Last Mile (Vicious Cycle #3) - Katie Ashley Page 0,100
to process it all. Bishop had killed a man to defend not only himself, but me as well. Just as he had taken a personal risk to his own safety to protect me in Virginia when the Diablos attacked. Given that I had sought justice in the courts my whole career, it was still a little hard to swallow the fact that Eddy had died at Bishop’s hands. On the other hand, Eddy had been responsible for Gavin’s death. In a sense, I took some comfort in the old adage of an eye for an eye.
I sighed with relief. “Thank God.”
Bishop rubbed his palms together. “You scared the hell out of me tonight.”
“I did?”
He nodded. “When I busted in your office and saw what Eddy was doing . . .” He closed his eyes with a pained expression. “I thought you were going to die. I didn’t want to lose you, and I especially didn’t want you to die with things still strained between us.”
“You didn’t want to lose me to death . . . or in your life?” My heartbeat accelerated so fast I was sure the heart monitor I was attached to was going to go off.
“Both,” Bishop said, and his voice cracked.
“I’d give anything if you meant that—if you wanted to give us another try.”
“I do, Sam. After what happened tonight, I realized that I don’t want to live a life without you in it.”
Tears stung my eyes at his words. “Oh, Bishop. I love you.”
He smiled. “Even after the way I’ve treated you?”
Regardless of what had gone down between us, I did love him, and I had for some time. But he did ask a valid question. One he probably needed assurance from more than I did. I had already made the sacrifices necessary to prove to myself I loved him. It had been a tough road, considering that through association with him, I’d lost my very best friend. I missed Gavin so much, and some days it was hard to get out of bed. But in his gentle yet strong way, Bishop had been such a comfort to me. He had given my life purpose . . . and it was a life I wanted him to be a part of.
“Yes, yes, I love you.”
Bishop took my hand in his. “I promise I’ll make it up to you all the times I was such an asshole.”
I laughed. “Okay. I’ll let you.”
He rose out of his chair to lean over and kiss me. “I love you, too,” he murmured against my lips.
Once again, I fought the tears as I felt as if my heart would explode from happiness. Surprisingly, it didn’t set off any alarms. As Bishop sat back down, he frowned slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was just thinking that I love you so much that I wish we could start over. Like we could forget the past of you being an agent and all that bullshit.”
“All we can do is try.” When I pulled my hand from his, he stared at me in surprise. I then held it out for him to shake. “I’m Samantha Vargas. I’m an agent with the ATF.”
“Bishop Malloy—sergeant at arms of the Hells Raiders.”
As we shook, I smiled. “That’s a start.”
EPILOGUE
SAMANTHA
My fingers flew furiously over the keys as I typed up my latest debriefing. As I relived the takedown, I couldn’t help smiling. After all, it wasn’t every day that you apprehended a gun trafficker who carried his shipment in a clown-decorated ice cream truck.
It also made me think of Gavin and how he would have hated the case. The one thing he was afraid of was clowns. A year might’ve passed since his murder, but I still thought of him and missed him every day.
A knock came at my door, but I didn’t look up. “Yeah?”
“Are you still here?” Peterson asked.
“Just finishing up.”
“You should have left an hour ago.”
I glanced up at him. “Since when do bosses encourage their employees to be slackers?”
Crossing his arms over his chest, he countered, “When that employee has a wedding rehearsal in less than two hours.”
After hitting save on the file, I held my hands up in defeat. “Fine, fine. I’m leaving now.”
“Good. If I had to see one more text from your future sister-in-law about where you were, I was going to scream.” At my laugh, he narrowed his eyes. “Just exactly how did she get my number?”
“You’re in the wedding party, and as the wedding planner, Alexandra needed your contact number.”