Hurry Up And Wait (Owens Protective Services #24)

34. Kavanaugh

34

KAVANAUGH

I only made it to the step before panic hit me hard. The front door was wide open. I rushed up the steps and burst through the door, searching frantically for any sign of her.

“Isla!” I ran through the house, calling her name over and over again, hoping that this was all some terrible joke. Her things were here, but she and Riley were both gone. Not even Bowie was anywhere in sight.

I pulled out my phone as I ran downstairs and out the door. “IKE!”

“She’s in the hospital,” he said calmly. “She’s okay, but?—”

I didn’t listen to another word he said. I ran for my truck and was on the road in less than five seconds. Horrible images filtered through my mind, all of them ending with her in a bloody heap on the ground. If this was the senator, I was going to kill him. Father or not, he was dead to me.

Why hadn’t anyone called me? Had the alarms not gone off at her house? And why the fuck hadn’t IKE contacted me as soon as he found out something was wrong? I skidded to a stop in front of the ER, then bolted from my truck, desperate to see her.

The lobby was empty aside from a few patients who were waiting to be seen. I ran to the front desk, but IKE was there a second later, jerking his head at me to follow him. He was so calm and collected, and I was losing my shit.

“How is she?”

“She’s going to be fine. She has a concussion and they’re keeping her overnight, but otherwise, she’s fine, considering.”

I grabbed him by the suit jacket and spun him around. “Considering what?” I snapped.

His eyes slowly shifted to where I held him, and then he glared at me. “Remove your hand.”

But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Not until I knew what happened. “Tell me why the fuck my girlfriend is in the hospital when you were supposed to be watching her,” I snapped.

In a flash, he grabbed my hand and twisted it back, shoving me against the wall. “Your girlfriend? Suddenly, she’s your girlfriend? I wonder what your fiancée would have to say about that.”

“I asked you to look out for her,” I hissed. “Was that too fucking hard?”

Guilt flashed in his eyes, but he quickly wiped it away and stepped back. “I thought it was your job to protect her. But I guess you were too busy fucking another woman.”

“I wasn’t fucking anyone. I was doing a job, which is over now, thankfully.”

“Just in time,” he said, his lips curling in a snarl. “I wonder if she cares that the job is over, or if it’s too little, too late?”

“I don’t give a fuck what you think happened. I was on a job. That’s it. I fucking asked you to watch her for me, and she’s in the hospital now. Tell me why the fuck that happened!”

He calmly took another step back, straightening his suit. “Her ex took Riley. She was on a date with Bowie and Shawn ran them down. Bowie’s still in surgery.”

I shoved my fingers through my hair, a little shocked Shawn took it so far. “Is Riley okay?”

“She will be. Shawn took her and used her to get Isla out of the house.”

“And you let her go,” my nostrils flared in anger.

“No, she told me she saw him outside. The fear in her eyes…I th ought it was real. I left her inside while I checked it out. That’s when she ran. I had to get her tracking information from Rae, and by the time I got to the farmhouse, he lured her to…He was fucking choking her.”

My eyes filled with tears at the thought of that fucker wrapping his hands around her throat. And I wasn’t there. I was too fucking busy finishing things with the senator, and while I was gone, he made his move. He tried to fucking kill her.

“I got a shot off, hit him in the shoulder, but he fled out the back door.”

“You didn’t hunt him down?” I snapped.

“Call me crazy, but it seemed more important to make sure your girlfriend and her sister were okay. Should I have made a different choice?” he bit out.

No, he shouldn’t have. “What about evidence?”

“None. Not a single fucking thing. He called her from a burner. His voice was scrambled. And the police haven’t found a single hair to place him at the scene. He was wearing a mask. I can’t even identify him.”

“Fuck!” I spat, punching the wall, earning me a glare from a nearby nurse. The security guard was already headed toward me. He was going to throw me out if I didn’t get my shit together.

“Rae is running down leads right now.”

“And why the fuck didn’t anyone call me?” I snapped. “I should have been the first fucking call!”

He stiffened, then shoved his hands in his pockets. “She didn’t want me to call you.”

That made me pause. Everything in me tightened until it was unbearably painful. I took a step back, then another until I hit the wall. “She —”

“Give her a fucking minute, okay?” he sighed. “She was worried about her sister, and I already laid into her for leaving me out of the loop. She just needs a minute.”

My eyes met his and I shook my head slowly. “I don’t have a minute.” I glanced at the guard, then turned to IKE again. “Take care of him for me. I need to see her. ”

He grabbed my arm as I tried to leave. “I told you to give her the fucking night.”

I gritted my teeth. It took everything in me not to shoot him on the spot for letting that asshole get his hands on her. But he was right, she was my responsibility, and I let her down. “I need to see her. If she kicks me out, then…I just need to see her.”

Maybe it was the excruciating pain on my face or maybe he could see the truth in my eyes, that I had failed her. Either way, he released me and gave me a tight nod. “I swear to God, if she asks me to shoot you, I will.”

