Justice (22 page)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

S
UNDAY AFTERNOON, DALLAS informed Payton and Macey that the immediate threat was over and it was time to go home.

“Bummer,” Payton droned. “I was so loving not seeing the water in the morning.”

Dallas chuckled. “When you’re packed, Jax and I’ll take your bags.”

“Thanks.” Payton headed off to her room and Macey followed Dallas to theirs.

“Can we go home for good?” Macey asked as she packed her bag for the third time.

“We got the guy who left the note, and we’re watching Mona and those close to her, so yeah, we’re optimistically expecting it will be for good.”

“What about Mona? What exactly are you watching?”

“Babe, I can’t tell you that.”

“Oh, right.” She wrinkled her nose. “But you’re sure it’s okay.”

“Sure enough to let you go back to work, yes. Sure enough to let you go back without a detail? No. You’ll have one on you for a while.”

Macey raised an eyebrow. “And the hospital’s okay with that?”

“Babe, I don’t give a rat’s ass what the hospital’s opinion is, it’s gonna happen. Alec will run interference if need be.” Dallas tugged her away from her packing and cupped her cheek. “You gonna give me grief?”

Macey laid a hand over her heart. “I would never.”

He chuckled and she relaxed. His smile had been hard won this weekend, and she found she craved it. “I will try not to make this harder,” she promised.

“I love you,” he said, and kissed her.

“I love you too.”

“Ready?”

She nodded. “Are you really okay with me taking my shift tonight?”

“In theory.”

“Are
you
going to give
me
grief about it?” she retorted.

Dallas dragged her suitcase from the bed and shook his head. “As long as you do what you’re told, no.”

“Story of my life,” she grumbled.

“I’m not with you tonight, so please don’t give whoever is a hard time.”

“I won’t.”

Dallas gripped her chin. “My idea of a hard time, not yours.”

Macey smiled. “Honey, I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.”

He kissed her quickly. “Thank you.”

“Am I going to see you tomorrow?”

“No.” He cocked his head. “You’ll see me after your shift.”

“But I’m on until three a.m.,” she said.

“I know. I’ll pick you up.”

“When, exactly, will you sleep?” she stressed.

He dragged her suitcase into the front room. “When you do.”

“Dal, you can’t keep going like this. You’ll burn out.”

“I’m fine.”

Macey wanted to argue, but she knew he wouldn’t “hear” her and it would probably just piss him off, so she stayed silent. She’d figure it out later when she could make sure he slept for a few days, even if a couple of her muscle relaxers had to find their way into a beer.

* * *

Macey threw her purse into her locker, keeping her cell phone with her, knowing Dallas would want her to. She fired off a quick text to let him know what she was doing, receiving a quick ‘TY’ from him. She smiled and headed to the nurses’ station.

She was in the ER again tonight. No surprise there, since Alec was on shift. She also had her little tail. A very cute, very young agent who went by the name Maddox. She was uncertain if that was his first name or last, but she supposed it didn’t really matter. He seemed serious about his job and managed to be wherever she was, without being obtrusive.

“Mase, we have a motor vehicle collision with motorcycle on its way in,” Alec said. “The kid on the bike is still breathing, but barely.”

“Kid?” she asked.

“Yeah, he’s nineteen.”

Macey nodded. “Okay. Where do you want me?”

“With me.”

“Got it.”

The rest of her shift flew by in a haze and by the time three a.m. hit, she was nearly asleep on her feet. They’d managed to save the kid on the motorcycle, but he was still in surgery in an effort to save his leg.

Dallas arrived to pick her up a few minutes early, his eyes dark from lack of sleep, and a day’s growth of stubble covering his jaw.

“Baby, you look exhausted.”

He nodded. “Which is why we’re going back to my place to sleep.”

“Good.” She grabbed her purse and jacket and followed him down to his awaiting SUV.

He drove them home and quickly locked up the house once they were inside. Macey felt suddenly wired, which usually happened after a late night shift. She’d gotten a second wind, but knew it would fizzle pretty quickly if she forced herself to relax.

Dallas stripped down to nothing, leaving his clothes where he’d dropped them and fell into bed. Macey on the other hand, took time to wash her face, brush her teeth, and grab one of his T-shirts to sleep in, before picking up his clothes and dumping them in the hamper. She turned off the bathroom light she’d kept on for guidance, and climbed in next to him.

He was asleep. She could tell, but she still grinned when he rolled over, tugging her against him, something he did if she moved too far away from him. “Love you, baby,” she whispered, and closed her eyes.

Macey was drifting in and out of sleep when she heard something. She sat up and listened. Nothing. She glanced at Dallas, he was dead to the world, so she snuggled back against him closed her eyes again.

