Page 51 of With You

Gray walked over to me and placed a friendly hand on my shoulder. “Now, Roe, how is that any different than before?” The room erupted in laughter. Even Baz was chuckling, dick. I added a reminder to my phone to lower the thermostat temperature in my condo in the middle of the night. Let’s see how he likes freezing his balls off.

“I’ll be damned if I’m going to share anymore of my donuts with you assholes.” I grabbed the box which only had one sad cake donut left. Greedy bastards. I was prepared to say more when the front door opened.

The man that walked into our office looked sketchy as hell. I could tell from the silence in the room that everyone caught the same bad vibes rolling off the dude. Work in this business long enough and it’s like a sixth sense, you just knew when someone wasn’t quite right.

He was dirty and disheveled, a distinct smell of body odor rolling off him in waves. His hair was greasy and long, covering part of his face. The clothes on his body had seen better days, they were as dirty as he was. When he lifted his head, the hair that had been blocking his face from view moved with it, revealing eyes that held more than a little madness.

“Holy shit, Carter Ashwood?” Sam’s shocked voice came from behind me and I tensed, whipping my head around to find her face a combination of surprised and pissed off.

The name sparked my memory. Carter Ashwood, the son of the man who’d kidnapped Lily. He was also the piece of shit who committed a drunken hit and run while Sam had been tasked with investigating him before he’d mysteriously disappeared. Daddy had cleaned up the mess with the family of the woman he’d killed. We’d assumed that he’d fled the country. Yet, here he was, standing in our office and eyes shooting daggers toward Sam.

“I’m glad you remember me. I certainly remember you. Stuck up bitch, always getting in the way when I was about to close the deal on some easy pussy. You ruined my life, you know. He sent me away, said I was bringing too much heat on the family. But at least I still had his money. Then you fuckers got him locked up. Now I don’t even have that. Do you know what I’ve had to do to survive?”

He screamed the question at her and alarms started to blare inside my head.

“Oh, boo hoo, you don’t have daddy’s dirty money anymore funding your fucked up lifestyle. It’s no surprise you turned out to be such a piece of shit with a father like that. What do you want from me? An apology?” Sam words further enraged him.

I shifted my stance, blocking her from his view. A move that I knew she’d give me hell for later. Those hate-filled eyes turned to me and a crazed smile filled his face.

“All I want is to ruin your life the way you’ve ruined mine.” He reached behind him pulling out a handgun.

We all moved at the same time, the scene playing out in slow motion around me. Baz leapt over the reception desk and took Jesse to the floor. I could feel the movements of the rest of the team at my back and all I could think was that Sam wasn’t wearing a bulletproof vest like the last time. Carter Ashwood had come here to kill her, that was clear and there was no way I was letting that happen.

I rushed forward, being the closest to him I had the best chance of taking him out before he could get a shot off. Images of Sam covered in blood and strapped to a stretcher propelled me forward.

The gun went off, deafening me as I tackled him to the ground. He thrashed and snarled like a wild animal but there was no getting around how much weaker he was. I pulled back my arm and punched him in the face. The crazy fucker started laughing and his smile became even creepier now that his teeth were covered in blood.

The others reached us and Kane pulled me away before I could get another hit in. Gray flipped Carter over and was roughly putting his hands in cuffs. Still, the fucker laughed, those insane eyes boring a hole into me.

“What’s so fucking funny, asshole?” I ground out, ripping out of Kane’s firm hold. Fury and adrenaline swam in my veins, this piece of shit had wanted to hurt my Sam.

“Roe,” Sam called to me, my name sounded tortured on her lips and I spun toward her, terrified she’d been hurt.

I dragged my eyes all over her body but though she had tears streaming down her face, she appeared uninjured. I couldn’t see any obvious holes in her clothing or blood seeping through the fabric. I breathed a sigh of relief and that’s when the pain registered.

A pain that felt like no other I’d experienced in my life. My hand drifted to my side and a warm wetness greeted it. I pulled it away and was stunned by the amount of blood that coated it.

“Oh, fuck,” my knees buckled and I crumbled to the ground. Sam was over me in an instant. Her hands that normally felt like heaven when they touched my body pushed firmly against my side and my head swam with nauseating agony.

My vision tunneled, black pushing in at the edges and I had a feeling I was going to pass out soon. Shit, was I dying? Wouldn’t that be a kick in the dick. When I finally had Samantha Hebert, to get myself shot and die.

“Sam,” my voice sounded weak. Probably a bad sign. She was screaming now, shouting out orders like the badass she was and trying to save me. My beautiful girl, trying to use sheer willpower to keep me alive.

“Kitten,” I said a little louder this time. Her terrified eyes met my own and I smiled, not wanting a grimace of pain to be the last vision of me in her brain.

“I love you, Samantha. I think I would’ve convinced you to marry me if I’d had the time.” I lifted my hand and caressed her cheek, so warm against my cold fingers.

“Stop it,” she said angrily. “You aren’t dying.”

I laughed, what a way to go. One last fight with the love of my life. “I think I might be. Now, tell me you love me so I can go to sleep.”

“Goddamnit, Roe. Stay awake. I love you, I love you. Stay awake.”

My hand flopped uselessly to my side, no longer under my control and I closed my eyes. Her voice sounded far away now. A vision of her filled my head surrounded by bright light. She smiled up at me from her place in our bed, so beautiful with golden hair fanned out on the pillow and her cheeks flushed with love. Love for me. I sighed and went into her welcoming arms.

30

SAM

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