To Honor and To Protect (22 page)

Family.
It was a beautiful word and it felt more real now than it had since her ruined wedding day.

She kept sneaking looks at Drew as he and Andy pushed the car into the water. If anything nibbled at those four men in the car, she wouldn’t be the least bit sorry for it. She’d had her chance, known as she held the gun that a self-defense plea would’ve assured her acquittal, but she’d managed to do the right thing. In no small part because her son was watching, but she’d taken her cues from Drew, as well.

She’d been awestruck watching him fight, heedless of the personal danger as he overpowered the other armed guards. Her mind zipped back to the moment before the fight, when nothing more than a look had fully explained his intentions.

How was it they still had that connection? Without words, she’d known he would get Andy out of harm’s way. She hadn’t expected him to throw Andy into the swamp, but knowing the threat in the water was minimal so close to the service road, it made perfect sense.

The men shouted, screamed, really, as the car partially filled with water. She had zero sympathy, smiling as Drew and Andy swaggered back to join her near the SUV. “There’s a spare tire.”

Drew grinned and her pulse fluttered. “That will get us back to town.”

“Then what?”

“I suggest we find a landline and make a phone call so Everett doesn’t slip away.”

“I’d like to wring his neck.”

“Because he fooled you?” Andy asked.

How much had Andy heard the other night? Or today, for that matter?

“That’s one reason.” Addi wondered how best to answer the question. Only a few weeks ago he’d looked up to Craig as a father figure. “He did some bad things,” she began carefully, searching for the right words. “When we met him, when we let him be part of our lives, I think he was more of a good guy.”

“He changed?”

“Yes.” Drew knelt down, looking Andy right in the eye. “Craig Everett was good to you once, right?”

“Yes.” Andy’s eyes gleamed with tears. “I don’t want him to marry us anymore.”

“Not a chance,” Addison said, smoothing his hair back from his face. “You never have to see him again.”

“He won’t ever be my dad?”

“Absolutely not,” Addison replied, looking at Drew. They really needed to tell their son the truth. But it felt like a big risk when she didn’t know what kind of life Drew wanted.

Bodyguard duty was one thing. Rekindling their friendship and rediscovering their long-buried passion was understandable. But what did Drew want from her after this crisis was over?

He’d made the choice once before—to leave her alone with her new life. She understood his reasoning but couldn’t help wondering what choice he’d make now.

“Let’s get that tire changed and get moving,” Drew said, interrupting her thoughts. “I don’t want to risk them getting brave enough to bolt.”

“They can’t be brave,” Andy said as she boosted him into the backseat.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The secret to bravery,” he replied, clearly exasperated to be stating the obvious.

Except it wasn’t obvious to her.

“They don’t have someone to love,” Andy said. “Or someone who loves them back to make them brave. Did I get it right, Drew?”

“You sure did.”

Addison stared at Drew for a moment before realizing that he needed her help changing the flat tire. He called out for Andy to time them. They finished in record time. She rounded the car and climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Maybe I should stay,” he muttered, his gaze on the partially submerged sedan as if he were suddenly uncertain where they went from here. “I can make sure they don’t get away.”

“No.” She wasn’t letting him out of her sight. Not until they had things well and truly settled. “We stick together.”

Chapter Seventeen

The drive back into the city went by in a blur and Addison’s thoughts were a jumble of questions she couldn’t answer. Questions for Drew, but she wouldn’t ask until she had a few answers for herself. What did she want next? Returning to San Francisco felt wrong, even if she took the rest of the summer to help Nico’s family recover from the devastating loss.

What if she moved back home? Was this a better place to raise her son?

“Don’t worry, Addi,” Drew said. “Everett won’t escape.”

“It’s not that.”

“No?” He sounded surprised “Then what?”

“Just about everything else,” she admitted. “But it can wait until we know Craig is in custody and we get you patched up.”

Drew nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line.

“Are you hurting?”

He shook his head. “Let’s drive by the warehouse.”

“Okay.” She knew he wouldn’t put them in danger, and this time they had the advantage of loaded guns. “I still think we should’ve used one of the phones.”

