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Marley leaned over the hospital bed to hear him more clearly. “Pardon? I didn’t catch that.”
Henry scowled and grabbed at the oxygen mask strapped over his nose and mouth. “Fuckin’ ridiculous thing. Makes me sound like Darth Vader.”
She bit her lip to keep from laughing. “I’m glad to see you’re still so salty.”
“And I’m just glad to still be seeing at all. Especially when I’ve got a gorgeous lady to look at.” He gave her an adoring wink, squeezed his fingers around her hand weakly.
“Henry, you’re bad. You’re lying there half-dead and you’re still flirting with me.” She looked a helluva lot better than she had a few hours ago though. After being released on scene, Ivy and Walker had taken her back to their place so she could clean up and change into fresh clothes.
He grimaced. “I know it. But I guess the devil isn’t ready for this devil dog yet, because I’m not dying anymore.” He looked over at Grady, busy writing in a chart on the other side of the room. “Ain’t that right, Mendoza?”
“That’s one-hundred percent accurate,” Grady answered with a smile.
She’d found him soon after arriving at the hospital. Warwick was still being prepped for surgery and they wouldn’t let her see him until he came out of recovery. She’d needed a distraction and been anxious about Henry. Grady had let her into the room for a short visit, providing Henry didn’t get too tired.
“Good,” she said, cheered by the dramatic change in his appearance and status. “Because this devil dog kinda makes my day every time I come into work, so he needs to get back there A-freaking-SAP.”
His wrinkled cheeks flushed. Actually turned pink as he looked away, and she was ecstatic to see it. “Aw, go on.”
“Nope. It’s the truth.”
He cleared his throat. Finally looked at her again. “So. Any news on the asshole?”
She huffed out a laugh. She hadn’t planned to bring any of this up, but he was alert and obviously curious. “Oh, Henry, have I got a story for you.”
His watery blue eyes widened. “What, tell me.”
“It’s long. And boring, you probably—”
“Young lady, you know damn well I've got nowhere to be, just like I know whatever you're holding back is juicy as hell. Now gimme the goods."
“All right. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She glanced at Grady, who was watching her with interest, and told them everything that had happened, beginning with Walker’s call.
“Holy shitballs,” Henry said into the silence when she’d finished, looking stunned. “And you took the first asshole out with an M4?”
“Two shots, center mass.” It still didn’t seem real.
He squeezed her hand with surprising strength. “Every Marine is—”
“First and foremost a rifleman. Yeah. But Henry, you have no idea how scared I was. Not to shoot him, but scared of hitting Warwick.” They both still had to meet with the FBI. Maybe the CIA too, along with whichever UK officials were going to be involved in the case. Everything was a tangled, confusing mess.
Marley didn’t even want to think about any of that. Right now, she was focused solely on making sure Warwick was okay. Everything else would have to wait.
Henry frowned at her. “Of course you were scared. We’re all scared in combat, don’t let anyone shit you about that. But you used your training and got the job done. That’s all that matters.” His blue eyes glistened. “I’m proud of you, Marine.”
“Aww, jeez, Henry,” she whispered, a lump in her throat. He had sort of become the grandfather she’d never had.
“So,” he said after a minute, watching her thoughtfully. “He’s the one?”
“Yes. He’s the one.” She was done fighting it. There was no way she could walk away from him now.
“Okay. But he better treat you right, or he’ll have to deal with a world of hurt from us. Right, Mendoza?”
“That’s affirm,” Grady answered, winking at her.
Henry sighed and relaxed against his pillow, closing his eyes. The visit had drained him visibly.
She glanced over at Grady, and he gave her a subtle nod toward the door. Time to go.
“You rest up now,” she told Henry, leaning over to kiss his forehead. “I expect to see you sitting up and jabbering away at me next time I come through this door.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured, a faint smile on his lips.
Grady walked her out. “There’s a quiet waiting room down on the second floor if you want to wait in there. Bit more private for you. Ev’s on her way, FYI. Should be here in about twenty minutes or so.”
He must have contacted her. “Thank you,” she whispered, throwing her arms around him. He was so great. And it was beyond wonderful that her best friend was marrying someone so amazing.
“Yeah, of course,” he said, giving her a quick hug and then stepping back. “I need to check on another patient, but I’ll look in on you later to see how you’re holding up.”
“Okay. See you later.”
She found the waiting room and reluctantly switched on her phone. As expected, a barrage of texts and voicemails lit up her screen. Decker and the twins, all demanding to know what was going on and if she was okay, whether she needed anything, what was happening with Warwick.
