Page 45 of Watch Over Me

James's only thought was to get Eddie to safety, so while the officers walked further into the apartment, he zeroed in on the closet door on his left.

As he watched, it opened slowly, and Eddie's gaze locked with his.

Breath caught in James's lungs, but before he could find his voice, a few things happened all at once—Eddie started to get out of the closet, the door at the end of the corridor opened and slammed into the wall as someone ran out of there, and the officers started shouting as they raised their guns.

The sight of a weapon pushed James into action. He caught Eddie and rolled them onto the floor, covering him as best as he could.

There were two shots and more shouting, but all of James's focus was on Eddie—his body underneath him, his quick breathing against the side of James's neck, his hands clutching James's sides.

Finally, the loud noises quieted down, but James didn't lift his head until he heard Ryan right by his side.

"It's over now," his partner said, squatting a step away. "There's no danger, you can let him go."

James looked down at Eddie, who was staring at him with shining eyes and pupils blown wide.

"Okay. I'm getting up now," James whispered, slowly sliding his hand out from under Eddie's head and pulling back. Eddie halted his movement when he didn't let go of James's jacket, but dropped his hands quickly when he realized it.

Once back on his feet, James reached down to pull Eddie up as well. Glancing around to survey the space, he saw Lavon kneeling on the ground with his hands behind his head and another guy, who was lying down, cradling his bleeding arm against his chest. Ryan was fine, and so were both officers—one of them kept watch over the detainees, and the other was talking on the radio as he stood a few feet away.

"James," Eddie whispered, and James turned back towards him in a blink of an eye. "You're bleeding."

There was indeed some blood on his hand, along with a few bruised knuckles. James had protected Eddie's head when they went down, so his hand had taken the brunt of the fall.

"It's nothing," he said, stretching out his fingers. It stung, and he was going to feel it tomorrow, but that hardly mattered. "Merely a few scratches."

Eddie curled his fingers around James's wrist and lifted his hand gently before his breath started to come faster.

"Hey, hey," James whispered, putting his other hand on the side of Eddie's neck. "You're safe now. We're all safe."

As he talked, he rubbed his thumb over Eddie's skin, and Eddie leaned into the caress as he closed his eyes and obviously tried to control his breathing.

Catching the gaze of one of the officers, James tilted his head towards the door in a silent question.

The officer nodded. "Take a few minutes, then I'll come get your statements."

James led Eddie out of the apartment and onto the parking lot, with Ryan right behind them. Jeremy and Martinez were there as well, keeping watch by the police cruiser with theguy they'd caught earlier still in the backseat. They moved as one at the sight of Eddie but must have seen something on Eddie's face—or maybe James's—because they paused and stayed back.

Eddie was gripping his hand tight as he followed James to the car and sat in the passenger seat, half in, half out of the vehicle, clearly trying to keep his breath measured and even.

James didn't mind holding his hand through it all—hell, he couldn't imagine letting him go now. He wanted to stick by Eddie and keep him safe, always. There was no place he'd rather be and no better job to have.

"That was nuts," Eddie said after a while, staring at the pavement before his feet.

"Yes, it was." James squatted in front of him and met his gaze. "But it's over now. You're with us, and you're safe. I'm not—We're not going to let anything happen to you."

Again. But he swallowed that part down, because that can of worms was for another day. Not here, not now.

"Is Robert okay?" Eddie asked, eyes widening suddenly.

"Yes," James assured him quickly. "Jeremy talked to him earlier, so he can tell you himself, if you want?"

Eddie nodded, so James used his free hand to motion for Jeremy to come closer.

"You talked to Robert?" Eddie asked as soon as Jeremy approached the car.

"I did," he confirmed. "At first, we notified him what happened, since we suspected this might be an extortion attempt and wanted him to be prepared in case they contacted him. He was obviously very worried about you, so I called him a few minutes ago to let him know you were safe, and that this whole mess was over."

At that moment, another police cruiser and an ambulance pulled up onto the lot. Martinez walked up to where they were and all five of them watched the events unfold for thenext little while.

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