Burn Like An Angel (Harrowdean Manor #2)

28. Lennox

CHAPTER 28

LENNOX

S P E Y S I D E – BON IVER

The inscribed military dog tags weigh heavy in my hands, tossed from palm to palm. Back and forth. Over and over. The nervous tic mirrors my rapid heartbeat. I need something to focus on while we wait.

Sitting opposite me in a shitty hospital chair, Raine fiddles with the Velcro brace that encases his wrist. He’s lucky to have escaped the wreck with minor injuries, mostly cuts and deep-purple bruises.

We were partially shielded in the back, leaving the front seats to take the worst of the impact. By the time I roused after being knocked unconscious, Xander was unresponsive. Warner screaming in pain. Raine yelling for help.

And Ripley… was gone.

All I felt was pure fucking terror.

The same terror that sunk into me and set up shop the day I found my sister’s corpse. Blue and lifeless. I was too late to save her. Trapped in the back of that SUV, I couldn’t save my family from this either.

The terror didn’t abate even when we were cut from the twisted, smoking wreckage and blue-lighted to the nearest hospital. Nor did it ease when a still-unconscious Xander was rushed away to receive a CT scan.

“I hate this,” Raine grouses, snapping the Velcro strap back into place. “We should be in there.”

“We’re not family, Raine.”

“Bullshit! We are!”

As much as I agree with him, my last conversation with the medical team resulted in them offering to call the police to have me thrown out on the street. Apparently, violent threats aren’t acceptable in hospitals.

Who knew?

We both fidget and stew until the sour-faced ward manager, Doctor Kilton, eventually makes a reappearance. He’s a miserable fucker, far too old to still be working the midnight shift in a chaotic place like this.

My bones protest as I tap Raine’s shoulder then rush to stand, tucking the dog tags into my pocket. Countless scratches, sore scrapes and bruises make my movements stiff. Raine stretches out the cheap blue stick the hospital lent him.

“Well?” I demand.

Doctor Kilton huffs at my sharp tone. “She’s awake and ready for visitors.”

“We should’ve been in there hours ago,” Raine snaps at him.

“You are not listed as next of kin.”

“Because she has none!” I try to retain a sense of calm. “Just take us to Ripley.”

Waving tiredly, the weary doctor leads the way into the mixed ward. We both raced to the ward as fast as our battered bodies would allow when news of Ripley’s arrival by helicopter filtered down to us.

We’re escorted past several occupied rooms, accompanied by the sound of beeping machines and nurses bustling all around. It’s a busy emergency department, taking the most severe triages from across London.

Doctor Kilton gestures towards the final room. “In there.”

I don’t bother to thank the old bastard. He could’ve bent the rules for us hours ago. We all know Ripley has no relatives or emergency contacts to call. He was just deliberately being difficult.

“You want to go first?” Raine asks me.

I snag his arm. “Together. Come on.”

The frosted glass door clicks open, granting us access to a private booth. Hearing a fluttering heart rate monitor causes me to stride faster with Raine in tow beside me. We quickly round the corner to enter the room.

That’s when the terror dissipates.

At last.

Sitting upright in a wide hospital bed, Ripley’s propped up on several fluffy pillows. She watches us run in through one eye, the other blackened and swollen to the point of being closed shut.

Like us, she’s covered in cuts and scrapes from the car crash, the deeper ones closed with stark white strips. I survey her body, searching for any other injuries. She’s pale and rumpled, her septum piercing off-kilter, but she looks whole.

“Lennox. Raine.”

“Rip,” I gasp.

We both stop at her bedside, searching for anywhere to touch her. Raine finds one of her hands while I feather kisses across her mouth and face. Ripley’s here. Safe. Alive. Fucking breathing.

We made it.

The sound of her crying reaches into my chest and rips out what’s left untouched inside. There isn’t much of me she hasn’t sunk her claws into, but I’ll happily surrender the rest to her now for the relief she’s giving me.

