Page 339 of Secret Shifters Next Door

Looking at Gio, I said, “Man, you’re way too old to be getting into gun fights.”

Gio laughed, then winced and put a hand to his side where he’d been shot. “Yeah, yeah. I’m too old for a lot of things.” He looked at Ava, and his face softened. “We both scared the shit out of my girl. We shouldn’t make a habit of it.”

“We’ve had that conversation already,” I said.

“Well, if I know my daughter, it won’t be the only time you have it.”

“You're damn right,” Ava said.

Gio leaned forward in his chair and locked his eyes on me. “I loved your brother. I’ve felt, for years, like I failed him. I like you, too, Blayne. I’ll probably come to love you the way I did your brother. I never want to see harm come to someone I love. From now on, you keep yourself safe. You understand me?”

I couldn’t speak. The memories of my brother made it hard to find the words. This man really had loved Liam. I could see that my brother’s death had been hard on him. All I could do was nod in response.

“Good,” Gio said. “I need to head home. I took some pain meds right before we came. I’ll start to fall asleep soon if I’m not careful. Ava? I’ll see you at home?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Sam rolled Gio back out the door. Ava stayed with me until visiting hours were over. I thought she might clock the nurse when she told her she had to leave, but thankfully she complied.

I didn’t have to wait long to see her again, though. Every day for the next two weeks, she showed up and spent the whole day with me. The nurses had almost nothing to do. She fussed over me like a mother hen. She fed me, helped me move to prevent bed sores, and escorted me to the bathroom. I put my foot down on her wiping my ass, though. I’d be damned if she was gonna do that. At least not until we were in our eighties—maybe not even then.

Through everything—the hospital recovery, the sessions of physical therapy, the removal of my stitches—Ava was with me. Attached to my hip. The day I was finally released from the hospital, I looked at her as she rolled me toward the doors in my wheelchair, and I couldn’t remember ever being so happy to have someone near me.

THIRTY-TWO

AVA

Years ago, Liam had explained to me how fast shifters could heal. They were immune to tons of diseases, never got colds or the flu, and didn’t really even gain weight, no matter what they ate. It was difficult to comprehend. So, even knowing how it worked, I was still astonished by how quickly Blayne recovered.

Once he was home and able to get up and move and eat what he wanted, he improved rapidly. Every morning when he woke, it was like he’d taken another step toward perfect health. It had been two weeks since they’d discharged him, and other than a scar on his chest and on his side, you couldn’t tell anything had ever happened. It was bizarre. I was happy about it, but it was crazy to watch. If those injuries had happened to a human, they would have been in physical therapy for at least a year. Hell, they might have still been in the hospital. I wasn’t going to complain about it, though. Too much in my life had gone wrong for me to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Blayne and I had spent almost every waking minute together since he’d gotten out of the hospital. I felt safe when I was around him. I’d almost convinced myself that if I could see him, nothing bad could happen. On the few occasions he left the house without me, I freaked out and worried.

When he told me he was going to the office to check in with the guys, I told him it was fine. I didn’t want to be clingy and make it seem like he couldn’t have any freedom, but my anxiety was off the charts.

“I’ll be fine, Ava,” Blayne said.

“Okay, sure, but what if you aren’t?” The familiar flutter of panic built in my chest.

Blayne sat beside me, taking my hand. He’d been understanding. He’d been the one who’d gotten shot. He’d been stabbed and almost died. Except that now it seemed like he was the one taking care of me. Like I was the one who was fragile and recovering when it should have been the other way around.

“Ava, I won’t be gone for long. If you need to, you can call or text me every five minutes for reassurance. If you do, I swear I’ll answer.”

I took a breath and realized he was right. The danger was over, he was healed, and he was only going a couple of miles. “Okay. You’re right. Go see your friends.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

After Blayne left, I turned the TV on. Without some kind of background noise, the house was way too quiet. The first channel I clicked on was a news station.

I gasped. They were talking about Antonio. He’d been fairly big news the last month. It wasn’t every day that a billionaire went missing. I turned the volume up to hear the news anchor.

“—missing over a month. Mr. Lowry, as some of our viewers may remember, lost his daughter Marianna Lowry some months ago. Today, we learn that the mystery to his disappearance has come to a conclusion, tragic though it may be.

“An anonymous letter arrived at Mr. Lowry’s lawyer’s office, stating that the loss of his family was too much. The letter, the contents of which we’ve obtained here at Channel Nine, goes onto allude to suicide. It seems Antonio Lowry took his own life. He had his body cremated and his ashes scattered with those of his daughter.”

I snorted. It was a funny irony that Dad’s guys put that in the letter. In actuality, Antonio really had been cremated. Except Tate had done it, not a mortician.

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