Hush - Fighting Fate #2 (29 page)

My eyes widened. What? “No. I’m not leaving without you. You’re hurt. You need to go to the hospital.”

He shook his head. “No. I have to finish this. I have to stay.”

Tears fell down my cheeks and I brushed them away roughly. I didn’t understand. “Please don’t make me go without you. I can’t leave you like this.”

He took my face in his hands, gazing deep into my eyes. “I need to finish this, baby. I know it’s hard to understand, but I need you to do this for me.”

I stared into his eyes for a long time, gun fire and shouts echoing all around us. I wasn’t sure what it was I saw there, but I knew I needed to trust him. This was his job. If I couldn’t trust him to make the right decision, then I didn’t deserve him.

As more tears fell from my eyes, I nodded. “Okay,” I whispered.

His body instantly relaxed at my words. Pulling my face closer, he kissed my forehead. “Thank you.”

Just as I was about to pull away, I paused. “Before I go…” I drew in a deep breath and swallowed. “…I need to know your name.”

His eyes widened and his gaze darted between both
my eyes. Drawing in a shaky breath, he exhaled sharply. “Noah,” he whispered. “Noah Murphy…”

Chapter 50

Noah

Sending Kaeli off without me was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.
I knew there was still a risk she could get hurt before she actually got to one of my team, but it was safer than being with me. I still had to make a spectacular exit.

Nothing had shocked me more than when she’d asked for my name. To know she
’d been seeing the real me all this time made something inside me ache. I hoped that meant she’d be willing to see me after all the dust had settled. It wasn’t something I’d ever allowed myself to think before, but now…

A new round of gun shots erupted down the lane, followed by some pretty horrific crashes, and then a gruff voice reading out someone’s Miranda rights. I inhaled a deep breath
and shoved myself to my knees.

Footsteps came rushing towards me and then I heard Davo’s voice. “Fuck. Mitch. I thought you were dead…”

I grunted and staggered a little, listing to the side.

He reached out to steady me. “Jesus. You’ve been hit?”

“I’ll be right,” I murmured. “Where’s everybody else?”

He looked at me and shook his he
ad. “TJ and Vinnie are gone, man. They refused to surrender. I saw them go down.”

“Mac?” I asked.

He exhaled heavily. “I don’t know. We got separated when that explosion hit.”

I nodded, trying to take a step without falling down. The sound of gun fire had faded now. I hoped that meant it was almost over because I wasn’t sure how long I had until I blacked out. I was losing a shit load of blood and my head was feeling pretty damned light.

A sound from behind us caught my attention and I reacted automatically, turning and raising my gun. It all happened within the blink of an eye. I recognized the agent immediately, but I still had a job to do. Making sure my aim was just past his shoulder, I fired, just as he fired too. Pain lanced through my shoulder and my body was thrust sideways and backwards. I heard another shot fired and I hit the ground.

My head spun. The pain was indescribable. Trying to
breathe through it as best I could, I panted and hissed. Somewhere beside me, I heard Davo grunting and swearing like a trooper.

Footsteps rushed closer and I heard my gun being kicked away. I blinked open my eyes and saw
a S.W.A.T. guy looming over me, his gun aimed at my chest. Turning my head a little, I saw Davo laying a few feet away, writhing on the concrete with another agent holding him at gunpoint.

Letting my head fall back, I closed my eyes and, for the first time in eighteen months, I relaxed.

Noises faded in and out. I heard the sounds of sirens, of footsteps, voices that tried to get me to answer. One stood out in particular when I heard them say, “I don’t think this one’s going to make it. He’s lost too much blood.”

I felt myself jostled and lifted,
and something put over my face that I just wanted to rip off, but I just couldn’t get my arms to cooperate. I heard the sounds of doors closing, engines revving, and machines beeping.

I tried to get myself to focus. Forcing my eyes open, I looked to the side and saw the same S.W.A.T. guy who’d shot me
, staring down at me.

“Hey, buddy,” he said darkly. “You gotta stay with me, alright?”

I blinked at him. He looked worried. I wanted to tell him not to feel bad. He was only doing his job. I nodded because it seemed like the only thing I could think of to make him feel better.

Closing my eyes, I let the darkness take me.

Chapter 51

Kaeli

Leaving Noah lying there bleeding, had been the hardest thing I’d ever had to do - and I thought I’d faced some pretty tough things over the last couple of months. It was also one of the scariest things I’d ever had to do.

Even though the gun fire seemed to have stopped, there were still armed S.W.A.T. agents everywhere, ready to take down anything that moved. I’d thrown my hands in the air at the first agent I came across, yelling out, “Don’t shoot me!”
as loud as I could.

I’d tried to explain how I’d come to be there in some sort of coherent manner, but it’d all come out in a rush, and I was pretty sure I’d only managed to confuse him. At one stage I even thought he was going to handcuff me.

The only thing that seemed to make sense to him was when I’d said I’d been kidnapped. After that he’d bundled me into the back of a police cruiser, with an armed guard outside the door, while they finished processing the scene.

Eventually, I was taken to the station where I had to give a statement.
They wanted as much detailed information on Aaron as I could give them. I had no idea how, but apparently he’d managed to evade an entire estate crawling with S.W.A.T. agents.

It was
also there at the station that I was reunited with Mom, and when I heard her story, I went into shock.

Apparently the bust that I’d somehow managed to get caught in the middle of wasn’t the only one that went down that night. Our house had been one of the many houses that were hit, and Mom had been brought to the station like I had.

