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I’d been cooped up in there for five days and had been so excited to feel actual fresh air on my skin. But when we got outside, I didn’t recognize anything.
“I didn’t need you stressing out in there,” Griffin admitted, helping me to my feet and offering me his arm, which I shoved away. “But we’re in Des Moines.”
“Iowa?” I asked incredulously, staring at him in shock. “How long was I out?”
“They stabilized you in Detroit, then we had you air lifted here.” Griffin led me toward a black SUV that was parked running in the pickup zone in front of the hospital.
“What about Kenny’s funeral?” I asked.
“We’re officially in WITSEC now,” Griffin said, his tone not nearly apologetic enough.
“Don’t I have to approve being shoved in witness protection?” I snapped, turning to glare at him.
“I made an executive decision,” he explained. “Will you get in the fucking car? We can fight about this at home.”
“Do we live together?” I asked him, letting him open the backseat door and help me up into the SUV.
“Well, yeah. All the paperwork says we’re married, so…it made sense that we’d share a house.” He shut the door on me before I could start yelling at him again. But the moment he got in on the other side I laid into him.
“Are you kidding me?” I shouted, causing the man in the driver’s seat to laugh, though he tried to cover it with a cough. “What other decisions did you make for me while I was unconscious? Any kids I should know about?”
“Stop overreacting,” Griffin said stiffly. “We aren’t actually married, that’s just for the paperwork. As far as anyone outside the community knows, we’re Mr. and Mr. Griffin Applebaum.”
“And in the community?” I asked.
“Well, you’ll see about the rest of the WITSEC families later. Right now, I just want you to focus on getting better. We can fight to your heart’s content once you’re off the pain meds. Deal?”
“Whatever.” I crossed my arms over my chest and winced as it pulled at my incision.
“Are you mad because you don’t want to marry me?” Griffin asked suddenly, shifting in his seat to fully face me.
“What? No. I mean…I don’t know.” I felt my brows furrow as I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why, do you want to marry me?”
“I don’t not want to marry you,” he admitted.
“Well, how could I turn down a proposal like that?” I said, rolling my eyes and turning to look out my window.
God, what the hell was wrong with him?
Chapter Twenty-Two
~Matt~
It took the entire ride to our new home, and the pain pills starting to wear off, before everything really started to sink in for me.
Griffin got me into our new house and settled me onto the sofa, bringing me my pills and a glass of water, both of which I ignored.
“Sit,” I said, pointing to the end of the sofa. “Please. I’ll take them, I promise. But I need to process what’s happened.”
“Okay,” Griffin agreed. “But if you start getting agitated, I’m shoving the pill down your throat.”
“I’ll be fine,” I assured him. “Just…walk me through what happened that night. And then…you know…everything since.”
“That’s a tall order,” he said, blowing out a sigh. “But I’ll try.”
He started with the information he received after I left his house. He told me about the guards on our side versus the cartel guys.
On his way to the warehouse Griffin got word from Carter, one of his agents working at the mansion, that Eddie had gone to the King, and we’d all been ordered executed. So they called in the FBI as well as Detroit PD and everyone swarmed the building. Griffin had made it to the top of the stairs just as I’d disarmed Eddie, and he’d held back, unsure if I was going to kill the Duke or not.
