Micah (7 page)

“
I can do it.” He nodded
but said nothing more. “You know, I’ve been doing this for a long
time. I was dumb, I’ll admit it, in taking him down to the dock,
but he loves the water and we’re not long for rides like this one
out here. Next time, the next time I get to take him out, I’ll be
more careful.”

“
I’m sure you are all the
time with him. Is he your brother?” She nodded, waiting for him to
say something cruel, like most of the men did who knew about Boyd.
“He’s very lucky to have you in his life. You could simply have
left him for others to care for, but you didn’t.”

“
He’s all I have.” Reggie
thought he said something like “not any more” but wasn’t sure.
“Thank you for your help.”

He nodded, and he and Joey moved away.
Reggie was going to have to hurry now. She’d looked at her clock
and realized that she had less than an hour to get him back and in
his room. They really frowned on having their residents out so
late. As soon as her car rumbled to a start and she backed out of
the space, she noticed the very nice truck behind her. It took her
a moment to realize it was the Bentley men. And when the driver,
Micah, waved at her, she turned back to her steering wheel and
gripped it as hard as she could, then looked at Boyd.

“
He’s going to be a pain
in the ass, I can just tell.” Her brother laughed at her, and she
smiled. “You love me, don’t you, buddy? I love you.”

“
Bah, bah, bah, bah.” She
nodded at him and kissed him on the soft cheek. As they drove out
of the lot, Reggie tried not to think of the way the man behind her
had held her to his body. And the way her lips still burned in need
of a kiss from him. Shaking her head, she made her way across town
to the Morgan General Care, where Boyd had lived for the last seven
and a half years.

His birthday was soon, Reggie
realized. In three weeks. She would have to see about baking him a
cake and bringing it in to the staff. Boyd couldn’t eat it, of
course. The damage to his body had been too intense for them to do
much more than keep him alive after they’d been hurt. A shiver ran
through her when she ventured a glance at him as she drove,
thinking about how much this man had done for her.

“
You know that I wish it
was me there instead of you.” He just answered her with his single
word. “I know that you don’t remember it, and for that I’m
grateful, but I do. I remember it every day. And will for the rest
of my life. I can’t ever forget it.”

They pulled up in front of the nursing
care facility, and she wasn’t really surprised to see the Bentleys
pull in behind her. Micah didn’t even ask but moved her out of the
way while Joey got out the chair. As soon as Micah picked Boyd up,
she knew something was wrong.

“
What is it?” He only
looked at her. “Please tell me. Did he hurt you? He’s really
strong, but he doesn’t mean to hurt anyone. I just sit him back in
the chair and go in and get help. They don’t like it very much, but
they’ll help me.”

“
He’s got my balls.” It
took her a few seconds to understand what he was saying. And when
Joey laughed, she looked down to Micah’s crotch. Boyd had his hands
holding the man, hard by the looks of it. “Can you please get him
to let go? I can’t move.”

“
Yes. Of course.” Laughter
was bubbling from her lips, and he growled at her. Reggie felt it
all over her body, like he’d rubbed himself there. “Boyd, let
go.”

She finally had to pry his fingers
loose. Her face heated up when she felt the man’s balls brush
against her hand several times, but all he did was moan. Reggie
worked as hard as she could, making sure that Boyd’s hands were
tight in hers as Micah finished putting her brother in the chair.
When he stepped back, she could see that he was in pain, but she
just couldn’t help the smile that seemed to have a mind of its
own.

“
You wouldn’t think this
is so funny if I were to take you to bed and not be able to satisfy
you.” He spoke the words low, but she heard them, and so did her
body apparently. It was all she could do not to see if he was able
to perform. Instead of letting his words affect her more than she
wanted them to, she let her mouth fly.

“
I’m sure you’d think of
other ways to satisfy if I were wanting anything from you.” His
purr made her take a step back. “However, I’m not in the mood for
you or anything you might think I want from you. I want you to stay
away from us. We’re fine now.”