“Oh god,” Ripley hiccups, her face burying in Raine’s chest. “You’re both okay.”

“Us?” I look at her quizzically. “What about you? Fuck, Rip. You were kidnapped!”

“I thought you were all dead.”

She’s sobbing, hands fisting Raine’s shirt.

“We thought you would be too!”

Stroking her hair, Raine plants kisses on top of her head. “Nobody is dead. Everyone take a breath. We’re all here safe.”

Jolting in his arms, Ripley pulls back to look around behind us. The frenzied look in her one working eye matches how we’ve been feeling for the last fifteen hours, waiting for any updates from Sabre’s teams.

They tracked us down as soon as emergency services attended the crash, assuming jurisdiction to prevent any further public spectacles. By then, Ripley was already gone. They were too late.

“Xander?” Her head hurriedly swings back to me.

“Hush,” Raine soothes, still stroking her hair. “He’s fine, Rip. Just had some sense knocked into him.”

“What? Where is he?”

“A couple of floors above us being fussed over by nurses he keeps threatening to stab.” I smile broadly. “Slight skull fracture, but unfortunately, still alive.”

Tears well up and streak down her bruised cheeks, causing me so much fucking pain, I don’t think I can take it. I gently ease her from Raine’s arms to swipe the moisture away.

“It’s okay, baby. We’re all fine.”

“I was so scared, Nox.”

“I know. I’m so fucking sorry, Rip.” The apology spills out of me in a jumbled rush. “I hate that you were taken from us.”

Ripley’s breath shudders, causing her gown-covered body to shake between us. We both sandwich her closer, offering gentle reassurances and touching her wherever possible.

It’s a while before she can suck in a full, unobstructed breath again. The machine she’s wired up to eventually calms, her heartbeat evening out and returning to a healthier, only slightly elevated rate.

“Are you hurt?” I study the fluids hanging above her bed.

Ripley leans back to shake her head. “Elon was injecting me with some drug cocktail. The doctors are just making sure it’s all flushed from my system. I was pretty dehydrated too.”

“Any other injuries?” Raine frets.

“Concussion.” She winces at the sight of her bandaged wrists. “And rubbed myself raw trying to escape the shackles Elon put me in. No permanent damage.”

“I can’t believe he took you to Harrowdean.” White-hot anger is a bitter weight inside me, causing my body to tense up. “What a fucking nut job.”

“You heard?” Ripley glances up.

“The Anaconda team debriefed us,” Raine explains, sitting on the bed. “They’re the ones who caught up to you. Ethan, Becket and apparently some big, scary dude called Hyland from another team.”

“Those were Enzo’s words,” I point out.

“Isn’t he big and scary?” He laughs.

“I’m not answering that, Raine.”

“That’s a yes. You were intimidated.”

“I was not!”

Ripley smiles, sinking into the pillows. “I don’t remember any of that. I was fading fast by then.”

Trying to gauge her mental state, I decide to rip the Band-Aid off. “Your uncle is dead, Rip.”

“I know.” She screws her eyes shut. “I… I killed him.”

“It was you?” Raine arches a blonde brow.

“Yes. I stabbed him.”

We’re both silent for several seconds, processing the confirmation of what we suspected. The description of the crime scene on that private jet, mere seconds from taking off, didn’t leave many other explanations.

I still wasn’t sure she had it in her. Ripley is many things, but I know she’s never taken a life before. Even if she’s ruined plenty of them. Taking that step extracts a different kind of mental toll.

She shakes her head, bloodshot eyes flicking back open. “He wanted to keep me drugged up like some kind of zombie prisoner. I had no choice.”

Raine clutches her hand tight. “You did what you had to.”

“Does that make it right?” Her bottom lip wobbles.

“No,” I reply honestly. “It makes it necessary.”

“I’ve justified a lot these past couple years using that line.” Ripley sighs with what appears to be bone-deep exhaustion. “I don’t think I want to be that person anymore.”

