Protecting Cheyenne (SEAL of Protection Book 5) (17 page)

Still looking into Faulkner’s eyes, Cheyenne told him, “Don’t wait, get it done.”

As much as he wanted to wait until the morphine took effect, Cheyenne was right, he didn’t have the luxury of waiting.

“Benny, come up here to her head, don’t touch the tape around her head that can come off later. Start on her chest. Be extremely careful. Don’t touch the device at all. Loosen up what you can. Cookie, do the same starting at her hips. I’m going to start down here. Remove only what’s necessary to get to the devices, nothing else.”

The three men got to work.

Dude pulled out his K-bar knife, as the others did the same, and sliced at the tape around Cheyenne’s ankles. He had to actually saw through the material because there was so much of it. Alicia and Javier had spent some time wrapping her. They hadn’t wanted her to be able to get out of there easily. Hell, they hadn’t wanted her to get out at all.

At last Dude freed her ankles. Once they were separated it was easier for him to cut through the tape holding her legs together.

He finally got to the explosive device between her knees. He took precious time to free as much tape from above and below the device as he could.

“Faulkner, the last time you were between my legs like this, you ordered me not to come, I don’t think that’ll be an issue right now.”

Dude couldn’t help but smile. Jesus, he couldn’t believe how the filter of Cheyenne’s words turned itself off when she had some drugs in her system. “Shy…” he started to warn her, but she interrupted him.

“No, I know. I know you like to boss me around and you know I love it. I’m just saying, you don’t have to tell me to hold back. I’m not going to. I swear.”

At Cookie’s choked laughter, Dude explained to his friends. “It’s the drugs, she says whatever she’s thinking, with no filters.”

“Obviously,” Cookie observed, still smiling.

“Faulkner?” Cheyenne asked, sounding completely out of it.

“Yes, Shy?” Dude didn’t look up from what between her legs.

“I do love you, you know. I was trying to figure out when to tell you, but the longer I waited, the harder it was to find the best time. I was going to make you dinner one night, but forgot I had to work, and besides I’m a shitty cook. Then I was going to tell you when you had me on my knees for you, but that didn’t seem right either, and besides it wasn’t as if I could really talk with my mouth full anyway. Then I was going to wait until you untied me that one night…God that was hot…but anyway, I fell asleep too soon. It didn’t seem right to just blurt it out…but I do. I love you so much. You’re everything I ever wanted in a guy. In
my
guy. I never knew I wanted to submit, but you make it so easy. I-I-I don’t know what I’ll do if you decide you don’t want me anymore.”

Dude paused for a fraction, he had to respond to the pain he heard in her voice. “Shy…”

“No! I know, I’m probably fucking this up somehow. I feel like I’m floating, but I just, I’d do anything for you. You have to know. I’ll even leave you alone if you want me to. It might kill me, but I’ll do it.”

“I’m not letting you go, Shy.”

“Oh. Okay. Good. ‘Cos I like you holding me.”

Dude shook his head and concentrated on the device again. “Fuck,” he said quietly. “Cookie, Benny, stop. They’ve connected the three bombs to each other. I can’t disarm this one without disarming the others at the same time.”

Never one to let an opportunity to rub something in go by, Cookie said, “Looks like you needed both of us here after all, didn’t you?”

“Fucker,” Dude said lightly, knowing Cookie was right. There was no way he could disarm all three bombs at the same time. He needed both his teammates there.

“Hunter?”

“Yeah, Cheyenne?”

“How’s Fiona? I bet she was really worried. And she didn’t see Javier did she? I don’t want her freaked out. I know she’s still dealing with those assholes from Mexico kidnapping her. Not that Javier got her, but still. I’m worried about her. I miss her. We didn’t get to finish our shots…”

“She’s okay, Cheyenne, don’t worry about her.”

“Yeah, all right, she has you. I’ll try not to. But I’ve never had best friends before. That’s what friends do, they worry about each other.”

There was silence as the three men continued to try to remove enough tape to safely get to the bombs underneath. Every time they had to peel some of the tape away from her skin they cringed. The red blotches underneath the tape looked bad.

“Okay, the first two are uncovered, how’re you doing up there Benny?” Dude asked urgently. Time was ticking away. Too much time. He wasn’t going to get a second chance.

“Almost done, Dude.”

“Kason…I like that name. Why do you go by Benny?”

Benny opened his mouth, but Cookie answered before he could.

“He earned his nickname fair and square, Cheyenne. No matter if he says differently.”

“Oooooooh, I sense a good story there,” Cheyenne slurred. “Can you see my arm guys? Is it still attached? I can’t feel it at all. That can’t be good can it? Faulkner?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I love you.”

