Page 37 of Save Us

Chuckling under my breath, I admire the way Lay flips things around to find the most humorous ways to phrase things. My phone buzzes in my pocket, the possibility of it being my former employer makes me want to ignore it, but my better judgement disagrees. The screen says Detective Paul Mercer, which means it's a call I want to take. Crossing my fingers it's good news like Kevin was hit by a fucking bus or is in custody.

Stepping out of the room with a one minute sign to the others, I answer the call.

"Detective Mercer, what can I do for you?"

"Rhys, I'm afraid I call bearing bad news," Paul says grimly through the phone. "They've discovered the body of your former partner, Jarrod James, in the river east of his house. Dental just came back with a positive identification."

"What? How?" I ramble off questions, trying to make sense of what the fuck is going on. "Was it Kevin?"

"No, we don't believe so. Based on the level of decomposition, the coroner believes his time of death was at least two months before Kevin broke out. We aren't sure what exactly happened, but it's looking like a possible suicide," Paul explains.

"I guess it explains why we haven't been able to find him," I mumble with a shake of my head. "Thank you, Detective. I know you didn't have to pass that information along to me, but I appreciate it nonetheless."

"It's no problem, Rhys. We do have an active lead on Kevin Jennings Jr as well that I'm currently headed out to follow up on," Paul responds, trying to give me something better than the information on Jarrod's death. "Would you thank your friend, Hudson Riggs, for us? If it wasn't for him spotting Kevin around the old junkyard, we never would have found this lead."

"Yep," I reply, my tone more clipped than I had intended. "I'll pass it on. Thanks again, Mercer."

Hanging up my phone, I walk back into Lay's room. Everyone looks over at me, Lay with confusion, Adam curiosity, and Riggs with anxiety. The look on my face turns his anxiety to anger then to guilt.

"Just got off the phone with Detective Mercer," I state, my eyes never leaving Riggs. I want so badly to gauge Lay's reaction, but I need Riggs to know how much he's fucked up even more. " Two things he brought up to me. First, it seems Jarrod James wasn't missing, he was dead. They think he committed suicide months ago. Second." I walk up to Riggs and smile. "Do you want to tell us the second part? Like how you just happened to be at a junkyard you've never visited before? Or how you managed to see Kevin there of all people? Because it seems the tip you passed on to the Detective was a good one and they're feeling confident about finally catching Kevin."

Riggs crosses his arms over his chest, trying to use his size to be intimidating. That is, until Lay speaks from the hospital bed and he deflates so fast I get whiplash.

"Hudson? What have you been doing?" Lay's voice has all of us turning to look at her.

Riggs shakes his head and opens his mouth to speak before closing it again. He seems torn between blowing this off and coming clean. If he wants to stay with Lay and be in this family, I hope for his sake he comes clean.

"It's time for the lies and the excuses to end. What. Have. You. Done?" Lay snaps at him, her anger and resentment ringing in every word.

Riggs pushes his hands through his hair, pacing the hospital room. He looks unhinged.

"I started trying to find Kevin. I would wait for him to drop things at our house or your car and follow him. I couldn't take how inadequate everyone seemed to be when trying to catch one fucking guy!" Riggs explodes, throwing his hands in the air. "I just wanted to do what no one else seemed to want to do. I was trying to keep you safe, Lay. I wanted so badly to protect you and end this fucking threat on your life. When I started, I swore I wanted to kill him. If I could find him, if I could get my fucking hands on him, he was a dead man. Instead, I passed the information onto the detective and his team. Kevin needs to be dealt with."

"But you didn't need to be the one to put your neck on the line to do it!" Lay yells at him, the sounds echoing in the room. "You say that you passed the information alonginsteadof killing him like we're all supposed to, what? Pat you on the fucking back for not choosing murder? What the fuck is going on with you, Hudson?! You are not the man I fell in love with. Whoever you are now, with the the lying, the sneaking around, and the fucking vigilante shit, it's not someone I recognize or even want to know. If you love me, if you want to be with me, you'll give this all up. If you don't, I swear to god Hudson, I will never see you again."

"I just wanted to protect you!" Riggs yells back, tears filling his eyes. "I love you so fucking much, Lay. I can't stand the thought that some psycho is hanging around, waiting to hurt you."

Lay shakes her head, tears falling from her eyes. "You need to take a good long look at how you show people you love them. You put your own need toprotectme over your actual love for me. You lied about where you were. You lied about going to see your mom or check up on your mom. You went behind all of our backs to play a fucking hero that no one asked you to play. If you think all of that is loving me? You need to reevaluate what love actually is."

Riggs opens his mouth, but I walk up and put a hand on his shoulder to silence him. "Come on, Riggs. You both need time to cool off. I'm going to walk you down to your car. Head home and grab a shower then you can revisit coming back."

Lay refuses to even look at Riggs as I walk him out of the room. A nurse glares at us when we exit, the fight clearly loud enough to be heard in the hallway.

Our walk to the parking garage is silent and heavy. The moment we get to the car, Riggs turns to look at me with tears in his eyes. "I fucked up."

"Yeah, you did. That was a stupid fucking idea," I chastise him with a sigh. "I get you wanting to protect Lay. I do. You have no idea how fucking dangerous what you've been doing is, though. How would you have protected Lay if you ended up dead in a ditch somewhere? How do you think she feels knowing that was a possible ending and you cared so little about yourself that you willingly put your life at risk like that? Do you remember how we all felt when Lay tried to take a fucking bullet for us?"

"Okay!" Riggs shouts, dropping his head in his hands. "Okay, I fucking get it. I'm going to call Lay and apologize on the way home. It'll give her time to hopefully allow me to come back before visiting hours are over."

"Good idea," I answer, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be okay, Riggs. Lay loves you and when you prove to her you love her too and you'll do anything to get her trust back, she'll forgive you."

" I hope you're right," he murmurs, jumping in the car with a sigh. "I can't lose her."

"So don't."

Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

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