Page 50 of Blake

“We need to call the police, but we should try and keep you out of this.”

Pax looked at him her head tilted in question. “Why?”

Blake stood and moved closer, until he was in her space. “If the press gets hold of this you won’t be able to move.”

He saw her think it over before she answered. “Maybe, but I owe it to Benny not to abandon his mom. I want to stay.”

“Okay, Pax,” he answered with a kiss to her forehead. “Let me have a quick look around for clues before you put in the call.”

Pax nodded and again followed him as he moved through the rooms looking for anything that could tip them off as to who’d killed the Nixons. He felt an ache in his chest as he looked at the boy’s rooms. Their lives were about to be ripped apart. He vowed to find out who killed Sally and Marvin Nixon if it was the last thing he did. Deciding there was nothing to be found without disturbing any evidence he and Pax walked back to the car and made the call to the LAPD.

It was a long three hours later after having given their statements to the homicide detective including his history in brief and Pax’s reason for being there, that they got in the car and headed back to Reid’s mom’s. He glanced across at her as she gazed out the window. She looked tired. There was a sadness surrounding her that he wanted to take away.

Reaching out, he took her hand in his and rested them both on his thigh. She looked over and offered him a smile that filled his heart with so much feeling he didn’t know where to put it all. His throat felt clogged as he tried to control his emotional response to the woman next to him. “How you doing?”

Pax shrugged. “I’m okay. I just feel sad that this has left those boys without parents and I can’t help feeling responsible. This is tied to my family and Sana in some way. I just know it is, but I can’t figure out how.”

“This is in no way your fault, Gracie.”

“I know, but it doesn’t stop me feeling like I could have done more somehow.”

Blake was quiet for a moment before he spoke. “When I was working as a PPO I worked for the royal family. My main duty was offering personal protection for Queen Lydia and her eldest daughter Penelope. What I’m about to tell you is something I’ve never told another living soul.” He looked at her and she nodded, her attention focused on him as he spoke.

“Penelope was the first woman I ever loved.” He heard a sharp inhale and kept his eyes on the road. “We had an affair. We were both young and single, and in hindsight I was very naive to think it would ever be anything else. I fell for her hook, line, and sinker, but she thought I was fun before she settled into life as a working royal. She was due to attend an opening at a new children’s hospital and because my mind was so busy with her and not on what I was doing, the job I was paid for, I nearly missed a dangerous threat to her safety in the form of a small explosive device near the entrance.” His heart pounded as he remembered finding it and realising how close he had come to getting her killed.

“Anyway, I broke it off and I was heartbroken. Completely blamed myself. I was ready to give up there and then. Then I got a call that Her Majesty wanted to see me. I thought for sure I was fired or worse, but do you know what? She was the one person who didn’t blame me for what had nearly happened.” Blake squeezed her hand gently as he slipped onto the highway.

“What did she say?”

Blake grinned at that. “She told me that I was young and stupid, and she knew I had learned a valuable lesson. She had known about Penelope and me and in another life, would have been honoured to have me as her son-in-law but that was not the life she and her family led. I was transferred to her personal protection duty that week and served as her PPO until I left. She trusted me with her life even when I didn’t trust myself. She gave me back what I thought I had lost—my self-worth.

“So, you see, Gracie, we all do things we wish we could take back or have situations that change us but there is always someone there to show us we’re not the sum of our mistakes. We are how we handle those mistakes.”

“Why did you leave the service? It sounds like you loved it,” Pax asked as she angled more in her seat to look at him.

“The powers that be decided they wanted to mix it up, so the PPO assigned changed regularly and I vehemently disagreed. I quit and my then boss, Commander Helen Pope put me onto Jack.” The car was silent for a few minutes as Pax processed what he had said.

“Did you love her a lot?”

He could hear the slight tone of jealousy in her voice and his lips twitched as he tried to hide his joy at that. He looked at her and smiled. “I thought I did, then I met you and realised I had no clue what love was before a red headed goddess stole my heart from my chest and placed it in her own.”

The smile that moved over her face was like the sunshine after a storm it was so pure and beautiful.

He watched her open her mouth, but the words were stolen as the windshield on the car splintered into a thousand pieces as a bullet flew past his ear.

Chapter Twenty-Two

A scream erupted from her mouth as the car swerved dangerously close to the central reservation before Blake righted it.

“Get down, Grace,” he demanded on a bellow as another shot hit the hood of the car.

Pax did as she was told unclipping her seatbelt and sliding low knowing she wouldn’t be of any help to him. Her ability with a handgun was passable on a stationary object but a moving one was impossible.

She watched with her body ducked low behind the dashboard as Blake returned fire. Peeking in the direction he’d fired she saw a black Ford truck speeding away from them like the hounds of hell were following.

They fell back as Blake slowed the car and she watched as the person driving the truck took the exit. She expected Blake to follow but was surprised when he pulled over to the side of the road. Putting the vehicle in park, he turned to her and hauled her to him. His hands ran over her face and body as he looked for an injury that wasn’t there.

His movements were frantic and panicked until she cupped his face. “I’m okay, Cal.” Her gentle tone seemed to get through to him as she saw a visible shudder of relief go through him.