“We can’t risk tipping off Everett’s contact and giving whoever the hell it is another head start.”

“It’s hard to fathom any one person having this kind of reach.”

“You took extreme measures when you fled.”

“I did.” And Drew had found her anyway. She glanced into the backseat, pleased to see Andy gazing out the window. Bless his heart. She didn’t want all this to haunt his dreams. He was just a little boy.

Sirens blared in the oncoming lanes, and law enforcement vehicles sped their way before veering toward the warehouse Craig had been hiding in.

“I hope they’re on our side,” she said, goose bumps raising the hair on her arms. If Craig managed to escape again, she might never be free.

“Let’s stop here,” Drew said.

Addison pulled to a halt behind the perimeter created by men in various law enforcement uniforms.

“Open your door slowly,” he instructed Addison. “Andy, stay right where you are.”

“Yes, sir,” her little brave boy affirmed.

“Oh!” She pointed through the windshield. “There’s Craig.” Her breath caught in her chest. “In handcuffs.” She hoped it wasn’t just for show.

“Consider him locked down for good,” Drew said. A satisfied smile tilted his lips.

“How can you be sure?”

“Because the man next to him is Thomas Casey. The guy who recruited me to find you.”

She wanted to believe, to share Drew’s confidence. “You sound sure of him.”

“There’s only one other person I trust as much.” His eyes darted to the rearview mirror. “Well, two.”

Addison looked at him, but Andy asked the question she couldn’t find her voice to pose. “You mean you trust him like you trust us?”

He nodded, holding Addison’s gaze. “I do.”

This wasn’t the time for tears, but she’d pined all of Andy’s young life to hear those two words from Drew.

He reached across the seat and brushed away the tear that rolled down her cheek. “Don’t worry,” he said softly, somehow understanding her fears. “We’ll figure everything out.”

She nodded, her throat clogged with her heart and all her churning emotions. Hope and love were easy to identify, but they were shadowed by uncertainty. She knew what she wanted, but would Drew want that, too?

The man Drew pointed out turned their way, striding through the chaos to meet them. “Come on,” Drew said. “I’ll introduce you and then you’ll understand why I’m so confident this is the last you’ll see of Everett.”

“All right,” she managed, wanting to believe him. As Drew made introductions, Addison studied Director Casey. There was a hard edge under the business-casual polish, but his sincerity as he addressed her son won her over.

“Do you have enough information now?” she asked abruptly, unable to tolerate any more small talk.

“I might have a few more questions, but thanks to both of you, the trap my deputy set worked perfectly. We have Everett as well as his contact inside the Department of State.”

Addison sucked in a breath and looked at Drew, thinking of the implications. “That is a long reach.” Department of State personnel were typically informed of military operations around the globe. An insider leak like that might even have led to Drew’s capture.

“Well, it’s cut short now. I anticipate closure on several questionable situations as we investigate.”

She shivered, thinking of how terrible it would’ve been if she’d exchanged vows with Craig. “He wasn’t like that when we met.” Her gaze drifted toward the warehouse, confirming that Craig remained in cuffs and was surrounded by hard men in black tactical gear. “I don’t know when or what made him change.”

“Thank you for doing the right thing,” Casey said. Turning to Drew, he added, “We have a team searching the bayous for you.” He reached for the radio clipped to his belt. “I need to call them back.”

“Actually,” Drew said, “they should probably pick up Everett’s team.”

“They were gonna feed us to the gators.” Andy’s voice held more pride than fear. “But Drew stopped them and then we sank their car.”

Addison bit her lip, letting the conversation play out. Her son had earned a few bragging rights after everything they’d survived.

“You look a little wet. Did you fall in?”

“Drew threw me into the swamp so I wasn’t in danger.”

“I see.” Casey arched an eyebrow at Drew. “I’m glad they didn’t hurt any of you.”

Addison’s mind flashed to Drew being tortured with a battery, beaten and shot. She opened her mouth, but Drew put his arm around her. “We all came through.”