She told me in hushed tones that Ken had resisted arrest and they’d shot him. She didn’t know how bad his injuries were, or even if he was alive. No one would tell her. I think we both hoped he was dead.

To top it all off, our house was now a crime scene and we weren’t even allowed to go home. Mom and I had decided together that we would call Lillian, Mia’s mom, hoping she’d be okay with us staying there until we could go home.

Aiden was the one who’d answered the call when I’d rung, and he hadn’t hesitated in saying he’d come to our rescue.

Guiding Mom into a chair by the doors to wait for Aiden and Lillian, I straightened. There was one more thing I needed to do before I could go.

“I’ll be right back, Mom,” I said before walking back over to the counter.

The officer gave me an easy look as I approached. “Everything okay?” he asked.

I had no idea how to ask. Moistening my lips, I took a deep breath. “I was just wondering if anyone knew how Noah Murphy was doing.”

A shutter went down inside his eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any idea who you’re talking about.”

I opened my mouth, but what was I going to say? Noah hadn’t exactly told me he was a police officer. It was just a hunch. I really wanted to press my point, but I was suddenly very unsure. Not about him being one of them, but about how undercover he was. What if this guy didn’t even know? What if there were crooked cops and they’d kept it all secretive and stuff? I didn’t want to be the one to put him in danger.

Shit.

But I needed to know. I needed to have some peace of mind. How hurt was he? Was he even still alive?

“He was at the warehouse with me tonight. He’d been shot…”

The officer continued to look at me blankly. “Maybe you should check the hospitals, but if he was involved in the ring we’ve just brought down then you won’t get many answers. Until everything’s been processed, we won’t be releasing any names, and security is at maximum.”

Oh god. I hadn’t even thought of that
. What if I couldn’t find out?

Defeated,
I muttered a quiet thank you and went back over to Mom. A few minutes later, Lillian rushed through the door. With one quick look at Mom, she pulled her to her feet and wrapped her in a tight hug.

Aiden stopped in front of me and gave me a long, assessing look. Needless to say, after almost four days of minimal sleep, stress over what Aaron was going to do to me, being caught up in the middle of a drug war, and now the uncertainty of Noah’s condition, I was more than a little unstable.

My throat thickened and tears swam in my eyes.

“Oh, sweetheart…” Aiden said before pulling me into his arms.

I didn’t break down. I wouldn’t until I knew Mom was okay and I was away from sympathetic eyes. Instead, I let the few tears that were swimming on the surface fall, content with Aiden’s reassuring hold.

When they had us both safely inside their house,
and Lillian got Mom showered, fed and sedated in bed, I finally let my defenses down.

By the time I came out of the shower, Mia was home from her date night at the movies with Jace.
She’d been mortified when she found out Aiden had been trying to call her, but of course she’d turned her cell off while she’d been in the movie theatre. 

Behind her closed bedroom door, her expression was one of complete and utter panic. “God, Kaeli. What happened?”

Making myself comfortable on her bed, I started at the beginning, telling her all about how Ken had changed not long after Mom had married him and the monster he’d become. I told her about the beatings, the verbal smack downs and the threats. I told her in detail about the blackmail and the Den, and the horror I’d felt in it all.

Then I told her about Noah.

Her eyes widened as I described everything I went through with him. The way he’d protected me, the way he’d comforted me, the way he’d risked his life for me. I told her I was pretty sure he was an undercover cop, but there was no way for me to know, or to find out if he was even alive.

By the end of my story, she was in tears.

“Oh, Kaeli. I feel so horrible. I feel like I should’ve known - should’ve been able to help you.”

I shook my head intently. “I’m so glad you didn’t. God, can you imagine what Jace and Aiden would’ve done?”

She cringed, knowing full well they’d have done whatever they could to protect her. To protect me.

“Noah though, Kaeli. Noah sounds amazing. I’m so glad he was there for you. I hope he’s okay.”

I felt the weight of it looming over me. “I hope so too…”

A knock on the door interrupted us and Mia dashed over to open it a crack. I couldn’t see
him, but I could tell by the low timbre of his voice that it was Jace. Mia whispered something back and then shut the door.

She sighed as she turned to face me. “All the guys are here,” she said. “Aiden told them you needed to rest, but they’re all really worried about you.”

I nodded and climbed off the bed.

“You don’t have to go see them, babe. They’ll understand.”

“It’s okay. They deserve to know.”

She took my hand and squeezed it. “I’ll leave it up to you, okay? Tell them as much or as little as you feel comfortable
with. I won’t say anything you don’t.”

I nodded. I knew she was talking about Noah. The guys were all incredibly protective with us girls and wouldn’t take too kindly to some other guy stepping in.

As soon as I walked in the room I was enveloped in a pair of arms. Jace.

“Jesus, girl. You scared the crap out of us.”

Next it was Dean. Then Matt.

I ended up in Aiden’s arms and he immediately pulled m
e over to the lounge.

“What the hell happened?” Matt said, eyes wide. “The news channels are exploding and the whole area around your house is crawling with cops.”

I cringed. Somehow I didn’t think the neighbors were ever going to look at us the same again.

Taking a deep breath, I repeated my story, but this time, I l
eft out my feelings for Noah, only telling them that there was someone there I felt safe with, and I thought he might’ve been an undercover cop. I pled with them to keep that to themselves, just in case he needed to keep his identity under wraps.

At the end of my talk, there was a lot of swearing, some pacing, and then a lot of silence. Another round of hugs came, this time longer and more crushing, and then some more swearing.

“Do you know if Aaron was caught?” Dean asked after the swearing had simmered down.