She answered Decker first. He’d volunteered to come with her to the hospital, but she’d wanted to decompress without his brooding intensity hovering over her. Especially when things were already so tense between him and Warwick. After that, she contacted both the twins, reassuring them she was okay, and promised to call when things settled down.
She had just sent the last message when Everleigh came through the door. Her bestie sailed over to engulf her in a warm, loving hug she felt all the way to the marrow of her bones. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Me too. Thanks for coming.”
“Of course.”
They sat down, and though she was exhausted and tired of talking about it, she absolutely needed to fill Everleigh in.
Everleigh shook her head, face pale. No doubt the story had reminded her of what she’d gone through at the concert just a few months ago. “Mar, I’m so sorry.”
She nudged her, frowning. “It’s not your fault.”
“I know, but... Any update on Warwick yet?”
“No, but Grady’s going to let them know I’m in here so they can update me as soon as he’s out of surgery.” She counted her blessings that she wasn’t sitting here waiting to find out whether he was going to make it or not. But he’d already been through so damn much pain and trauma. She didn’t want him to have to live with permanent damage to his leg on top of everything else.
“Good.” Ev blew out a breath and leaned her head back against the wall. Then looked over at her. “So you and he are...”
“In love. Yeah.”
A big grin lit up Everleigh’s face. “Yes! Oh, I just knew it. Who said it first?”
“He did.”
“Called it.”
Marley raised an eyebrow. “Oh, did you?”
“Yep.” She gave her a dry look. “Mar, the man came halfway across the globe just to catch a glimpse of you from afar without intending to ever let you know.” She snorted. “Please, it was so obvious.”
She laughed and it felt so good. All of this did. Having Everleigh beside her. Her brother nearby. The threat all over. And Warwick in good hands on the operating table right now.
They talked a while more, then she fell asleep for a bit, her head resting on Everleigh’s shoulder. Her bestie’s hair smelled like green apples and she made a mental note to find out what brand of shampoo it was as she drifted off.
She snapped awake when someone else came in the room. Blinked in confusion at the nurse standing there. Light brown skin, tight dark brown curls and amazing sea-green eyes. “Hi, Ev. Marley? I’m Molly, Grady told me where to find you. Just wanted to let you know that the surgery went well and Mr. James is awake and in recovery.”
She expelled the breath she’d been holding, relief hitting her hard enough that she suddenly felt weak. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. He’ll be brought up to the third floor in about forty minutes. You can visit him then.”
“Perfect.” She’d already waited well over a year for him. She supposed she could handle another forty minutes.
****
Warwick lay in the hospital bed sorting through his thoughts while a line dripped pain medication and antibiotics into his veins. His thigh still burned like fire but the bullet had missed the bone, and more importantly, the femoral artery.
The surgeon had told him he had a partial hairline fracture of the shaft of the femur from the shockwave of the bullet. And that he would possibly suffer permanent loss of strength and nerve damage there.
It was a far cheerier outcome than he’d been expecting. And he’d been through much worse before during his recovery after the explosion.
Yates’s and Collingwood’s betrayal cut deep. All he could hope was that they would both receive the maximum sentences for their crimes.
The door opened. He glanced over, a tidal wave of emotions crashing over him when Marley walked in.
She gave him a wobbly smile that tugged at his heart, and hurried toward him. “Hey.”
He reached up. Wrapped his arms around her as she bent down to hug him, and held her close. “Hi, pet.”
She squeezed him hard, shoved her face into the curve of his neck and drew in an unsteady breath. Her shoulders jerked.
He closed his eyes, his throat tightening as he drew her closer. “I’m alright. We’re both alright. It’s all goin’ to be okay now.”
She nodded, struggled to get control, her grip around him almost bruising, making his bashed ribs burn.
“It’s alright, pet,” he whispered. “Christ, I love you.”
“L-love you too.” She eased back, wiped away the tears on her cheeks to peer down at him with concerned brown eyes. “How do you feel?”
“Lucky to be alive.” He reached for her hand. Curled his fingers around it. “You saved my life, Mar.”
She broke eye contact, started to shake her head.
“Aye, pet, you did.” She amazed him. The courage and strength it had taken for her to do what she’d done...
“I was terrified that I had hit you too. For a moment there, I thought I had. Until you threw him off you, I couldn’t tell.” She put a hand to her chest, blew out a breath.
“You were incredible. And I’m still breathing right now because of it.”
She shifted to set her hip on the edge of his bed, clearing her throat. “Who the hell were those guys?”
