Page 18 of Desire Me
Son of a bitch.
“Rae’s room?” Saint rasped, just loud enough for King to hear. King’s sharp nod was all he needed before rushing forward, one hand going for the weapon holstered beneath his arm inside his jacket.
King was right there with him.
Shouts rang out up ahead as the two men wrestled in the hallway. Their target managed to extricate himself before they reached him, turned on his heel, and ran for all he was worth. The bear of a man that had slammed out of Rae’s room gave pursuit.
Saint’s steps slowed as he came even with Rae’s door. The warrior part of him demanded he follow the threat, eliminate it at all costs, but it was the man part of him, the part screaming to protect the woman he’d searched so hard for, that held him back. King seemed to sense his hesitation.
“Stay!” he shouted as he raced down the hall after the other two men. Saint gave them one last glance before pushing through the heavy door standing between him and Rae.
And coming face-to-face with the business end of a very serious gun.
Chapter Ten
“What the hell are you doing here?”
The voice was feminine, but not the female he’d been expecting to hear. Saint raised his hands out to his sides slowly, too focused on the gleaming black steel practically bumping his nose to figure out who the speaker was. He only knew who he wanted to speak to. “Rae?”
“Rae?”
There she was. Strangled or not, that voice belonged to his Rae. Gun or not, he turned his head to seek her out, to see as well as hear her. To assure himself he wasn’t just imagining that voice. “Cariño.”
Her frown formed a vee between the wings of her brows. Saint opened his mouth, the first of a million questions already on his tongue. Only the nudge of a cold muzzle against his cheek kept him quiet.
“You’re from JCL, aren’t you?” the woman on the other end of the GLOCK asked. “Saint something? We met last month.”
The turn of his head was cautious. His gaze locked with the blue-eyed blonde who spoke, and the voice and face clicked into place in his mind. “Ms. Marrone?”
She nodded, still eyeing him warily. Leah Marrone had been one of the clients on a hush-hush flight to Washington, DC, that had included the head of the biggest tech research company in the world, Hacr Technologies, headquartered here in Atlanta. Levi Agozi made even Saint hesitate; he was not someone you wanted to mess with, and his two brothers were the same. They’d worked well together, if babysitting a hotel suite while the Agozis did whatever they needed to do could be called working together. Saint’s team had never asked the purpose of the men’s business, and Agozi never revealed it, which was probably for the best. And yet here was the middle brother’s girlfriend in Rae’s room with a gun.
“What’s going on?” he demanded more than asked. “What do you have to do with Rae?”
“Who the hell is Rae?” Leah asked, looking confused.
She wasn’t the only one. He pointed toward the hospital bed and the woman he’d spent over a week searching for. “Her.”
A strangled sound came from the bed. Leah glanced at Rae, blanched, and dropped the gun to her side as she hurried across the room. “Don’t pass out on me now, girl.”
Saint took the opposite side of the narrow hospital bed, careful of the equipment surrounding it. Leah was right—Rae did look like she would pass out any second. The smooth olive tone of her skin, already pale from her injuries, had gone a pasty gray, and her eyes weren’t tracking. He reached for her hand. “Rae?”
She jerked her hand from his grasp, a whimper escaping. “Don’t touch me!”
The words were a blow. He snatched his hand back, his gaze rising from her hand to her face, and the fear he read there kicked him in the chest.She snuck away; I knew she might want to forget me. But she’s not just rejecting me, she’safraidof me. Why, for God’s sake?
Retreating slowly until his back met the wall, he turned his attention to Leah. “What’s the matter? Is she all right?”
His words didn’t seem to register with the women. Leah reached for the bed controls, and immediately the head of the mattress went back and Rae’s legs up as the bed adjusted. “Just breathe for me, okay?” Leah was saying. “Breathe deep. In”—she demonstrated, and Saint found himself taking in a deep lungful of air—”and out.” She exhaled and so did Saint. Rae not so much, but she seemed to be trying. Lying now in a reclined position with her legs slightly elevated, she looked less like she would fall out of the bed, but still nowhere near normal. Her dark, hazy eyes were glued to Leah as she struggled to follow the other woman’s directions, her breath shaky as shit and not at all reassuring.
Saint hugged the wall, his arms tight across his chest, and watched helplessly for long minutes. Finally the gray receded and Rae’s breathing became stronger. Saint, unfortunately, couldn’t stop his body from shivering now that the worst had passed.
Reaction. It’s just reaction. Rae’s gonna be fine. Get it together, dipshit!
He straightened, praying his hold on himself hid the worst of the shakes, but he didn’t dare speak as Leah continued to murmur gently to Rae in the bed.
The hospital room door opened, and with a smoothness that spoke of practice, Leah whipped around and raised the gun simultaneously. Remi Agozi didn’t hesitate, however; he strode in, King behind him, and beelined directly to his girlfriend’s side. Sliding one hand around her waist, he took the gun with the other and pulled her into his embrace.
“He got away?” Leah asked against his chest, the confident-nurse facade finally cracking enough to let a tremor through.
