“Punch him in the nose?” I said coyly, hoping that he wasn’t angry with me. I know I shouldn’t have gone alone, but I was glad I was there when Reid showed up. I knew that he had a lot of self-control, but if things would have escalated, I would have been there to at least attempt to break it up.
“That was just the tip of the iceberg.” He wrapped his arms around me as we stood on the sidewalk. “I would have killed him if he’d laid a finger on you. I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself if he hurt you.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. Grabbing on to his arms, I steadied myself. His kisses still made me feel weak in the knees and the events of the day hadn’t helped my stability at all. The firmness and urgency of his mouth against mine left no doubt in my mind that he loved and wanted to protect me. I felt the same way about him.
“I was trying to protect you,” I told him when our lips parted. He locked his arms around my waist, not letting me get too far away. “I can’t stand the thought of someone trying to hurt you either.” My eyes were starting to feel a little misty again. “I love you and standing up to him was the only way I felt like I could do anything. I can’t stop you from getting hurt at your job. I can’t stop accidents from happening, but I sure as hell can confront anyone responsible for causing one.”
“I get it,” he sighed as he kissed my forehead. “But, I want to be the man that protects you. That takes care of you. I want to be the guy that I couldn’t be seven years ago.”
“You are that guy.” I pressed up on my toes to rest my forehead against his. Holding my stare for a moment he sighed and let his eyes fall shut. “Reid, you’re exactly the guy I need you to be.” It was the first quiet moment that we’d shared all day, and I think that we both needed it. Reid’s phone chimed from his pocket breaking up our moment.
“I should check that,” he said with hesitation. “It might be about Brett.” We let go of each other so that he could check the text. “It’s Georgia. She said he’s waking up.”
“We should go in then.” I wiped the tears from my eyes and tucked my arm through his.
“I know that my job can be stressful, especially for spouses,” he said with pause. “I mean—” He’d just referred to me as a spouse, which was about as far into the future as we could have possibly talked. Not that I was opposed to that conversation, but we’d just gotten each other back. Everything still felt so new.
“I know what you meant,” I said, smiling.
“I’m not trying to jump the gun here or anything,” he chuckled. “But, I will marry you one day, Shutterbug.”
“Good to know,” I replied, feeling completely overcome with admiration for the man walking by my side. As much as I wanted to continue the conversation about the hypothetical marriage he was proposing, I knew that we had much more pressing issues. “So, what are we going to do about Beau? Should we call the police?” I asked as we boarded the elevator to head up to Brett’s room.
“You let me worry about that,” he said, leaning over to kiss me once more in the last private moment we would probably share that night. “I’ve got a pretty good feeling about karma biting him right in the ass.”
By the time Brett was out of recovery and we were able to see him, it was past ten so neither Nora nor I minded when Brett insisted that we go home for the night. I felt terrible leaving him, but according to him he planned on asking the nurse for a double dose of pain meds and sleeping until his leg was healed. The surgeon had talked to him briefly, but was saving the full conversation about rebuilding his knee until he was fully conscious and able to make a clear-headed decision. Getting back on a dirt bike and back in freestyle champion form was going to be an uphill battle.