my goal. Her father showing up here has brought everything back into sharp focus. I’ve got to get my family out of here, which means I need to take care of things in Chicago.
Now.
“Great. You’re a lifesaver, hon,” Elaine says.
“See you in a few,” I tell her and disconnect.
I head to the shower to scrub Adri off me. A pained groan rolls up from my core when I remember how it felt to sink myself into that pristine body. She was so hot. So wet. So fucking tight. I should have known. I just never thought . . .
I brace my hands against the cold tile wall, hang my head between my shoulders. The water runs off my nose as I stare at my stupid dick, thickening from just the thought of her.
Christ, she went down on me. She rolled the fucking rubber on. What kind of virgin does that?
“Fuck,” I hiss under my breath. I told her I’d ruin her. I told her, and she let me do it. I slam my palm into the tile. “Fuck!”
There’s a knock on the bathroom door that makes me jump. Lee’s voice comes through the door. “Everything okay in there?”
“Yeah. Just dropped the soap.”
I finish in the shower and tug on my clothes. I head to my room, grab the garment bag with my uniforms, throw some regular clothes and all my extra ammo in a duffel. As I’m turning for the door, the sex-ravaged sheets catch my eye. I move back to the bed and stare down at the smear of Adri’s blood.
My face pulls into an involuntary grimace as I tug the covers up to hide the stain.
I head to the stairs.
“Stop chewing my sandal!” Lee says from the kitchen. When I get to the bottom of the stairs, she’s kicking Crash away from her feet as she cracks open a can of Coke. “I should have fed you to the sharks.”
“Hey,” I say. “I’ve got a job in Tampa tonight.”
She looks up at me with pleading eyes. “Take the dog. I’m begging you.”
I don’t have it in me right now to make a joke. “Sorry.”
“What happened to the wall?”
I follow the flick of her eyes to the hole near the front door, exactly the size and shape of my fist. “I knocked into it when I was bringing in firewood. I’ll patch it up when I get back.”
Her lips purse as she nods. I know she doesn’t believe me.
Ulie’s covering the living room furniture with sheets. Cans of paint are stacked in the middle of the room. “I have never in my life witnessed anything as repulsive as those sharks. I should have stayed home with you. I’m never going in the ocean again. Ever,” she says with a shudder.
I watch as she throws a white sheet over the sofa. The pang in my chest intensifies. I wish she had stayed home. Everything would have been different.
I move to Lee at the counter, pull her into a hug. We’ve talked about the Savocas, and I know she’s been obsessing over them.
She doesn’t need to worry anymore.
When I drop my client at the airport tomorrow afternoon, I’m on a plane to Chicago. Taking care of Oliver Savoca will be my first order of business, even if I have to pull the trigger myself. The only way I can fix this family is to bring them home, so that’s what I’m going to do, even if it means taking down the entire Savoca family myself.
Even if it means dying.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say low in Lee’s ear. When I draw away, she’s looking at me like I have two heads.
“What was that?”
We used to be so close, and now I can’t even hug her without her knowing something’s wrong. I loathe myself a little more for being such a shitty person. “The kids are luckier than they’ll ever know to have you. You’re amazing, Lee. I should have told you that a long time ago.”
My eyes sweep over the place one last time. With the sheets over the living room furniture, it looks almost how it did when we first arrived. My chest tightens when it occurs to me I could have been happy here if I were the person Adri wanted me to be.
I give Ulie’s shoulder a squeeze, then push through the door.
Sherm and Grant are on the porch. Burn is lying at Sherm’s feet. Since Sherm coaxed him out of the box that first morning, he’s never