Page 86 of Kill Me Sweetly

Mason hugged me gently. “How’s Four?”

“Good. He doesn’t go far, likes being with you.”

“We can’t abandon him, Mason.”

He smiled. “We’d never. We’re going home, and he’ll come with us. He’s welcome to stay, and there’ll be no vote about it.”

I chuckled. “Thank you.”

Shep rarely left my side, and we often enjoyed watching the news and the end of the Reese name. People were being arrested left and right as more was exposed through the FBI’s investigation.

Two had gone to a psychiatric facility, one that Aziza worked with. Angel, surprisingly, followed up on his progress. I didn’t know Angel was capable of love, but maybe he was caring about someone for the first time ever.

“They wanted you to go to rehab,” Shep said one night while we watched a movie on his laptop in the hospital.

“That sounds awful.”

He laughed. “That’s why we hired a live-in physical therapist. He’ll help you, so you can stay home.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you! I love you.”

He beamed and took my hand. “I love you, so much, JJ. Never ever run your mouth and get almost-killed again.”

“Why do you ask for impossible things?”

He didn’t answer; he just leaned in and kissed me until the machines started beeping.

SIX MONTHS LATER

“You’re doing so great!” Matt, my physical therapist, grinned so wide as I walked down the driveway.

My recovery felt like it had taken forever. I’d had quite a few setbacks, but for the first time I was walking almost like I used to. The nightmares that plagued me daily lessened and between Shep and Mason, every day was a little easier. Of course, Shep was dealing with his own terrors. Many nights, it was me waking him as he screamed about the boys he killed. We were working through this as a unit, and we’d prevail.

“I get cake for this.”

Matt chuckled. “Absolutely!”

Just then, Nick walked by, and Matt’s smile fell and he got all serious.

“Okay, JJ, let’s go inside. Get you that cake.”

Nick laughed like he heard the funniest joke, got into his car, and sped out of the driveway.

“Did something happen?”

Matt shook his head. “Nothing.”

I didn’t want to push, so I let him be.

When I got inside, Mason waved at me to join them. “Maxwell is on FaceTime. Come over.”

Max had sold his house, said he couldn’t live there anymore. He’d moved to where his daughter had gone to her rehab because Georgia had decided she really liked it there, and he didn’t want to be away from her ever again.

“Hey, so I wanted to call you. Agent Callahan called me a short while ago. Remember that guy, Mark Spriggs?”

“Only by name and the fact that he was your fake-buddy-slash-consortium-member,” I answered with a smirk.

“FBI found him. Real name, Norris Jameson. Worked for Harper, of course, but was never a boy of his. This guy was wanted on three counts of murder, kidnapping.…Either way, he’s locked up now.”

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