Page 83 of High Velocity

She gets to her feet.

“Now, for at least the next couple of days you’ll be our guest, and I want you to focus on resting. I’ll be by regularly to check on you, and we should have a better idea of what we have to work with once the swelling goes down a little.”

With that she leaves, the nurse scrambling after her muttering something about pain medication. My eyes find Jackson, whose fingers I’ve been crushing with my left hand. Despite his encouraging smile for me, his eyes are solemn. He looks exhausted and concerned.

He knows—probably better than most—this is the end of my career.

What irony that it should come at the hands of a man whose arrest over a decade ago helped me launch it.

I’m not ready to contemplate the full implications, so I distract myself by asking Jackson, “Do you know how I got here?”

Still holding my hand, he pulls up a rolling stool, sits down, and starts talking. By the end of it I realize how incredibly lucky I’ve been.

For starters, if Jackson’s mother hadn’t insisted on coming, no one would’ve known where to look for me. I don’t even want to think what could’ve happened to her if she hadn’t gotten out of the car and managed to hide.

Next Laine, whose only reason for not killing me right away was to use me as bait for Vallard, and that bullet he intended to end me with never even got fired.

And then Ben…my God. So full of himself as he wasted time taunting me and boasting about his powers of deception. Long enough for Jackson to get there and get a bead on that son of a bitch before he was able to kill me.

I escaped a bullet in my head, not once, but twice. So, yeah, suddenly the damage to my shoulder feels lucky compared to the alternative.

When I’m moved from recovery to a regular hospital room a little later, I’m able to thank Alex and Jonas in person. They apparently drove Jackson straight to Kalispell yesterday afternoon and have been here, waiting with him, ever since.

Realizing that gives me a lump in my throat I have trouble swallowing down. Especially since, by Alex’s account, they weren’t the only ones in the waiting room.

“JD and Janey drove up last night when they heard,” she shares. “They stayed most of the night, waiting to find out if you came through surgery okay. Janey had a full schedule today but they’ll be back for a visit tonight.”

“Feds got here earlier too,” Jonas adds. “Your boss, Bellinger, and Wilcox. They’re itching to talk to you, but Jackson’s out there holding them off so we could have a quick visit first. I need to get Alex home.”

His wife clearly resents that comment as she grunts and plants an elbow in his gut.

“You were yawning pretty hard yourself, old man,” she grumbles.

“Well, it wasn’t me who thought it was a good idea to go chasing down a violent offender,” he mutters back.

The two of them are pretty cute; despite the bickering, their love for each other is written on their faces.

“Thank you.” I reach out my hand at Alex and she grabs it in hers. “If you hadn’t been there…”

She waves me off with her other hand. “We don’t do what-ifs. They’re a waste of time.”

“Still,” I insist. “I’m thankful. To both of you,” I add, including Jonas with a look.

“It’s what family does,” he returns, putting a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “But we should head out.”

“We’ll be back though,” Alex adds. “You make sure you get some rest.”

They haven’t been gone a minute when Jackson returns. He walks right up to the bed and leans over me, cupping my face in his hands.

“I hear you were holding off my boss out there.”

“Hmm,” he grumbles. “They’re chomping at the bit, but I told them I needed to make sure you were up for it.”

I don’t get a chance to answer when he kisses me, slow and sweet, before resting his forehead against mine.

“What was that for?” I whisper.

“That was my way of telling you I love you.”

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