Page 18 of Jewel in the Rough

Teagan managed to grab hold of Benny before his head hit the counter and gently laid him down on the cool tile floor of the bathroom. His eyes had rolled back but were still open, and his skin was pale under the olive tone he’d inherited from his ancestors. Bullets flying combined with the sight of blood was the most likely cause. Just to be sure, Teagan ran his hands along Benny’s still form, confirming there wasn’t an injury he’d missed.

“Up here!” Teagan called out as he checked Benny over, raising Benny’s injured hand above his heart. Blood oozed from the deep cut—stitches were going to be needed. Teagan’s nostrils flared with suppressed anger, but not at Benny. Teagan was furious athimselffor not being able to protect his... Benny. For being unprepared for the assault, for having his weapons out of reach.

Because Benny wasn’t the only one with enemies. Teagan may have left LA, but there was still a price on his head for reporting Colin White.

Footsteps thundered up the stairs, and seconds later a blond and concerned wall of man appeared in the doorway. His eyes widened when he saw Benny on the floor and Teagan (uncomfortably) on his knees.

“He cut his hand on some glass, Deputy,” Teagan rushed to say before he called the life copter from the mainland. Groaning, Benny’s confused gaze met Teagan’s.

“He’s going to need a few stitches,” Teagan continued. “I think, but other than that, no injuries here. What happened outside?” Teagan realized he’d been unconsciously stroking Benny’s forehead when Benny shifted. Teagan helped him sit up, and then, because he could, and because Benny felt good and right in his arms, he dragged the smaller man onto his lap.

“Your thigh,” Benny whispered burrowing against Teagan’s chest, his body shaking.

“It’s fine,” Teagan whispered back, wrapping his arms around Benny and squeezing hard.

A small smile flitted across the deputy’s face before he answered Teagan’s question about the events outside.

“One DB. It appears you took out one of them from inside the house. But there were two other shooters, and a car must have been waiting on the main road. One of the shooters is in custody, and one escaped to the waiting vehicle.”

“Airport?”

“A call was made to shut it down. But they could have come by boat or had a plane elsewhere.”

“No way would Talache send his henchmen by water.”

“Sheriff Dempsey is speaking with the airport now,” Jorgensen assured them.

“They still call them airports the size of postage stamps?” Benny asked, querulously.

“They do. Let’s get your hand taken care of.”

Teagan did his best, swathing the injured hand in bandages and crafting a sling, keeping it above Benny’s heart to keep the bleeding to a minimum. But once they got downstairs, Deputy Jorgensen kept them at the scene.

“Doc Soper will be here any minute, he’s the volunteer coroner and staffs the ER. Have a seat, so we can go over what happened here.”

They all glanced around, taking in the glass-covered floors and bullet-ridden walls and doors throughout the front of the house.

“How about we do this outside?” Jorgensen suggested.

Benny gasped. “Oh my god, the Gurls!” Wresting himself from the grip Teagan had not been able to drop, Benny darted out the open front door and across the yard to the barn.

“We might as well talk in the barn. I have a feeling Benny isn’t coming back until he makes sure the cows are all okay—theyareall okay, aren’t they?”

“Deputies Flynn and Jones cleared the barn and other outbuildings.”

Teagan and Jorgensen navigated their way around several police cars parked willy-nilly between the house and the barn, their lights still flashing but the sirens silent. They’d made it to the barn at about the same time Jorgensen got the call that the third shooter had been captured at the airport without incident. But none of the shooters, dead or alive, were Talache, not that Teagan expected the creep to do his dirty work himself. He didn’t want to tell Benny this though.

Inside the barn, Teagan spotted Benny leaning against Hedy Lamoo, stroking her flank and whispering nonsense to her. Hedy wasn’t particularly flustered by the shooting. In fact, none of the girls seemed to be. Everything had happened fast, only about ten minutes elapsing between the first shot and Jorgensen calling out to them. Tristan had done his part, calling it in. Teagan seriously owed his best friend a shot of Macallan from his stash—if it had been spared. Damn, if his whiskey had taken a hit, that would piss him off even more.

Two more deputies entered the barn and crossed over to where Teagan and Jorgensen waited.

“Deputy Flynn.” Teagan shook Flynn’s hand. She was young, mid-to late-twenties, but Jorgensen and the other deputy deferred to her.

Flynn said, “Fill us in on what happened.”

Midnight had come and gone before Benny and Teagan were finally back at the farm. They’d given their statements to the deputies before Doc Soper arrived on the scene. The doctor inspected Benny’s hand, declaring him lucky he missed a tendon, but that yes, the injury required stitches, so a trip to urgent care was needed, and that had taken a chunk of time. A lone sheriff’s vehicle sat at the end of the drive, which Teagan appreciated, and Jorgensen gave them a two-fingered salute when Teagan turned past him.

After days of constant commentary and Teagan more than once barely stopping himself from telling Benny to take a breath between sentences, Benny was too quiet for Teagan’s liking. Benny had told the sheriff and his deputies everything about the murder he’d witnessed in Vegas and about not wanting to go into witness protection, so he’d called up his old dormmate, who happened to be Teagan’s younger sister.

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