I sit in the parked vehicle with my hands firmly on the steering wheel, letting what she said sink in. Krissy didn’t think I was coming back. I held this woman in my arms while she cried her heart out all night, and I promised that I’d keep her safe. The first woman I’ve even been slightly interested in for more than a night of fun in bed, since Arielle.
I may not have been able to do a goddamned thing before they killed her, but I wasn’t so young or inexperienced that I couldn’t steal a gun and make sure they joined her in the ground. And I would have done the same for Krissy, if I didn’t know the fuckers were already going to get what was coming to them.
I would have traveled the ends of the earth to find her after the night we shared. And Krissy didn’t think that I would come back for her?
I turn off the engine and face her. “Just for the record. The cameras were on at the safe house. I watched you determined to leave on your own. So I let you, but had the guards follow you as far as the bus station to make sure that you weren’t being coerced, that you were really leaving on your own, and that you were safe. And then I let you go.”
She looks up at me, holding back the tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Cole. It seems like a lifetime ago, even though it was only months. I honestly didn’t think you were coming back. If I had thought you were, maybe I would have stayed; who knows.”
“I was coming back, did come back.”
Krissy shrugs, but her eyes belie all the raw emotion that she does not want to convey. “Maybe it was just too soon to even think about anything from an emotional point of view. Probably for the same reason you didn’t let things go any farther that night. My mind needed time to process everything that had happened. I needed to get a fresh start, make a life of my own before jumping into a relationship. I’m working on that. Well, was working on it before everything that happened at the bar. I have a good job and am making friends. I’m healthy and happy here in Deadwood.”
“I’m glad that you’re getting your life together, Krissy, if that’s what you’re doing.” He runs a hand through his hair. “How the hell does that translate into jumping into bed with a man who’s shaking Kenny down? That I can’t understand or forgive with my best friend in the hospital fighting for his life.”
She glares at me with glistening eyes. “That was just rude and uncalled for. I am not sleeping with anyone, thank you very much, especially that evil bastard. You clearly don’t think much of me, and I hardly deserve that.”
Whatever we could have been to each other may be over. Perhaps I should have chased after her, told her how I was feeling, and that even though it was only one night, it was more than that to me, but maybe she’s right. It was just too much too soon after everything that she had been through. “You’re right. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to trust me enough to tell me what’s going on then.”
She swipes at a tear that’s managed to fall despite her efforts and touches my arm gently. I watch the emotion flowing through her eyes as she assesses me, trying to determine if I’m trustworthy with her secrets or not. She inhales a deep breath. “You have to promise me that you won’t do anything to put my family in jeopardy if I tell you everything. If I trust you with this information. No matter what, Cole. You promise?”
My trained eyes watch the rapidly beating pulse at the base of her neck. Dammit. How I could have been so stupid? I already know before she tells me. I should have known it from the start instead of jumping to unfounded conclusions, especially after what she’s been through. The heat of the moment with your best friend lying in a pool of his own blood takes a toll on your assessment skills, but I can see it clearly now. “Tell me what’s going on. Is Mad Dog or someone else blackmailing you, coercing you with something more than what you’ve told me?”
She shakes her head in denial, lying right to my face while her eyes fill with doubt and uncertainty about who she can really trust and those she can’t. Just like she did not that many months ago when her entire world was filled with no one but those who wanted to sell her for a buck. I wasn’t one of them; I was the good guy. She can trust me but still she wavers.
I wait for a moment, but that’s all I’ll allow. “The truth, Krissy.”
Krissy swallows. “I don’t even know what to call this thing, Cole. It happened so damn fast tonight. I’m still processing everything Mad Dog did and said to me.”
I capture her eyes with mine knowing there’s more to this story now. “Just slow down and tell me. Don’t leave one thing out. I want to hear every single detail. It’s the only way that my team and I can help.”
She inhales a deep, shuddering breath. “My brother used to work for Mad Dog. That’s how I met the bastard. I didn’t really care much for him, but I was used to him being around. So I didn’t tell you a lie; it’s just I knew who he was. Long story, but he snatched me one day, and you know the rest of that particular story, but there’s so much more than that. When I was captive, I heard some real horror stories about him and the people he works for. A bad family.”
“What didn’t you tell me that night while you were in my arms?”
“I did, except the fact that I knew him. I didn’t want you to think poorly of me for bad judgment or hell, maybe for a number of things that I already blamed myself for. Everything that I told you that night at the safe house was true. After you left that day, I got a hold of my brother and told him that Mad Dog and his friends kidnapped me but I got free.”
My eyebrows raise. “I wasn’t expecting that. I’m glad you were up front with him.”
Krissy nods. “He was so angry, Cole. He wanted to kill them. It took me a long time to talk him down, and I finally convinced him just to leave and get away from those people. He went underground for a while to try to get his life together, but then decided to visit me here in Deadwood. He said it would be a nice trip and do him some good.
I watch her pupils and the pulse on the side of her neck. “You knew the people who kidnapped you? You left that part out at the safe house because you thought I’d look down on you? Krissy, so many women find themselves in that exact position. I see it every day. I wouldn’t have thought any less of you, and I don’t now.”
Her eyes lower, and she swallows before looking up at me again. “I had seen them hanging out with my brother a couple of times, before they snatched me; that’s all. But enough to know that they were bad news, if I’m being honest. I should have been more on guard.”
“You didn’t know. And you are not to blame. They are.”
“I had no idea these were the same people who were shaking Kenny down. I swear it. I had never heard Mad Dog ever talk about Kenny or this town at all when they had me captive. Kenny never mentioned a word that anything like that was going on to me either, but Chester told me. Chester told everyone who works at the casino about everything.”
