“I’ll remember you said that when I ask her to marry me, and she says no.”
He sat up too quickly and groaned in pain as he slowly fell back.
“You’re asking her to marry you?”
“I need a ring first and to figure out how to ask her—”
“I’ll call my family’s jeweler and you only need to say, ‘Lake Monroe, will you marry me?’”
“If it’s that simple, why haven’t you asked Willow yet?”
He smirked and nodded toward his jacket. “Get my bag.” I walked over and grabbed his bag and looked back at him. “The inside pocket,” he answered. I reached and pulled out a small velvet box.
“Are you serious?” I didn’t need to open to know what it was. I opened it anyway and was impressed by the large diamond and two smaller purple stones that flanked it. On the inside of the platinum band read, ‘Summer Will Never End.’
“I was going to ask her later that night but that bastard shot me.”
“Congrats, man.”
“I haven’t asked her yet.”
“There’s only one answer, and I’m pretty sure you know that as well or you wouldn’t have gotten the ring.” I put the ring back in his bag and sat in the chair next to his bed so I could gather my thoughts. It seemed like yesterday we were seventeen and eighteen and plotting to ruin one girl’s life until she crumbled into nothing, and then fast forward six years, we are talking about marriage.
“I know you didn’t come in here to stare at me because of how amazingly hot I am.” I snorted, but then ran a hand through my hair like a chick would because she was hot and she knew it.
“Why, when I have all this to look forward to, when I get myself alone?”
“You’re a true hideous hag.”
“Fuck you, man. Chicks dig, tall, dark, and mysterious.”
“That’s where you got it wrong, my man. No girl can resist a huge dick. Besides, I have all the boyish charm you lack.” I laughed when he tried to flip his hair. When the laughter finally died, we were left with heavy silence and everything that still remained unsaid between us.
“You know you don’t have to make it a thing,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Me getting shot. I only did what you would have.”
“I just…” Like with Lake, I couldn’t think of the right words to say. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”
“You still believe you have to fight the bad guys alone, but you wouldn’t be alive without us and vice versa. Taking that bullet for Lake was like me taking it for you, too. I’d die for you any day, precious.” I sent him a nasty look when he reached out to touch my cheek, and he dropped his hand.”
“I just need you to stay alive. You have too much to live for to go dying for me. When will you be discharged?”
“Should be tomorrow and then six weeks of taking it easy. At least I’ll be strong enough to hold my son when he arrives.”
I clapped him on the shoulder and stood to leave.
Lake was back in the waiting room, sitting with Kennedy as she toyed with the table again while Sheldon and Willow talked about the baby. I had enough of listening to that when Sheldon was pregnant with Ken. I walked over and lifted Lake from her seat. “So, back to California?”
“Not yet. There are people that want to meet you.”
I scrubbed my hand down my face and tried to stifle my aggravation.
“I don’t want to meet anyone. I just want to take you home and forget the past two weeks happened.”
“And you will, but there are some people you might need to talk to. I think they can answer some questions.”
“They. They. They. Why the mystery?”
“Because I think you need to hear it from them.” She smiled, but I didn’t return the favor.
What the fuck was she trying to do to me?
“Please,” she said picking up on my irritation. “Just trust me.”
Chapter TwentyThree
LAKE
ONE WEEK AGO
After giving my account of the shooting and the kidnapping and the events leading to the death of one man—because Greg just refused to die—I was taken in but not before making sure the girls… and Ryan were all safe. His mother came home and threw a screaming fit about the state of her house but that was all right, too. I had the proof to clear Keiran and me. Greg was read his rights and taken to the hospital by ambulance.
The first rough patch didn’t come until Cassie and Maddie were taken into CPS custody while their mother recovered from physical abuse and drug abuse. I was told I wouldn’t be allowed to see them.
I then phoned Thompson, who informed me he wouldn’t be able to fly in until he wrapped up a high-profile case at the end of the week. To make things worse, he advised me not to contact Keiran.