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The long frightening hours of uncertainty were over for Ray and Betty, and no one was happier than Charlie.
He didn’t feel safe. Would never feel safe again until he knew the man who’d shot him was behind bars. An orderly was taking him to the elevator in a wheelchair. His mother was walking beside him, and they’d told him his dad was waiting in the breezeway with the car.
Nurses on the floor were all telling him goodbye, and he was carrying a giant teddy bear his classmates had sent him. It was all positive and good, but he felt like he was escaping.
And then they were outside, and his dad was coming toward him when the heat of the sun on his face suddenly registered, and tears rolled.
Betty grabbed his hand. “Charlie, honey, what’s wrong?”
“Last time I remember the sun on my face was right before he shot me.”
“You’re safe, son,” Ray said, and helped Charlie stand, then eased him into the front seat of their car, while Betty climbed into the back seat. Ray leaned over Charlie to fasten his seat belt, and then paused and looked his son straight in the eyes. “You’re going home. You’re alive, and you’re safe. God saved you. Remember that.”
Charlie shuddered. “Yes, sir.”
Ray closed the door and circled the car to get in.
“Did you eat breakfast good?” he asked.
Charlie rolled his eyes. “Hospital food is not my mama’s cooking.”
“You’re in for a treat when we get home. Your mama has been cooking for two days.”
“Then let’s blow this joint,” Charlie said.
They were laughing as they drove away.
Aaron had awakened before sunrise to the sound of someone breathing beside him, and remembered.
He opened his eyes and saw her then, lips slightly parted. Eyelashes fluttering from wherever her dreams had taken her. Beautifully arched brows as dark as her hair. The faint indentations on her cheeks werewhere the dimples hid. He didn’t see them nearly often enough, but he knew they were there.
There was an ethereal look to her face that belied the true strength within her. The brutality of her recent past had taken its toll. She was a shade too thin, but so beautiful in his eyes. He lay watching her sleep until sunlight began to filter through the curtains. She was waking up, and he didn’t want her to know that he’d been watching, so he turned his head and closed his eyes, giving her total control of his presence.
Dani woke just after sunrise. Her heart skipped when she saw Aaron stretched out asleep on the bed beside her. She vaguely remembered calling out to him, and then feeling the mattress give from his weight. After that, nothing.
Her first thought at the sight of him sleeping was how handsome he was. Long lashes as black as his hair. High cheekbones. Straight nose with a tiny hint of a bump. Shoulders so wide he didn’t quite fit where he was lying. So tall his feet were hanging over the foot of the bed. And with a heart as big as he was. He’d taken off the bandage she’d put on his forehead, and the butterfly strips looked like a tiny zipper holding him together.
She had feelings for him that she didn’t know what to do with. Was she attracted to him because he made her feel safe? Because he was the knight in shining armorshe’d always dreamed of? Was it lust, or was it the beginning of real love? She didn’t know. She wasn’t sure of anything but the certainty that she didn’t want him to just disappear from her life just because the danger was gone. She didn’t want these last few moments with him to end, but today was going to be a day of more chaos.
“Aaron?” she said softly.
He reached toward her, his hand on her arm before he opened his eyes.
“I’m here,” he said.
“What happens today?” Dani asked.
“We have to go to the police station and give official statements, and the chief needs a contact number to notify Bing’s parents. You said his mother called you. Do you still have that number?”
“Yes, it’ll be on my phone. I can’t imagine how she’s going to feel, finding out her alert saved me, but got him killed.”
Aaron frowned. “There’s no guilt for either of you, damn it. He killed himself,” then rolled over and cupped the side of her face. “You’re a survivor, Dani. You’re already okay.”
“Thanks to you,” she said.
Their gazes locked. A long moment of silence passed between them. Aaron had two choices, and the first one was not a good idea. Not here. Not now.
“I’ll go make coffee. You get first dibs on the shower,” he said, then got out of bed and left the room.