“I know.”

“Aren’t you going to say it back?”

“Yeah, when you’re out of this fucking building and I have you safe in my arms in my bed and you’ve just come for me three times and I’m sure you’ll never be in this kind of fucked up situation again.”

“Uh, Faulkner?”

“What?” Dude’s voice was all business. As much as he loved Cheyenne, he was trying to concentrate.

“That was a lot of swear words, but I can’t wait.”

Dude blew out a breath, but didn’t answer her.

“Okay guys, here’s what I need you to do. See that little red wire running under the device? On the count of three you need to pull it out. Pull it as hard as you can. It has to pop out. We have to do it at the same time. If we don’t, they’ll all go off.”

“Oh God, don’t. Please don’t.” Cheyenne said suddenly, she started squirming under them, and Benny put both hands on her shoulders to try to keep her still. Dude hadn’t been sure she was understanding what they were doing, but with her words he knew she did. She knew exactly. “Just leave it, fuck. Don’t. Kason, Hunter, just go, take Faulkner with you. Don’t.” She started trembling hard.

Dude checked his watch. He had time, barely, but he had time. He moved up to Cheyenne’s line of vision. He sandwiched her head between his hands and leaned down to her.

“Cheyenne, stop it.”

She stopped moving, but he saw tears falling from her eyes for the first time since they’d arrived. She’d been so strong, but when it got too real, she finally broke.

“I can’t. I want to touch you, Faulkner, and I can’t. I’ve never been so scared in my life, not for me, but for
you
. I can’t be the reason Fiona loses her man. I can’t be the reason Benny never meets the woman who’s out there waiting for him to protect her. I can’t be the reason you die. If I die, it’ll be okay, you’ll find someone else, but I can’t kill you. Please, Faulkner, please.”

Dude could feel his heart breaking. He leaned down and kissed the tears falling from her right eye, then did the same on the left side.

“Shy, I’ll never find anyone else. Ever. You’re it. Period. Done. End of story. I’ve waited for you my entire life. If I have to go a day without tasting what flavor lip shit you’ve put on, I won’t survive. If I can’t see you night after night stretched out on my bed, waiting for me to come to you and do whatever I want, if I can’t feel you surrounding me, squeezing me, my life isn’t worth living.” Dude’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I love you, Shy. We’re in this together. Okay?”

“You don’t
ask
me stuff, Faulkner.”

“Sorry.” Dude held back the chuckle. She was so fucking cute even covered in tape. “I love you, Shy. We’re in this together.”

Cheyenne sniffed. “Can you please wipe my nose? I can’t get to it and I can’t stand feeling snot run down my face.”

Dude smiled and used his sleeve to wipe the errant tears off her face then to clear the fluid away from her face that had leaked out of her nose.

“Can I please disarm this fucking bomb and get us out of here now?”

Cheyenne nodded.

Dude leaned down one more time and kissed her lips. “Hang in there, this is almost done.”

He moved back down her body to the device between her knees.

“Is Summer okay? I mean Alicia and Javier left the camera thingy for me to watch. I think they were wanting me to have to watch you guys get blown up or something, but you’re way too smart for that aren’t you? Anyway, I heard Alicia…”

“On the count of three. One…”

“…shoot. Twice! And she told me she shot Summer, and I wasn’t sure if she was dead or not, but I saw you guys carry her out and she was holding on to Sam, so I thought she looked okay and you guys weren’t freaking out or anything. But it was awful. Is she…”

“Two…”

“…okay? I mean it couldn’t have been fun to have been kidnapped,
again
. Fuckers. And Caroline? Is she okay? I mean it had to have sucked to have been sitting in
Aces
and to find out we were missing. Where are Fiona and Caroline? Is someone watching…”

“Three!”

“…them because Alicia and Javier know who they are and are still out there. They’re planning on flying out of the country. Did you guys know that? They told me…stupid jerks, so you should be sure…”

“Cheyenne.”

“…to track them down before they get out of the country. Can we steal them back if they go to Mexico? I can never remember all the rules about that sort of thing. I want to go out again with the girls. Next week. No tomorrow. We didn’t get…”

“Cheyenne
.”

“…to finish our girl’s night out and that was the first girls night out I’ve ever had. I was having fun dammit. It’s not fair. It wasn’t our fault stupid people had to go and ruin it…”

Cheyenne’s words were suddenly cut off. She looked up to see Faulkner kneeling by her side and saw Kason and Hunter standing above her.

“It’s over, Shy.”

“You turned the bombs off?”

