Stone Cold Cowboy (29 page)

Trigger pointed his finger at Derek. “You better put me down first, because there's no fucking way I let you put a hand on her again.”

“Is that right?”

“Try it and find out,” Trigger taunted.

An engine rumbled in the distance drawing closer.

“Looks like you get to meet the big boss man himself.”

Trigger locked eyes with Derek. “You invited Torres here?”

“He wants to see what we've got going. He wants to pick up what we've got. Connor made up a really clean and pure batch. This will appease Torres and set things right.”

Trigger frowned. “You're lying to yourself if you think Torres will ever trust you.”

The car drove in behind Trigger. Armed men poured out of the SUV ahead of a man in khaki pants and a denim shirt, his black hair slicked back, his dark brown eyes locked on them.

Sadie didn't need any introductions. The man had power and death in his eyes. He commanded the space around him. One look made his men fan out as they approached.

Connor tilted his head to the side. “Do you hear that?
It's another helicopter,” Connor blurted out. “I told you. It's the cops.”

Trigger slanted his gaze toward her, then cast it over to the trees. The whap, whap, whap of helicopter blades drew closer. Rory had gotten her message. That, or Trigger had contacted his brother. Either way, help was coming.

Torres's gaze narrowed on Derek and her brother. “You set me up.”

His men drew their weapons. Everyone, including Sadie, ducked for cover. Torres ran back to his vehicle, jumping in even as it backed out. His men shot at them to cover Torres's retreat as they ran to the car and climbed on the running boards and dove into the back.

The chopper crested the hill, gliding in fast.

Derek went after Trigger. “You fucking sold us out.” Derek lunged for Trigger, swiping the knife through the air at Trigger's gut. He jumped back out of the way, then swung his huge fist straight into Derek's jaw, sending him to the ground.

The helicopter hovered overhead, whipping up dirt and leaves in the downwash. Sadie backed up, blocking her face with her hands to keep from getting anything in her eyes. Trigger walked toward her. In the commotion, she lost track of Connor, but spotted him when Trigger reached for his head, fell to his knees, and face-planted in the dirt. Her brother stood behind him, a rock in his hand. He raised it to smash it into Trigger's skull again. Rory ran out from the trees and tackled him to the ground as a shot rang out from above. Connor grabbed his bleeding leg and howled in pain, then went berserk, trying to fight off Rory to
get away. Rory held him down and shook him to get him to stop.

Sadie ran to Trigger and rolled him over. His eyes fluttered and squinted against the chopper's downwash. She leaned over him and brushed her fingers over his long hair at the base of his head. Her fingers came away sticky with blood. His eyes went wide, his gaze locked on something behind her. She glanced over her shoulder too late to move out of the way. Derek plunged the knife in his hands down toward Trigger's chest. She gasped, lying herself over Trigger's body, hoping the inevitable didn't happen. Trigger tried to push her away, but not in time. DEA agents ran out from every direction. Another shot rang out and a heavy weight landed on her back, the knife slicing through her shoulder. Fire exploded down her arm and up her neck. She stared across the dirt and grass at Rory with his knee planted on her brother's back, a DEA bulletproof vest covering his chest and a small gun in his hand pointed in her direction. Shocked, her vision tunneled in and winked out.

R
ory dropped the gun and lunged for Sadie the second her eyes fell closed. The blood running down the top of her shoulder and over Trigger frightened him more than the fact he'd shot Derek and dropped him right on top of the woman he loved. Rory shoved Derek off her. One of the DEA agents dragged him several feet away, dumped him in the dirt, then checked his pulse. Trigger grabbed Sadie by the shoulders and rolled her off him, gently laying her next to him. The bloody knife fell away.

Rory dropped to his knees beside her, thankful the knife wasn't sticking in her, but still scared out of his mind that she'd passed out. “Sadie. Sadie, sweetheart, please wake up. Please be okay,” he begged.

The helicopter finally moved away and disappeared over the treetops. Rory thought he'd be able to think again without all the noise, but all he did was think one thought. He couldn't lose her.

“Please be okay.” He ran his shaking hand over her pale face and laid it on her soft cheek.

