Fighting for Flight (43 page)

The name grates on my nerves. “And what about her?
They gonna arrest her?”

He leans back, crosses his arms over his chest.
“Yup. She’ll go down for kidnapping and whatever else the
prosecutor can scrape up.”

I exhale a long breath. Guess keeping Vince alive
was a good thing.

“Don’t you let her cry one tear for that dick.”
Blake looks to the ambulance that holds Dominick’s body then back
to Raven. “She’s a sweet girl, and sweet girls feel shit for shitty
people. Don’t let it eat her up inside. She saved your life.”

I turn a glare on my friend. “Yeah, she did. And
don’t think I’ve forgotten about your broken promise, ass.”

“Dude, she forced me. I got her out, but she
threatened to tell the women of Vegas that I’ve got a needle dick.”
He throws his hands up in mock surrender. “I can’t let that happen.
I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”

“How hard is it to keep a fucking promise?”

He shrugs, but has the decency to look embarrassed.
“Your girl can be persuasive.”

“Ass.” I chuckle and turn back to Milena and Raven,
making a mental note to take it out on him in the octagon once my
shoulder heals.

“Milena’s fucking hot as hell.” There’s a smile in
his voice.

I glare at him, but can’t help the curl in my lips.
“Are you seriously talking about my girl’s mom? Sick fuck.”

“What? I know hot when I see it, and Milena’s
smokin’.” He stands and holds out his hand. “Keys. I’ll follow
Milena home in the truck and bring it by in the morning. I’m
assuming you’ll be riding down the hill in this.” He motions to the
ambulance. “I’d offer to take Raven home, but knowing you, you
ain’t letting your girl out of your sight for . . . well,
ever.”

I toss him my keys. “Thanks, man.”

He looks away and nods. Guy code for,
no problem,
you’d do it for me
. Fuck yeah, I would.

Blake turns on his heel.

“Hey, B. You keep your dick to yourself around
Milena, ya hear?”

He stops, looks to the ground, and shakes his head.
He continues walking and turns over his shoulder. “I don’t do
chicks with kids, remember?”

I laugh to myself and watch as Raven finishes up.
She turns away from the group of police who frantically fill their
note pads and heads in my direction. She has a blanket from the EMT
wrapped around her shoulders. Her head wound is clean and covered
with a butterfly bandage.

Standing, I pull her into my arms. “Hey.” I push the
blanket down to kiss her neck at my spot. “You okay?” She curls in
tight, just like she always does, as if she was carved from my own
form.

“Yeah. I’m great.” The smile in her voice is
unmistakable.

“Mr. Slade, it’s about time we get going,” Kevin
says from inside the ambulance.

“Come on. Let’s get this over with so we can go
home.” I move to help her inside the vehicle.

“Oh, no, she can’t come.” Kevin wags his finger as I
one-arm lift Raven into the ambulance. “But if she wants to, she
can meet . . . you . . . um . . .”

Raven and I are inside, settled on a stretcher,
completely ignoring his rant.

“Well, okay. I guess she can come.” He must finally
realize that he’ll be riding in another vehicle before she does.
Smart kid.

“Thanks, Kevin.” I pull Raven into my arms and kiss
her head. “I appreciate your flexibility.”

Raven’s body jumps with silent laughter as she hides
her smile in my chest. I wrap her up tighter, thinking about how
close I was to losing this. Losing her.

The ambulance fires up and we head back to Vegas.
Raven’s breathing slows to the rhythm of sleep. Even with my
shoulder on fire, tired as hell, and minus a shitload of blood, I
don’t sleep. Instead, my mind conjures plans—plans for the future
we now have sealed. And I’m not wasting a single second.

“Kevin, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Sure thing, ‘Assassin.’”

“I need to make a phone call.”

~*~

Raven

Beep-Beep-Beep.

The gentle sound brings me back to consciousness. I
blink several times into the dark before lifting my head from my
warm pillow. I observe my surroundings, thankful to see the lights
of medical equipment rather than log walls. I’m not in the cabin,
but in the hospital with Jonah.

My head swirls with the events from this morning.
The cops told me that Guy was safe. They even gave me a phone so I
could call him. He apologized for not being at the fight to protect
me. I reassured him that Dominick was out to get his way, no matter
what.