Dude smiled at her wording. “Yeah, we turned them off.”

“Can we go home now, Faulkner? I want to sleep for a million hours in your bed. With you. Naked. Preferably with you inside me.”

“Soon. First I need to get you to the hospital.”

“But Faulkner, I don’t wanna go to the hospital. I just want to be with you.”

“You’ll be with me, Shy. I’m not leaving your side and I want to see anyone
try
to peel me away.”

“Okay then, but soon? You’ll take me to bed?”

“Yes, Shy. Soon.”

Looking up at Hunter and Kason, and seeing the broad grins on their faces, Cheyenne demanded, “What’s so funny? I don’t think there’s anything funny about any of this.” Her eyes went back to Faulkner. “Tell them to stop laughing.”

“You’re so fucking cute, Shy.”

“No, I’m not,” she retorted immediately. “I haven’t been able to put on my lip balm in hours, my lips don’t taste like anything, and I want to make sure they always taste like something different so you want to keep kissing me. I’m covered in fucking tape,
again
, but this time I know it’s gonna hurt like hell when they take it off. I have no idea how they’re going to get it out of my hair without cutting it all fucking off. I can’t feel my arm and I’m afraid they’re going to have to cut that off too. I’m just so tired of being scared and now I’m going to cry again and I still can’t wipe my own snot off my face.”

Dude leaned down and lifted Cheyenne into his arms. “Wipe your snot on me, Shy, I can handle it. I swear to Christ you aren’t going to feel anything when they take the tape off, they aren’t going to cut your hair off and you’ll still have your arm when you wake up.”

Dude felt Cheyenne nod against his shoulder where she’d buried her head and then wiped her face on his shirt, obviously taking him at his word and wiping her face on him to stop her snot from running down her face. He smiled.

“And another thing, I want to kiss you no matter if you’re wearing flavored lip crap or not.”

“Okay. I want to hold you.”

“You will. Just shush now. Let me take care of you.”

“You always take care of me.”

“Damn straight.”

Cheyenne groaned and opened her eyes. The room was dark, but she knew immediately she was at the hospital. There was no mistaking the smell of antiseptic, old person, and sickness. Feeling panicky, she looked to her right and sighed.

Faulkner was there. She remembered bits and pieces of the last few hours, and he’d kept his word and not left her side. He’d carried her out of the basement into the bright sunlight of the day. There had been cameras and people yelling for information, but Faulkner had ignored all of them and his teammates had escorted him, shielding them from the cameras, to the waiting ambulance. He hadn’t left her there this time though, he’d sat at her head and kept his scarred hand on her forehead the entire trip.

The emergency room had been expecting them and Cheyenne had been whisked to the back behind a flimsy curtain. A doctor had come in, almost immediately, and taken stock. Cheyenne didn’t remember much after that, only that she’d been given another shot and in panic had looked to Faulkner.

He’d dipped his head to hers and whispered, “Trust me.”

She’d nodded and was out.

Cheyenne watched as Faulkner breathed in and out. The rhythm of his breaths were steady and even. She’d watched him sleep enough to know he was sleeping deeply instead of the light cat-naps he was wont to do here and there.

She swore under her breath when the door opened and Faulkner jerked awake. He probably needed the sleep and it’d just been rudely interrupted. Cheyenne kept her eyes on Faulkner and was rewarded with his bright smile when he saw she was awake.

He stood up and came over to her side. “Hey, Shy. How do you feel?”

“Terrible.” Her voice croaked a bit but she was honest, as usual.

Faulkner actually chuckled at her answer. She frowned at him.

“Give it a bit of time, Cheyenne, you’ll feel better soon.”

Cheyenne turned to see a man standing by her bed. She didn’t recognize him, but he was obviously her doctor.

“We were able to remove most of the tape without pulling off your skin this time. It’ll take a bit of time for the hair on your arms and legs to grow back though.”

Cheyenne remembered for the first time how the tape had covered her head. She moved her good arm up as if to feel for herself if she was indeed bald, but Faulkner intercepted it and kissed her palm before engulfing it in his own scarred hand.

“My hair?”

“That was a bit more problematic. Your man here,” the doctor gestured at Faulkner, “refused to let us shave it, but we did have to cut some of it to get the tape out.”

Tears gathered in the corners of Cheyenne eyes, but she refused to let them fall. It was stupid to cry over something like that. She was alive, Faulkner was alive, her friends were alive. Her hair would grow back.

“It looks fine, Shy,” Falkner whispered in her hear. “It’s just shorter than it was. Trust me.”