He sighed, knowing how confused she must be about everything. “The first one was Simon Ellard, a former SAS teammate of mine. He was a fuckup and a criminal, even back then. We crossed swords several times when we were deployed in the Middle East together. He was always cuttin’ corners, taking the easy way instead of the right way, and had no discipline. Always talkin’ shite and corrupting blokes around him.
“When I caught him tryin’ to smuggle civilian contraband into his barracks that he and a few of his men had stolen on a mission, I refused to let it go. I reported him and his unit, provided a statement used to prosecute him later. There was bad blood between us after that.” Although he hadn’t realized just how bad until today.
“And the second guy?”
“Roland Yates. MI6 intelligence officer who worked closely with my commandin’ officer, Collingwood. It was them I overheard the night of the op.”
Anger hardened in her eyes. “What did they say?”
“They were talkin’ about Grey. I heard enough to make me suspicious that they’d both known where he was two days before informing anyone else. Time that would have allowed us to act and catch him off guard.”
“Instead, he planted the bomb that nearly killed you.”
“No, it’s worse than that.”
“Worse?”
“Yates was worried that I’d overheard too much of his conversation with Collingwood. He made up a shite story about getting last-minute intel on Grey at a different location than our original target. He called in another team to send over there, and sent mine to the original, knowing full well that Grey might have planted a bomb there. Knowing full well that I would be the first through the door and that it would cover his ass if I died during the breach.”
“Oh my God.” Horror and outrage flooded her expression. “That son of a bitch!” She drew a breath to calm herself. “So if he was hoping you would die, why wait until now to come after you? Why not right after you came out of the coma?”
He’d been thinking about that too. “They must have been tryin’ to figure out what I’d heard or how much, and whether I remembered after I regained consciousness. They both questioned me at length about everythin’ that night leading up to the explosion. But at that point I didn’t remember shite about what they’d said. There was just this...feelin’ at the back of my mind that somethin’ wasn’t right.”
He shook his head. “Yates must have been suspicious all along, maybe thought I was lyin’. He finally decided to have me watched, then at some point he wanted to make sure I couldn’t reveal their secret. Maybe even Collingwood was in on all this too. Time will tell.” It sickened him.
She shook her head, looking distressed. “So they were both in on all this? Trying to find and kill you here, outside of the UK because it what, might make it look less suspicious?”
“Looks that way right now. Easier to wash their hands of it like that.” He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. How the hell had he ever imagined he could live without her? There was no way. It would have killed him in the end. “I gave my official statement to the sheriff already. Shite’s going down at MI6 and the Home Office right now, I’ll wager.”
“It better be. And what about the threat? Are you sure it’s over and no one else is out there gunning for you?”
He nodded. “It was over the moment Teagan shot Yates. No one else involved will want to take more heat than they already are now that word’s out. MI6 will be movin’ to arrest Collingwood as we speak.”
“Then what about the drive-by at my place? Do you think it’s connected?”
“I don’t know, to be honest.” He frowned. “I thought the suspect car was the same one I’d seen earlier in town that night, but... I don’t know.” Maybe it hadn’t been the same car. Maybe feeling like he’d been followed and the shooting weren’t connected at all. Hell, he hoped the investigation would piece all that together.
She rubbed her temple, looking tired. “I just can’t take it all in. It’s too much. How are you so calm about it?”
“Because I know they’ll get what’s comin’ to them.” He reached up to take her face in his hands. Gazed up into her beautiful brown eyes. “I meant what I said before. I love ye, my canny lass. Always will.”
She swallowed, blinked fast. “I love you too. So much.”
“I know I broke your heart and your trust before, and—”
“Stop. You don’t have to keep apologizing. I believe you now about the danger you felt before.” She gave him a wry smile. “Obviously. So I understand why you stayed away.”
He grinned for a second, then got serious again. It was important he say this aloud, make sure she understood he wasn’t leaving her ever again. “I want to stay here with you. I never had family. Not really. Never felt like I belonged anywhere. But I know I belong with you. I want to make a life together, if you’ll still have me with me gammy face and leg.”
She leaned her cheek into his palm and grasped his wrist, her eyes as soft as her smile. “I want that too. And yeah, I’ll still have you. I’m pretty fond of your face, gammy or not, and I guess I’ll learn to tolerate the leg.”
Every muscle in his body eased. Chest loosening, limbs relaxing. He felt like he was floating. And it wasn’t from the medication, even though it was definitely working because the pain in his leg was down to a hot throb instead of a five-alarm fire. It was all Marley. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She bent forward, brushed a kiss across his lips and straightened. “So, what’s the plan after you get out of here?”
“You. You’re my plan.” For the rest of his life.
