Crime & Punishment 3: Theirs to Share (23 page)

“I’m fine. Stay down, Cheyenne. Grayson, I need to get to the upper deck.”

“Got it,” Grayson reached up and grabbed the pistol from the kitchen drawer above them.

He turned and pointed it toward the broken dining room window. “Go!” he shouted and started firing though what was left of the window.

Fear for Parker raced through her as shots began to fire toward the back of the boat. She heard a loud oath; then a large body hit the deck above them. Had he been shot?

“Parker!” she screamed.

Another round of shots sliced through the boat. Grayson covered her with his body, but it didn’t stop the shaking of her limbs or the feeling of nausea that rolled through her stomach. How in God’s name were they ever going to make it out of this?

She heard Parker shooting from the roof and realized with a sigh that he was at least okay enough to fire back. She heard a shout and someone hit the water.

“Sounds like he got one,” Grayson said in her ear. “Stay here.”

He crawled across the floor to the window. Raising his pistol, he fired toward the boat, hitting another one.

“Nice shot,” Parker said from the upper deck.

“How many are there?” she asked from her crouched position by the cabinets.

“There were three. Now there’s just one.”

Cheyenne heard the roar of another boat and groaned. “Please tell me that’s not more of them.”

He pointed a finger at her. “Stay down.”

She nodded and didn’t move. She wasn’t sure she could, even if she wanted to.

A shot much different from the others echoed through the cove just before the third man shouted. There was no sound of him hitting water, though, so she assumed he fell into the boat.

“Was that a rifle?” she asked.

“Hey,” Parker called. “Gordon, is that you? What the hell?”

“You boys all right in there?” a man called out.

“We’re good,” Grayson replied. “Is that Josh with you?”

Cheyenne moved to her knees and looked out the window, staring in relief at the man she recognized as Josh. Grayson turned to her and held out his hand. With a sob, she rushed to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s over,” he said smoothly as he rubbed his hands up and down her back.

She could hear Parker’s voice as he led the three men down the narrow hall from the back of the boat and sighed. Both her men were okay and safe.

“I heard you fall, Parker,” she said, still holding on to Grayson. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Doc,” he said.

He walked up and put his hand on her back, then leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Just tripped trying to go up those narrow steps too fast, but don’t tell anybody.”

Cheyenne snickered and opened her eyes, glancing toward the front of the boat before pushing away from Grayson. What she saw, however, stole her breath. “Parker,” she whispered.

A wet man, bloody from the bullet wound to his shoulder, stood inside the boat. He raised his good arm, taking aim at her and Grayson. Both men pushed her between them just as the man and someone behind them shot at the same time.

Grayson grunted with a jerk as she watched the man fall to the floor, a bullet hole in the center of his forehead. She felt warm wetness on her stomach and pulled away to stare in shock at Grayson’s bloody side where a bullet had torn through.

“No!” she shouted as he sank to his knees.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Cheyenne fell with him and started lifting his shirt. It had gone clear through, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t done any damage. She needed to see how bad it was.

“I’m okay,” Grayson said weakly, but Cheyenne shoved his hands away. She could hear Josh calling for help on his phone.

Parker knelt down as well and put his hands on her shoulders, trying to get her to calm down. He finally gave her a shake and snapped, “Cheyenne. I need you to calm down for a second.”

“What?” she yelled as she wadded up a towel Josh handed her and pressed it to the exit wound, which was twice the size of the entrance one.

“The bullet went through him, but where did it end up?” Parker asked.

Cheyenne froze. It was then she felt the pain in her side. She’d been so worried about Grayson, she hadn’t noticed it before. Wincing, she lifted her top and saw the hole halfway between her belly button and lower rib, just off to the side, right below where her stomach was.

Her hand shook as she gingerly touched the wound with her finger. Piercing, burning pain sliced through her midsection, taking her breath away. The room began to spin.

“Oh, God,” she whispered, then blacked out.

