Savage Love (Savage Trilogy #3) - Lisa Renee Jones Page 0,59

he finds her, he’s dead. I will kill him, and you can only blame yourself because you let it happen. If he kills her, I’ll kill you.”

“Are you threatening a police officer?”

“I sure the fuck am. Do your job.”

I hand the phone to Candace, who’s staring at me like I’ve grown horns. Blake is also staring at me like I’ve grown horns. “Fuck, Savage,” he growls.

“Fuck him,” I growl right back. “They let him get away.”

“Lord help me,” Candace murmurs before sticking the phone to her ear and calmly, but softly details everything Blake told her to say. She then hands the phone back to me. “He wants to talk to you.”

I take the phone. “Yeah?”

“Look, man. I get it. You love her. And I get it. Walker is like one of us. Your team is involved with our teams. So I’m just going to speak the truth to you.”

“I’m listening.”

“From what I saw on the traffic camera, if you see him, you’d better kill him and ask questions later.”

“Is that professional advice?”

“It’s personal. And I’ll deny it.” He hangs up.

“What did he say?” Blake asks.

I breathe out and slide my phone back into my pocket. “That it takes a killer to kill a killer. I’m taking Candace home and we’re both going to get a few hours of sleep.”

Blake stares at me for several long beats before he says, “All right. Memphis is behind the wheel of an SUV outside, waiting on you. He’ll keep an eye out while you sleep. And Kara and I will meet you at your place at noon.”

Memphis being an ex-FBI agent I’ve worked with a few times. I don’t like him or hate him which probably means I like him. I hate pretty fast and hard. “Make it two o’clock,” I say. “And bring lunch.” I catch Candace’s hand and kiss it. “Hang tight while I get us loaded up.”

She hugs herself and nods. A few minutes later, we’re in the back of an SUV, on the way to our apartment, and Candace is plastered to my side. I’m not sure if I put her there, or she put herself there, but I damn sure feel better with her beside me.

The closer she is to me right now, the better I’ll feel.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Candace

Gabriel is dead.

I’m a mix of confusing feelings namely guilt because I feel relief that he can no longer come after me or Rick. He would have come after us. He would have killed us. He would have killed my father. It’s a wicked struggle of logic and emotion, that twists and turns inside me.

And I have plenty of time for such things, too, as the ride into the city is long, the traffic heavy. It’s also silent but for the radio, Memphis—a big, blond country boy from Texas just like us—has country music playing on the radio, which at the moment is Lee Brice’s Rumor. I used to listen to that song and wish Rick would come home, and the whole town would talk. Now, the whole town is hiding or dying which is why I stay plastered to his side. Death has a way of making you hold onto those you love, and that’s what I do. On the ride into the city, I hold onto Rick. I stay close. I just found him again, and I do not want to lose him again. I can’t lose him again.

Rick’s hand rests on my leg, his fingers lazily caressing me and it’s hard to explain how right that feels. Somehow that gentle touch, the touch of a talented hand that can both give and take life, with the same ease, is a butterfly with wings of hope. In this man, is my future, and I don’t believe we have come this far for it to be stripped away again.

I catch his hand now, and I bring it to my mouth, kissing it, and when my eyes meet his, I let him see the hope that he gives me, the love that he stirs so very deep in my soul. His expression softens, he softens. I can feel it and see it. No matter how hard he is, how damaged inside, I believe I’m his butterfly, too.

In that shared moment, the storm inside me begins to calm, the world becomes far more manageable. By the time Memphis pulls us to the front of a brownstone finished high-rise building, I’m eager to see my new home. There’s even a doorman who takes