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“Let me do it,” I said, pushing her shaking hands away and tugging the sleeve off completely, being more careful of my broken, swollen fingers as I dropped the sweatshirt to the ground.
All eyes fell on my arm and the ragged three-inch tear across my bicep, just below my shoulder. I was right, it was mostly just a graze—the bullet had torn through my flesh but hadn’t actually penetrated. I was lucky. It was still bleeding profusely, though.
Ellie whimpered as she looked at it, her eyes brimming with tears. “I’m so sorry. I was aiming for him, and then you moved and...”
Dodger stepped to my side, peering down at it and grinning. “Ah, come on, don’t beat yourself up about that. It’s barely a nick, he’s just being a pussy,” he teased, clearly trying to lighten the mood because Ellie was beginning to freak out and her whole body started to tremble. “Few stitches and he’ll be right as rain.” Dodger reached down and snagged my hoodie, pulling out a knife and roughly hacking off the sleeve before leaning in and attempting to tie it around my wound.
I gritted my teeth against the pain and reached out with my good hand to Ellie, touching her face, tracing the line of the bruise she had on her cheek.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said, turning her cheek and pressing a soft kiss against my palm.
“Ellie, I’m fine, I promise.” I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her against my body, ignoring the pain it caused. She lost the battle against her tears, nestling her face against my shoulder and crying desperately, her body racking with sobs.
I held her tightly, looking over at Dodger and seeing his sympathetic expression as he watched Ellie. “You okay, Dodge?” I asked, my eyes dropping down to his side. Now that he was closer I could see scorched, raw skin on his side that looked to be blistering and must be painful.
He waved a dismissive hand. “It’s all right. I’ll get checked out later, rub some shit on it, it’ll be good.”
Ray was climbing down from the container, shoving his rifle in the duffel bag as he walked to my side.
“What are we going to do about this?” Dodger asked, looking at the six dead bodies that lay around the clearing.
Ray stepped forward. “I’ll take care of it. You two go and take her to see a doctor. I’ll call you once it’s sorted out.”
“Thanks, Ray.” He really was a great friend. I was lucky to have him. I was lucky to have them both. I pulled back a little and peeked down at Ellie. “Can you walk?”
She sniffed and nodded, clinging to me as she continued to cry against my shoulder. As we made the slow walk back to the car, Ellie glanced back at the dead bodies, her face paling as her fingers dug into my side and her eyes widened in horror, as if she was only just realizing what she’d done.
“Don’t look,” I advised her, dragging her attention back to me. She nodded, allowing me to guide her along to where I’d parked, passing remnants of a burned-out car that Dodger had used as his distraction. Its shell was still alight; pillows of smoke filled the air, making it uncomfortable to breathe until we were past it and outside the dock gates, heading to my car.
I tossed Dodger my keys, and he opened the door, tipping the seat forward so both Ellie and I could get in the back. Ellie slid in first, her whole body shaking, her tears endless. I climbed in next to her, wrapping my arm around her protectively and pulling her close against my side. My mind was whirling, wondering how I was going to help her get over this. Shooting Ed would scar her; it was something that would never leave her. There would be a lot of ramifications from this day, but I would help her through.
“Which hospital?” Dodge asked from the front as he started the car. “There’ll be a lot of questions. If they see you’ve been shot, they’ll call the cops,” he said, turning in his seat and nodding toward my arm.
I pursed my lips, thinking. “Go to Marlon’s drop-in clinic,” I instructed. Marlon was Brett’s brother-in-law and was still on our payroll. We got special treatment for the crew if it was ever needed.
Dodger nodded, turning in his seat and pulling out of the docks. Ellie’s tears had dried up now, but she still clung to me, her face pressed against the side of my neck. I pulled back slightly so I could look at her. “Ellie, we can’t say anything about what happened here today. You understand?” I asked, watching her carefully.
She sniffed, her eyes meeting mine. “But we have to tell the cops, I mean...we killed people, we have to tell them.”
