Page 71 of Montana Freedom

“Maybe. But Garnet Bend was a lot more peaceful before Resting Warrior and all our demons showed up.”

She swallowed. “Speaking of demons, I told him I wanted to talk to the FBI. And they came this morning before you woke up. When you said you heard me talking? I was talking to them. Or rather, yelling at them. I didn’t want to tell you until we were here and comfortable.”

My gut tightened. If someone delayed telling you something, it was never good news. “Why?”

“Because the bullet was meant for me, and we both know it.”

“And what did they say?” I kept myself in check, not wanting to react until I knew everything. But I wasn’t optimistic.

“When I ran into Agent Phillips outside of Dr. Rayne’s office and he said he’d petitioned the judge? It had already been signed off on. My name was already out there. They claim they didn’t attach any location to my name, just floated it in order to draw Simon out. But it doesn’t matter whether they did or didn’t. This is still on them.”

I cursed, pushing myself up to sitting and hissing when pain flared in my shoulder.

“You need your meds.” Emma didn’t wait to go retrieve them, and I didn’t argue. For one, the sight of her walking through my house in nothing but a bra was incredible, and also because she was right. The pain was pulsing through my shoulder now, and I knew not to push it.

I heard the faint sounds of cupboards opening and my kitchen sink turning on before she came back with a glass of water and the pill bottle. I let my eyes rove up and down her form, body reacting. If I weren’t about to be seriously medicated, I’d pin her to the bed and make her moan all over again.

“I’m not used to bedside service in my own house.”

“Just this once.” But she was grinning.

I downed the pills in one go. “Seriously. I’m not sure what they did was legal, regardless of the judge.”

She sat with me again. “Either way, it’s already done. Cat’s out of the bag. So I told them I’d help them. Because I’m not having this happen again. The next time, they might not miss.”

“Emma.” She was looking down at her hands, fidgeting. I knew how badly she didn’t want to be involved. “You don’t have to do this because of me.”

“I know. But if I help, maybe it will be over sooner.”

“That would be nice,” I acknowledged. “And you know I’ll do whatever I can to help keep you safe.”

“I know.”

In that same deep place where my words to her had come from, I felt the tension in the air. This situation was tightening. Something was about to snap, and I needed to make sureallof us were safe when it did.

As much as I was pissed at the FBI for endangering Emma and causing me injury, I was still glad they were the ones with the operational burden on their shoulders. All of us at Resting Warrior were willing to do what we needed to in order to protect our own, but we were outmatched here. Outmatched, outgunned, and in the dark.

There were too few of us, too many of them, and in spite of Emma’s fucking incredible memory, we didn’t know enough about Simon’s operation or where any of them would strike from.

The longer I spent in Emma’s presence, the more my deepest soul told me I wanted this to be forever. But that didn’t change the truth of my original apprehensions—you didn’t make lifelong decisions with a situation like this hanging over your head.

For both of us, I wanted clear skies above us before we made that kind of commitment. But I already knew how I felt, and I didn’t think it was likely to change.

I held out my good arm, and she lay down with me, bringing up the blanket from the foot of the bed. “I’m probably going to be asleep soon. One of the things I hate the most about pain medication.”

“It’s fine,” she whispered. “I’m just going to snoop through your house for that porn you claim not to have.”

“I don’t have anything to hide. Snoop to your heart’s content. But until I am actually asleep?” I hauled her onto my chest and kissed her.

The feeling of her skin, the scratch of lace on mine, the taste of her lips. It could be the pain medication kicking in early, or it could just be her. But this was heaven. It was the only place I wanted to be.

Chapter23

Emma

I didn’t like this van. It smelled weird, was cramped, and had the unfortunate presence of my two least favorite FBI agents.

“So you’re saying getting Daniel shot was worth it?”

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