“Must get old,” she said, her voice melancholy. “And lonely.”
“I’ve gotten used to it,” he lied, staring straight ahead at the road in the headlights.
Austin let Everly go back to her own thoughts while he tried to get a handle on his.
When they reached the house, Everly didn’t wait for the others. She opened the door and said, “I’m taking a shower.”
“You probably need stitches,” Austin said. “Let Decker take you to the ER.”
She shot a look over her shoulder, glanced at Bella, still sleeping, and said, “Fuck that.”
Then shut the door and limped into the house.
Both he and Decker watched her in silence until she’d disappeared from the door she’d left open.
He and Decker shared a look.
“I’ll ping my contacts,” Decker said. “Send them a photo. See if they can put her through facial recognition.”
Austin hesitated. She’d saved Bella. In some ways, he didn’t give a damn who she was or what she’d done in the past. Then again, he couldn’t stick his head in the sand. He’d always been proactive about Bella’s safety. He couldn’t stop now. Seaver was obviously ready to fight again.
“Yeah, okay,” he said. “And get an evidence trail between Seaver and those hired guns. Put together a bulletproof evidence path. If I have to go to court again, I’m going to bury her.”
“Count on it,” Decker said.
Austin collected a sleepy, whimpering Bella in his arms and entered the house. He climbed the stairs and passed the room Everly was using. The sound of the shower poured through the open door.
He continued to the next room. Before he laid Bella in bed, he reached behind her to unzip her bloodstained dress, then carefully peeled it back and tossed it aside. Then he pulled back the bed covers and laid Bella down. When she didn’t wake, Austin moved into the adjoining bath and wet a warm washcloth with antibacterial soap and wiped every trace of blood from her skin.
Beneath the blood, there was no sign of injury. Austin thought back to the scene in the bathroom—the two unconscious men, the blood smeared and pooled on the tile floor, the shattered window and Everly on one knee in the dirt, a Glock pointed at the opening with a professional’s double-fisted grip, her arms and face splattered with blood.
Yet, Bella? Not one scratch.
Thanks to Everly.
She was going to need stitches in her foot, and it would be better for her if she got them tonight. She probably also needed a few in that cut on her shoulder that had been dripping blood down her back.
Shifting Bella to the center of the bed, Austin pulled the covers over her and sighed heavily. Safe once again. Some days, he felt like ninety percent of his energy went toward keeping her safe and happy. But that was what he’d signed up for when he’d left the army and taken her out of the United States.
He wasn’t sure Everly had signed up for this or not.
He turned off Bella’s light and moved through the adjoining bathroom into his bedroom, where he changed into a T-shirt and gym shorts. When he stepped into the bathroom again, he saw Everly standing by Bella’s bed. She wore an oversized T-shirt and rubbed her hair with a towel. Tossing the towel over one shoulder, Everly eased to a seat beside Bella. She stroked a thumb across her cheek and brushed hair off Bella’s face, then leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
The tenderness twisted Austin’s heart. He wanted to believe in her. Which was enough to tell him he shouldn’t.
“Don’t do it. You still have one good kidney. But if you move, you’re dead.”
Based on the scene, Austin had to believe the threat. He should fire her. Get her away from Bella. But if he used that as criteria for who should stay close to his daughter, not one man on his security team should be around her. Hell, even he shouldn’t be with her.
Austin approached from the bathroom and paused a few feet away.
Everly didn’t look at him, but said, “I’ll be gone by the time she wakes.”
The thought created a jittery sensation in his gut. “Bella may not have spoken to me while she was in the bathroom. But you did.”
She turned her head, eyes narrowed on him. “What does that mean?”
He tapped the face on his phone and played the message.