Page 27 of Freeing Denver
That’s some relief, but not much. My gaze drops to Denver’s sleeping face. I know in my heart she’ll have been up, about, doing what she can, being the woman I fell in love with—impossibly strong, incredibly smart, a person I fucking admire.
“How has she been?”
“I had no choice but to put her in Finn’s place. She’s been running the family since the explosion.”
That makes sense. She’s a McEwan through marriage, after all, but I also know her well enough to know she’ll have hated every second of it. “And?”
Alistair rests his elbows on his knees. “It’s been … tough.”
My friend’s reluctance to expand further tells me everything I need to know. Alistair doesn’t like Denver, he’s made that very clear, and them having to work side by side won’t have been easy.
“How difficult did you make it for her?”
He sighs. “Colt?—”
“Just be honest, Alistair.”
He runs his hand across his mouth. “She’s been the head of the McEwan family. I had to be tough on her.”
“No, you didn’t. The issues you have with her shouldn’t have made this any harder on any of us. You were in this together. Tell me everything.” He avoids my eyes. “The sooner I know, the sooner I can get started on fixing this and getting out.”
His gaze snaps to mine. “Getting out?”
“I’m done, Alistair. I was done a long time ago. I don’t want this anymore. I’m taking Denver and Holly, and we’re leaving.”
His mouth opens and closes. Finally, he exhales. “Then you should know we’ve been working with Ranger.”
It takes a second for me to quell the rising rage. “What?”
“We didn’t have a choice. You know how some of the families can be. A woman at the head? And not even a blood McEwan?” He shakes his head. “She hated it as much as I did, but we didn’t have a choice. We needed his face on this before the funeral so the family could be seen as strong.”
Another painful, sensible decision during desperate times. But the thought of Denver having to be beside Ranger, pretending their marriage is strong after all he did to her?
I should have been here. I should have been by her fucking side.
“And how did that go?”
“Most of the family heads hadn’t met him before the funeral, but they seemed to like him. He turned on the charm. If you can call it that.”
The ache in my head starts to spread while I consider our next steps. It won’t look good if we pull Denver out of the limelight, replace her with me, and then reveal that we’re in a relationship. It’ll look like I’ve taken Ranger’s place and his wife.
“Spider was at the funeral.”
I rub my temple. “Tell me he’s also been dealt with.”
Alistair shakes his head. “I sent men to follow him. None came home. That’s where Denver and I were when you woke up—stuck on the plane, on our way to see Cain.”
“Cain? Seriously?” I watch my friend, knowing it won’t have been an easy decision to contact Cain at all. “You’re sure you want to do that?”
“We need the help. I trust him.” He shrugs, but it’s not even close to casual. “I can suck it up for the backup. Listen, get some rest. Take some time. We can talk about all this in a few days.”
I wish I could argue that there is no time, but exhaustion is sweeping through my bones, and the thought of climbing those stairs feels as easy as climbing Everest. When I woke, I’d choked on the tube in my throat, and even my body’s natural reaction to the discomfort felt like running a marathon. Showering was me sitting on the tiled floor with the water running, too proud to ask for help, even though I nearly passed out getting up again.
“I’m gonna stay down here with Denver for a while.”
Alistair nods and stands, switching out the light as he leaves, leaving only a small lamp glowing in the corner of the room. I turn to face Denver and move down the couch. She sighs and buries her face in my chest.
She moans softly. “You smell good.”