PARKER CAUGHT HER easily in his arms, ignoring the residual pain in his own side from Grayson’s wound. They both would live, but right now, Grayson was white as a sheet and losing a lot of blood. Parker reached out and cupped Grayson’s cheek. “You stay with me, Grayson. You hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear ya,” Grayson mumbled as he accepted Gordon’s help to his feet. “Just take care of her.”

Gordon leaned him against the counter and reapplied pressure to his wound, making Grayson growl curse words that would make a sailor blush.

“Oh, stop your whinin’, boy,” Gordon said harshly, but the amused twitch in his lips lessened the bite of his words.

“Whinin’, my ass,” Grayson snarled, making Gordon chuckle.

Parker looked down at Cheyenne and brushed a lock of hair from her pale face. He was so worried about her.

“I’ve got the police on the way.” No sooner had Josh finished his sentence than they heard the sirens of the water police rushing through the cove. They stopped by the boat, and Josh yelled out the window. “I’ve got an agent as well as a witness in protective custody down. Both were shot in the midsection.”

“Do we need life flight?” he heard someone asked.

“They’re not life threatening, but we need to get them back to the marina. An ambulance is waiting.”

“We can take them,” the man called.

Josh turned back to the group. “Let’s get them on the boat.”

Once they were loaded, Parker started to go back to the houseboat, but Josh stopped him. “I got this. You go.”

“You sure?”

He gave him a slap on the shoulder. “Yeah, go.”

* * * *

Parker sat in a chair between the twin beds, watching his cousin and Cheyenne sleep peacefully. Both had come through with flying colors and would be fine. Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about life without either one of them.

Cheyenne had become a part of him, just like his cousin. He called his mother and asked her point-blank if she and his aunt had done anything magical to help find them a wife, and she was sure they hadn’t. When they realized what the spell had done to connect him and Grayson, they hadn’t done anything else for fear they would make things worse.

Parker wasn’t sure if he was happy about that or not. If they hadn’t done anything, then why did he feel such a pull toward Cheyenne? Why did it feel so incredibly different when it was the three of them than it ever had before? It made no sense.

How could he be in love with her after only a few days?

Cheyenne stirred and opened her eyes, staring sleepily at Parker.

“Hey, Doc,” he said with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been shot,” she whispered hoarsely.

Parker chuckled softly.

“How’s Grayson?” she asked.

He nodded toward the bed next to her. “Sleeping like a baby. Of course, you know, since he took a bullet for you, there will be no living with him.”

She harrumphed, then winced as she tried to shift to a more comfortable position. “I still got the damn thing,” she grumbled. “If Josh hadn’t fired at the same time and knocked the guy’s aim off, he probably would’ve gotten both of us.”

Parker shook his head. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

“Me either,” she said tiredly. “Did I really pass out?” she asked hesitantly.

He gave her a slight smile as he reached out and gently rubbed her shin. “After everything you’ve been through the last few days, I would have been surprised if you hadn’t.”

She sighed and glanced toward the ceiling. “I thought I was made of stronger stuff than that.”

“We all have our breaking points.”

“I suppose.” She glanced over at Grayson. “How bad was it? Any internal damage?”

“No,” Parker replied. “It went clean through and didn’t hit anything vital. He’s got about three times as many stitches and will be pretty sore for a while. On yours, the bullet was shallow. They were able to get it and stitch you up with a local. You came to briefly, but the pain meds they gave you knocked you back out again.”

“Yeah, I have a low sensitivity to them.”

Standing, Parker walked over to the morphine pump and hit the button. “Get some sleep, baby,” Parker whispered as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “We’ll talk later.”

* * * *

Later
turned into three days, and Cheyenne was beginning to get anxious. She knew it wasn’t their fault. They’d all three been put through the ringer. Debriefings seemed to take forever, and she felt like she’d told the same story fifty times. Anytime there was a death, whether a good guy or bad guy, there were lots of questions and paperwork. Even Josh had been delayed on his trip to Tennessee to help that girl.

Parker and Grayson hadn’t deserted her. They’d sent her texts and called a couple of times, although one of those calls she’d missed because she’d been in with the district attorney. When she’d tried to call them back, she’d gotten voice mail.

