Page 16 of Knight's Fall

She whirled around on her heel and hurried in the direction she thought Olivia and Trish went. Even if they didn’t, she had to get away from the situation she put herself in. Fortunately, BB let her go without further questions. In her haste to get away, she almost mowed down Olivia, who had backtracked to find her friend.

“There you are. Where did you disappear to?”

“I saw someone from the diner, and he stopped me to talk. He’s, uh…well, he’s Sexy Neighbor’s friend. I sort of looked in where they were sitting. He recognized me and stopped to ask why I was looking. No, that’s not entirely true. He was trying to remember who I was, and after I told him, I explained why I had been looking. Then he told me about Sexy Neighbor. I got distracted, and now I feel bad because I came here to find out about Mr. Fielder. Not to mention, BB will likely tell Sexy Neighbor – his name is Wings, by the way, or his nickname rather – that I was asking about him. If he remembers me at all, he’s going to remember when he rescued me when I got locked out of the house. All of that, and I still don’t know about Mr. Fielder. I think I just want to go home, go to bed and start over tomorrow.”

She sucked in a deep breath once she ran out of words. Olivia knew her friend well enough to know she just needed to wait for Courtlyn to run out of steam before she replied.

“First of all, Mr. Fielder is critical but stable. That’s all Trish could tell me, but she did say that he wasn’t alone. He has family who is here with him. Second of all, it’s perfectly reasonable for you to ask after your neighbor, whether he's sexy or not. It’s just a decent thing to do. Third of all, so what if his friend tells him about you? Maybe then he’ll finally notice you. If not, no harm, no foul. You go back to worshiping him from afar.”

Courtlyn blinked at the onslaught of information, but Olivia’s list of responses managed to calm her panic.

“So Mr. Fielder’s going to be okay?”

“Trish couldn’t say for sure, but the fact that he’s stable is a good sign. I told Trish what you did, and she thinks you probably had a hand in saving his life. My best friend is a hero.”

Courtlyn rolled her eyes. “I don’t know about that. I wasn’t sure I was even doing CPR right. I’m glad he’s stable at least.”

Suddenly, she felt exhaustion weighing down her limbs, and she wanted to curl up in a corner somewhere and sleep for two days. Olivia smiled and slipped an arm over her shoulders to steer her to the elevators.

“Come on. I’m taking you to my place. You can rest while I write, and then we’ll get some food and some wine and forget the crazy way our days started.”

Courtlyn managed a tired smile. “That sounds perfect.”

But once she was back in Olivia’s car, her mind immediately went to Sexy Neighbor — Wings. What happened to him? How was he hurt? How badly was he hurt? If he was having to be driven to physical therapy, why wasn’t he at least staying at home for the duration? Why did they call him Wings? And what was his real name?

The questions didn’t stop until she was settled on Olivia’s couch and allowed her exhaustion to pull her into a deep sleep.

Chapter Nine

As soon as the truck turned onto his street, Wings spotted his house. The two-story farmhouse style home with its wide porch, barn-shaped roof, and stone exterior stuck out like a beacon among the well-kept, modest homes of the neighborhood. The house was beautiful with its old, rustic charm, but all Wings saw were the damaged shutters, the peeling paint, and the loose shingles. The signs of neglect were the reasons he bought the property.

He thought he’d be happier seeing the house, its charm having settled under his skin the moment he saw it. Instead, his mood turned darker as he saw all the jobs that needed to be done and how he was physically able to do very little of them.

“Stop it, man, or I’m going to kick your ass.”

He swiveled his head from the window to where BB sat behind the wheel. With his injury in his right leg, he wasn’t quite ready to drive himself. Having to be chauffeured by his friends who had better things to do turned his foul mood even more bitter.

“Stop what?” His voice had even lost some of its natural punch, the tone lower and raspier. His throat and vocal cords had not been injured on the mission, so he had yet to figure out what the hell was wrong with his voice. He’d wanted to throat-punch the doctor who suggested it was psychosomatic, but he had instead hobbled out of the room. The move wasn’t as assertive as he wanted, but he had to work with what he had.

“You’re getting lost in your head again. I’m sick of you feeling sorry for yourself. It’s not like the bullet took you out. It just put you on the sidelines for a bit. Big deal.”

“You shouldn’t talk about shit you don’t understand. And even on your best day and my worst day, you could never kick my ass.”

“With the way you’re acting since the mission, all I’d have to do is knock your cane out from under you, and you’d be out for the count.”

Wings scowled, hating the arrogant grin on his friend’s face. BB was one self-assured son-of-a-bitch. The youngest of all the Alpha Team, he sometimes acted like he was invincible, and Wings would have given his good leg to be the one to show BB he wasn’t.

“Shut up and just drive. That’s all I need from you.”

Wings had done nothing lately but snap and grumble at his friends. They had been the ones to watch over him while he was healing from his injury, and they were the ones to take him to his doctor and physical therapy appointments. The last thing he should be doing was lashing out at them, but taking his anger out on them made him feel better, even if it was a dick move.

BB parked his truck in the driveway. Now that Wings looked straight on at his house, he sensed something was off about it. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it wasn’t the way he left it when he went on the mission. He hadn’t been back since then.

“Have you guys been here while I was in rehab or staying with Tryst?”

Because Tristin had requested the Alpha Team take the mission to Haiti, he’d felt guilty over Wings’ injury and insisted he stay at their house to recuperate once he was released from the hospital. Tristin and Kat’s home was enormous, but somehow living in a house with two female toddlers shrank the space considerably. He’d been more than ready to get back to his house, but now that he was here, he felt like a stranger.

“Cole and Syd came by to get some clothes and stuff they thought you might need. I think that’s the only time. What’s the matter? Did you have a pet we needed to feed or a plant we needed to water?”

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