Page 20 of Black Bay Defender
Kong had implied something similar.
“She said it took almost two weeks for them to even wake up.” His sister gripped his arm. “I just wanted to warn you. You’ll need to be patient.”
Grady waited for a beat to see if she had anything more to add, and as his eyes roved over her, he finally noticed how pale she was, the bleakness in her gaze, and the tight pinch of her lips. Ah, hell. He was being a shitty big brother again. Lark was Paige’s friend, and his sister was hurting.
Pulling her into his arms, he hugged her tightly, as he kissed the top of her head. “She’ll heal,” he uttered, repeating the words that had become a litany in his head.
He felt Paige’s head bob against him and switching his hands to her arms, he pulled back slightly to look at her face. “Are you okay?”
A tear escaped the corner of her eye and she quickly swiped at it with her hand and offered him a watery smile. “It was hard, seeing her like that, but knowing she’ll heal…”
She let the sentence trail off, but no further words were necessary. Grady understood. Knowing Lark would heal made all the difference, made it bearable.
“Where’s your man?”
Honestly, Grady was rather surprised, with as protective as Jace was of Paige, that he wasn’t here hovering.
“I shooed him off. He’ll be back to pick me up when my shift ends.”
“When’s that?”
Paige consulted the face of the large clock on the wall. “About twenty minutes.”
“Do you want me to stay with you until he gets here?”
He was itching to get to Lark but if his sister needed him, he wouldn’t abandon her.
She shook her head. “Thank you, but no. I’m just cleaning up and restocking supplies. You don’t need to stay.”
“You’ll call me if you need me?”
The smile she shot him this time was a mixture of amusement and exasperation. “Now you sound like Jace. Yes, I’ll call you if I need you.” She made a shooing motion with her hands – probably exactly like she’d done to Jace – and said, “Now get. Go see Lark.”
Grady grinned in return. “Yes ma’am.”
Kong was waiting for him outside, and as the nearly seven-foot tall giant of a man fell into step beside him, Grady couldn’t help but wonder if the General hadn’t forgotten the security detail after all but was just assigning someone different to it.
That was okay, though. Lark was Kong’s best friend – his sister for all intents and purposes – and it was likely the man’s need to see her was just as powerful as Grady’s if not more so.
Kong motioned toward a waiting Jeep and they jumped inside, Kong behind the wheel, to speed off for the residential area of Black Bay.
With his room set up in an unused office of the admin building, Grady had never been to this part of the island.
The secure, gated community held three-story high apartment buildings of brick and stucco with private balconies. There were small yards with young trees, paved sidewalks, and low wrought iron fences. All well maintained and, by the looks of it, a nice little setup.
“This one’s Lark’s,” Kong informed him as the man whipped the Jeep into a parking spot out front. “First floor. She’s right across the hall from me.”
Grady nodded and climbed out of the Jeep, eager to get inside. Kong, just as eager, didn’t make him wait.
“Do you have a key to her place?” As close as Lark and Kong were, it wouldn’t surprise him.
“Don’t need one.”
As they approached the door, Grady was expecting to see a keypad where Kong could just enter a code since he’d said he didn’t need a key, so it surprised him when the man simply twisted the knob to walk inside.
That surprise must have shown in his expression because the big man grinned and clapped Grady on the back. “No reason to lock our shit up. We don’t steal from each other.”
“What about new people coming on base? Strangers?”