Katherine showed up and sat with my mom while Jonah
was poked and x-rayed. The doctor said that that the bullet went
straight through without injuring anything vital, but they had to
do surgery. Three hours later, we were put in a private room. I
assured Katherine and my mom that I was okay. There was no way I
was leaving Jonah’s side. I traded my bloody clothes for a pair of
clean scrubs, crawled in bed with Jonah, and fell asleep.

A yawn crawls up my throat and I lie back down in
the crook of Jonah’s uninjured shoulder.

“Good morning.” His sexy, sleepy voice does
delicious things to my body. Even laid-up and hospitalized, he’s
irresistible.

“Good night, you mean.” I walk my fingers to his
abdomen, pulling his hospital gown up to slide my hand against his
rippled muscles.

He reaches for my face but drops his hand with a
groan. “Shit, that hurts.”

I tilt my face to his and smile. “Looks like you’re
going to have to keep that hand to yourself.”

“Not a fucking chance. Come here.” His demand is
firm and sexy.

I brush my lips against his chin. “Thank you, Jonah.
Thank you for finding me.”

“And thank you for saving me.”

My cheeks heat and I bury deeper into his chest.

“How’re you holding up? You know, with everything?”
His hand traces soothing patterns on my back.

“Um . . . I’m good. I feel like I should feel
something, ya know? Guilt or . . . remorse. I just don’t.” I huff
out a breath. “The cops said this morning that no charges are being
filed. Justifiable homicide and all that.”

“You want to talk about what happened with Vince?”
His muscles tense against my body.

“Not much to tell. He tried to—”

A deep growl rumbles in Jonah’s chest.

Yeah, probably best to skip to the end. “You told me
to break his arm. So I did.” I hear the words, and even I think
they sound crazy. But it’s the truth.

“I told you?”

I circle his belly button with my finger. “Yeah. In
my head. You told me to fight. You said
arm bar
.” I shrug.
“You weren’t even there yet, and you were protecting me.”

“I’ll always protect you.” He hugs me to him. “Not
that you need it. My girl’s tough as nails. I’m proud of you.”

Inwardly, I smile. I’m proud of myself.

“Fuck, I wish I’d killed that son of a bitch.”

“Nah. He deserves to live the rest of his life
behind bars. Death is too easy.”

He laughs in a quick burst then groans. “Ugh, remind
me not to do that again.”

Starting at his neck, I trail soft kisses to his
jaw. “Poor baby.” I push up to meet his eyes. “I love you.”

His hand slides up my back into my hair. “I love you
too. So much.”

He takes my lips in a brutal kiss that I feel in my
toes. I moan into his mouth as our tongues glide against each
other. Desire floods my veins as I explore his mouth. His strong
lips dominate mine, molding them to his will. I roll his nipple
between my thumb and forefinger. He groans and his hips flex off
the bed.

Pushing up, I press my breasts into his chest,
tilting my head and delving deeper into the kiss.

He breaks away with a hiss. “Fuck.”

The whispered curse sends me back and sitting up.
“Shoot, did I hurt you?” I touch him and jerk my hand away, afraid
of hurting him again.

“No, but if we don’t take this home, I’m afraid I’ll
be forced to give the good doctor and his unsuspecting nurses a
visual aid in sex education.” He shifts and adjusts the blankets to
camouflage his arousal. It doesn’t work.

A giggle bubbles up from my chest, and my hand
covers my mouth. Something rough on my finger rubs against my lips.
What the heck?

My mood sobers as I examine my hand, palm down,
fingers splayed. It’s on my ring finger. A gold band composed of
tiny diamonds with one large round diamond in the center. The
setting is old-fashioned, understated, and absolutely perfect. I
stare in awe.

The cool air burns my eyes. I’m unable to blink. I
force my eyes to Jonah who’s smiling his thousand-watt smile: all
teeth, two dimples, and shining eyes.

“Jonah?” I whisper, my eyes asking the question my
words can’t form.

“The ring was my mom’s. My dad gave it to her when
they got engaged, and she wore it every day, until this morning.
She brought it by when you were sleeping.” He pulls my hand to his
chest and nimbly spins the ring on my finger.