“We’re free,” Raine reminds her. “You can be whoever you want to be now.”

“It’s really over?”

I take her other hand, careful not to disturb the IV line feeding into it. “The investigation will rumble on, and we’ll still have to cooperate… but the corporation is being dismantled.”

“The institutes are all closing,” Raine adds with a hopeful smile. “Everyone will be transferred to real facilities. No more experiments.”

The back of my throat burns. Honestly, we haven’t had time to process the news. Not while anxiously waiting for updates. There’s still so much to be uncovered, but this is the first step towards eradicating Incendia’s rule.

I’m not stupid enough to believe we’ll be left in peace. Not after the deals we’ve all signed to act as informants to avoid any prosecution for our actions. Freedom has come at a steep cost.

“What about Elon?” She swallows hard.

“Alive,” I answer. “Not sure he’ll ever see again, though. He’s been remanded into custody along with his men and countless others.”

A relieved breath whooshes out of her. “Good.”

“Did you really gouge his eyes out?” Raine scrunches his nose up.

“Um, a little bit.”

“Damn. I feel like I shouldn’t approve of that, you know?” He gestures to his own honeyed eyes. “But honestly, if anyone deserves to suffer, it’s that son of a bitch.”

“Seconded,” I grumble.

“I half-expected it to be the police when you guys walked in,” Ripley admits, chewing her bottom lip. “What’s going to happen to me?”

Raine shrugs. “Jonathan’s death was self-defence.”

“With no witnesses?” she challenges.

“You’ve got a massive black eye, a concussion and were kidnapped after a hit and run,” I list off. “I don’t think there’s a court in the world that would prosecute after all that.”

“Fair point.”

“Enzo says we’re all free to go as long as we hold up our end of the deal.” Raine caresses her bruised knuckles. “We won’t be transferred with the other patients or taken back into custody.”

“Fuck.” She looks up at me, a glimmer of hope in her one good eye. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. The SCU will honour their word.”

“We really are free.” Ripley shakes her head. “I can’t quite believe it. What now?”

Lifting her hand, Raine presses a kiss on it. “You remember that future we talked about?”

I look between them, eyebrows raised.

“It rings a bell,” Ripley hedges.

“Well… perhaps it can be more than a far-off dream now.”

“Am I allowed to ask about this inside joke?” I nudge Raine’s shoulder playfully.

“Not an inside joke.” Raine tilts his head in my direction. “I told Ripley that when this is all over, we’ll follow her wherever she wants to go.”

“Xander and Lennox may not want that.” Ripley looks down at her legs, covered by the thin hospital sheet.

Aghast, I stare at the most insane woman I’ve ever met. The vengeful bitch who jeopardised our lives. Instigated our torture. Stole our power. Then… our fucking hearts too.

“Nox?” Raine sighs. “Help me out here.”

“I’m struggling myself.”

“Then use your words! Fucking hell.”

Releasing Ripley’s hand, he picks up his new guide stick and walks away from the bed to give us a moment. I wait for him to tap his way to the window, weighing up my words.

For a moment, I just look at her. The one person I never expected to feel something so incredibly strong for beyond stone-cold hatred. For so long, I fucking loathed her.

My eyes catch on the black bracelet still secured around her wrist, above the bandages covering where she must have been shackled. Again. This time without me there to hold her close.

Fuck.

We almost lost her.

I can’t lose her ever again.

“We had an unconventional journey to get here, didn’t we?”

She chuckles under her breath. “Is that what we’re calling it?”

“Sure.”

“Then I guess we did.”

“Six months ago, I never would’ve thought we’d be here. I had every intention of paying you back for the pain and torment you put us through. I wanted you dead, Rip.”

“I’m aware.”

I lick my lips, searching for the right words. “But I wouldn’t change any of it. Do you know why?”

Ripley meets my gaze through one open eye. “Yeah, I think I do.”

