Alexei (Her Russian Protector #8) (49 page)

“Um…”

The surgeon laughed. “I’ll see if we can get you one tonight.”

“Great,” Shay answered sarcastically.

“Better safe than sorry,” the surgeon said and patted Shay’s arm. “I’ll see you next week in my office. Okay?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

It was another hour before Shay had her tetanus booster and discharge instructions. Feeling terrible for her, he draped his jacket around her shoulders and curved his arm around her back as he walked her out of the emergency room. She stopped to thank each nurse and technician who had helped her tonight, even the harried triage nurse who had made her wait so long for her turn.

“It’s not her fault that this place is so busy,” Shay said when she saw his face. “You know how emergency rooms are,” she said with a shrug. “If you can’t afford insurance or if your copays are too high, you put things off until they become serious.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to be happy that you were made to wait while you were in pain.” He spotted Stas and Boychenko as they came through the double doors. Both men had their gazes fixed on something across the room. They reminded him of a pair of watchdogs with their hackles raised. When he realized what they were staring at, he understood why.

Eric Santos and two police officers stood on either side of a handcuffed man with a bloody face and even bloodier shirt. Another line of officers stood in front of the entrance to the emergency room. Alexei didn’t have to think too hard to come up with possible explanations for the police presence. Even from here, he could see the Hermanos tattoos on the bloody man’s arms and neck and the sides of his shaved head. With what Nikolai had told him earlier, he would put his money on retribution.

Stas stood up. Voice lowered, he said, “We need to get the hell out of here right now.”

“Shay?” Eric called out to her, and Alexei quietly cursed under his breath. There would be no quick escape now. “Shay?”

“Hi, Eric.” She flashed the detective a smile as he approached. Stas and Boychenko stepped up behind her, forming a human wall of support.

Eric’s gaze slid to the men flanking Shay before it moved to her bandaged hand. “Are you okay?”

“I got a little careless with my tools and burned my hand. I’ll be fine in a few weeks.”

“That’s good to hear.” Eric glanced around the busy waiting room. He motioned toward the nearest corner. “Can we talk?”

Alexei caught Shay’s questioning gaze and shook his head. “It’s late, Eric. She’s tired, and she’s in pain. Whatever it is can wait until morning.”

“No, it can’t.” Eric stepped forward and lowered his voice. “We found Ruben’s Escalade this afternoon. There was enough evidence in the vehicle to confirm that someone was killed in it.”

Shay’s face went slack with shock. “He’s dead?”

“Yes—and that’s not all.” Eric glanced left and right before stepping closer and lowering his voice to a barely audible level. “We identified that body from the motel. It’s Lalo. Before all this shit,” he glanced back at the bloody man, “blew up tonight, the biggest news on the street was about your sister. Everyone thinks she iced Lalo
and
Ruben. There’s a bounty on her head, and a lot of people will want to collect. One of my informants mentioned your name as part of that bounty.”

“What the hell is your problem, Eric?” Alexei snarled at the detective as Shay went white next to him. “Why the hell would you say something like that to her?”

“Because it’s the truth,” Eric snapped. “She needs to know. If she’s going to be safe—”

“She’s perfectly safe. Nikolai has given his word, and you know what that’s worth. If you’re not clear on that, maybe you should ask your cousin to give you a reminder.”

Eric narrowed his eyes. “Let’s leave Vivian out of this. I’m just trying to keep Shay safe.”

Stas stepped forward. “She is safe.”

Eric sized up Stas. “And when you’re not with her and when Alexei isn’t with her?”

“Then I’m with her,” Boychenko said.

The bloodied man on the other side of the waiting room started to shout and kick. Eric looked back and frowned before returning his attention to them. Locking eyes with Alexei, he said, “Get Shay out of here. Take that hall. Make a left and then a right. Go out the side exit. Nikolai may have vouched for Shay, but there are a lot of hotheaded soldiers with itchy trigger fingers hanging around this place.” He expelled a tired breath. “And I’m tired of cleaning up blood tonight.”

Alexei took Eric’s advice and escorted Shay out of the building using the side exit. Boychenko took his valet ticket while he stayed behind with Stas and Shay. She burrowed into him for warmth as they waited. Stas pinned him in place with an aggravated look when he kissed her temple and embraced her.

Shay must have seen the look because she reached out and touched Stas’s arm. “We’re fine. It was a misunderstanding. She’s a real estate agent.”

Stas grunted and looked down the street. “If you say so…”

Alexei didn’t blame Stas for being skeptical. Stroking Shay’s hair and her back, he thought about how damn lucky he was that she had listened to his explanation and trusted that he was telling her the truth about Marissa. She could have made him grovel and beg and buy her forgiveness but she had given it freely. He wouldn’t abuse her kindness by putting her in this position again.

When Boychenko arrived, Alexei helped Shay into the passenger seat. He offered to drive the two guards to the valet stand to retrieve Stas’s vehicle, but they both declined.

“Do you have a list of supplies she needs?” Stas asked. “We can stop at one of the drug stores and pick them up.”

He handed Stas the list he had scribbled down in the emergency room. “It’s mostly bandages. They called in her prescription to CVS. The one on Kirby. It’s on the way home.”

Stas pocketed the list. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you.” Alexei slid behind the wheel and buckled his seatbelt. He touched Shay’s good hand. “Are you hungry? Do you want me to stop somewhere?”

“I really just want to go home.”

He brushed his knuckles along her cheek. She sagged in the seat, and he didn’t think she would make it home still awake.

He was right. Shay nodded off before they reached the house. When he pulled into the garage, she woke up and smiled sleepily. He parked and got out, walking around the vehicle to her side and opening her door. He reached in and unbuckled her belt. “I’ll help you get undressed when we get upstairs.”

