Page 74 of Break Away
A huge grin split his face, and he pulled hercloser, then groaned. “God, I want to hold you, but I think itwould kill me.”
“Don’t move, I’ll kiss you.” She bent forwardso she wouldn’t put pressure on his shoulder, and gently pressedher lips to his. All the fears and worries of the past weeks liftedto be replaced by the warm glow that loving Levi brought. He madeher feel full of light.
He moved his left hand to cup her neck andhold her there, his forehead resting against hers. “Is it too soonto say I want to spend my life with you?”
She shook her head. “Nope,” she rasped as shelowered her lips to his once again and felt like all the pieces oflife’s puzzle had settled into place.
***
Sitting on the sofa, Zoey was leaning againstLevi’s uninjured side. She’d lit a fire, and Lucy lay sprawledbefore it. He reached down to remove his shoes and gave a painedmoan.
“Let me do that.” Zoey slid off the couch andunlaced his shoes and then pulled them off. “Do you have painmeds?”
He nodded. “I’ll take them before bed. Iwouldn’t have been able to drive if I’d taken them earlier.” Hepressed a kiss to her forehead when she returned to his side.
She laced her fingers through his. “Whathappened with Charissa?”
He told her what they’d found in Charissa’shouse. “It’s creepy. She’s been taking pictures of me for over ayear. Stalked me for a time in Oakland, then around the Loss. Shetargeted you after seeing us together that night we had dinner onyour porch with Eva and the guys. I don’t think she understands shewas doing something wrong.” He gave Zoey a sideway glance. “WhenBrad and Monica went into my cabin? They found her in my bed.Naked.”
“Geez. She’s sick. Let’s hope she gets thehelp she needs.”
“The wedding dresses, the photos? If that wasall, I’d be fine with a mental hospital. But deputies recoveredshell casings on the mountain where you were shot yesterday. I’mpositive we’ll get a ballistics match to Charissa’s rifle. Jackfound an open box of rat poison in her garage. She committedserious crimes that could have killed you or Lucy.”
“I guess they’ll figure out how to deal withher before there’s a trial.”
The fire snapped behind the screen, sending ashower of sparks up the chimney.
“What about Paul?”
Levi picked up her hand to rub his thumbacross her palm, spreading warmth around her heart. “Brad had sixguys up there and had Clauson flanked. He knew he was done. Theyexchanged a few shots, then he threw down his rifle and put hishands up. He’s going for the best plea deal he can get. He’salready admitted everything. He said you weren’t on his radar,didn’t even know you were back in town. Sick bastard said you’retoo old for him. He was after me, not you.”
“Then it wasn’t him who did the hit-and-run?It wouldn’t have been Charissa.”
“Could be he’s telling the truth, but I’m nottaking his word for it. I’ll continue investigating who hit you.They shouldn’t be on the road.”
She closed her hand around his and brought itto her lips. “I love you. Thank you for looking out for me.”
He rested his head on hers, then said in arough voice, “I need to tell you what happened in Oakland. I didn’tbefore because of your experiences with cops. I didn’t want you tojudge me, especially when I felt so damn bad about it.”
She nodded.
After a long moment, he said, “I shot a man.It was deemed a ‘good shoot’ by the department, meaning I waswithin the law to kill him. But that doesn’t make me feel anybetter about it. There should have been another way to deal withit. A kid is dead.”
“Why did you shoot him?”
“He’d had a gun, was noncompliant. I waitedtoo long to pull the trigger, and my partner was shot. He tossedthe gun before I shot him, turned out it had jammed. My partner wasdown, I’d taken a half second to look at her and didn’t see himtoss the gun. All the media cared about was that another white cophad shot another unarmed black man.”
“You feel guilty.”
“Hell yeah, I feel guilty. I put a bulletthrough a nineteen-year-old kid. I didn’t want to shoot him, waitedtoo long for him to comply, and he shot my partner, who had to takea disability retirement because of it. She actually thanked me,sent me a postcard from a Mediterranean cruise she’s on.” He staredinto the fireplace.” I did whatever I could not to shoot that kid,but ultimately it’s what happened.”
The agony in his expression had Zoey sittingup so she could face him. “I guess I’d worry more if you didn’tfeel guilty. You’re a good man, because you care. I’m lucky to beloved by you.”
He snorted. “I’m the lucky one, here. Theshooting was horrible, but the one good thing to come out of it wasit pushed me to make the break I’d been contemplating but hadn’tacted on. If I hadn’t come home, I might never have found you.”
Epilogue
Levi thought he’d be nervous. God knew thiswas a big step. But since the granddaddy of all big steps hadalready happened, this one would be a piece of cake. Instead ofbeing nervous, sheer happiness made him feel like the mostfortunate man alive. He was exactly where he wanted to be.
