Unfinished: A Small Town, Friends to Lovers, Romantic Suspense (Amber Ridge Book 6), page 20
“Fine,” Jesse said. “But you’re not alone. We’re all with you.”
“Hell yes, we are,” Noah pushed. “He shot my sister and I’m going to make sure he pays for that.”
“I’m staying with Zane,” Bonnie said quickly.
Zane shook his head. “No, it’s too—”
“Dangerous?” Bonnie lifted a brow. “He almost shot me today. He did shoot my pregnant sister. We’ve passed dangerous. I’m not endangering any more of my family. I’m either with you or by myself.”
Zane didn’t want to agree. Because every part of him knew that something big was coming for him.
But she was right. The danger had found her anyway, and at least with him, he’d be able to protect her himself. “Fine. You’re coming with me.”
CHAPTER 27
Bonnie shot up in bed, her heart racing.
Darkness surrounded her, the unfamiliar bedroom in the cabin making the fear settle deeper in her belly.
Just a dream. It was just a dream.
But it wasn’t. It was a memory. Of Indie. Shoving her aside. Of the blood.
She dropped her head into her hands, fresh tears filling her eyes.
Indie had been hurt because of her…while saving her. She and her baby were okay, but it could have ended so much worse.
She turned to study the bed beside her. Empty.
Where was Zane?
After leaving the hospital, he’d brought her to this isolated cabin. It was big. So big that Ethan was in one of the bedrooms upstairs while she and Zane had the entire downstairs to themselves. They’d had dinner. Showered. And he’d held her until she’d fallen asleep.
But had he slept?
She pushed the covers back and touched her feet to the wooden floorboards. Even though the cabin was old, it had clearly been updated with heating and top-notch security.
So why was she still so cold?
Without bothering with a sweatshirt or pants, she left the bedroom, only wearing one of Zane’s shirts because they hadn’t grabbed anything from her place yet. The shirt drowned her, and it also smelled exactly like him—a mix of eucalyptus and smoked vanilla. So uniquely Zane.
Her footsteps were quiet as she padded down the hall, the darkness keeping her pulse racing beneath her skin.
She searched the kitchen first, then the living room.
Nothing. Had he gone outside? Maybe he was doing a perimeter check.
She was about to shift the curtain aside to look through the window when something sounded. A dull thump, like a fist hitting leather.
Was there a bag in this house? Zane had given her a tour, but there hadn’t been a workout room.
He’d only shown her the stairs to the basement though.
She turned and moved in that direction, then quietly opened the door and closed it behind her before descending. The thumps got louder, quickly accompanied by heavy breathing.
And that’s where she found him.
Zane was shirtless, his back toward her, hands wrapped and wearing only shorts. Every time he hit the bag, a thousand muscles pulled and strained in his back.
She shuddered at the fury in his hits. Like every time a fist landed, he was trying to beat the rage out of his bones and silence something inside him.
For a moment, she didn’t move. Just watched him throw hit after hit, her arms wrapped around her waist. She’d felt so much anger herself, about everything happening to him. The unfairness of it all.
But now, in this moment, all she could feel was a deep sadness. Sadness that he’d been chasing peace for the last year but still couldn’t reach it.
She stepped to the side of the bag. Two more hits and his eyes finally landed on her.
He took his earbuds out. “Bonnie.”
She stepped toward him, gaze going to the straps on his hands. “How long have you been down here?”
“I’m not sure.” He touched her chin and tilted her head up. The gentleness of his touch was in complete contrast to the aggression of his hits moments ago. “Are you okay?”
“I woke up and couldn’t find you. I was worried.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
She nodded at his hands. “Can I take these off?”
His silence stretched so long she thought he’d say no. Then he nodded. Carefully, she started unwinding the material before switching to his other hand.
“I missed you.” His quiet words whispered into the silence, almost knocking the breath from her chest.
She dropped the last bit of strapping. “It was only three days, but it felt like forever.” She looked up, and the intensity in his eyes…it burned into her. Filling every cold crevice. Making all of her feel warm and claimed.