A rattle in the backyard made her jump, but the sound of a barking dog and hissing cat put her at ease. Figuring it was probably the neighbor’s lab protecting his territory, she closed her eyes again, but couldn’t fully relax. Even with Dallas sleeping soundly beside her, she was unsettled. She chalked it up to being overtired, but at this point, she wouldn’t be able to sleep, so she sat up again.

“Babe,” Dallas grumbled.

“Sorry, honey. Go back to sleep.”

He reached for her hand. “What’s up?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“Come here.” He tugged her onto his chest and kissed her forehead. “Sleep, baby.”

She nodded against his chest and closed her eyes again, but when another crash sounded outside, Dallas was up and out of bed, searching for his discarded jeans. “Shit!”

Macey scrambled from the bed. “Sorry, I put your stuff in the hamper.”

He grabbed a pair of sweats from a drawer and unholstered his gun, safety off, holding it down by his side as he moved to the door. “Stay here.”

Macey nodded, even though he didn’t look back at her, but she did don a pair of pajama bottoms and head for his gun safe. He’d bought her a Sig P239 with a laser sight, and kept it at his home for when she wanted to practice. She thought having her own gun was a little overkill, but now she realized she liked the idea of having it handy.

It took her two tries to scroll through the combination with shaky hands, but she did it, opened the safe, grabbed her gun, and loaded it. Again, it took a little effort because she just could not stop shaking, but after a few deep breaths, she was ready.

She heard Dallas swear, then a thud, and her heart raced as she positioned the pistol by her side, her finger off the trigger, but near it, and tiptoed to the bedroom door.

Macey tried to stay in the bedroom, but when Dallas swore again and the pop of a gunshot echoed through the house, she rushed through door and sprinted down the hall. Dallas struggled with a man dressed in black, his gun lying useless by the back door. Dallas feigned left. The intruder struck out. Dallas blocked and countered the attack. The intruder spun and kicked. Dallas pulled back, keeping himself between the intruder and his gun.

Macey hid in the shadows, afraid to draw Dallas’s attention to herself. Dallas swung, connecting with the intruder’s jaw. A glint of metal waved in front of Dallas. He jumped back, but not before the intruder’s blade bit into his arm.

“Drop the knife!” Macey demanded, aiming the laser at the man’s heart. “Drop it, or I’ll shoot.”

“Fuck, Mase,” Dallas snapped.

The intruder lunged at Dallas. Macey fired, winging the man’s arm. The intruder grabbed his arm, and Dallas jumped down and retrieved his gun, leveling it at the man.

“Don’t move,” Dallas demanded. “You’re under arrest."

The intruder moved.

Dallas fired. The intruder fell backwards. Blood gushed from a bullet wound in the middle of his forehead. The gun he’d been reaching for clattered to the ground.

Macey squeaked, falling against the wall in an effort to stay standing.

Dallas rushed to her, tugging the gun from her hand, setting it on the floor, and wrapping a hand around her neck. “I told you to stay put.”

She nodded. “I know.”

He pulled her into his chest and kissed her temple. “I need you to stay here? I have to call the team and check this guy out.”

“Let me see your arm.”

“It’s fine, babe.”

“Let me see.”

With a sigh, he turned so she could examine his bicep. “You’re right, it’s nothing. We’ll put a bandage on it when you’re done.”

“Told ya,” he said, and smiled gently. “Don’t move, okay?”

Macey swallowed, but managed a quick nod.

“Don’t lose it just yet, baby. You can in a minute, okay?”

She nodded again.

“I’m gonna let you go.”

“’K.”

He released her, grabbed his phone, dialed, balanced the phone between his ear and shoulder, and then checked the intruder’s pulse and rifled through his pockets, pulling out his wallet.

Dallas slipped into technical language, giving numbers and details Macey couldn’t follow. She sat against the wall, her knees pulled up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. She watched with a strange detachment as blood pooled around the intruder’s head. Sirens blared in the background, coming ever closer. Then blue and red lights flashed through the front window.

When the police arrived, she was photographed, her hand swabbed for gunshot residue, checked over by the EMTs, given a sedative by said EMTs, and then a nice female police officer walked her back to the bedroom and insisted she lie down and not leave the room. She was fine with that. Especially since the sedative meant she fell into oblivion and didn’t wake for several hours. When she did, she was alone in bed with a killer of a headache and feeling as though she had cotton balls in her mouth.

She rolled over to discover a glass of water and an open bottle of ibuprofen sitting on her nightstand, so she took two pills and gulped down the water, grateful for Dallas’s kind forethought.

“You’re awake,” Dallas said from the doorway.

She turned toward the sound of his voice and nodded. “Are you okay?”

He’d changed, now wearing a pair of faded jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. His feet were bare, but he walked into the room and rifled through his drawer for a pair of socks. “I’m fine. How do you feel?”