With Glory still suspended in Mike’s hold, they both peered at Liz.
Her aunt half sat up on one hip, brusquely rubbing the shoulder she’d landed on. “Take that as a lesson to always finish furnishing your home, inside and out. If you’d needed assistance, you should have told me so.”
Her complaint was so nonsensical in the moment that Glory gaped at her through the haze of nearly unbearable pain.
Then Liz brutally kicked outward, nailing Mike right in the knee.
His leg awkwardly buckled, and he fell half out of the terraceand into the rain—almost taking Glory with him. She couldn’t stop the raw, broken groan that ripped from her throat, made worse by the way Liz caught her. Even shallow breathing was awful, and her shoulder screamed in pain.
“I’m sorry, Glory. So sorry,” Liz crooned to her, petting on her as much as she’d petted PB. “Here, rest back against this support beam.”
The world swam around Glory, fuzzy grayness closing in.I cannot pass out. If I do, what will happen to Liz?
“Easy. Easy now,” Liz said. “Kam is here. He’ll take care of everything.”
Kam?The blurriness receded and she became aware of hard thumps and brutal cracks of fists on flesh. Cradling her arm and trying not to move a single inch, Glory opened her eyes enough to see Kam throwing hard, fast, relentless punches that kept knocking Mike back. He tried to defend himself, but it was like a puppy up against a pissed-off wolf. For every punch Mike threw, or tried to throw, Kam hit him three times. His jaw, his gut, left, right... Where had he learned to fight like that? Other than Mike’s grunts and groans, both men engaged in silence.
After another particularly vicious punch to the temple, Mike’s head snapped back, his eyes rolled up, and his legs crumpled under him. He landed hard on the soggy ground. Kam stood there, heaving, his hands balled into impressive fists, his feet braced apart while the storm blew around him.
Belatedly, he knelt down, ripped away the rain slicker, and searched Mike for weapons. He found a short length of rope and immediately was enraged again. He looked deadly, but all he did was bind Mike’s hands behind him.
God, Glory loved him so much. Barely able to get out a sound, she whispered, “Kam.”
Amazingly enough, he heard her. His gaze cut to her, andhis nostrils flared. In an instant, he was on his feet and striding toward her. “You’re hurt?”
So badly hurt, but she whispered, “No.”
The intrusion of sirens drowned out the storm, and suddenly, several cops were there. Liz left Glory to shout explanations to the officers from beneath the terrace. She made it very clear that Kam was a beloved member of their family, and “this other man”was a vile intruder who’d hurt Glory.
Liz summarized things as only she could, with a lot of adjectives to describe Kam’s heroism and numerous insults toward Mike’s intrusion.
Now in his drenched shirtsleeves and regular khakis, Mike screamed as two officers tried to lead him away. “You’re mine, Glory!” His face was bloodied, bruised, and grotesquely swollen in places.
But then, hers had been too after the wreck, all because he’d obsessed over her. She didn’t blame Kirby and never would.
Mike had instigated all of it.
She stared at him with as much disdain as she could muster.
Struggling against the officers, he shouted again, “She’s mine!” He twisted back to say, “We belong together. You know that, Glory. Tell them.”
Instead, she turned away.
“No, damn it! You’re not like Jenn.Tell them.”
That was the second time he’d mentioned Jenn, making Glory wonder if the woman was his last obsession—and whether she’d survived it.
Dripping from head to toe, his shirt stuck to his body and his knuckles bloody, Kam brought her gaze up to meet his. “Tell me you’re okay.” Reddened eyes looked her over.
Glory summoned a small smile. “I am now.” As Mike’s voice faded away, the release of mind-numbing fear stole the support of her legs, and she slumped against him.
“Glory?” Gently, he held her, kissing her hair, her ear. “Honey, I’m soaked.”
“I don’t care.” His wet hair dripped onto her shoulders, and yes, her ribs continued to thump, and her shoulder radiated pain into her neck and collarbone, but she needed Kam’s strength now.
She needed him. Always.
He drew back, then bent his knees to look into her eyes. “The baby?”
