Page 86 of Falcon

Eagle nodded so I walked up the steps and looked back, making sure Lacy, Eagle, and Linx were behind me. Having Eagle and Linx as a buffer between us gave me some comfort as I headed into unknown territory.

When I got to the top of the steps, it was another dining room, but with only one large table in the middle. There were men dressed in nice suits in every corner, standing still with their hands clasped in front of them. Lacy stood beside me, and the men walked around us. I wasn’t sure where to go or what to do. I thought we were going to see Falcon, but we were standing in a restaurant. One that made me feel incredibly underdressed.

“Can I take her back?” Eagle asked.

“Of course.” Petrov answered. “Her friend and this gentleman can join me for lunch.”

Lacy glanced at me, and I watched Eagle’s jaw tick before he finally said, “Yes, sir. I’ll be right back and can join you as well.”

Linx passed my bag to me and I wasn’t sure he’d be there when I came out, so I flung myself into his arms. I couldn’t be sure if it was a chuckle or just a grunt from impact, but either way he made a sound as I rushed into him and he slowly wrapped his arm around me and patted like he wasn’t sure what to do. “Thank you for everything, Linx. I hope to see you again.”

He finally flattened his palms on my back and hugged me. “No problem, doll. You take care of our boy.”

I pulled away and smiled at him then squeezed Lacy’s shoulder as she took her seat at the large table. I didn’t want to run, but I walked at a fast pace to meet Eagle by a door at the back of the room and followed him in.

We were in a hallway that wasn’t much different from the rest of the place–red walls, dark cherry wood furniture, lots of gold accents. We passed a few swinging doors that were probably part of the kitchen, but several were doors that seemed to be rooms with normal doors, hiding who knows what. Eagle walked all the way down the hall and opened the door at the end, stepping out of the way and waving me inside.

My breath hitched and I dropped my bag, covering my mouth. Falcon was laying on a twin sized bed shoved against the wall. He was motionless and his face was toward the ceiling. Tears stung my eyes, but then his shoulder moved, and a rumble came from his chest.

My body hauled toward the bed, and I fell to my knees, grabbing his hand as my face buried into the blanket covering him. “Falcon, oh God,” I sobbed.

His hand lifted and went to the back of my head, rubbing as he said, “Shh, darlin’. I’m okay. They just pumped me full of pain killers so I was sleeping it off,” he mumbled.

I lifted my face and leaned closer to him, slowly moving in for a kiss. He pulled my head down to him, so I scooted in and gave him a long, deep kiss. Rubbing his beard, I pulled back and waited for him to open his eyes. Those gorgeous hazel eyes looked back at me, and the edges of his mouth turned up. “You don’t have to worry about that fucker anymore, Daisy.” His words were slow and quiet. But they weren’t lost on me. He did it. He got my vengeance.

“What happened to you?” I asked as I looked him over. There was a large white bandage over his chest and shoulder.

“A woman was hiding in the bathroom under the counter. I was going to wash my hands and she was scared, I guess, and fired. Didn’t even see it coming.”

I gasped. That could have been me at one time. Even Lacy before me. “Is she…”

“They bandaged her up. We didn’t know who it was and after she got me, the guys reacted as expected but she yelped, and they realized it was a woman.”

I had been holding my breath but knowing she was okay as well, I blew it out. “Where the hell are we now?”

Eagle coughed and Falcon waved him off. “An associate’s place. I’ll be good as new tomorrow and we can go home. Did Linx bring the truck?”

“He did. He’ll take the bike back with Pitty.” I guessed that was as good of an answer as I would get, but I pieced together this must be the run that brought him to Jersey. I wondered what Petrov was. Was the mob even really a thing anymore? Because he seemed like a mobster. But what would I know?

“Will you give us a bit?” Falcon asked as he wiped a stray tear off my cheek.

Eagle said, “Yeah, brother. Be back before we head home, though.”

The door closed and a new wave of tears flooded. I gripped Falcon’s shoulder, digging my face into the crook of his neck, careful not to get near the bandaged area on the other side.

“It’s alright. I’m alright,” he said as he stroked my back.

“Knox scared me. I thought I’d lost you,” I choked out as I fought to hold back more sobs. I couldn’t believe I still had more tears, but these were more from relief than anything else. Feeling him, his heat against my hands, his breath on my face, his beard on my cheek, it was proof that he was okay and we were together. “I love you, Derek.”

“Mmm, say it again.”

I leaned my head up and wiped my cheeks. “I love you, Derek. Thank you.”

His brow pinched. “You don’t need to thank me for anything, darlin’. I do what I do because I love you. I need you to always remember that.”

I leaned back down for another kiss, and it quickly became heated. My hands couldn’t help but run over the hard planes of his chest, then into his dark hair. As if he could read my mind, his hand ran down my back before cupping my ass. “Lose these.”

“But you have a literal gunshot wound.”

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