He pulled her to him, her body so
flush with his that she had to hold on to look up at him. When his
mouth crushed over hers, his tongue not just gaining entrance to
her mouth but simply taking it, Reggie clung to him tighter, her
need out of control for him. When he set her away from him, his
body heaving as hard as hers, she had to hold onto the car or…well,
it was hold onto it or grab him again.

“
Don’t think this is
done.” Reggie only nodded at him. “Do you have any idea what we are
to each other? How hard it’s going to be for me to stop thinking
about you, wanting you?”

“
I want you to stay away
from me.” He shook his head and took a step toward her. Reggie took
two back and bumped into her car. It was then that she noticed that
Boyd and Joey were gone. “I don’t want you to touch me.”

“
It’s too late for that.
Way too fucking late for that.” Reggie stood there for several
minutes, her body going from hot and needy to scared and cold
without hesitation. When Joey came out, she turned to her car and
ran to the other side. Before she got in, Micah put his hand on the
open passenger door and said her name.

“
You can run but you can’t
hide from me. I have your scent now.” Getting in when he closed the
other door, Reggie gunned the engine and nearly killed it before
she could get it into reverse. As she left the lot, not looking
once at the men behind her, she realized her hands were shaking so
hard that she could hardly drive. As soon as she was a couple of
blocks from the home, she pulled over, turned off the engine, and
burst into tears.

Chapter 4

Micah tried to think what the hell had
just happened back there. He had let Joey drive his truck home, not
even sure he wanted to try to drive. His first thoughts were to go
and find the woman, but he knew that he’d royally fucked that up.
Micah looked at Joey when he laughed again.

“
She’s pissed, I’d say.”
Micah wanted to hit his brother. Actually, he wanted him to pull
over so he could pound the shit out of him. But he said nothing as
Joey continued. “Mom is going to be happy. You having a mate
finally will take some pressure off the rest of us.”

“
She’s not going to be
easy to convince.” Joey agreed with him. “What do you know about
her? You said you knew her. What is there I should
know?”

“
I looked her up after she
hit me in the restaurant.” Micah smiled about that. His mate had
taken on someone as big as his brother and come out on top. “She’s
not…that young man, he’s her brother, like you guessed. He has
brain trauma as well as a lot of other medical issues. You remember
the Webster murders?”

Micah had to think. When it occurred
to him, he looked at Joey. “That’s her? And the boy? Christ, no
wonder she’s got her panties all bunched up.”

“
No, I would think that’s
all you. You come off as the heavy, just like I did. She’s got a
mouth on her, I’ll give her that.” Micah thought of her mouth and
the way it felt beneath his and had to squirm on the seat to loosen
his groin. Her body had been wonderfully full, soft in all the
right places too. “Mom even liked her.”

“
She would. Mom always did
go for the underdog. And the slightly insane.” He smiled when his
brother laughed. “I’ll have to think of a way to tell her that
Reggie is my mate without having her go over there and bringing her
home herself. Do you know where Reggie lives?”

“
Nope. I could only find
where she works, nothing else that I was aware of.” They pulled up
in front of his house and Micah got out with Joey. Before he could
invite his brother in for something to drink, his phone sounded. He
looked at the caller ID before answering. Just a few more days of
this.

“
There’s a call in for
you.” He cocked his brow up and wondered who the hell would be
calling him in. The people he worked for were usually dead. “Some
woman. She said that you helped her today and she wanted to tell
your boss what a fine, upstanding man you were.”

“
Reggie Webster.” The
dispatcher said that was right. “I don’t suppose you have her
number, do you? In the event I might want to talk to her some
more.”

The laughter made him smile. Betty had
been dispatcher since he’d been a kid. His father had always spoken
highly of her too. When she told him she had it but it was going to
cost him, he promised her the world.

“
You don’t have to go that
far. But if you can have your momma make me one of her famous
pumpkin logs for Thanksgiving, I’d be ever so grateful.” He heard a
bunch of static and was told to hang on. As he waited, he told Joey
what she’d done. Joey said that he half expected her to make good
on her promise to turn him in.