That was how the last three days had been—just missing each other, phone tag.

With a tired sigh, she walked over to the hotel window and stared out over downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It was a beautiful day with lots of white puffy clouds. Surprisingly, she still wasn’t quite ready to go home. Even though they believed she would be fine, that the threat was gone, she still didn’t quite feel safe.

Whoever would take over for the four men who were killed wouldn’t have any interest in her now. The men she would’ve testified against were dead. She couldn’t do anything to the new mob boss. The FBI believed that any threat against her died with the four men who’d been after her.

She’d talked to the agent in charge and asked about being relocated anyway. Not a name change, but a new city and a fresh start away from what were now bad memories of home. He told her to think about it, where she might want to go, and to get back to him.

She wanted to talk to the guys first. She still didn’t know what would happen with them, but thinking about her future without them felt…wrong.

The idea of having them in her life wasn’t something she was willing to give up, at least not yet. The whole ménage thing didn’t scare her or even intimidate her. It felt right, as though it was meant to be. She just needed to hear that they wanted to try. And if they didn’t, then she would move on. It would hurt like hell, but she would survive. She’d survived this, after all.

A knock sounded at the door, and she turned to stare at it. At first, she was nervous but quickly shook it off. The bad guys were dead. The threat was over. She walked to the door with determination and threw it open without even looking through the peephole. Steve stood there smiling like a loon, a small bouquet of flowers in his hand.

Cheyenne squealed and threw herself into his open arms. “Oh my God,” she said as happy tears gathered in her eyes. “I was so worried about you.”

He chuckled and hugged her tight. “As you can see, I’m fine. I’m sorry, Shy. I should’ve never been so mean to you back at the hospital.”

She pulled away and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “It’s okay. I understand. Come in,” she said, as she stepped aside and allowed him to enter her hotel suite.

He glanced around and smiled. “Nice room.”

She shrugged. “It’s a hotel room.” She motioned for him to take a seat on the couch. “How are you?”

“I’m okay,” he said as he handed her the flowers.

She smiled and sniffed the pink rose in the middle.

“How are you?” he asked pointedly.

“I’m fine. The bullet didn’t go deep, since it went through Grayson first, but it still hurts.”

Steve chuckled. “I bet.”

“I’m thinking about not going back home,” she murmured. “It would just be too creepy.”

“I know what you mean. Where are you going?”

“Not sure yet. I wanted to talk to Grayson and Parker first.” Steve raised an eyebrow, and she blushed. “You’ll think I’m nuts.”

Steve snorted. “Please, if anyone is nuts, it’s…”

She realized instantly that something was wrong. She put her hand on his knee and softly said, “Do you need to talk about something?”

He leaned his elbows on his knees and studied his hands. “Did you ever wonder why the two of us never got together?”

She frowned. “No. I always thought of you as my brother. Why?”

“Yeah, I thought of you as my sister. Your dad pretty much took care of me, more than my own did, so…” He sighed before continuing. “Something happened after we were attacked.”

Her lips twitched slightly. “Did you hook up with your protector too?”

He looked up at her, a startled expression on his face.

“I was joking,” she said with a hesitant laugh.

Steve licked his lips nervously as he stared back down at his hands. Cheyenne tried to remember who his guards were. “Steve, out with it,” she said.

“Shawn Borell…one of my agents…and I…” He drew in a slow, deep breath and let it out. “We slept together.” There was a moment of stunned silence on her end right before he started rambling. “I don’t even know how it happened. It was the morning after we were found. We’d gotten separated from the other agent. Bullets were flying everywhere. I think it was just the situation, the threat maybe, but…”

She gave his leg a squeeze for encouragement. “But?”

He winced. “But I liked it. I liked him… I
like
him.”

“Have you told him that?”

Steve shook his head sadly. “The other agent showed up then, and the two of us just pretended like it didn’t happen, but…it’s all I could think about. Even now, it’s…” He looked at Cheyenne with a pained expression. “I’m not supposed to like guys, Shy. I’m supposed to like girls. I do like girls.”