“We did,” Andy agreed. “Mom and Dad—I mean Drew—attacked the bad guys just like Captain America.” He tipped his face to Drew. “Without the shield. I watched it all from a tree. But then I helped sink the car.”

Addison lost the rest of the conversation. Andy had called Drew Dad. In her heart the moment felt as big as when he’d taken his first steps or the first time he’d called her Mama. She slid a look at Drew, but his impassive expression gave her no hint to his feelings. He must’ve heard it. Would it change anything?

“I might just need a statement from you, young man,” Casey was saying.

Andy’s eyes went wide. “From me?”

“You think you can describe the people you saw?”

“Yes, sir!”

“If it’s okay with your mom, we’ll step over here and you can tell me everything.”

Andy looked up at her hopefully.

“Go on,” she said. Apparently Casey’s instincts were accurate and he’d noticed she and Drew needed a moment to themselves.

“You were hurt,” she began. “Shot and—” she had to swallow “—tortured again. Because of me.” The tremor started in her hands as her calm facade cracked apart.

Drew caught her hands and pressed them between his. “You didn’t cause any of this. Everett did and he’ll pay the penalty.”

She leaned close, dropping her forehead to his shoulder, breathing in his warm scent. She could be strong and still be allowed her weak moments. It had always been that way with him. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For all of it.” She forced herself to look up, to meet his warm brown gaze. “I couldn’t have saved Andy without you.”

“You’d have found a way.” His big hands smoothed across her shoulders and down her spine, as if he might simply erase the tension built up there. How could a touch calm and soothe in one moment and ignite a whole new kind of delicious energy in the next? It was just one more of Drew’s many talents.

“How long before you head back to San Francisco?”

“I have a few calls to make.” First to Professor Hastings and then to her boss to resign. After that, it would be reaching out to Bernadette and Nico’s family. Taking a step back, afraid of being hurt by Drew’s reaction, she took a big breath and blurted out her decision. “I’m not going back to California. I’ve decided to stay out here. Andy and I need...”
You
, she thought, but she wouldn’t put that kind of pressure on him. “We need a change of pace. I have enough cushion built up until I find work that suits me in this area.”

He reached out, winding a curl of her hair around his finger. He’d done that the night they’d met. “You’re moving back to the family farm?”

She nodded. “I think Andy will like it out there and any adventures we have will be a thousand times safer.”

“It must be pretty run-down.”

“No.” His face fell and she wished she’d kept the truth to herself, if only so he’d be enticed to help her make a few repairs. “There’s a realty service that’s kept it up for me.”

“Surprised Everett didn’t know about it.”

She’d never told Craig much about her past. It hadn’t felt relevant then, but now she understood it had been a way of keeping Drew’s memory safe and treasured. He’d been the gold standard no other man could measure up to.

She was being an idiot here. They both were. “You could come with us. Give yourself a chance to heal up before you head back to whatever is waiting for you in Detroit.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Which part?” She wanted the dream that had been snatched from her so many years ago. She wanted family dinners, picnics and baseball games. She wanted movie nights, stargazing and all the joys that came with sharing life’s ups and downs with her soul mate. If he wanted that, too.

The words tangled in her throat, so much to say that she didn’t know where to start. She pressed up on her toes, her hands clutching his shoulders for balance as she kissed him, letting him feel everything she wanted.

“I want you to be happy, Drew,” she said, breaking the kiss. “This time your happiness has to come first.”

* * *

H
IS HANDS RESTED
lightly at her trim waist. Happy? Did he dare take what he thought she was offering? “The day I met you I understood what being happy felt like. It sounds cheesy, but it’s true.”

She pressed her lips together, her pale blue eyes bright. After everything he thought he knew about her, with all the desperate hope crashing through him, he didn’t trust himself to read her reactions correctly. Nothing for it but to barrel on. If he held back now, he’d never shake free of the regret. “I never stopped loving you, Addi. Loving you got me through the darkest days of my life. Give me another chance. Give
us
another chance to have what we once dreamed of. Please.”

Her gaze drifted over to where Casey and Andy were talking. “He called you Dad.”