“
This Webster girl, you
know much about her?” Micah felt his blood run cold. Something had
happened to her. Reaching out to her, he hit a wall of fear, and
not only that but sorrow. He got into the truck just as his brother
tossed him the keys. Joey got in the other side.

“
Nothing. You should know
that she’s my mate, so if you know something…don’t tell Mom. I
haven’t been over to see her yet.” Betty said she’d never do that
to him. “What is it, Betty? She hurt?”

“
Got an address for you.
Not in a great part of town, speaking in general terms, and it
seems that her place was robbed. Some black and whites are on their
way there now.” He put his phone on the hanger and then pressed the
button for speakers. “She’s not hurt. Scared by the sound of it,
but pissed more than anything, I think.”

“
She’s been that with me
today. I’m on my way.” She told him good and to hang on. When she
came back on several minutes later, Betty was no longer in a joking
mood.

“
Just got a call again.
She’s hurt. Medics en route. Three down, one dead. She’s on the
line with me. Swears that she’s okay but shot, and I have her
hiding in a nearby building. I can hear shots.” Micah pressed
harder on the gas as Betty continued. “Smart girl, your mate. Says
the shooter is on the building across from hers, shooting at
anything that moves. The fire trucks are on site but can’t move to
the building. The shooter is keeping them all down.”

Micah had Joey reach out to Nolan and
Burke to give them a heads up on the shooting. Burke worked at the
hospital and Nolan had his own practice, but if needed, he’d go to
the hospital and help out. They were on their way when Joey’s phone
rang. Mom.

As Betty kept Micah updated on the
situation, he sort of half listened to his brother. He was telling
Mom not to come to the scene, and when Joey looked at him, he knew
she was already there. When he asked, Joey nodded.

“
She’s in a building
across from the shooter.” Micah wondered if they were in the same
building and dismissed that idea. There was no way that was
happening. “Micah, Mom is hurt too. She said she can shift to heal,
but there are a few others with her. One of them is
Reggie.”

“
Well, fuck.” Joey laughed
as he listened on the phone, and he just knew his mom was yelling
at him. When he was handed the phone, Micah decided to kill two
birds with a single stone as he handed his phone to Joey. “Reggie
is my mate. Please make sure she’s all right and let me
know.”

The silence at the other end
frightened him a little. He could hear the sirens going off, the
sound of a gun being fired twice, and someone on a bull horn, so he
knew that she’d not hung up on him. Waiting, he pulled his truck
into the middle of the next street over from the address he’d been
given and got out before his mom spoke.

“
If you are telling me
this to get out of a stern talking to, I’ll be very mad at you.” He
told her he wasn’t. “I can see her. She’s on the phone with
someone. Dispatch, I’m thinking. And believe it or not, she’s doing
field dressings on two people at once. I’m going to enjoy watching
her tame you.”

“
Mom, she’s not aware of
what we are, I’m pretty sure. And she has no idea what she is to
me.” His mom huffed. “I’m sorry. I know you think that…we didn’t
exactly get off on the right foot when I met her today.”

“
No, I don’t imagine that
you did. She’s a little on the intense side.” He laughed, never
hearing his mom speak badly of anyone. “I like her. I have no idea
what sort of person she is, but I do like her. She has
guts.”

He told her about her brother and what
had happened today. “She’s stubborn too. And cares for her brother
more than I think anyone I know would. You remember her I think, or
at least her name from Dad. She’s part of the Webster
murders.”

“
Joey told me when I asked
him. She’s a good girl. We’ll be lucky to have her in the family.”
There was a long pause as he made his way to the scene. The
building was on fire still, nothing to save it now. There was no
one around, at least not out in the open, but three what appeared
to be dead bodies were lying in different parts of the street, one
of them a cop. The shooter, he could see, was bobbing his head up
and down, looking, no doubt, for someone else to kill. “Micah, I
would hope that you can resolve this soon. I think your mate is a
little more hurt than we all thought.”