“Then you know what I’m about to say. All that grief, trauma, unthinkable torture… it led me here. To this crossroad. Staring at the most incredible woman in this fucked up world.”

My voice has turned raspy, forcing me to stop for a breath. I’ll scream in her face until I’m hoarse if that’s what it takes for her to hear me. To believe what I know to be true deep in my soul.

“A woman I love,” I add emotionally. “And who I hope will let me join her on this future train she’s taking far away from all this heartache. If she’ll have me.”

“How could you even doubt it?” Her tears overflow, making her bruises shine. “You know I love you, Nox. Our future is what all this has been for.”

“Then I guess I’m following you, baby.”

Hands braced on the bed, I lean in to press a kiss onto her lips. Ripley responds fervently, proving her words with mere touch alone. There’s no lie in the way she kisses me like I’m her life support machine.

Little does she know… she’s mine. Always has been. Even when we despised each other and traded blows from afar, both determined to eradicate the other. That hatred kept me alive so I could love her to death now.

“Where are we going, anyway?” I laugh into her lips.

“You have a preference?”

“I don’t exactly have a home to go back to. Hell, none of us do.”

“I suppose we can figure it all out,” Ripley decides with a tiny, hope-filled smile. “We’ve got our whole lives ahead of us.”

Turning away from the window, Raine taps a path back over to us. “Now that’s taken care of… how about a snack? I’m fucking starving.”

“I saw a vending machine down the corridor.” I consider him. “Need help reading the buttons?”

“Nah.” Raine waves me off. “I’ll leave it to chance.”

Ripley snags his arm before he can leave. “Wait. How did Sabre find me so fast? Elon changed vehicles like a thousand times.”

A hot, guilty flush creeps up my neck. I roll and pucker my lips, unable to provide an immediate response. Raine looks like he wants to laugh. He’s barely holding it back.

“What?” She frowns at us both.

“Yeah, Nox. What?” Raine breaks out in laughter.

I rub the back of my neck. “Look, if we hadn’t done it… We never would’ve gotten you back. Remember that.”

“Done what?” Ripley asks suspiciously.

“It was just a precaution… Sabre helped set it up! Blame them!”

Chortling, Raine squeezes his stick between his hands. “Oh, this’ll be good.”

“And it came from a place of love,” I add, feeling my panic spiral. “Nothing else.”

“Seriously, Nox. What the fuck?”

My eyes skid back down to her bracelet. The one we gave her on our impromptu date. She looked so confused when Xander handed it over out of the blue.

I clear my throat. “Ahem. There’s… erm, a tracker in your bracelet.”

Ripley is silent for several seconds. It seems to stretch on endlessly. I’m preparing my escape plan before she can throttle me with her IV line when she finally spits out a response.

“You gave me a fucking tracking device as a fake gift?”

“Technically, it was a real gift,” Raine jumps in. “And for the record, I knew nothing about it. All I suggested was flowers or something.”

“Oh, let me guess!” she shouts in a rage. “I know exactly who’s goddamn idea this?—”

Click.

The door to her room swooshes open. Wheels roll across the tacky linoleum, preceding the appearance of a chair being pushed by an aggravated-looking orderly.

His ghostly face set in a scowl, Xander is seated in the wheelchair, demanding his carer hurries up. When they round the corner, his tired midnight eyes snap over to us.

The doctors decided that surgery wasn’t required after his emergency CT scan showed a hairline fracture in his upper skull from the wreck. Much to our collective relief. Xander simply bitched about being kept on the ward against his wishes.

Before he can say a word, Ripley points a finger at him.

“You! Xander fucking Beck! What kind of psychopath gives his girl a damn concealed tracker on their first official date?”

Thin lips pressed together, he turns to look up at the orderly. “Turn me around and run, would you?”

The middle-aged woman snickers, parking him up right next to me.

“You’ve dug your hole, son. I could use a break from your complaining while she rips you a new one.”