Page 24 of Flashback

So the man did suspect something, but he had to play it carefully. While the rage dissipated, Dakota caught his breath. He looked around the waiting room. Chairs were knocked over and scattered. An elderly lady with a cane sat wide-eyed in the corner.

And right by the door that led to the emergency department stood Allie.

Great. Just when she was starting to trust him enough to see him as something more than a violent man, she’d witnessed this. The accusation in her face said it all.

To her, he would only ever be a broken man with a temper.

FIVE

Allie saton the hot curb next to Dakota in front of the hospital. She wasn’t a firefighter like Emily. She had no clue how to douse the fire raging in the man next to her. The heat radiated off his body as the sun baked them both. An older woman with obviously dyed black hair and a bright green top with huge purple flowers walked past with the man that must love her—or at least love her enough to wear a polo in the same obnoxious green. Allie tried to ignore the woman’s obvious stare. The paper sack with her prescription cough medicine gave her something to hold at least. She twisted the bag, unsure how to bring up what’d just happened.

The last time Allie had seen Dakota using his fists like that, it had been his own brother on the other end of it. She’d been horrified. But this time…well, this time it was completely different. She’d almost cheered when Dakota had got that last punch in before the deputy pulled the men apart. Too bad the cop hadn’t thrown Ray in jail then and there. Instead, the deputy had sent Ray right back to his family.

He may have tried to keep his voice low, but on her way back to her exam room, she’d heard the threats he’d muttered to Jen.

What have you been telling people?

Nothing, Ray. I swear.

If I hear anything?—

You won’t. The boys are sorry. They…just got lost, is all.

You better keep them in line, or else they’ll be in a lot more?—

Of course, the nurse had come around the corner then and called Allie back to her own room.

When she’d finished with the nurse practitioner, she’d tried to talk to Dakota about it. He wouldn’t look her in the eye, but he did manage to release his clenched jaw enough to say, “Emily is on her way to pick us up.” Then he’d walked out here and sat under the blazing sun, lost in his own thoughts. He hadn’t said a word since. And Allie didn’t know how to break the silence between them.

One thing was sure. There was a lot more to this man than she’d ever realized. Maybe she could start there.

“Kota, the way you stood up for those boys—” It made her wish she’d waited for someone like that. Someone who protected others and didn’t run away at the first sign of trouble, casting her or anyone else in their way aside. “It was?—”

Dakota stood and walked a few steps away. “It was useless.”

“No, it wasn’t. You barely know these boys, but you stood up for them. And the way you carried them through the burning forest…” Well, whatever he’d been in the past, he’d been quite the hero today. “I just want to say I’m sorry I didn’t believe you at first about changing.”

“Probably haven’t.” He shook his head, his mouth set in a firm line, jaw clenched tight and pulsing, like he was grinding his molars.

Just as Allie was going to say more, his intense blue stare narrowed in on her. “The team doesn’t know.” He released a long, slow breath like he’d just gotten something huge off his chest.

“What?” Allie tried to make sense of what was obviously a big deal to him.

“The hotshots. They know I was a cop. Well, some of them. Maybe. But…they don’t know about the rest. About rehab.”

Oh. That. “Why are you trying to hide it?”

“I’m not. But…I have a lot to prove here. If they knew I’m an addict?—”

“Dakota, you went to rehab. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Maybe. But I don’t want to be defined by it. It’s bad enough everyone I knew back in Benson looks at me with judgment. I let down my team there. But I have another chance here. Understand?”

Oh, she could understand all right. The judgment. The guilt and shame. For a moment, she was back at that place?—

His warm hand grabbed hers, pulling her out of the memory before it could suck her under. “And I’m not asking you to lie. It’s just…could you keep my history, about rehab and getting kicked off the SWAT team, between us?”

“I…”

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