Page 15 of Tate
What he really wanted, however, was to lock her inside this room until he could move without his eyes rolling back into his head.
But that wasn’t fair to Glo—she had a career, commitments, and?—
“The Belles are going off the road for a few months, and my mother is ramping up her presidential campaign, so…”
He was nodding, all good here. “It’ll just take me a couple weeks to get up to speed here, Glo. It’s not a problem?—”
“You’re fired, Tate.” She backed away and clasped her hands over her chest, as if to hold herself together, and he nearly scrambled out of bed, thin hospital gown and all, to reach her. “You need to go home.”
Only after a second did her words land on him, settle in.
Huh?
His expression must have betrayed the craziness of her words, because she nodded. “It’s too dangerous for you to stay with me.”
“I agree! The Bryant League means business, and even if they didn’t show up last night at your event doesn’t mean they’re not going to make good on their threats.”
“And I don’t want you in the middle of that.”
He blinked at her. “It’s…I’mpaidto be in the middle of that. It’s my job.”
“Which is why I’m firing you.”
He drew in a breath.Slow down. This didn’t have to be a disaster. “Fine. I’ll come with you to Nashville?—”
“No. Knox wants you to go home. You need to be somewhere where people can take care of you?—”
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me!” He was shouting and didn’t care. “I’m fine—trust me, I’ve been hurt worse than this, and I got out of it just fine.”
He hadn’t told her much about his past, and for a second, she flinched. “When you were a Ranger?”
He drew in a breath, then nodded. “My leg was broken, I was trapped in a village surrounded by insurgents, and I still managed to fight my way out. I’m not going back to Montana while you’re in danger in Nashville, for Pete’s sake.”
“I won’t be in danger. I’ll be at home. Attending fundraisers that are well protected.”
Fundraisers? He must have worn an incredulous expression, because she drew in a breath. “My mother is running for president, Tate. That’s a family project.”
“You can’t stand your mother.”
Oh, not the right thing to say, because her lips pursed. “She needs me.”
He knew very little, really, of the bad blood between Glo and her mother, but he knew it involved the death of her sister, Joy.And a separation of her parents when she was in her teens. But Glo was loyal to the bone, and if her mother needed her, then Glo showed up.
Just like she didn’t run to save her own life.
But, “Glo. Don’t fire me. Please. I…” He sighed, swallowed, and didn’t care that he might be pleading. “I know I scared you, but I promise I’ll be as good as new in a few days, and…listen, I have connections. Ways to know if the Bryant League is targeting you, and where.”
But he was losing her, tears raking down her face, and he sort of wanted to cry too. “Glo—c’mon. We have something. It’s good between us. And…” But his words only seemed to make it worse, because she was backing away, shaking her head.
“I’m sorry, Tate. I already lost one man I loved to war. And I know this is domestic terrorism, not war, but it feels the same. I’ll still lose you, and I can’t do this again. I can’t…I’m sorry.”
Then she turned and nearly fled the room, leaving him chained by an IV and his blood pressure cuff to the bed. “Glo!”
He bit back a curse and ripped the cuff from his arm. The nurse had doped him up again, and the meds had already kicked in because he knew his movements would have really hurt. But not worse than losing Glo.
He was peeling off the tape of the IV when?—
“What kind of connections?”