I cupped her damaged face in my hands. “No,” I said firmly. “They were drug dealers, really bad guys, and into a lot of bad shit. Whatever happened to them today was the result of their job. You understand me? We were never there. We were both in a car accident; that’s how we got injured.” My tone was firm, final. There was no telling the truth in this situation. Ellie blinked; I could see the confusion and indecision in her eyes. “You want to go to jail for the rest of your life for killing that scumbag?” I asked.
She shook her head weakly, her eyebrows pinching together. “No,” she whispered.
“Then you do as I say. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll make all of this go away. I’ll take care of you always, you just need to do what I say. Okay?” Please be okay with it, please. “Can you do that for me, little girl?”
She was quiet for a few seconds, and then she nodded and my heart rejoiced as I pressed my lips to hers, kissing her softly, incredibly grateful that we were both alive and that I got to take care of her for the rest of my life.
* * *
Two days later, everything seemed to have blown over very nicely. Ellie had told me where they had first grabbed her, so we had someone go pick up her car from the ditch. The police had been in touch about it, but we’d told them that Ellie and I were in the car when her tire had burst and she’d lost control, rolling into the ditch. We then made up a story about how we’d both gotten out and hitchhiked to a clinic for treatment. Medical records there supported our story that our injuries were sustained in the crash and not from anything else. We were home free. It had been Detective Lewiston who had taken our statements; he’d filled in some blanks and in return received a nice fat envelope of cash.
We hadn’t even been questioned about the six bodies found at the docks on the same day as our crash. With the several kilos of cocaine and money found at the scene—thanks to Ray—and the Salazar reputation for dealing, police had chalked it up to some sort of drug deal gone wrong. News reports concurred, saying that there were no witnesses and no suspects, but added that the neighborhood was now safer with both Salazar brothers off the streets. I wholeheartedly agreed.
Ellie had done everything I told her to; she hadn’t spoken to anyone about what had happened at the docks and had backed up my burst tire/car crash story. She struggled a little at fi
rst, asking me if we were doing the right thing by not coming forward, but I’d just reminded her of what type of people they were and that they had been willing to kill her and her parents just to get to me. That had soon set her mind straight and she hadn’t asked again. She didn’t regret killing Ed; she was adamant she didn’t.
In the two days that had passed, a lot had happened. I’d met Ellie’s grandmother, for one thing. I liked her a lot; she was a kindhearted woman with a great sense of humor. And she loved Ellie and Kelsey with all her heart, so that made me like her even more. Plus, she let me stay with Ellie at night so I could hold her while she slept and whimpered in her sleep, calling my name and her father’s before she would jerk awake in a cold sweat. Each time I would kiss her softly and reassure her it was over and that I was there for her. Each time she would smile gratefully and snuggle up against my chest and go right back into a restless sleep.
One day Ellie would forget the horrors she saw and sleep peacefully again. I’d help her through it.
The other thing that happened was that I’d come face-to-face with Ellie’s mother again after three years. I’d gone with Ellie yesterday to the hospital to visit. In truth, I’d forgotten how scary Ruth was. She was a little off with me at first, probably because I was standing in front of her with bruises on my face and my broken hand all strapped up. I’m sure I looked every inch the asshole who chased her daughter out of the country. But when Ellie had smiled at me, her eyes shining as she proudly held my hand, some of the tension had seemed to leave Ruth’s shoulders. She’d made a real effort to speak to me during the visit, and I even gained a couple of smiles from her by the time we left.
Ellie and I knew it would take a while to win her over completely, but that she was accepting of our relationship and just wanted Ellie to be happy again. I’d win her over eventually; I had all the time in the world for that.
“Have we got everything?” Ellie asked absentmindedly, peering into the trunk of the car I’d arranged for her, seeing as hers was wrecked. The trunk was packed full of suitcases, boxes, and trash bags full of clothes.
Stacey snorted as she walked back toward the house to grab another bag. “You can’t possibly have forgotten anything. Pretty sure I see a kitchen sink in there,” she teased, pointing at my car, which was also crammed full of Pearce family belongings.
Ellie grinned and blew out a big breath before turning to me. “It would be easier if I knew how long we were packing for,” she said, resting her hands on her hips.
