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I give her a weak smile. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.” I turn my head and look at Dex. “Cover her up.”
I can’t do it myself, but I don’t want Rowan naked for another moment. It seems to take Rowan a few seconds to process my words and to realize she’s in fact naked in front of all the men inside the room. Dex quickly acts and removes his jacket and wraps it around her. He then tells the rest of the men that it’s fine in here and to go assist the rest of the crew out in the compound.
Feeling is returning to my body as I’m able to take full breaths of air. Sitting up, I readjust Rowan’s body so she is in my embrace rather than me in hers. I’ve never needed anything in my life as much as this feeling right now. Her warmth, knowing she’s alive and well, and having her body up against mine is all I need until my real dying breath.
I hear the sound of boots running through the door. As I turn to see Atlas with gun in hand enter, he asks, “Everything okay in here?”
“Luciano’s dead,” Dex informs. “How is it out there? Are we secure?”
“We killed all his men who resisted us. There are a few who caved and swore to switch sides when facing the grim reaper. We can decide what to do with them once the gun powder settles,” Atlas says, his eyes scanning me. “You okay?”
I nod. “Bullet proof vest, but it still hurt like a motherfucker.”
“Let’s do another sweep of the compound,” Dex says. He looks down at me. “You two okay for now?”
“Go ahead,” I say, lifting my arm to shoo him away. “Make sure all the rats are dead.”
As Dex and Atlas leave, I pull away from Rowan just enough so I can look at her face. I can see some faint bruising, some redness, a cut, and swollen lip. It’s clear the fuckers slapped her around, but I have no idea what else they did to her before I arrived. For the first time since entering the room, I see the gray tarp on the floor and realize just how close Rowan came to death. If we had been even a few minutes later…
“Are you okay?” I ask, kissing her cut lip softly. “What did they do to you?”
She nods her head as she continues to cry softly. “I’m fine. I’m fine. You got here before they— You got here in time.”
I scan her eyes for more information. “Did anyone—”
“They didn’t have the time to rape me,” she cuts in, answering the question that I needed to know. “They wanted to. Maybe they would have, but… you guys came.” She leans in and kisses me again. “I knew you would. Deep down, I knew you’d get here in time.”
I look over at Luciano's dead body as he lies in his own pool of blood. I wish I could bring him back from the dead, only to be able to kill him again, and again, and again. I’ll feed his fleshy bones to the mutts in the pound only to have him end up as dog shit—his ghost forever in limbo. I’ll make him suffer even after death as payment for what he did—or tried to do—to Rowan.
“A bullet to his head was too merciful,” I say between clenched teeth as my gaze focuses on the hole between his eyes that Dex expertly placed there.
Rowan turns to face him for the first time, and I feel her body tense. I wait for her to say something, not sure what must be going through her head right now. She’s not used to seeing dead bodies like I am, and though the sight must be awful, there’s something about Rowan that makes me think she’s loving seeing him dead just as much as I do.
“He did this to himself,” I say just in case she’s having any guilt or uncertainty about him being killed.
She nods and turns back to face me. Bringing her lips to mine, she kisses me again.
“Does it hurt?” I ask, not wanting to truly kiss her with the passion my body is demanding. “Your lip is cut.”
She shakes her head and deepens the kiss. “Nothing hurts anymore,” she mumbles against my lips as her tongue dips inside and caresses mine. “Being with you makes it all disappear.”
Not convinced, I break away from the kiss and run my fingers over her matted hair. “We need to get out of here and get you looked at.”
“I’m fine. Truly,” she says with a smile. She closes her eyes for several moments and takes a large breath. “Is this finally over?” she asks as she rests her forehead onto my chest. She’s starting to shake as some of the shock sinks in.