Damn him for continuing to say that. She
did
trust him, but it was still scary not to see for herself. She bit her lip, then nodded at Faulkner. The smile that came over his face was all the reward Cheyenne needed. She’d walk through fire in order to see him smile at her like that. To know she pleased him.

The doctor continued speaking, “Your shoulder is going to take a bit longer to heal. You were lucky in that it was only a subluxation.” At the blank look in Cheyenne’s face, the doctor explained, “Sorry, that means it was only a partial dislocation. We didn’t have to do surgery to put it back in place, we just manipulated it here in the ER. That doesn’t mean it’s not going to hurt. We want to watch you carefully since it was dislocated for a long period of time. You’ll need to baby it for a while. There are some studies that show keeping it in a sling doesn’t really help it much, so just do what you can and be careful. If the sling helps, use it. If you get tired and need to take a break from it, do so. I’ve written out a prescription for some pain killers. I recommend that you use them for the first day or so, then you can wean yourself off of them.”

“No drugs,” Cheyenne insisted. “I hate the way they make me feel.”

Dude chuckled from beside her. “I have to agree with her in this. They really make her not herself, but I know if I ever need any information out of her, how to get it.”

“That’s not funny, Faulkner,” Cheyenne chided him.

“But it’s true.”

Ignoring Faulkner for the moment, Cheyenne turned back to the doctor. “When can I go home?”

“Today.”

Cheyenne sighed in relief.

“We have to get the paperwork in order and put you on the list for discharge, but you should be on your way in a couple of hours.”

Faulkner stuck his hand out for the doctor to shake. “Thanks for everything, Doc. I mean it.”

“You’re welcome.” He shook Faulkner’s hand then turned back to Cheyenne.

“You’re a very lucky lady, Cheyenne. You have quite the champion here. He wouldn’t leave your side and insisted on overseeing the removal of all that tape. I wouldn’t let him slip out of your grasp.”

Cheyenne looked up at Faulkner and smiled. “No way, he’s mine and I’m not letting him go.”

* * *

Cheyenne was dozing on the bed, waiting for the doctor to come back and give them the all clear. She was ready to get out of there.

She heard Faulkner say, “What the hell?” and she opened her eyes to see her mom and sister walk into her room.

“No, hell no. You aren’t staying.”

“Uh, we’re here to see my daughter,” Cheyenne’s mom said hesitantly.

“No you’re not, you’re here to upset her,” Faulkner retorted.

“Cheyenne, really. Who is this?” Karen sneered. “He obviously doesn’t have any manners. Should I call security to have him removed, Mother?”

Before Faulkner could say anything, Cheyenne spoke up. “Please, Karen, by all means, call security, but it’ll be to remove the two of you and not Faulkner.”

“Really Cheyenne, seriously. We’ve talked about this, you have to stop being a drama queen.”

“Why are you here?” Cheyenne asked, trying to scoot up in the bed.

Faulkner leaned over and helped her into a sitting position, Cheyenne spared him a quick smile in thanks before turning her attention back to her family.

“We’re here because you’re family,” her mom said, somehow sounding bored.

“Are you?” Cheyenne heard Faulkner growl from beside her. She put her hand on his and squeezed. She was thankful he was there, but she had to handle this herself.

“Of course we are! She’s my daughter and Karen’s sister.”

The silence in the room grew awkward. Cheyenne refused to break it. If they were here for a reason, they’d get to it soon enough.

“We saw on the news that you were kidnapped again.”

Cheyenne waited for her sister to get to the point.

“Seriously, it seems like your job is obviously putting you in danger, if you’d just find something a lot less dangerous, this wouldn’t keep happening to you.”

Cheyenne squeezed Faulkner’s hand as hard as she could. She could feel every muscle in his body tense at her sister’s words.

“How exactly is it my fault I got attacked when I was grocery shopping, Karen? And how exactly is it my fault that the ‘poor family,’ as you called them, if I recall correctly, felt the need to avenge their brothers and come after me? My job had nothing to do with this. I sit in a room and answer a telephone. That’s it.”

“But, Cheyenne, look at your sister,” her mom spoke up, obviously once again supporting Karen and not bothering to think about how much her words could hurt her other daughter. “She works for the justice system, she helps put bad guys behind bars, you just answer a phone.”

“Mom, she doesn’t put bad guys behind bars, the lawyers do. She answers phones and does all the dirty work for the lawyers who do the real work. How is her job any different from mine?”

