“Kenna!” She felt herself being pulled into strong arms. Arms belonging to the man she loved.
“Quick, Reese,” Kenna cried out. “He put something in Lynette’s IV. I kicked it over but I’m not sure I was quick enough.” At that moment a slew of police officers stormed into the room. Steven was among them.
“Lynette’s okay,” Reese whispered against her lips. “When we all had our guns drawn, we were also shielding Tori while she disconnected all of Lynette’s tubes.”
She nodded as she buried her face in Reese’s chest. She needed to be held by him, inhale his scent and hear the sound of his heart close to her ear. She then pulled back when a question flared in her mind. “Where did you get your gun?”
“It belonged to the officer that had been stationed by your door. Luckily, Thomas didn’t want to waste any of the poison to kill them, so he knocked both the officer and the male nurse out cold.”
Medical personnel were there to take care of Lynette, and Kenna watched her friend being wheeled to another hospital room. She didn’t look over in Thomas’s direction. She already
knew his condition. He probably hadn’t survived the first bullet.
She felt herself being lifted into Reese’s arms and carried from the room, but not before he leaned down and gave her a kiss she definitely needed. From the way he was kissing her it seemed they both needed it.
“Will you let her come up for air, Reese?”
He released her mouth and she glanced over and saw Tori standing there, smiling.
“I guess I will for a minute or two,” Reese said, chuckling softly.
And it was only for a minute or two. He walked out of the room, out of everyone’s way, and took her into the waiting room, where he sat down with her in his lap. He then kissed her again, and her insides clenched with all the love she felt coming from his kiss.
He finally released her mouth and said in a quiet tone, “I’ve never been so frightened in my life. When I saw him holding that needle so close to your neck, knowing what a sicko he was and that he wouldn’t hesitate to make good on his threat, I thought I would die. Had anything happened to you…”
“Nothing happened. Thanks to you, I picked up on the cue you sent me. Tango.”
He smiled. “I took a chance. I wasn’t sure you would pick up on it. All of us were waiting for the perfect opportunity to bring him down, all we needed was a little more space between that needle and you.”
Kenna nodded. “And what is Clark Lovell doing here?”
Reese then told her about Clark’s involvement and what the man had lost, and how Lynette and Aleena had touched him deeply enough to make him want to come to the hospital to see her when he’d heard about what had happened to her.
“I think he needs them, sweetheart. Not to replace what he’s lost, but to know that life can go on.”
Kenna nodded again, thinking that Lynette and Aleena could probably use a man like Clark in their lives as well. She had seen him that day and had watched how good he’d been with Aleena. Maybe there was hope there.
“Excuse me, Kenna. We need for you to come down to police headquarters so we can ask you some questions about what all took place here.”
It was Reese who spoke up. “Ask her now, Steven, because when I leave here I’m taking her home. She’s been through a lot, and I intend to make sure she gets some rest.”
“I understand.” Steven then asked questions, and she found the strength to relive those moments with Dr. Thomas only while securely held in Reese’s arms.
It was an hour later before she was given the okay to leave. “I want to go check on Lynette before I leave, Reese.”
“Okay.”
Lynette had been taken to another floor, and the police officer guarding her door smiled and stepped aside when Reese and Kenna walked in. Clark was already there, along with Lynette’s parents.
“I thought I’d keep an eye on her myself,” Clark said, answering the questions he must have seen in their eyes. “Her parents said it would be okay and that they would appreciate me looking after her while she’s here. Sort of like her bodyguard. That means I’ll need time off work. ”
Reese laughed. “You got it. Does that mean you plan to stick around Houston for a while?” he asked.
Clark smiled softly. “Yes, I think I will.”
Reese and Kenna talked with Lynette’s parents for a moment and with Clark again before catching the elevator to the ground floor. Not surprisingly, they discovered most of the Madaris family waiting on them. The women rushed over to hug Kenna while the men went to Reese to see if his version of what happened was different from what the media was broadcasting.
And Kenna thought the media was everywhere, being kept back beyond the taped area by police officers.
She glanced up when Alex, Trevor, Ashton, Drake and Tori stepped off the elevator and crossed the lobby to them and gave each man a kiss on the cheek before hugging Tori. “Thanks to all of you, for everything.”
Then she was pulled into Reese’s strong arms. “Don’t I get something, too?” he asked, looking at her with a teasing grin.
“Most definitely,” she said, smiling and looking up at him. “For the rest of my life I plan to make you the happiest man on earth.”
“You already have, sweetheart.” And then he leaned down and kissed her.
Two weeks later
Flanked by Ashton and Trevor, Sir Drake walked into a seedy-looking bar with a frown on his face. He glanced around. Amidst the smoke and dim lighting he saw the two men he’d sought by the pool table. A sinister smile touched his lips when he began moving in their direction.
Ashton Sinclair glanced over at Trevor. They knew there was no use wasting time asking Drake if he was sure about what he intended to do. They knew he was hungry for revenge. They knew if their wives had been decoys as Tori had been that night, they would be ready to kick somebody’s ass as well.
One of the men was playing pool and had the cue stick in his hand when Drake reached out and snatched it out of his hand. The man, who was just as big as Drake, quickly swiveled around with a deep scowl. “What the hell?”
