Page 67 of Stitch
“Exactly,” Ryder said, as if I’d spoken out loud, as he sat beside me. “Just give yourself a few minutes, and go out there strong, yeah? That was intense, that stuff we just did, and you don’t want that tainting your reunion with your girl, do you?”
“Asshole. Could you be a little less sanctimonious right now?”
He smirked, shoving his dark hair back.
“You did the right thing, man, well… I mean, quicker would have been better, but I get why you took your time. He deserved every second of that. Even though…”
I lifted my head, raising my eyebrows.
“Eventhough what? You having regrets or some shit?”
He shook his head. “Not my point. Tossing him in the sea is a great way to degrade evidence and shit, but his fucking mouth is sewn shut. There’s no way they’ll rule it as accidental, even if his other injuries don’t give us away.”
I snorted. “They’ll just write it off as a mob hit. I’m not worried about that, although actually, maybe Ice could make it look like he has those kinds of connections, and it’s all explained. And the stitching, man? It takes skill to do that, trust me, I wasn’t about to undo my hard work the instant he was dead.”
Ryder got up and went to the window.
“They’ll be back soon from dumping the body, and they’re gonna need the bathroom. We done here?”
I stood up and straightened my t-shirt.
“Well, I thought I was, but then some dickhead had to sit and talk at me.” I reached for the door handle, and tilted my head at him. “Thanks, man. Even though I don’t know how you managed to avoid even a single speck of blood, I appreciate what you did. You guys always come through for me. I’m gonna miss that.”
I pulled the door open, and strode across the car park, heading straight for that huge beige monstrosity that held my woman. As I stepped into the camper, I cast my eyes about, looking for Camille, seeing only Lissa and Reacher.
“Where is she?” They both pointed at the door of the bathroom just as it clicked open, and she ran into my arms. There’s my girl.
Reacher gripped my shoulder on the way past, and I nodded at him, saying everything in that one gesture, because he knew it all anyway. He led Lissa outside, and the door closed, leaving us alone at last.
I stroked my fingers through Camille’s long dark hair, and kissed the top of her head.
“You okay, babe?”
When she lifted her head, her eyes were dark and angry, and that was unexpected. I expected… hell, I don’t know, maybe anger is exactly what I should have foreseen.
“Babe?”
“Don’t you ever fucking do that again!” She slapped at my chest, knocking me back a step before I caught my balance. I caught her wrists instead, as shecame at me again.
“Hey! What is this? Calm down, babe.”
“I won’t fucking ‘calm down’! You could have been killed, you idiot!”
I couldn’t help it. I started laughing, and that just pissed her off even more. I released her wrists and let her pound away at my chest with her fists, absorbing her anger until it fizzled out, and her fists stayed in place. I covered them with my hands, encouraging her to unclench them, and rest them flat against my chest.
“I was never in any danger, babe. Do you get that? I had my brothers with me. We have each other’s backs. That’s how we roll, and it was clean. It’s done and nobody will ever link it to us.”
She choked back a sob. “Is… is he dead?”
I felt my lips turn up slightly, even as I fought the smile. Was it pride? Fucking right it was.
“So very fucking dead. Deader than dead. What’s deader than dead? Uh… he’s really dead, babe. Gone forever.”
Her eyes were wide, and full of tears.
“Really? He’s gone?”
I nodded, brushing my thumbs under her eyes, as the tears spilled out.