“I’m fucking done with this,” Dude couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “Your daughter doesn’t ‘just answer phones,’ she is the lifeline for people who call needing help. Sometimes she’s the only thing between someone living and dying. She walks people through first aid, she gives comfort, she helps bring the police and paramedics to people who need it. She’s on the front lines every day working her ass off with no thanks and no rewards for it. There’s no ‘just’ about anything Cheyenne does. I’m fucking proud of her for what she does, but that’s not the fucking point here. As her
family
, you should’ve been at her side last night when she was brought in. You should be proud of her because she’s your flesh and blood, not because of what she does for a living. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

Dude heard both women gasp, but he continued.

“Cheyenne also told me she disowned you both because of the way you acted the last time you saw her. That means she’s done with you.
Done
. If she decides she wants to give you another chance, that’s up to her. Not you. She probably will, because she’s a big softy, but I’ll tell you this right now, if you ever disparage her again, you’ll never have another chance to talk to her. I’ll bar you from her life. I won’t allow her to be talked down to and I won’t allow you to hurt her any more than you already have. So leave. Both of you. Think about what you’re losing. If you don’t care, that’s on you, not Cheyenne.”

Cheyenne watched as Karen’s lips tightened. “Come on, Mother, if Cheyenne wants to hang out with this low-life, let her.”

Her mom took another look at Cheyenne and turned to follow her daughter out of the room without a word.

Dude put his thumb against Cheyenne’s chin and turned her face toward him. He looked into her eyes for a moment then sighed. “I’m sorry, Shy. Not sorry I told them off, but sorry you had to deal with that today of all days. Don’t listen to a word they say. You’re amazing. What you do is amazing. I’m crazy about every inch of you.”

“Thank you, Faulkner. I’m glad you were here.”

“You didn’t need me here, you held your own just fine, but I’m glad I was here too.”

Putting her so-called family behind her once and for all, Cheyenne knew they wouldn’t change. She’d lived her entire life trying to please them and hadn’t gotten anywhere. She’d probably cry about it later, in Faulkner’s arms, but for now she was over it.

“Can you check with the doctor and see how much longer it’ll be until we can leave?”

“Of course. I’ll be right back.”

“I’m okay. Really.”

“I know you are, Shy. I love you.”

Cheyenne smiled as Faulkner opened the door and checked the hallway for any sign of her family. Obviously not seeing them, he smiled back at her then closed the door behind him.

Cheyenne snuggled down into the bed, sliding her butt back down until she was lying flat again, and closed her eyes. Maybe she’d just take a short nap while she wanted for Faulkner to get back and get her out of here.

* * *

Cheyenne settled into the seat of Faulkner’s truck with a sigh. She was so glad to get out of the hospital it wasn’t funny. They’d exited through the back exit because, unfortunately, the media had camped out at the front doors. The entire story of her re-kidnapping and the subsequent bomb threat to her, as well as to an entire city block, was huge news. Not to mention the fact that the abductors were related to the men who’d done the same thing a few months back.

Cheyenne knew Faulkner wouldn’t let them get anywhere near her, and it allowed her to relax. He’d take care of her.

“Are you up to a short stop on the way home, Shy?”

Cheyenne looked over at Faulkner. He looked rumpled and tired, but she’d stop wherever he needed to with no questions. It didn’t matter that she was wearing another pair of borrowed scrubs and desperately wanted a shower. If Faulkner wanted to stop somewhere, she was okay with it.

“Of course. Stop wherever you need to. I’m fine.”

Dude leaned over and tagged Shy behind the neck and drew her to him gently, careful not to jostle her shoulder. “You
are
fine. And thank you.”

He let her go and started the truck. “I need to tell you something before we get home. You’ll find out soon enough, but I wanted to give you some warning.”

“What?” Cheyenne asked suspiciously.

“You’re moving in with me.”

“What? Faulkner! You can’t ask that already, it’s too soon!”

“I’m not asking, Shy. Remember? You told me that when we were in the basement of that damn building. I don’t ask. I tell.”

“Well, yeah, I kinda remember that, but Faulkner, this is soon.”

“It is, but you love me. I love you. I’ll never love anyone else. I’ll never let you love anyone else. So you’re moving in. We might as well start the rest of our life now. We’ve missed enough time together. I’m not letting you spend another damn night in anyone’s bed but mine.”

Cheyenne felt her insides melt. She pressed her lips together and tried not to cry. “I never thought I’d be here.”

“Where?”

“Here. With you. In a relationship where I’d feel comfortable enough to let someone make these kinds of decision for me. Where I didn’t have to worry about having a bad day at work, knowing I’d have someone who’d listen to me and comfort me. Where I didn’t have to compete for affection. Where I didn’t have to justify my actions to someone. I never thought I’d be this happy, Faulkner.”