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“Hospital?” I asked.
“Sir, she needs to have a steady stream of oxygen delivered to her lungs for the next few hours. She also needs to be kept under observation in case something else crops up. It’s SOP, sir.”
“I’m coming with you, then.”
The EMS gave me a hard look, like I was the one who had started the fucking fire. Her dark-brown eyes traveled over my neck tattoos and down to the ink on my arm, then to my cut. “I don’t want any fucking trouble.”
“You won’t get any.”
The woman looked to Alex. “You want this guy to come with you?”
“Yes.”
She grunted, pulling the reader from Alex’s finger and packing things back into her bag. “I’ll come and get you when the ambulance arrives.”
Pulling Alex back into my lap, we watched the fire take hold despite the firefighters’ best efforts. Her shoulders started toshake. Hushing her, I pressed my face against hers and did what I could to calm her down.
“It’s going to be okay.”
“What am I going to do? My business is gone. The fire won’t be deemed an accident. Insurance won’t pay. Reaver used gasoline to fuel it.”
“Reaver lit the fire?”
She bobbed her head. “After we shot Maddox, he left and I thought it was over. That I was safe. When I came downstairs, the place was alight, and the door was chained.”
“That motherfucking cunt.”
“What about Bliss?” she whispered, flinching when more beams buckled and crashed down to the floor. The firefighters all withdrew, shouting at other team members to stay back as the structural integrity was lost.
“People like Bliss always land on their feet. She’ll find another job.”
“Where am I going to live?”
“With me, baby. Although, we have to leave Detroit. Probably tonight after they release you from hospital.”
“Why do we have to leave?”
I pressed a kiss to her forehead, so fucking happy she didn’t question my statement. She would stay with me. She chose me. Dipping my mouth closer to her ear, I explained, “I killed Gunnar tonight. He admitted he shot my brother.”
Her fingers tightened on my arm. “Why did he do it?”
“Kaash had promised to bring him into his side business, but in order to prove himself, Gunnar had to remove some obstacles for him. I was one. Rixon the other.” I paused for a beat. “Your father was the final target.”
I felt her stiffen against me. Saw her pulse pounding in her neck. She looked up at me with her guileless blue eyes. “Youknow who I am?” It was a whispered question, but it sounded like a gunshot ringing in my ears.
“I’ve known since the night after the party.”
Waiting for her to speak again was torture—a torture I fucking deserved—because the thought of hurting her now made me want to put a gun to my head and pull the trigger. It looked as if she was replaying a conversation in her head, and the outcome of it wasn’t in my favor.
Shaking her head, she asked, “Was any of it real?”
“Everything was real, baby.”
Slipping from my arms, she took her seat beside me. “Were you just using me to get to my father.”
I clamped my jaw shut. Choosing to lie would be the easy thing to do, but I didn’t want to lie to her. She deserved more than that. And if there was any chance of us sharing a life together, I wanted to start with no secrets between us.
“At first, yes.”
