Page 71 of Killer Kiss

I had no idea what to do. But my back was still aching, and I really needed to stretch. “I’m going to get up for a minute, okay? Do you want to just sit here on the bed?”

She shook her head.

Ophelia cleared her throat, though her eyes were still closed. “You can come sit on my lap if you want, Luna?”

The girl shook her head again.

I squinted at her. “Want me to hold you while I stretch?”

She nodded.

Ophelia hid a smile as I got off the bed with my niece.

Some tiny broken part of me fit itself back together with Luna’s arms around me. If she didn’t want to be put down, then I sure wasn’t going to make her. I shifted to the edge of the bed and swung my feet down, wincing as they hit the floor.

“You okay?” Ophelia asked quietly, her hand hovering like my legs might give out and force her to catch me.

“Did a Mack truck hit me at some point? Because it feels like it.”

“I can imagine. Augie, what you did…”

I winced. “I didn’t do anything.”

Ophelia looked like she wanted to argue, but I was grateful when she didn’t. I didn’t deserve praise for getting Luna out. Anyone would have done the same.

Someone yanked my cubicle curtain aside, and I turned around, expecting to see a doctor.

Instead, Lacey, Banjo, Colt, and their other partner, Rafe, stood at the end of the bed, all four of them haggard.

“Mommy!” Luna shouted, twisting in my arms to get to her mother.

Lacey burst into tears at the sight of her daughter, rushing forward and taking her from my arms. She sobbed into the little girl’s hair while Luna happily chattered away about the fire and the ambulance, more animated than she’d been in hours, much to my relief.

Ophelia and I stepped back and let Lacey’s men surround her and their daughter, the three of them engulfing their girls and putting their heads together, protecting them in the middle.

A lump rose in my throat watching the bond between them.

I’d never experienced anything like it. Didn’t know what that sort of love felt like.

And yet I’d tried to ruin it for them. I’d been the one who’d tried to take away the very thing that held them together.

I fucking hated myself for it. If I’d succeeded, that kid who was so damn loved by everyone she met wouldn’t even be here.

My brother pulled away and looked over at me.

I didn’t even know what to say.

He held his hand out to me.

A handshake offered.

I took it, gripping his hand tightly.

“Thank you,” he whispered, his voice clogged with emotion.

I nodded, waiting until his grip loosened before I let him go. “Come on,” I said to Ophelia, taking out the nasal tubes delivering oxygen.

She covered my hand. “No. Wait. The doctors haven’t even given you the all clear.”

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