“Kill me, you’re both going to prison. I got the film of Wreck being killed and Carter being beaten. That footage is being emailed to Dennizen in five minutes, if I don’t reset the time.”
The steps creaked behind him. Gamble joined him with his phone to his ear. “Yeah. I’ll put him on right now, Block.”
Har took the phone and went to the sidewalk to get out of earshot of Massive. “What is it, Block?”
“The Jacksonville brothers have an IT firm on retainer. Volt hooked me up with them. They hacked the address where Wreck rerouted the footage. Massive had an email scheduled to send out, but they killed it.”
Har smiled. “Excellent brother. Tell Roman to bring the cargo. By the time he gets here, it should be go time.”
When he returned to the porch, the front door was open. He handed Gamble the phone before they went inside. He heard Brute and Tiny struggling to subdue Massive in the dark room. A shaft of light could be seen to his right. He followed it to a small bedroom. For a millisecond, his heart swelled at the sight of Stephanie, but when he saw the blood on her body his stomach sank.
He dropped to his knees and grabbed her wrist. Her pulse could be felt which gave him relief, but she needed a doctor.
He looked over his shoulder to Gamble, who’d followed him. “Get Silvie on the line. If you don’t have his number, call Block. I gotta get her to his office now.”
Rage boiled up inside him, but he forced it down. He slid his hand along her forehead to move her hair out of her face. Her eyes fluttered open.
“Har,” she croaked.
He shushed her. “Save your energy, baby. I’m getting you the hell out of here.”
Her lips tipped up and she whispered, “Knew you’d find me.”
Stephanie
WHEN I WOKE UP AGAIN, I didn’t want to open my eyes. The last thing I remembered was Har crouched over me, but I didn’t trust that was real. Hearing a woman’s voice in the room, I opened my eyes.
“Oh, she’s up, Dr. Silverman.”
I focused on the room. It didn’t look like a hospital room. Yet the bed I was in looked and felt like a hospital bed, since I was semi-elevated.
“She is,” said a man with a deep gravelly voice. “Wait one moment before you call Har.”
A slim man wearing jeans and a mahogany-colored long-sleeved shirt under a white doctor’s coat ambled over to me.
He pulled a pen-light out of his pocket and propped a hip on the side of the bed. “Follow the light, please. Good. You were fortunate, Stephanie. I don’t know what kind of knife Massive used on you, but he didn’t penetrate the peritoneal cavity.”
I shook my head and he smiled.
“In other words, he didn’t get your intestines or your liver. You lost a lot of blood and had you been there longer, you’d have bled out.”
I exhaled. “I hardly remember him stabbing me. The last thing I remember is screaming when he pulled me from the car.”
Dr. Silverman nodded. “That’s not uncommon. Those memories will come to you in the days ahead, I’m sorry to say. If you need someone to talk to, Har and Block know a woman you can call about it. She’s a psychologist, but if you feel more comfortable talking to me, I’m available too. I suspect you might feel more comfortable with her, though.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Before Har barges in here, I stitched up your wound. You’re going to be on antibiotics, and they will interfere with your birth control, if you’re on it. I want to see you in my office next week to check your stitches. Understood?”
I nodded.
He squeezed my shoulder and left.
Moments later, Har stormed into the room. He propped a hip on the bed, leaned over me, and cupped my cheeks. The intensity in his green eyes was like nothing I had ever seen. He just stared at me for a long time, so long it was borderline uncomfortable. I smiled in hopes it would prompt him to speak.
After a deep breath, he finally said, “You... are everything.”
Those words knocked the breath out of me and my smile faltered. “I’m not. I’m just... me.”
With glinting eyes, he shook his head. Then he planted an intense kiss on me. I wanted to kiss him back just as hard, but he maintained control.
He broke it, but kept his face close to mine.
“I told Sam I was looking for a woman who fit, but you don’t fit. You fit to the point you overflow and bring more to my life than I ever imagined.” He shook his head. “Months ago, I thought you having a bike would be a problem. Only wanted a woman who’d be at my back on my hog. You feel fucking phenomenal behind me, don’t get me wrong. But, that first ride with you next to me was unreal babe. So, you can be at my back and you can be at my side. I don’t get that from anybody but you. That makes you everything to me.”
The door opened and Dr. Silverman said, “I knew you wouldn’t listen to me. Do not climb any further into that bed, Har. I’m serious.”
When Har turned his head to the doctor, I got a prime view of his profile. Watching him get irritated with the doctor made me laugh, but then my side hurt and I hissed. He turned back to me and stood from the bed like I would break.
“I’m fine, honey. It’s just laughing makes my side hurt, but you’re too funny, getting pissed at the doctor.”
He put a hand behind his neck and hung his head. When he looked up at me, his eyes were still irritated – but at me. “I’m not pissed, babe. He can’t expect me not to