At least she had him looking out for her. I turned and headed for the room he pointed to as he intercepted the guard. There was no sound as I entered the room. I held my breath as I walked in, the door whooshing closed behind me. The moment I saw her—that was it. I was done for. My knees nearly buckled at the sight of her lying in that bed, so alone and vulnerable.

But it was the look on her face as her head swiveled to meet my gaze. And that’s when I saw the ring of bruises around her neck and fucking lost it. I stormed forward and slid my fingers along her neck, needing to check the damage for myself. But that was the wrong thing to do. She jerked away from me, her eyes alarmed at the sight of me.

“Isla,” I croaked out. “I—tell me you’re okay.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice rough and scratchy.

“I went to your house and…why didn’t you tell IKE?” I whispered, feeling on edge and ready to lose it.

“He said he would kill her. I couldn’t take that chance.”

“He was there for your protection,” I snapped. “He was supposed to take care of you, and he can’t do his fucking job if you don’t obey the rules!”

She was silent for a minute, just glaring at me as I stared at the bruises on her neck. I could never un-see them. What if it had been me? What if I had known she ran out on me and I couldn’t do anything to protect her?

“Obey the rules?” she asked quietly, her voice almost a threat. “What rules exactly are you talking about? ”

“The ones that are there to keep you safe,” I snapped, barely holding my temper.

“Safe…” she repeated. “From all the dangers aside from you.”

I almost said yes, but then I really listened to her words. The dangers aside from you. Yes, I was a danger to her. Maybe not physically, but emotionally, I had fucked her over.

“You’re right,” I said quietly. “I was wrong.”

Sighing, she laid back in the bed. “Just go, Kavanaugh. I don’t want to do this tonight.”

“Isla—”

“Go,” she said more forcefully than I expected. “Just…I need some time. It’s been a long night.”

I gritted my teeth, not wanting to go anywhere. But she didn’t want me here. She was practically begging me to go, and if I didn’t listen to her, I’d only make things worse. So, I brushed my lips against her forehead, lingering for just a moment, inhaling her scent before I disappeared from the room.

IKE was waiting outside, his face a mask of calm despite the anger I saw simmering underneath. “Red and Eli just arrived. They’ll look out for her.”

“And her sister? Bowie?”

“Lock’s team.” He cocked his head at me, his eyes narrowing slightly. “We have work to do.”

For once, I agreed with him. “Yes, we do.”

“We can’t just kill him,” I argued.

“Why not?” IKE asked. “I can think of a few ways to make him disappear.”

“That’s not what we do. We don’t murder people.”

“How can you say that? He attacked your girlfriend. He would have killed her. He very nearly killed Bowie,” IKE snapped. “What the fuck does it take to remove him from your life?”

IKE didn’t have any qualms about killing someone. Hell, it was in his job description. But that wasn’t how I operated. The senator was like that, always doing things his own way, regardless of the consequences, when it suited him. I would never be like the senator. And aside from that, I knew it wasn’t what Isla would want.

“Do you really think I should kill her husband? Do you think that would make her happy? And what about her life?”

“She’d be alive. I would think that would be the outcome you’re shooting for.”

“And what about when the police question her? Because they will. She’ll be harassed by his department until she can’t even live her life. I won’t let that happen to her.”

“Better to be harassed than dead,” IKE muttered.

Maybe he thought so, but I knew Isla better than him. Taking her husband’s life would only make her feel guilty. I didn’t want that for her, and I knew it would tear her apart inside.

Fox opened the door to the lounge and strode inside, digging through the cabinets in search of something. I ignored him and focused on IKE once again.

“If we can’t kill him, what exactly do you want to do? There’s no fucking evidence against him. He covered his tracks well.”

“There has to be something he missed. Nobody’s that good.”

“I’m that good,” IKE shrugged.

“You do this for a living. He doesn’t. He had to make a mistake. We just have to find it.”

He shoved out of his chair, grabbing the jacket that was slung over the back. “Well, you have fun searching for those clues.”

“Where are you going?” I snapped.

Fox turned around, a bag of Funyuns in his hand as he dug in, watching like it was a boxing match.

“You want evidence, I’ll get you evidence.”

“Real evidence,” I corrected. “You can’t make this shit up.”

“Can’t or shouldn’t?” He smirked at me as he walked forward. “Either you take care of her and end this, or I will.”

“I won’t plant evidence on him. That’s not how we work.”

“That’s not how you work. If you want to keep her alive, this is what we do. ”

He strode past me, pulling his jacket on smoothly as he walked out the door. I turned to Fox and snarled. “What the fuck do you want?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing. Just enjoying the show,” he grinned.

I rolled my eyes and walked out. One way or another, I would make things right between us and keep her safe. She deserved that much from me after the lies I’d told her. But I wasn’t sure getting down on my knees and begging for her forgiveness would be enough to win her back. The guys were right. I made a bigger mess of it by lying to her to begin with. I should have fucking told her the truth, but I was so fucking terrified she would walk out on me.

I should have taken my chances. But it was too late for should-haves. Now, there was only what I would do going forward to prove to her that I wanted a future with her. And that was going to require a lot of groveling.