He was right. She knew he was right. “I thought you were saving this until later?”
“I am. I’m not even close to saying everything I have to say.”
She let out a breath and let her lashes lower. “I deserve this. I was foolish.” She swallowed hard. “I didn’t want this to be real.” Her gaze lifted and then louder, “I didn’t want this to be real. I think... I was in denial.”
“You’re okay,” he said, his voice softening with understanding. “That’s all that matters. Right now, we need to get you to an ER.”
“No. It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not, and we both know it. You’re scared. You’re hurt. We’re going to the ER.”
“I’ll end up in the newspaper.”’
”Then we’ll find a private doctor but you have to have this looked at.”
“I so don’t need this right before the trial, Royce. I’m behind. I’m not myself. I almost feel like I need to step aside, but it’s too late now, it would hurt the case.”
“Maybe that was the idea.”
***
Two hours later, Lauren and Royce were finally back at her apartment, and he was doing a walk through for safety. Lauren had called Julie and explained everything that was going on, and she had eagerly agreed to pick up Lauren’s work for her. She just hoped she arrived in time to get some work done. The day was all but lost and the pain meds were going to knock her out when she finally caved and took them. As it was, the antibiotics were making her nauseous, which was probably because she hadn’t eaten at all.
Royce appeared in the hallway, and she felt a surge of relief when he gave her the ‘thumbs up’ to enter. She rushed forward and straight to her bedroom so she could change. She wanted out of the burned shirt so she could separate herself from threats and fears to focus on work.
Royce followed her, leaning on the door frame as she dug in her drawer for her sweats. They’d had a fight when he’d driven her to the doctor’s office, rather than home. They’d barely spoken while they were there, but as her anger had faded, she felt him there, by her side, strong and comforting, and... it felt like a relationship. It felt... right.
She abandoned her drawer and sat down on the bed. “I’m sorry. I was such a witch earlier. “I just... ”
“Don’t move, Lauren,” Royce ordered sharply. “Don’t even breath.” He reached for his gun.
“What?” Lauren whispered urgently. “What’s happening?”
“I’m going to explain but do not, I repeat, do not react. Don’t move until I tell you to. Understand?” He was already closing in on her, one slow step at a time.
“Yes. Okay. Tell me!”
“There's a snake on your bed.”
***
Royce stopped in front of Lauren, but he didn’t look at her. He kept his eye on the snake, knowing it could easily be as deadly as it was unexpected. “Get ready to run. When I say to run, you get out of the apartment in case there are more snakes.”
“Yes... yes, okay.”
“I’ll count to three. One. Two. Three.” He shoved her aside and fired at the snake, but as he suspected, it moved and he missed. He grabbed a handful of the comforter and threw it over the snake and then fired over and over. He reloaded and yanked the comforter back, ready to fire, but thankfully, he didn’t have to. There was a pile of dead snake in the bed.
“Lauren,” he called, turning to find her standing in the doorway. “I told you to get out of here.” He grabbed her and started walking towards the door, getting her the hell out of here, all but dragging her to the hallway. “Are you trying to get yourself killed today?”
She held up her phone. “I was afraid you’d get bitten and seconds could mean life or death. You might be Mr. FBI, Royce Walker, but you can die just like the rest of us.”
He stared at her a moment, her words sinking in, and eating away at his anger. For the second time now, she’d tried to protect him. It defied anything he’d ever experienced with a woman and he liked how that felt.
He kissed her fast and hard on the lips. “Damn, I’m crazy about you, woman. Stay here, and since you often reinterpret my words to your own definition, that means don’t move.” He turned to go back inside, when a thought stopped him dead in his tracks.
He scrubbed his face and considered a moment, before dialing Luke. “Someone left Lauren a snake for a present. I need someone over here to make sure there aren’t any more.”
“Holy fuck,” Luke grumbled. “Is it poisonous?”
“I didn’t ask it before I killed it.” He glanced at Lauren. “But if it was, this is attempted murder.”
“No,” she mouthed. “No.”
“I’ll get someone over there right now,” Luke said.
“And get Julie to bring Lauren’s work, and some clothes, to my place. Lauren is coming home with me.” He hung up.
“Murder? You think someone just tried to kill me?”
“Or scare the hell out of you.” And he was going to make the SOB pay for it, too.
“It worked. It worked really well.”
“I know, baby,” he said, reaching for her and wrapping her in his arms. “We’re going to get this asshole. You have my word. You just have to let me protect you. No more running off to lunch like you did today.”
“No more running off period. Seriously, Royce. I might be hard headed, but I’m not an idiot. I’m going to trust you completely from now on.”
She trusted him, and his secret pact with her father was going to be the poison that killed their relationship.
Chapter Thirteen
An hour later, Royce had Lauren back at his place, and she was soaking in his bathtub, naked and trusting and everything he wanted in a woman, but just hadn’t known it. Until now. Until Lauren. And instead of being with her, showing her that, telling her that, he was a room away, pacing his living room while Luke lounged on his brown leather couch.
“This is absolute hell,” Royce murmured. “I’m lying to her and she trusts me. I have to talk to her.”
“Not now,” Luke said. “Not when she’s in danger. You don’t want her pushing you away and making it impossible to protect her. Besides, you left out information about her father,” Luke said, sitting up and resting his elbows on his knees. “You didn’t lie. She’ll be upset, but she’ll get over it. It’s not like you slept with her best friend.”
“No. Ironically, you did.” He sat down on the arm of one of two leather chairs framing the couch, keeping an eye on the bedroom door directly across from him.
“I’ll pretend you didn’t just say that,” Luke said. “But since you brought up Julie, when I called her to have her bring over Lauren’s work, she told me that the attorney who defended Sheridan was at the restaurant today. She thought it was a strange coincidence. Apparently, the Sheridan loss spiraled into a career disaster he blames Lauren for. I’m going to see him tomorrow. I’ll send one of our guys to talk to Sheridan. A man about to be executed tends to get chatty.”
“What about Sheridan’s family?”
“There’s a brother, that’s it. I plan to check him out. There is also a woman.”
Royce’s brow inched upward. “He killed his wife. What woman are we talking about?”
“Some chick that started writing him while he was in prison.”
“Ah,” Royce said. “Never have understood the jailhouse groupies. What’s your take on her?”
“I don’t think it’s much of a lead. She broke off contact with him some six months ago, and is even pregnant now with some other dude’s kid.”
“I’m not sure that means squat in the world we live in.”
“I’m going to check her out. But the way I see it, if Sheridan is involved, then he would probably have taken out a contract on Lauren. It’s cleaner.”
“Who says this isn’t a contract? Maybe whoever hired this guy wants Lauren played with before she’s killed. Maybe that’s why this attorney Sullivan was there today. He was watching when she got burned, eating up her fear.”