didn’t really matter. She knew somewhere along the way, she’d fallen in love with Lieutenant Lawson McKaden, her ‘Irish.’ She fell into him, wrapped her arms around him as far as she could reach, and felt him return her embrace. And, she felt safe.

“I know,” she whispered to him as she held him a little tighter, burying her face into his neck. She wasn’t sure if it was the cop in him, his feelings for her, or just the man he was, or maybe a little bit of all, but she did know she was safe with him.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“I was his first,” Krista whispered as she read down the list of Damon Price’s victims again. They were standing in Kade’s office. He had taken down the picture of Price, but left everything else up. She’d helped him clean and bandage his hand. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked. He had only managed to bust open the skin on his knuckles. Then she changed her clothes as some of his blood had gotten on her. She was in a hurry because she wanted to find out what was going on and why Kade had that picture together with all the other stuff in his office. He told her Price was the one he transported the day they met, and the ‘shit’ he was being kept in the dark about was his escape from prison. He even told her about Velgada making a copy of the file and giving it to him. He held nothing back. Now, she was reading the list of all the names of women Price had hurt. Her name wasn’t on that list, but she knew she was his first.

“What did you say?” She heard Kade ask and raised her head to look at him as she handed him back the list of names.

“I’m not on that list, but I should be at the top. I was his first.”

“How the fuck do you know that? We don’t even know if there are more women and girls out there who just never reported it, or were never found,” Kade stated.

“I know, because he told me,” she whispered and then turned away from him and stared at the board.

“What? Krista, look at me,” he snapped. She looked back to the face of a very pissed off Kade. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“I said I know, because he told me.” She took a breath, and blew it out slowly, then spoke loud enough she knew Kade would hear every word. “When he pushed me to the floor, he told me it was a first for him, and asked me if it was a first for me. After, he said he would always remember me. Remember his first.” She turned back to Kade and screamed in his face. “That’s how I fuckin’ know! He raped me on the floor in the kitchen, right beside my dead mother!” Her eyes went to the list still in Kade’s hand. “I started that list and I could’ve stopped it. I could have saved all those people, but I didn’t. I didn’t do a damn thing to save any of them.” As the adrenaline was fading away, she felt her body go weak, but before she could hit the floor, she was wrapped in Kade’s arms and he picked her up and walked out of the room with her pressed closely to his chest.

Kade walked into the bedroom, crossed the room to the bed, and sat with his back to the headboard. He just held Krista until he felt her body completely relax and her breathing even out and he knew she was asleep from pure emotional exhaustion. He cradled her a little while longer, then kissed the top of her head before he laid her down in bed and pulled the covers over her. He then went back to his office and as quickly as he could, he put everything on Price back in the file and locked the file in his bottom drawer. He grabbed his phone, and went back to Krista. Settling next to her, he moved the covers down and rubbed her back, then passed his hand over her hair, and kissed her forehead. “I’m goin’ ta fix this for you,” he whispered into her hair before he kissed her temple one last time. He covered her back, then left the room as he was pressing buttons on his phone.

The first call was to Dr. Davison, giving her an update on what had happened and finding out if she could move Krista’s appointment up from Tuesday to a time sooner. His second call was to Velgada and that one was harder. He had to pause three different times because his emotions became too overwhelming as he kept seeing Krista fall apart right in front of him and not being able to do a damn thing to stop it. When he was finally done, he’d told Velgada everything from listening to Price spew his shit all the way to the prison, to Krista blaming herself for all the women he’d attacked after he finished with her. Velgada listened to every word and then finally spoke. “We’re going to find him and I will kill him,” Lee stated firmly.

“Fuck,” Kade snarled.

“Yeah,” Velgada agreed and then added to that. “You love her.” It wasn’t a question.

“More than fuckin’ life itself.” Kade confirmed what Velgada said.

“Heard she drove your truck…through the fuckin’ mud…twice,” Velgada told him, with a hint of laughter in his voice. Kade smiled at the memory of Krista sitting in his truck right before she drove into the mud. She had paused and looked at him, then given him one of her beautiful smiles. He loved to make her smile, make her laugh. He just fuckin’ loved her.

“Yeah, she did, and she did it like a fuckin’ pro, and the bitch of it is, before tonight, she’d never even heard of muddin’. Didn’t have a damn clue what the hell I was talking about.” It was the proudest moment in his life. That’s when he heard Velgada bust out laughing and when the laughter slowly died, he cleared his throat.

