Theirs to Keep

Catherine walked forward, tentatively touching Merrick on the arm. “Think about it, Merrick. Don’t make any hasty decisions. Dakota was a dickhead, but he’s a dickhead who loves you and is loyal to a fault. Maybe too loyal. He’s not used to having to share you with others, but he’ll learn. Sleep on it please, and we can talk when emotions aren’t so high.”

Merrick kissed her cheek. “I can’t guarantee anything, Cathy. He betrayed my trust. He betrayed Elle.”

“I’m sorry, man,” Dakota said, sadness so deep in his eyes that it made Merrick’s gut clench. “I fucked up. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I don’t want to throw away the years we have together over this.”

“You did this,” Merrick pointed out.

“Yeah, I know,” Dakota said quietly. He turned to his wife. “Come on, Cathy. Let’s leave them to see to Elle.”

With an unhappy frown and one last look in Merrick’s direction, Catherine followed her husband out of the waiting room.

“Son of a bitch, I fucked up,” Merrick swore when Dakota and Catherine had gone. “I was such a bastard to her. And fuck it all, I’ll never forget that look in her eyes when I yelled at her about leaving when Dakota was the one who kicked her out. I can only imagine how she felt and how embarrassing it was for her when Dakota acted like a dickhead and tossed her out of the gym. And then I blame her for what happened to her. Jesus, but when I fuck up, I fuck up big.”

“We still don’t even know what happened,” Cade said wearily. “It’s all very bizarre. It’s pissing me off that they kicked us out of her room and won’t let us be in there with her.”

“That’s bullshit,” Merrick fumed. “They can’t keep us away from her, and you know what? I’m tired of this crap. I’m going in to see her, and they’re going to have to arrest me to keep me out.”

Cade grinned. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Merrick pushed through the door leading to the exam rooms,Cade on his heels, and he went down the hall, peeking into every single one until finally he came to where Elle was.

His heart squeezed nearly out of his chest when he saw her lying in the hospital bed curled into a small ball. A police officer sat next to the bed, and it appeared that he was questioning her in a gentle voice. But Elle was terrified, her face so ashen that she looked close to passing out.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Cade demanded, his voice cracking like a whip through the room.

The officer jerked around, his brows drawn into angry slashes. “I’m questioning Miss Walker. Get the hell out.”

Cade advanced menacingly. “I was very explicit that no one, and I mean no one, was to be in this room unless Merrick or I were with her. She’s scared shitless, and you’re going to intimidate her into answering your questions?”

“I wasn’t intimidating her,” the officer snapped. “I was trying to get her side of the story. There’s a man in ICU, and she looks like a bus ran over her. And there’s blood all over her garage floor. I’m just doing my job, so chill out.”

“You don’t say jack to her without us present,” Merrick snarled. “And only if she consents. Did you even ask her if she felt well enough to talk to you?”

The officer remained silent.

“I didn’t think so,” Cade bit out.

Cade plopped into the chair on the opposite side of the bed, staring challengingly at the police officer. “We aren’t leaving.”

The police officer turned to Elle. “If you’d prefer they not be here, I’ll make sure they’re escorted out.”

One part of Merrick appreciated that the cop was looking out for Elle. The other part wanted to ask him and what army would be escorting them out?

“They can stay. I want them to stay. They need to hear what happened. The threat was to them,” she said, her voice still shaking.

She fingered the sheet covering her nervously, the tips white from her grip. She was obviously terrified of the cop and trying valiantly to hold it together.

Cade leaned forward, his frown dark. “I’m more concerned with whether you’ve been taken care of first. Have they treated you? Are you in any pain? Your statement can damn well wait until after you’re more comfortable.”

She smiled faintly. “They did x-rays already, and they gave me a shot of pain medicine.” She lifted her wrist where the IV was inserted to show him. “Just waiting on the doctor to come back with the report.”

“She was nearly hysterical. She was hysterical,” the cop said grimly. “They had to give her something to calm her before she hurt herself.”

“Ever occur to you that you could be part of the problem?” Cade said rudely. “No one should have so much as looked at her until we were allowed to see her. She’s been brutalized by some creep, and then she was surrounded by strangers.”

The officer nodded. “I understand. I apologize, Miss Walker, if I frightened you in any way. I only want to help you, and in order to do that, I have to get to the bottom of this.”

She nodded hesitantly, but the fear was still there in her eyes.

Merrick sat on the end of the bed, anxious to be rid of the cop so he could make things right with Elle. It was killing him not to touch her or hold her in his arms.

The officer cleared his throat. “If I can get back to the matter at hand. Can you tell me exactly what occurred when you arrived at your home?”

Elle swallowed and grew paler. It was automatic for Merrick to place his hand over her sheet-covered leg. Just so she’d know that he was there and that things were okay now.

“Will I…” She drew in a big breath and then grimaced and put her hand to her ribcage, flinching in pain caused by the deep inhalation. “Will I be arrested for what I did?” she asked in a small voice.

“What the fuck?” Cade exploded. “Over my dead body! Is that what they’ve been telling you, Elle?”

The officer held his hand up. “No one has said anything of the sort. Preliminary evidence shows this to be a matter of self-defense. The sooner I can get her statement, the sooner we can be done with this. I don’t see any reason that any action will be taken against her unless we find evidence that contradicts her statement.”

Merrick’s lips twisted as he tried to control his anger.

“Now, if you can start from the beginning,” the officer said patiently.

He shot Cade and Merrick a quelling look before directing his attention back to Elle.

“I got out of the truck and went through the garage to the kitchen door. Before I could unlock it, he grabbed me from behind. He wrapped his hand around my neck and squeezed so hard I couldn’t breathe.”

As she spoke, her hand fluttered to her throat where bruises had already appeared. It pissed Merrick off all the more that she’d been there alone and unprotected when she damn well should have been with him at the gym. He was going to take Dakota apart over this.

“He yanked me backwards, and when I tried to fight, he punched me in the side.”

Cade balled both hands into fists, and his entire body vibrated with rage.

“I don’t remember a whole lot more,” she confessed. “He told me that he had a message for ‘my boys’ and that if they didn’t drop the charges, he would come back and ‘fuck me up.’”

The officer was steadily jotting down her every word, and he frowned as she said the last. Then he turned in Cade and Merrick’s direction.

“Drop what charges?”

Cade sighed. “I can’t be one hundred percent sure, but I’m at least ninety-nine that this is retaliation for the guy we had arrested a while back for trying to steal a car from a client’s car lot. Our office was shot up and torched the very next day and now this.”

Merrick shook his head, sick at heart that Elle was being targeted because of him and Cade.

To Cade and Merrick he said, “I’ll need to know more about what happened after I’ve spoken to Miss Walker.” Then the officer turned back to Elle. “So what happened after that?”

“He punched me again in the side and then he turned me and hit me in the face. He let me fall, and I remember lying on the floor of the garage thinking that I couldn’t allow it to happen again.”

The police officer frowned. “Again? What do you mean by that?”