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“Christ, Shiloh, I don’t even know what to say but thank you and… I’m sorry—”
I silenced him with a soft kiss. “If you say sorry one more time… How’re the ribs?”
He inhaled deep and winced. “Okay.”
“I told Bibi. She’s going to want to feed you until you’re better.”
He gingerly sat up to lean against the headboard. “She doesn’t need to deal with this. I shouldn’t have come here. I was so out of it, I thought…”
I sa
t up beside him. “What happened last night? Tell me the truth.”
He sighed. “Frankie Dowd and Mikey Grimaldi. Payback for the Jeep. Mitch Dowd was there.”
“Frankie’s dad? He’s a cop, isn’t he?” Then what Bibi had told me about him in the beginning of the year came rushing back to me. “He did this to you?”
“When I had Grimaldi and Frankie beat, the fucker Tased me.” He jerked his chin at the bloody tears in his jeans.
“My God. That asshole…”
“I don’t remember much after that.” He frowned. “Something happened that stopped it, but I don’t know what. I remember thinking I had to get to you before they did. Like they were coming here next.”
My heart clenched, thinking of Ronan, bleeding and stumbling, having been Tased for fuck’s sake but thinking of me.
Because he loves me…
I took the thought and buried it deep.
Later.
“The next thing I remember was sitting on the steps of your house with you.”
I bit my lip, thinking. “The bruises you had the first time…back in the fall. Those were from Mitch too, weren’t they? It’s him you’re afraid of. Not Frankie or Mikey.”
He nodded. “Not afraid for me. For you. If he fucks with you to get to me…”
“He’s not going to. Bibi knows everyone in town. She’s friends with a cop. A good cop. There are more of those than there are of him.”
“Maybe,” Ronan said. “But my mom needed the cops too. She needed them a lot, but the system kept failing her. Dad would do a night in lockup, then come right back. Restraining orders meant shit. A judge didn’t put him away. So when the sirens come…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t remind me of help. It reminds me of the last time they came, too late. They arrested him, locked him up in prison with a life sentence, but so fucking what? She was already gone.”
I rested my cheek against his bare shoulder and twined my fingers in his.
“Don’t let Bibi get dragged into this,” he said after a minute. “Last night was bad enough for you.”
“I told you, I’m in this all the way.” I cleared my throat. “And besides, if you’re really afraid Mitch might come here, Bibi is our best defense. Her police friends will take care of us. So please try not to worry, okay?”
He nodded reluctantly and his eyes fell shut again.
“You want to sleep some more?”
“I could try. But…”
“Then I’ll sit with you.”
“Shiloh…”
“I told you, Ronan. I’m not going anywhere.”