Trigger pulled her sweatshirt away from the wound. “Look, man, it's not that bad.”

“She's bleeding.”

“He didn't stab her, just cut her deep on the top of her shoulder. She'll need stitches, but it's not that bad. See.” The relieved sigh Trigger let out eased Rory's worry, but not enough to slow his racing heart.

Rory took his eyes off Sadie's too pale face and studied the open gash seeping blood that oozed from the wound. Trigger was right. It wasn't that bad. It could have been a hell of a lot worse.

“Rory,” Sadie mumbled, her eyes fluttering open.

“Sadie.” Her name came out on a relieved exhale. “Are you okay?”

“My shoulder hurts.”

Trigger took the gauze one of the DEA agents handed him and pressed it to the bleeding wound.

“Ow!” Sadie tried to move away from Trigger and the pressure he put on the wound. “Stop.”

Rory brushed his fingers over her forehead and into her hair. “Shh, you're okay. It's okay. You're bleeding. He cut you.”

“He likes to watch me bleed.”

“He's dead, sweetheart. He'll never hurt you again.”

Sadie let out a ragged sigh. “You saved Connor.” She rolled her head and stared over at her wailing brother. Another agent wrapped a bandage around his leg. He tried to shove the agent away with his handcuffed hands. “The shooter in the helicopter would have killed him to save Trigger.”

“Beck,” Trigger corrected her. “Thank you for keeping my secret. You saved my life.”

She placed her hand over Rory's heart. “Rory saved us.”

An SUV skidded to a halt at the edge of the clearing. Agent Cooke jumped out, went to the back of the vehicle, and pulled Torres out of the backseat and stared at them.

Sadie smiled. “Beck, turn around.”

Beck turned and sighed, hanging his head, his eyes closed.

“It's over,” Sadie whispered. “You're out.”

Rory loved her so damn much for keeping Beck's secret and understanding all the man couldn't say to her but needed her to understand. Beck had reached out to her in a silent plea to let his brother know he needed to get out. She saw that need inside him. Recognized it because she'd been looking for a way out of this futile situation with her brother. The depth of emotion hidden behind the wall Rory felt around Beck and all he kept hidden behind his closed eyes told him how much Beck needed this to be over. The look he leveled on Sadie conveyed a depth of emotion Rory didn't understand.

Sadie did. She reached out and took Beck's hand in hers and held it tight. “You can go home now, Beck. Caden is waiting for you.”

“I'll never forget what you did, laying yourself over me like that. If he'd managed to plunge that knife into my—”

“Stop. It's over, Beck. Go home.”

Caden walked up behind Beck and planted his hand on Beck's shoulder. “She's right, little brother, it's done. We got him.”

Sadie pressed her good arm on the grass and leaned forward. Rory helped her to sit up. She immediately touched her hand to her too pale face, rolled to her side,
and heaved, gagging, but nothing came up. She curled in on herself and held her stomach. “Rory,” she begged. “Something's wrong.”

Rory reached for her, but she went limp in his hands. “No. No. We need an ambulance.”

“Chopper is just past the trees in the field,” Caden said, kneeling beside Sadie. “What's wrong?”

“She's pregnant.”

The shocked and distraught look that crossed Beck's face matched the worry engulfing Rory's system that she might have saved Trigger, but Rory might have lost her and their baby.

T
he helicopter ride
to the hospital nearly sent Rory into a tailspin. Sadie remained groggy, but not truly conscious. He didn't want to think the worst.

The minute the chopper touched down on the hospital helipad, doctors and nurses whisked Sadie away. He'd been relegated to sitting in the waiting room answering questions for the DEA agent Caden sent to take his statement. He'd put the agent off long enough to call Bell and beg her to haul ass down here to check on Sadie. He didn't trust anyone else.

“Mr. Kendrick, Dr. Bowden asked me to come get you. Your girlfriend is waiting for you down here.” The nurse held out her arm to indicate the hallway that led into the emergency room. Rory stood and followed her, his stomach tied in knots, his heart barely beating. The closer he got to her, the less he was able to breathe through the one thought that refused to leave his mind. If they lost the baby, he'd lose her. She'd never forgive him for not protecting her and their child.