“What’s the guy’s real name? The one who shot Kenny?” I ask.
Her fingers twist in her lap. “I’ve never heard him referred to as anything else but Mad Dog. He runs drugs and girls for the Mafia. I didn’t know they were into shaking people down for money too. Well, I’ve obviously heard that Mafia do that, but not in this area, or I never would have settled here. And now they've found my brother. All because of me. He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t to visit me. They’re going to kill him if I don’t go back to Mad Dog tomorrow night. Like I said, I don’t have a choice. I have to go, Cole.”
My jaw tightens at the thought of her anywhere near these fuckers and the danger involved. “And you think you’re going to waltz in there, give yourself up, and your brother will go free? These men don’t work that way.”
Krissy audibly swallows. “Because what other choice do I have? Let them kill my brother without even trying to save him? I can’t do that. I won’t do that!”
I snake my hand around the back of her neck, letting the silky strands play over my skin while tilting her to meet my gaze because this woman has called to my dominant side since the very first night I had her in my arms. “This isn’t your problem anymore. It’s mine.” I stroke a finger gently down the side of her cheek. “Understand, doll?”
She nods, and her cheeks color at the pet name I gave her with my arms wrapped around her that very first and only night we spent together. “What are we going to do? They’re expecting me to show up. I can’t risk my brother’s life.”
I press a finger to her lips. “Shh… We’ll get your brother out, Krissy. I promise.”
Her fingers grasp around my arm. “I don’t know what I would have done without you and your friends months ago or now. It seems every time we meet, I bring trouble to your door.”
I crush her mouth with the intensity of my desire before relinquishing her from my hold. My body misses the heat of her touch the moment that I do because not one damn bit of flame has gone out in that fierce attraction that we share. “We’ll get it sorted. But right now, I need to see how Kenny is doing and help Eileen.”
“Of course,” she says as I climb out and come around to get her on the other side of the vehicle. I should at least try to maintain a distance, keep my hands to myself, but instead my hand finds the small of her back as I guide her into the emergency room entrance of the hospital.
The young woman at the desk checks his name. “Are you family?”
“My brother,” I say without missing a beat. He may not be blood, but he’s the closest thing to a brother that I have except for Nate and the rest of my bodyguard crew.
The receptionist is perched behind a glass window and gestures down the hall as she reaches for a ringing phone. “Elevator to the left to the second-floor family waiting area.”
Krissy takes my hand and squeezes as we head to the elevator. “He’s going to be okay. You kept him alive, and because of that he’s going to make it. He has to pull through.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat and the tightness in my chest because she hasn’t seen the internal damage these fucking weapons can cause, shredding arteries, veins, and organs critical to staying alive. We follow the receptionist’s directions and find Eileen curled up in a big green recliner with her head on her knees when we walk in. “Eileen?”
Kenny’s wife lifts her face, and tears stream down her mascara-streaked cheeks as she gets out of the chair and runs into my arms. “Brenda from the casino called and told me everything that happened, and then they had to transport him here because of the severity. I didn’t know if you would find us,” Eileen says.
I hold her, just rocking the love of Kenny’s life because no words come, just a deep-seated hurt and hope that my dearest friend in the world will make it out alive and live to see another day.
“Uncle Cole!”
I turn as Maddie and Colton race from the door of the waiting room over to me and their mom. Maddie’s eyes are as tear-stained as her mom’s, but Colton’s face is just mottled and red. I pull them into the hug and hold my little family tight for a very long time before wiping Maddie’s tears.
My eyes stay connected with both of them. “This is a great hospital. Your dad has health and age on his side, and a hell of a lot of reasons to pull through. He’s one of the strongest men I know. He’ll fight like hell to get back to you guys and your mom, okay?”
I turn to their mom. “Eileen, you know Krissy? Maddie, Colton, Krissy works at the casino with your dad. She’s also a friend of mine,” I tell them, watching Krissy’s eyes flicker and soften with emotion for the man who she apparently hasn’t known long but means the world to me.
The surgeon walks in, and my chest tightens as he pulls off his face mask and looks to each of us with an expression that can’t be good. “Family of Kenneth Bradford?”
We all nod at once.
The surgeon focuses on Eileen as he speaks. “We were able to get the bullet out. He had some internal injury, but we repaired it and we’re pretty sure there was no other damage as a result of the impact. But that doesn’t mean he’s out of the woods yet. He’s still what we consider critical. An impact like that throws your body into shock, and it’s going to take time before we know which way this turns. He’s touch and go right now.”
I hold Eileen and the kids tight as they absorb the surgeon’s update while Eileen cries softly against my chest. “He’s in ICU, and we’re going to keep him there until we see an improvement that I’m comfortable with. One of the nurses will be in shortly to show you to the ICU waiting area and give you an update on visiting policies and such. It’s in His hands now,” he says, looking skyward before leaving the room.
Waiting is excruciating. Shortly is not so short, and two and a half hours later we’re still waiting for someone to come and take us to the ICU waiting room after sending the kids down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. A movement draws my eyes to the door. Nate walks in and heads straight for me. “How’s Kenny?” he asks, pulling me in for a quick man hug and clapping me on the back as I meet him halfway across the room.
“He came through the surgery fine, but it’s touch and go right now. We’re still waiting for them to move us to another waiting room. We’re all anxious to see him.”
Eileen turns to Nate. “I’m Eileen, Kenny’s wife. Thanks for coming.”
I turn to her. “This is Nate. He’s the one who’s going to help me hunt those bastards down and make every single one of them pay for what they’ve done.”