Page 15 of Full Throttle

“I’m okay,” I croaking, my throat hurting with each syllable.

“Let’s get you upstairs.”

“What about my chicken wings?” I blurted.

Behind Mina, Leon looked to the sky. “I’m going to need to ask Garner who he uses for a chiropractor,” he grumbled.

I looked at his sister in confusion, and she shook her head. “Agent Garner looks up to Jesus a lot.”

“With his job, I can imagine why,” I muttered, unbuckling and wincing as the pain in my ribs flared.

“Careful, babe,” Mina warned.

“Here, let me carry you,” Leon suggested, directing his sister out of the way gently.

“They gave me crutches,” I said, giving him a look.

“You mean these?” Our heads snapped over to Dontell, who was holding the crutches. “Sorry, you can't use them until tomorrow.”

“Who said?” I snapped.

“Us,” the three of them snapped back.

Lee bent down. “Put your arms around my neck,” he ordered softly.

“You have to go up the stairs,” I noted, suddenly worried. “I’m no Cleo.”

The man looked me in the eye, his jaw tight again. “Stop being a brat. I already have one to deal with. I don’t need another.”

I smirked. “Is the detective a brat?”

He mumbled something under his breath before he moved, shoving his arms underneath me and pulling me from the car, bridal style. A small yelp left me as I linked my hands around his tattooed neck. Mina had a hand over her mouth, trying to contain her laughter. “Close that for me, sis,” Lee instructed as he passed, turning away from the door to go to the back where the stairs were.

“Will do!” she called to his back. I looked over his shoulder and she winked at me. “I’ll get your wings, Nikki!”

Man, I loved that woman. She and I were going to be great friends. I could feel it.

I looked back to Leon, studying his profile as he walked a steady pace with me in his arms. He wasn’t even breaking a sweat. Surprisingly, this position didn’t hurt.

“I didn’t mean to be a brat,” I said after a moment. “I’m not used to this—people taking care of me.”

He looked at me for a second and then back ahead of him. “I wasn’t either,” he said, shocking me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“When I first came to St. Louis, I was lost. Mina and I had gone through our shit, and I had no one,” he began. “Then, one night, I came here to Sullie’s. Jer happened to be behind the bar that night, and we started shooting shit back and forth. When the subject of racing came up, it seemed like fate. The rest was history.”

“You found your home here,” I whispered, filling in the blanks.

As he rounded the corner, he looked at me, stopping in his tracks. “Yeah, Nikki, I found my home here,” he whispered back.

A single tear slipped out of the corner of my eye as I smiled at him. The next words were supposed to say inside my head, but my lips put them out into the world. “I’m hoping I can do the same.”

“Well, home is where family is,” he said, looking away as he made his way to the stairs. “You have family here, and we’re going to take care of you,” he promised.

With that, he carried me up the stairs into the loft, where Dontell was waiting. He already made a place for me to lay on the couch, positioning it in front of the TV on the brick wall. Leon kicked the door shut.

“You want to shower first?” he guessed.

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