“I can’t let him take you from me,” he said, a fear she’d rarely heard slipping into his words.
She cupped his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere. Neither are you.”
“Promise me.” He touched his forehead to hers. “Promise me we have a future.”
It wasn’t a promise she should be making, and they both knew it. She didn’t care. “Not just a future. We have forever, Zane.”
Warm breath danced over her face. He ran his thumb over her bottom lip before touching his lips to hers. Once. Twice. The softest kisses she’d ever felt, while his hands slipped around her waist. On the third kiss, he stayed there, and the second she opened for him, he dove inside, his tongue curving around hers.
She groaned. “Love me, Zane.”
The second the words slipped from her lips, he growled and lifted her so that her entire front pressed to his, her legs wrapping tightly around his waist. And she knew that this, being enveloped in the safety of his arms, was the only place in the world she wanted to be.
Zane lost himself in the kiss. As if the world had narrowed to the taste of her lips and the soft feel of her skin.
A second ago, he’d been drowning. Hitting the bag like it was his only refuge from a world that was crushing him. But it wasn’t. She was his salvation. She was the one person who could pull him from the water when he was too deep to come up for air.
He threaded his fingers through her hair, his other arm secured around her, as if that could stop anything and anyone from taking her away.
She felt so fragile. Like she could slip from his grasp if his hold loosened. And she could. Today, he’d almost lost her. And it would have destroyed him. Pulled the foundation from beneath his feet and thrown him to his knees.
He turned and pressed her against the wall, her core surging into him, making blood roar between his ears. He tugged at the bottom of her top, pulling it over her head. Her creamy breasts bounced, so fucking beautiful that the need to touch them, taste them, throbbed like a pulse beneath his skin.
He lowered his head and took one pebbled nipple between his lips.
Bonnie’s cry was fucking music to his ears. He could listen to it every day for the rest of his life and never tire of the sound.
He swirled his tongue around her bud, flicking it back and forth before sucking.
This time she was louder, her fingers latching onto his hair, pulling at the roots.
He switched to her other breast, cupping it as he tasted her.
Perfect. She was so fucking perfect. Made for him.
She arched, pushing her chest into his mouth as if she felt the suffocating need to be closer too.
He kissed back up her breasts then neck, stopping at a spot behind her ear and nibbling.
Another feminine groan slipped into the air, then her mouth was moving down his neck, onto his chest. Soft kisses that whispered over his skin. When she kissed a spot right over his heart, he swore the thing beat for her.
He cupped her cheek, and she turned her head and pressed her lips to his palm. But then she reached up and grabbed his hand to turn it over. And one by one, she kissed every scrape and bruise on his battered skin.
He felt her lips everywhere. They hollowed him out, making space for her. Only her.
At the lift of her gaze, she tugged his head but only so that her lips touched his ear as she whispered, “Feel this.” She placed his hand on her chest right over her heart. “It’s beating for you.”
Time bent around her, so much so that nothing else mattered.
He held her with one hand and used the other to push down his shorts. After sliding her panties to the side, he positioned himself at her entrance. Before he could move, she tightened her legs, tugging his tip inside.
And fuck, he almost lost himself then and there.
“Bonnie.” Her name was something between a whisper and a growl. His eyes shuttered, his temple touching hers.
He kissed her, slipping his tongue inside her mouth and curving it around hers. Then, slowly, he slipped the rest of the way inside her.
It was only then that he lifted his head, and the words finally slipped free.
“I love you, Bonnie.”
Tears immediately filled her eyes, air stuttering from her chest. “I love you too, Zane. I think I’ve loved you for a long while.”
He took a moment to breathe. To absorb her words and let them fill every part of him. Change him. Make her his.
He started to move, pulling out and sliding back in.
She whimpered, her hands now on his shoulders, fingers digging into his skin. “Zane.”
“I’ve got you.”