“Right in here.” The nurse slid the glass door open.

Rory stepped into the room and pushed the curtain aside. Sadie sat up in the bed in front of him, an IV line running into her arm. She didn't smile, just stared at him, tears gathering in her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. The sadness he saw in her wrenched his gut, sucked the breath right out of him, and stopped his heart.

“No,” he whispered, shaking his head, not wanting to believe that he'd lost everything.

The anguish and despair that flooded his eyes and filled his whole face broke Sadie's heart. Tears glistened in his eyes. She'd been so happy to see him, but still so overwhelmed at all that happened. “Honey, no, I'm fine. The baby is fine.”

The relief that swept over him and rocked his big body told her how much he wanted this baby. Their baby.

He pressed his hand to his forehead above his eye and sighed so heavily she felt it all the way across the room.

“The baby is fine,” Bell assured him.

Rory startled like he hadn't even seen Bell standing by the counters, writing in her chart.

Sadie held out her arms. Rory rushed her and hugged her close. He kissed her half a dozen times and held her face, staring into her eyes.

“You're okay? You're sure?”

“I'm fine.” She held his wrists, her grip tight. She needed to hold on to him.

“But when I came in, the look in your eyes.”

“I'm sorry. I should have told you where my brother was hiding. I should have called the cops immediately. You told me to let him go, but I wanted him to . . .”

“Shh, sweetheart, it's okay. I understand.”

The overwhelming guilt swamped her again. She'd put his life in jeopardy. All their lives, and for what, a brother who had little if any regard for her or anyone else.

“If something happened to you . . .” She gripped his wrists tighter.

“Me? You're the one who almost got stabbed.”

“You threw yourself in front of my brother when you knew that agent meant to kill him. You saved him for me.”

“I knew you couldn't live with yourself if something happened to him.”

She placed her palm on his rough jaw. “I can't live without you. Do you hear me? Don't ever do something like that again.”

He managed to find a halfhearted smile for her. “I promise.”

“Where did you get the handgun you used to shoot Derek?”

“Trigger had it stashed in an ankle holster. You laid yourself out on him, but he reached down to get the gun. He couldn't get to it in time, so I grabbed it and killed that bastard.”

She pressed her hand to his face and looked into his eyes. “Are you okay? That can't have been easy.”

“I'm not sorry I did it. Caden refused to let me bring my rifles. He wanted to keep me out of it, but I couldn't sit back and let your brother get hurt or let that asshole hurt you again. I'd do it all over just to keep you safe.” He pressed his hand to her belly. “Both of you.”

Sadie slid her hand around Rory's head and pulled him in for a soft kiss. She held it, letting him feel how
much she appreciated everything he'd done and how much she loved him.

“Hey you two, remember me?”

Rory pressed one last kiss to her lips, leaned back, and sat on the edge of the bed. He kept his intense gaze on her but asked Bell, “What's the damage, Doc?”

“Twenty-two stitches in her shoulder. Severe dehydration. She's just about done with that IV line and the vitamin drip we added. You can take her home in an hour. Her blood pressure and heart rate are back to normal. It's still very early in the pregnancy. Stress is not good for her. She needs to get some sleep and take it easy the next few days. No strenuous activity. Limit the questions and rehashing of events until she's feeling better.”

Tears gathered in Sadie's eyes. He understood them all too well. “I'll take you over to see Connor before we leave. He's out of surgery. He'll be fine. They'll keep him here a few days, then transfer him to the infirmary at the jail.”

“I don't want to see him right now.”

“Are you sure?”

“I want to go home with you.”

“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”

She couldn't do it. She couldn't listen to Connor spout off the same crap and lies. It might be too late, but about time she let him suffer the consequences of his actions and live her own life. She had so much to live for and Connor almost took that away from her. Rory saved him. He'd saved her in so many ways. He'd shown her a life and happiness she wanted more than anything. He'd shown her love so infinite it filled her up and made her believe dreams really do come true. Now all she had to do was live them.