Instead of answering, Drake hauled off and punched him in the face. He dropped to his knees. The second man lunged toward Drake with his fist. In the blink of an eye, Sir Drake took the man’s limb, and in one swift move you could hear the man’s
bone crack clear across the room. He yelled in pain before falling down to his knees as well.
Ashton and Trevor stood by, watching the entire thing. As far as they were concerned, the two men were getting just what they deserved.
“Who the hell are you?” the second man cried out, perspiration covering his face. “You broke my arm.”
“And I would have blown your brains out that night if my wife hadn’t stopped me.”
Suddenly, it dawned on both men as terror filled the depths of their eyes. “Yes, that was
my
wife. And the two of you made a grave mistake by getting out of line with her.”
“Hey, man, we didn’t know she was your wife. We were just out having a little fun.”
A crazed look appeared in Drake’s eyes as he began rolling up his sleeve. “A little fun? Well, I’m about to show you what a little fun feels like so the next time you want to have
a little fun
you’ll always remember it.”
Twenty minutes later, Drake, Trevor and Ashton walked out of the bar, shrugging their shoulders to work the kinks out. Trevor and Ashton hadn’t planned to get involved, but when the two men’s friends decided to jump in, the two decided to sweeten the odds.
The bar was a total wreck. Ashton, Drake and Trevor apologized to the owner and left enough cash on the counter to rebuild the place, leaving seven badly beaten men littered across the floor. As the three were leaving, they were suddenly surrounded by several police cars with lights flashing. Officer Steven Byrd got out of an unmarked car, smiling and shaking his head. “We got the call. We also got word from the mayor and police chief that if you were here to pretend that we didn’t see you at all.”
Steven paused. “We’re taking those two guys in for questioning. What they tried sounds similar to the M.O. in a couple of other
rapes in the area. We think they might have been the two we’ve been looking for over the past year.”
Drake nodded. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they were,” he said, working the soreness out of his fist. “I’ve done what I needed to do and now we’re out of here.”
As Steven and the other officers looked on, Drake, Trevor and Ashton got into Ashton’s truck and drove off.
Epilogue
“Y
ou’re supposed to shove the cake in his mouth, not feed it to him,” Lee hollered to Kenna while the photographer snapped away, taking pictures of her and Reese feeding each other pieces of their wedding cake.
“Shut up, Lee. Your time is going to come,” Reese said loudly to his cousin, so everyone could hear.
“Not on your life!” was Lee’s response.
“Don’t be too sure of that,” Mama Laverne said to her great-grand, whose time she knew would be coming sooner than he thought. She stood watching Reese and Kenna and was thinking now what she’d thought when Reese had introduced Kenna to her years ago.
One day she will be his wife.
It had taken them long enough to figure it out.
Her attention was drawn back to Lee. He’d begun getting restless lately. His mother and his grandmother had noticed it. He had even mentioned taking a job abroad for a while. He was going to find out what others before him had learned the hard
way. When it came to love and the woman who would eventually be your mate for life, you couldn’t run away.
Reese glanced across the ballroom at the woman who could inspire so many emotions within him, and when he thought how close he’d come to losing her, he shivered inside.
“Hey, what’s the frown for? It’s your wedding day,” Alex said, coming to stand beside him. “Kenna is a beautiful bride.”
Reese nodded. “She most definitely is.”
It had taken five months to pull everything together, and now Christmas was only a few weeks away. The wedding had been huge, with close to five hundred people in attendance, including many of Houston’s finest. Their small wedding had ended up being large, but they hadn’t minded, and the women in his family had been just tickled pink. And speaking of pink…
All the new babies in the family had been born. Blade and Slade’s wives had given birth to daughters. Blade’s daughter’s name was Blair and Slade’s daughter was Sierra. Ashton and Nettie had a daughter they named Ashlynn, and Clayton and Syneda had a son they named Caleb. And then last month Alex and Christy had announced they were expecting again, and Luke and Mac were becoming parents for the first time.
Reese’s gaze traveled the ballroom, and he felt good inside when he saw Clark, Lynette and her daughter standing together at the punch bowl. Lynette had recovered nicely and Clark had continued to be there for her. They had built a special relationship.
Clark no longer worked for him, but had agreed to work for the local FBI office teaching classes and not going back out into the field. Everyone was glad and felt that his expertise in the criminal field should be shared.
“Time for me to cut in and dance again with my bride,” Reese said to Alex, placing his champagne glass on a tray carried by a passing waiter. “They’re playing our song.”
And they were. Someone had asked the band to play “Inseparable,” and he thought it was most appropriate. “I think this is my dance,” he said to Emerson, and smoothly took his brother’s place.
Kenna smiled as she blinked those beautiful dark eyes at him. As always, he was lost. He truly believed he’d gotten lost the first time he’d seen them. “Ready for our honeymoon, sweetheart?” he asked, pulling her closer into his arms.
She chuckled. “Yes, I’m more than ready,” she said before resting her head on his chest. They would be flying to Buenos Aires for two weeks, and they planned to tango their nights away.
When the music ended the band immediately went into Argentine music, perfect for the tango, he laughed out loud and said, “Ready to get a head start and tango?”
She chuckled. “With you, always.”
And then they showed everyone watching why they were so good together, the perfect couple, and indeed inseparable.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0170-5
INSEPARABLE
Copyright © 2011 by Brenda Streater Jackson
All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission. For permission please contact Kimani Press, Editorial Office, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
® and TM are trademarks. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and/or other countries.