“Go hold your woman, man, and know we got this shit.” So Kade ended his call and went back to the bedroom, shucked his clothes on the way to the bed, climbed in, pulled his woman into his arms and held her all night long.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Krista awoke, breathing in…Kade. She felt his skin under her. She heard his heartbeat. She was lying mostly on top of him, cradled to his hard body. Like he was holding her to him, even in his sleep. She felt cared for. She felt safe. She inhaled, breathing him in. “My Irish.” She sighed aloud and felt his arms tighten. The hand cupping her butt glided up to the small of her back and then back to her butt where she felt a light squeeze. Krista moved just enough so she could raise her head and look at him. That beautiful man tilted his head down and met her eyes. Those sparkling green eyes were staring at her. She felt her heart jump and she knew that no matter what happened she would love this man for the rest of her life. Krista smiled at him and slid herself up his chest until she was face to face with him, then leaned in and kissed him, slow and gentle. When she lifted her head from the kiss, she whispered to him, “Good morning.” She felt her body move as he rolled her off him and onto her back and then his mouth took over. After that smokin’ hot kiss, he raised his head and looked at her.

“Mornin’, beautiful.” He moved off her and rolled to his back, taking her with him, her head back on his chest and his fingers running through her hair. “How you doin’, baby?”

“I’m fine.” She felt his fingers tighten in her hair. Then she was flipped onto her back, off of Kade, but he came with her, staring down at her. His mouth was tight.

“Don’t give me that ‘fine’ shit. I was there Krista. I watched you fall apart right in front of my fuckin’ eyes. You are not fuckin’ ‘fine,’” he hissed. “Gonna’ be,” he stated with determination and then leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Gonna be a lot better than fine, but right now…” He shook his head. “You’re not fuckin’ fine.” His mouth was still set tight despite the light and gentle kiss he’d just given her.

“Are you okay?” she asked timidly.

“Fuck no!” he declared. “Baby, I watched you fall apart right in front of me and I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.” He buried his face in her hair at her neck. “So, fuck no, I’m not okay,” he murmured. She brought her hands up to hold his head to her.

“You will be,” she promised him like he’d promised her as she rubbed a hand down his head. He raised his head and looked into her eyes.

“I want him dead,” Kade stated and she could see the fierceness of his statement shining in his eyes, and hear it in his voice, before he dropped his head back into her neck. “I can’t take back what he did, I wish like hell I could.” He moved, rolling both of them to face one another as his arms wrapped securely around her. “I would give anything, every fuckin’ thing to be able to change that for you.” He kissed her forehead. “Any fuckin’ thing,” he added as he pulled her flush against him. They shared that quiet declaration and then got up to start their day.

Kade was standing at the kitchen door with his eyes locked on Krista as she sat on his back deck sipping coffee, just looking out at the view. He’d told her about his call last night to Dr. Davison and that the doctor wanted her to call this morning. He didn’t, however, tell her about his phone call to Lee Velgada. She didn’t need to know that bit of information. While Krista called the doctor back, Kade went downstairs to fix them some breakfast. When she joined him in the kitchen, he could tell she’d been crying, despite the small smile she managed to give him. She walked straight to him and locked her arms around his waist, laying her head on his chest. His arms went around her automatically. “Thank you,” she said softly. He closed his eyes, resting his cheek on top of her head.

“Baby,” he whispered back softly. They stood just like that for a beat, then two, before he straightened, stepped back, and looked down at her before he stated firmly. “You need to eat.”

He made sure she ate well and then he sent her out to finish her coffee, while he cleaned up the kitchen. Now, he stood there, just watching her. She truly did amaze him. Looking at her now, if he hadn’t seen her break right in front of his eyes last night, known she’d relived that nightmare a-fuckin’-gain this morning while she was on the phone with the doctor, he would swear it never even happened. She was smiling. Fuckin’ smiling! He didn’t know about what, until he heard her laugh and looked from her to follow her line of sight and saw a couple of squirrels running around chasing each other.
A-fuckin’-mazing
, he thought as he walked out to join her.

She whispered to him, “Look!” She nodded her head in the direction of the squirrels. He looked out at them as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Her head tilted into his chest as they continued to watch the squirrels together.

“I thought about getting a dog. It’s been years since I had one. With living in the city, I never thought a dog would be very happy, but I’ve always missed not having one,” she told him and then laughed softly as they watched the two squirrels tumble over each other. “But, now, I think I want two. So they’ll always have each other, never be lonely.” Krista finished. And, yeah, she would think of a dog getting lonely, because only his Krista would think about the happiness of a damn dog, even before she thought about her own.
But, this, yeah
, he thought,
this I can do
. If she wanted a dog or two, fuck it, if she wanted twenty damn dogs, he was giving her what she wanted. He wrapped his arm around her, giving her a little squeeze. He looked down at her because he would never get tired of looking at that beautiful face.

“Wanta’ give the horses another go?”