“Raven, I fell in love with you the second I saw
you. I thought I had my life mapped out, thought I had it together.
Then you came along and flipped my world on its head. You make me
want things I never knew I needed. This ring is more than a symbol
of my love. It represents family. Our family. The one we’ll build
together. You said you didn’t want to talk about our future until
you knew we had a future to talk about. Well, now we do. So? Will
you marry me?”

Our family. Our future. Now that we have one.

He stares at me, his eyebrows raised. I taste the
salty tears as my lips curl at the edges. A slow smile creeps
across his face.

I study the perfect ring then lock eyes with him.
“Okay.”

His face splits into a smile. “Okay.” He kisses me
deep and hard, possessive.

My insides turn to liquid. I explore every curve of
his rippled stomach, and his muscles flex beneath my touch. My
nails dig into his skin and drag down lower, until they’re under
the blankets that lie across his hips. He flexes into my touch,
showing me what he wants.
Me.

“Oh, one more thing.” He breaks the kiss enough to
speak, but his words are said against my lips.

An embarrassing whimper escapes at the loss of his
mouth. “Yeah?” I lean into him.

He rubs his thumb across my aching lower lip. “Happy
birthday, baby.”

The words are barely out before I’m on him again.
Desperation takes over my rational mind and I pull at his gown.
Too many clothes.

A voice clears from the end of the bed, popping the
love-driven sex bubble we’d created. I curl into Jonah’s body,
hoping to disappear from whoever caught me making out with my
injured boyfriend. Fiancé.

“Well, well, well. Looks like someone’s feeling
better,” Blake says from the foot of the bed, motioning to the pile
of thin hospital blankets at Jonah’s crotch.

I say a quick prayer of thanks that it’s Blake and
not Katherine. “Hey, Blake.”

“What’s up?” Jonah acts unaffected as he twirls a
strand of my hair.

“Just came back from the police station. Dominick’s
operation is under intense investigation. Thought you two would
like to know Vince and Candy are going to be looking at the inside
of a jail cell for the foreseeable future.”

Jonah and I take a collective breath.

Blake grimaces. “Vinnie should be the most popular
guy in his cell block. They couldn’t save his dick so they gave him
a pussy. Boys in prison should love that.”

“Blake!” I attempt to sound offended, my hysterical
laughter ruining any chance I have of being taken seriously.
Besides, that’s the least he deserves for what he did to Eve, me,
and probably loads of other women who weren’t lucky enough to get
away.

“I see you got a decent piece of ice there on your
finger, baby girl.”

I hold up my hand and admire the ring again. “Yeah.”
Jonah kisses my head at my breathy reply.

“Right on. I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.” He
holds up his hand. “Word of caution, the doc is on his way in to
check on your shoulder. You might want to keep Mr. Moby on the
down-low.” He looks at the bed then back at us. “Looks like it’s
too late for down-low, so . . . under wraps.”

“Dude, you mind keeping your eyes off my dick?”

He flashes his cocky smile. And even in the arms of
the man of my dreams, his smile makes me giggle like a teenage
girl. He winks then turns on his heel and heads through the draped
dividers.

“Catch you two later. Got a hot little nurse who’s
waiting to give my dick an oral exam.”

I laugh hard, trying to keep my body from shaking at
its intensity. “He’s so funny.”

“Yes, so you’ve said.” Jonah’s deadpan tone makes me
grin.

“Ooh, are you jealous?” I touch the end of his nose
with my fingertip.

“Hmph. No.”

I slide my lower lip out in an exaggerated pout.
“Oh. That’s too bad. I was going to prove my feelings for you . . .
physically.” I kiss the sensitive skin below his ear.

“Is that right?” I can hear the smile in his
voice.

“Mm-hm. I like you jealous.”

“Get used to it, baby.” He groans when I pull his
earlobe between my teeth. “You know you’re mine now? To have and to
hold ’til death do us part.”

“I do.”

Two months, five
days, and twenty-two hours later . . .

Jonah

“Forty-two
million
dollars?” Owen’s palm slams
on the bar, his jaw slack, eyes wide.

I pop the bottle cap and place the fresh beer in
front of him. “Projected. It’ll take awhile to liquidate all of
Dominick’s properties.” We knew Dominick was loaded with dirty
money, but finding out about his multiple luxury high-rise condos
and commercial properties was a surprise.

Rex leans in, his pierced eyebrow raised high. “No
shit? What’re you guys going to do with all that money?”