Page 69 of Every Which Way

“Keep holding on.”

“You’ve been stabbed. I should be helping you.”

“Partners, remember? We help each other.” He looked a little sad.

The same way she felt sad that he didn’t know Jesus like she did. How was she supposed to tell him? She’d tried, but he always shut her down. She wanted to respect his wishes and not put a wedge between them, not make him feel as if he was letting her down—or not living up to her standard.

“Partners.”

“Until Jax shows up and I don’t exist.”

“As if I’d forget about you.” She touched her hands to his cheeks, but one had the phone in it, so he ended up with her phone to his ear.

He said, “Copy that. Tell them to hurry.”

She stared into those dark eyes. “You’ve seen the worst the world has to offer. You have every right to be angry and want revenge on everyone who wronged you. But you’re here, helping me keep Maizie safe. Working cases.”

“I lived in the darkness until you found me. Now, it’s time to live in the light.”

He was working his way back.

She had no doubt then that, eventually, he’d see faith the way she did. “Lots of people don’t think what I do is in the light. All we see is death and destruction.”

“Bringing light to the darkness. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be doing?”

“We’re supposed to be catching that woman.” Except she couldn’t breathe all the way, and people around them might be dying. “We need to help them.”

“Here.” The long haired bartender stood on their side of the counter and set a kit down. “Gauze? Until the paramedics arrive?”

“I don’t need help,” Ramon said. “What’s your name?”

“Cliff.” The bartender pulled on rubber gloves. “Sure, you don’t need help. That’s why you’ve got a knife in you.”

“Gauze, Cliff,” was all Ramon said.

The bartender pulled a packet open and held out a square.

Ramon whipped his hand up and slid out the knife, doing a good job of keeping it straight on the way out. He let out a breath, grabbed the gauze, and pressed it against the wound. “Thanks.” He looked at her. “Give me your hand.”

He placed it over the gauze. “Lean. I need pressure on it.”

“One day, a woman is going to fall hopelessly in love with you, and I’ll be there to say ‘I told you so.’”

Ramon grinned, lines of stress around his eyes. “We’ll see.”

Cliff grunted. “Figured you guys were together.”

“We’re friends. Partners. Siblings. All of it.” They’d pretended to be a couple for the purposes of bringing down Roxanne. They needed to know if Miller had caught her. Hopefully, Bruce was outside helping with that. The people around them needed medical help, but she could hear sirens in the distance.

Ramon’s lips curled up slightly. “What she said. Family you don’t know you need, then you realize you can’t live without it.”

“Why?” Kenna looked at Cliff, her mind connecting random pieces of this puzzle of a case and coming up with an odd conclusion that was probably nothing. Unless it was something. “You know anything about couples and motel rooms?”

Cliff frowned. “What?”

“Tell me.” She shifted so she wasn’t leaning so close to Ramon, kept pressure on the wound, and cleared her throat, looking at Cliff. “Maybe you tell couples who come in what motel they should stay at that you recommend, and when they’re picked up, you get a cut of it.”

Ramon flinched. “Seriously?”

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