Page 51 of Some Like It Deadly
Noise imploded into the room on the rush of feet and then Richard was over her shouting. He had his hands pressed against her chest but she couldn’t make out the words.
Fuck that hurts.
Hurt worse, ten times worse, than her shoulder popping out of the socket. A hundred times worse than the bullet grazing her a month before.
Still, so much better than Richard being shot.
“Hurt?” she managed to spit the word out on a bubble of blood. She couldn’t breathe and it made it impossible to talk.
“Help is coming. You stay with me,” he ordered. “Dammit you do what I tell you this time. Why the hell did you do that?”
“You?” she fought again. “Hurt?”
“No, I’m not.” Another man joined Richard in her periphery and he added something to her chest. The pressure sucked at her, blackness dragging her down. “Dammit, Kate, why did you do it?”
“Had to protect…” And the world narrowed to two sharp pinpricks. She couldn’t breathe.
You’re okay.
That was worth a bullet or two.
RICHARD
Intermittent calls for doctors and nurses punctuated the silence in the private waiting room. He’d ridden to the hospital in the ambulance, and Armand’s security followed. It didn’t surprise him to find another half dozen in place at the hospital or that more filtered in as Armand arrived with Anna on his arm. They were dressed for a formal event, but his best friend ignored the bloodstains covering Richard’s chest and arms for a hard hug.
“You’re okay.” The shaken words might have sounded like a weakness in a lesser man, but Richard recognized the relief in his best friend’s voice and the fierceness in his grip. He gave theman a moment, then pulled back. Anna leaned in and gave him a hug, no words required.
“Kate?” she asked softly. As she pulled back, pink stained her white gloves. Some of the blood on him—Kate’s blood remained wet.
“She’s in surgery.” He focused on the cream-colored wall behind her. The scene—the gun firing, Kate being hit by bullets meant for him—replayed in constant, shuttering clarity in his mind. Not once, but twice in as many months the woman he loved took a bullet for him.
Loved.
Love. The woman I love.
He loved her and some part of him recognized it, but the rest of his mind hadn’t been ready to embrace the concept. She slotted so neatly into his life, the perfect complement from work to home and back again. The smoothness of the transition had been so damn seamless—even in her anger over his “absences” and his ducking of security, she belonged.
Why the hell didn’t I see it before?
“They need someone to make some decisions, I’ve been trying to reach her mother, but I haven’t gotten an answer yet.” He needed to think and he couldn’t past the roaring.You? Hurt?The bubble of blood on her lips, the frantic worry kindling in her voice as the light faded in her eyes.Had to protect…
She’d done it on purpose. No matter how many times he tried to analyze what happened, he’d seen her step right into the path of that bullet. A soldier, she’d been in the army—she didn’t stumble or make a mistake. The decision came in a split-second. She’d looked from the gun to him and then she was just there.
Scrubbing his face with his palms, he swallowed the scream working to break loose out of his throat.No, she is not going to die…
“Richard, what can we do?” Anna’s hand was on his arm, her face a concerned mask. Of course she was concerned, Kate had worked with her. They’d been friends.Are friends, dammit. Are.
“I don’t have any ties to her that let me do it.” He’d been telling them about Kate. Telling them what he needed. “Can you call her mother? Her father? She has a brother in Germany.”Beany baby. I couldn’t say Ben when I was little and it came out Bean. They called him String Bean, but one day I called him Beany Baby and it stuck.“His name is Benjamin. He’s in the army. Maybe call them? I can call them.” He touched his pockets, looking for his phone.
“I’ll do it, Richard. I’ll do it.” Anna squeezed his arm and turned away. She paused at Armand’s side and hissed. “Tell him. He needs to know. Youtellhim.”
He didn’t have his phone. No, he’d dropped it at the house when the man showed up at the door. He’d put a gun to Kate’s head and Richard had dropped everything.You want to shoot me? Fine. Shoot me.
Fierce. His Kate had been so fierce. He hadn’t seen a glimmer of fear in her eyes until that moment.
Just like when they’d been shot at on the street, she’d focused all of her concern on him.
“Richard,” Armand’s hand was on his shoulder. “Come on, sit down.”
