Page 80 of Embattled Ever After

“I’m not going to go anywhere,” she promised, daring to step toward the bed. “See, you act as if you have a choice in this, but you really don’t.I love you,” she said firmly.

He winced, eyes narrowing, and looked away. Alex thought he was trying to come up with another argument, but his Adam’s apple bounced, and she realized he was actually trying to control his emotions. Daring to reach out, she rested her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, jaw clenched, and took her hand in his own. “I guess it’s good we’re in the hospital, because I think I need to get my heart checked. I don’t think it’s working right.”

Alex’s eyes filled with tears. “Let me check. It just so happens I’m a doctor.”

She leaned forward enough to press her lips to his, and she couldn’t contain her tears any longer. Duncan cupped her jaw, kissing the tears away. “Don’t cry babe. I don’t want you to cry. I never did. I just didn’t want to tie you down.”

Laughing, she pulled back enough to look him in the eye. “I want to be tied down, damn it.”

So conscious of his injuries, she leaned forward as much as she could to hug him. With a not-so-gentle tug, he pulled her down beside him. He gasped in pain and stilled for a moment, then pulled her upper body against his, wrapping his arms completely around her. They lay against each other for several long minutes, before a voice broke the silence.

“Mind if I interrupt?”

They looked up at Aiden Willingham standing in the doorway.

***

John watched the manin the blue scrubs walk by, and something jangled at his nerves. That was the guy!

Slamming his hands against the wheels, he made a motion to Harper. Immediately the big man went on alert, and they headed down the hallway. By the time he reached Duncan’s room, the other man had already entered. Not caring who he pissed off, he rolled in behind him.

When the guy looked up and gave him a wink, John realized he’d been reeled in like a fish. He’d wanted to be seen and followed, that was the only reason they were all together now in this room. Duncan was holding Alex against him on the bed, and it was obvious something heavy had just gone down. Alex wiped her face and forced a smile, but Duncan stared at the stranger with a considering look in his eyes.

“Aiden,” Duncan said carefully.

The younger man tipped his head forward in a slight bow of acknowledgement. “Duncan. Dr. Hartfield.”

The stranger took a step toward the bed, but so did Harper. Aiden glanced at the big man and gave him a tight smile. “That’s a great shot you made yesterday.”

Harper gave a single twist of his head in the negative. “Obviously not. He got away.”

Aiden made a little shrug. “It may have been better than you think.”

John looked at the man who had them all up in arms. He was about six feet tall, maybe a little more, but lean, like it had been a while since he’d taken care of himself. His dark hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. It was in the face that John could finally see the resemblance to his own. It set his heart to thudding. Deep set dark brown eyes, a long straight nose, strong chin. It had been a few days since the man had shaved, so stubble covered his jaw. Put them side by side and the similarity was strong. John’s complexion seemed a little darker, and his eyes deeper.

“Damn,” Duncan said, his voice soft.

Apparently John wasn’t the only one to see the similarity.

“No doubt about it, is there?” Alex asked softly.

Duncan shook his head. “Why all the subterfuge, Aiden? What’s been going on?”

Hooking a foot under the edge of the spare chair, the other man pulled it close and sank down into it. “This is going to be frustrating, and I apologize, but there are a lot of things I just can’t talk about. Not because I don’t want to,” he looked at John, “but because it would put you guys in danger.”

“It’s already put us in danger,” John growled, “as well as the lives of my fiancée and children.”

Aiden winced and gave him a sad look. “I know, and for that I apologize. I got entangled in some private sector, government sanctioned bad stuff…experimentation. A group of us knew it was bad and have tried to make a clean exit, but they have leverage over all of us. They don’t want us exposing them for what they’re doing. We need to track down the people pulling the strings, and to do that we need to follow the chain up. The man who shot at you is a French assassin by the name of LeBoutin. I trained with him at one point, and he’s a badass.”

“So, back up here,” Duncan said softly. “Why were you living on the streets last year? And why the hell did you end up in KC?”

Aiden sighed. “I needed a way to get close to Palmer without walking up and introducing myself. The men that ran the program knew I had a brother. They’d been able to find more information than I ever had on my own when I turned eighteen. They told me about you.” He looked at John directly, and held his gaze. “They told me about my drug addicted mother giving you up when you were just a kid. And how you’d been in the Marines and been injured. But then they began to hold your safety over my head for my cooperation. They liked to use… creative instruction to get what they wanted.”

Aiden shrugged and looked away, and John could see a swirling conglomeration of emotions in his face. It was obvious the ‘creative instruction’ meant physical correction…torture. The look in his eyes suggested devastating methods had been used.

“Anyway,” Aiden cleared his throat, “a group of us broke away from the camp and have been on the run for several months now. Well, they tracked our fourth man down and took him out. Left a very clear message that it was time for us to come in, and gave us a deadline. That deadline has passed. So they’ve sent people to retrieve us, or, if that’s not possible, to silence us.”

Again he paused, and Alex moved like she wanted to go to him for comfort. John tightened his grip on the wheels of his chair, struggling with the same urge.

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