“You would try to get me out of my clothes even with twenty yards of gauze wrapped around my hand,” she teased.

He laughed and kissed her. “I promise I won’t try anything. Come on. Let’s get you in the house.”

When they reached the door, he paused to turn off the alarm but noticed it hadn’t been set. “Did you or Stas turn on the alarm when you left?”

“I don’t remember,” she admitted. “Probably not. We were in a rush.”

“It’s fine. I just wanted to be sure that someone else hadn’t turned it off.” He unlocked the door and led her into the house. He turned on the lights in the kitchen. “Do you want me to make you something to eat? You need to stay up long enough to get your medicine from Stas. It might be easier on your stomach if you have something in it.”

“Nothing too heavy,” she said.

“Toast? Juice?”

“That works.” She settled into one of the seats at the smaller breakfast table. He made quick work of toasting bread and pouring juice. He scraped a thin layer of butter and another layer of blueberry preserves onto the toast before bringing it to her. Before she took the first bite, she said, “I kind of left a mess in your office. I’ll clean it up in the morning.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll handle it.” He gestured to her plate. “Eat.”

He left her in the kitchen and made his way across the house. He had just stepped into his office when he felt the unmistakable presence of another person. The hair on his arms stood on edge as he took a step back and then another.

But it was too late.

“Stop right there,” a shaky female voice ordered. “Or I’ll blow a hole right through you.”

Raising his hands, Alexei did as instructed. From the shadows of his office, Shannon stepped into view. Her face was a mess of bruises and scrapes. The men’s clothing she wore looked as if it had been stolen from a hobo. Looking at the stains and wear, he decided it probably had been. Her sunken eyes were bloodshot. The white residue around her nose was impossible to miss.

High as a kite and pushed to the edge, she held a piece of shit pistol in her trembling hand. The Lorcin .380 was a true Saturday Night Special and it made him nervous. This one even had athletic tape wrapped around the grip to prevent print transfer. Whoever had sold it to her had known that she wanted a cheap piece to use and toss. Having it pointed at his face with her shaky hand at the trigger didn’t sit well with him. One wrong move, and he was going to eat a bullet.

Hands in the air, he said, “Shannon, please put that gun down. It’s not safe.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” she snarled. “I’m fucking sick of men telling me what to do.”

“Shannon, I’m not trying to upset you. I just want to keep both of us safe. That gun is a throwaway piece for a reason. If it fires—”

“I know what I’m doing. Ruben taught me how to shoot.” She swallowed hard and then pointed the gun at his chest. “From this distance, I won’t miss.”

He gritted his teeth. “Shannon, Shay is in the kitchen right now. If you hurt me, you’ll hurt her.”

“Fuck Shay,” Shannon snapped. “She betrayed me. She told Lalo where to find me. He nearly killed me in that motel.”

“Nearly killed you? He nearly killed Shay
and
Kylee
and
me that night when we all ended up at that shithole where you were hiding. Shay didn’t betray you. She went there to save you. She was willing to let Lalo take her—to rape and abuse her—to save you and Kylee and me”

“Bullshit!” Shannon shouted angrily. “She was the only one who knew where I was hiding!”

“Really? What about Ruben? He knew where you were hiding.”

Shannon roughly wiped her nose, smearing fresh blood across her upper lip and cheek. “He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t betray me. He loves me.”

“Shay loves you.”

“Oh, yeah. She loves me so much that instead of coming to look for me she decided to shack up with you like some sugar baby.” Waving the gun at him, she said, “I always used to think that she was so stupid holding onto her virginity like that. Now I see why.” Gesturing around his office with the gun, she laughed. “Look at what she bought with her golden pussy.”

Alexei frowned with distaste at Shannon’s remark. “Your sister is not a whore.”

“You sure about that? What did she trade for all of this? For the cars? For the money? For the house? For your protection?”

“I’m not going to stand here and listen to you talk about your sister like that in her own fucking house.” Lowering his hands, he shook his head with disgust. “If you had come here for help and asked properly, respectfully, I would have given it to you with no questions asked. Breaking into our house? Putting a gun in my face? Talking shit about your sister? About the woman I plan to marry? You know what, Shannon? You can go fuck yourself.”

“Fuck me?” she screamed shrilly and gestured angrily with the gun. “Fuck you!”

Alexei saw the muzzle flash before he heard the crack of the gunshot. It echoed in the house like a thunderclap. Something hot and sharp burned through his arm. He stumbled back into a wall and tried to stay on his feet as Shay’s panicked voice rang through the house.

Ptichka
, he thought with frustration.
Run. Run.

But she was running toward him instead of to safety…

Chapter Twenty-Four

I had just bent down to put my plate and cup in the dishwasher when I heard Alexei yelling. It surprised me because we were the only people in the house.

The alarm!

The alarm hadn’t been set which meant anyone could have gotten into the house while we were away.

Oh no. No. No. No.

Thinking only of him, I ran out of the kitchen. I gasped with shock at the gunshot that blasted my eardrums. “Alexei!”

It was stupid. It was dangerous. But I ran toward across the house toward him, desperate to find him. He wouldn’t have left me behind to bleed to death. I wasn’t about to abandon him.

I rounded the corner of the arched doorway that led from the main living area. I spotted Alexei against the wall, crumpled forward, blood spilling down his arm and onto the floor.

He looked at me and mouthed one word, “Run.”

But a second later, Shannon stepped into the hallway. I almost didn’t recognize her at first. She looked like hell. Strung out and bruised, she was dressed in an outfit that had to have been stolen from a homeless shelter. When she noticed me, she raised the gun in my direction and I flinched, fully expecting her to shoot me

The bullet never came. I opened my eyes and found her staring at me. Just standing there with the gun pointed in my face as if wasn’t sure whether to shoot me or not.