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“I’ll always find you. Although, actually, it was Adam. He’s the one who managed to crack the code and figure out where you were and who was holding you.”
“God bless Adam.” My eyes turn toward the ceiling and beyond.
Jasleen stands there, a savior in a leather jacket, doing her best not to stare at Devan and me as we maul each other. “I should have stayed out on the fire escape,” she mutters. “Saved my eyesight.”
I hug him too hard and he jolts, his chuckle dissipating as he says, “Sorry. You’re not the only one who’s a mess. That’s why I couldn't go out on your fire escape to save the day.”
“Jasleen, how fast can we get to the hospital?” I ask.
“Today, consider me Danika Patrick,” she replies. “I’ll get you there in no time.”
“We’re both two broken people who managed to find each other, Aria. And here we are.” He leans in closer. “I'm going to make this motherfucker pay for everything he put you through. But first, we need to get you to the hospital this time.”
“And surely the doctors are going to kick your ass for being out of bed. I’ll have to help them.” I won’t let go of him. I’ll never let go of him.“He went down so much easier than I expected,” I admit. “A wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“They always are,” Devan grunts.
Naomi and the rest of the boys arrive right on time, almost exactly five minutes since Devan admitted they were on the way.
No one has been there for me like Devan has.
Through a twist of fate or a stroke of good luck—I’m not about to stop and ask the universe why he’s in my life. Or what I might have done to deserve a calm and steady presence like him.
I step in front of Devan and set one of the officers, a douchebag with a mustache big enough to ride on, with a snarl.
“Relax, Darkling, they’re not going to slap the cuffs on me,” Devan says.
“As much as I’d like to, for what the little shit has put me through,” the officer says. “This one? Nothing but a pain in my goddamn ass, even if he is a hero.” The last part is grumbled almost inaudibly low.
“Detective McGee is joking,” Naomi says as if it will somehow put a stop to whatever beef is brewing between them. “We’ve got it from here, Dev. Jasleen can drive you back to the hospital, and I’ll be along later today to talk to you. Let me handle this.”
He bundles me underneath his arm, Jasleen escorting both of us out of the building with the rest of the team promising to catch up later for official statements. Sure, fine, whatever. Several of the men approached Devan, talking to him as they help us both into another cruiser, and Jasleen makes good on her words.
It isn’t until hours later when we’re tucked away in Devan’s apartment that I let my guard down. “These drugs are great.” I smile up at him, feeling warm and woozy in the best ways. “Aren’t they great? I love them.”
He trails a thumb underneath my chin, finding exactly the right spot, and it feels so good. “You should have stayed in the hospital. You lost a lot of blood. Dehydration is no joke.”
“Says the man who directly violated orders from his surgeon to come and rescue me.” I press a hand to my heart. “Do you have any idea how much it means to me? Even if you saw me covered in my own pee?”
“I meant what I said.” Devan shifts to make himself more comfortable, unable to lay on his side and having to settle for his back. “I’ll never let anything happen to you, Aria. I will always find you, no matter how far you get from me.”
“Sounds a little ominous.”
“I don’t mean it that way.”
I snuggle against his side, the way we’d been at the cabin together. “How would you feel if I said the same thing about you? I’m not one to own other people, but I sure would like to call you mine.”
“It’s the drugs talking, baby,” he answers.
His voice is a purr, better than velvet on skin.
“It’s not the drugs. It’s how I feel. I might not have as much experience with this kind of thing as you do, seeing as I’ve never been engaged or even had a healthy relationship, but…” I trail off. “I want this.”
“What do you want?”
I groan and cover my face. My skin pulls from some of the stitches I had to get, but otherwise, I feel little. “You’re going to make me say it.”
“Oh, yes. If you’re going to beat me to the punch, something you always seem to do, then I'm certainly going to make you spell it out for me in exquisite detail.”
