Page 78 of The Last Dance You Saved
I wouldn’t just kill them. I’d destroy them first for making her relive it.
My head jerked up as Noah slid through the gravel to join us in the shadows. He quickly assessed the situation, face grim as he spoke into his two-way mic. “Shit. Rafe’s hit. I’m taking him inside and calling an ambulance.”
“I don’t need an ambulance. It’s a shitty-ass scrape. Why the hell aren’t you with my daughter and Lauren?!”
“Parker stayed with them and the wedding party. The shots weren’t aimed at them, Rafe, but we had them take cover until they received the all-clear from us.”
Noah’s eyes fell to Sadie trembling in my arms, face tear-stained, and his expression darkened, matching the rage that was boiling inside me.
“I need to get you inside,” he said. I gave him a curt nod, and he turned, leading the way with his gun as we skated along the side of the house toward the front door.
I kept Sadie next to the house, blocking her from the world. The more she shook, the more her tears fell, and the more my insides burned.
As we approached the front, Noah put his hand up, halting us. Dread ran up my spine as we neared the front. We’d be exposed again, but the shooter would have had to cross the river to get to us here. Noah scanned the yard and the trees and fields across from it and then said, “Let me go first.”
My body was rigid, hating the idea of him or anyone on my team taking this risk for me.
He stepped out, easing toward the front door. When nothing happened, he waved us forward. I practically dragged Sadie with me as I raced toward the door, keeping her between Noah and me as I unlocked the door. I shoved her inside first before sliding in behind her, followed by Noah.
The chandelier in the entry hall was off, so the only light came from the office. It cast a beam along the marble floors, and I directed us into that warm triangle. Inside, I grabbed Sadie’s arm again and sat her in a chair by the fireplace before storming over to the windows and yanking the curtains closed.
Fury burned through me when I turned and saw Sadie had her arms around her middle, still shaking. I went to the liquor cabinet, poured a glass of bourbon, and then squatted down in front of her. Bile and disgust roiled through me.
She’d just had to relive her worst day. Because of me. Disgust welled. I’d done this. I’d kept her here instead of sending her away after the rattler had been in my bed.
I’d known. I’d fucking known to send her home.
Selfish. I’d been so goddamn selfish.
“Drink this.” She shook her head, pushing it back toward me. “Tennessee, drink the damn bourbon. It’ll calm your nerves.”
Her gaze landed on my cheek, her fingers slid over it, and I winced as pain followed the movement. “Your face.” Her voice was as shaky as her body.
“It was just the siding that hit me,” I told her, wiping the blood along my shoulder. “Drink.”
When she took the glass, I left her, even though it tore a piece of my heart away to do so. I strode toward the bookshelf that hid the vault.
“What are you doing?” Concern bled through the terror in Sadie’s voice.
“To get a rifle and go get my daughter.”
“Steele gave me orders that we’re to stay here in case the asshole circles back around,” Noah said, and the calm in his voice only made the burning in my chest grow until I thought it might explode.
“I agree. You’ll stay here with Sadie.”
“Fallon and Lauren weren’t the ones being shot at, Marquess,” Noah insisted, and I shot him a glare. “If you head out, you’ll make yourself a target again. You want to have Fallon next to you when he starts shooting this time?”
His words drove into me like a knife. The agonizing truth was I’d put them all at risk. Every single one of them could have been hit tonight. Goddamn it.
I closed my eyes and slammed my fist into the bookshelf. Decades older than me, the wood caved underneath the force, splintering and cracking.
“R-Rafe,” Sadie’s voice shook as she approached. “Noah’s right. Whoever this is…they didn’t shoot at the wedding party or Fallon. They shot at us. You and me.”
“Me.” The single syllable was a dark snarl.
She came closer, hand resting on my uninjured arm. “If you are the target, you can’t leave right now. You’re bleeding. Sit down. Let me get a first aid kit and clean you up before your daughter sees it.”
The color was coming back to her cheeks, and with it, the defiance I so loved. It was the fire and brimstone that made her a force to be reckoned with.