He kept moving. Thrusting in and out. Every time he returned to her, it was like coming home. Because somewhere along the line, this woman had become his home. The only damn home he wanted or needed.
He cupped her breast, rolling her nipple with his thumb as he moved.
Her breathing shortened and grew louder. Faster.
Beautiful. All of her. The sounds she made, the way her brow furrowed in that cute fucking pout he couldn’t look away from.
He lowered his hand to her core and swiped her clit with his thumb.
Her cry shuddered through the room.
He did it again, this time rolling her clit in a circle.
She started to buck. She was close.
“Zane,” she whispered.
He latched onto her throat, sucking. Then she screamed, her walls clenching his cock as she broke.
And fuck, she felt good around him. He wanted to keep going. To feel this, feel her, for longer, but he couldn’t. Two more thrusts and he crashed and burned with her, his cock pulsing inside her body.
Long seconds of stillness passed where neither of them spoke or moved…they just breathed.
Until, finally, she touched her forehead to his chest. “God, I love you.”
“You have no idea, honey.” He kissed the top of her head.
And she really didn’t. Because how could anyone understand this feeling inside him? He barely understood it. Only knew it was fierce and all-consuming and utterly unshakable.
CHAPTER 28
Bonnie tried hard to focus on Addie. She was telling a rock-climbing story. One that Bonnie absolutely should be listening to, just like the other women.
But it was hard to concentrate when the guys were huddled around the gym’s front desk, talking about the remaining criminals who needed to be found and detained.
Not just talking about them. Studying profiles and photos. Talking about possible hiding places. Well, a hiding place for Monty… The rest had most likely hightailed it out of Amber Ridge.
The gym blinds were down, and pizza and drinks littered the tables, but none of that lightened her mood.
It had been five days since Indie was shot. Her sister was still in the hospital, mostly for observation because of the pregnancy. Indie had people with her. Colt. Holden. Clara. But their absence tonight felt big and heavy.
Bonnie wished she’d been able to visit her sister every day, but with Monty still out there, evasion was necessary. Plus, there was no way she wanted to bring danger to her sister’s doorstep again. The only reason they were at the gym tonight was because Zane needed to talk to the guys, and he didn’t want to bring anyone to the cabin and risk the location.
When she couldn’t hold off any longer, she glanced over at the men. They were still huddled over the desk, looking at mug shots. Of course, Bonnie could be over there if she wanted. All the women could.
She didn’t want to. Plus, Zane would report back. And unlike the men, she didn’t have a military background, so what would she do with the information anyway?
“Bonnie.”
She looked back at Addie. The rest of the women were talking amongst themselves now, but Addie only had eyes for her.
The other woman’s gaze was soft but also concerned. “Are you okay?”
“Just worried.” Big truck-load levels of worried.
Addie glanced at the men, then back to her. “There are only three guys left and we don’t know if they’re all in Amber Ridge or some have left. That means it’s possibly Monty against all of them.”
Looking at the powerful men who, between them, had decades of tactical training and military experience, most would agree that the odds were in their favor. But Zane knew Monty best—and Zane was worried. That made Bonnie worried.
She nodded anyway. “How’s Noah been?”
“It feels like we only just recovered from everything that happened at the park, and now we have this. Even though he won’t admit it, it’s been a lot for him. And he’s worried about Indie, as we all are. But I just keep reassuring him that she’ll be okay. And we’ll get through this.”
Bonnie touched Addie’s arm. “I’m glad he has you.”
“And I’m glad he has you back.”
“I don’t know about that. I got Indie shot.” Shit. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“No, you didn’t. You didn’t ask someone to shoot at you. And it was Indie’s choice to push you out of the way. I doubt she regrets saving you.”
She wasn’t sure she believed that. Saving Bonnie had probably been a reflex when Indie more than likely wished she’d protected her baby.
But the baby was safe and healthy. Bonnie just needed to keep reminding herself of that.
Footsteps sounded, then Noah was behind Addie, touching her back. “Hey. Ready to go?”
She rose. “Finished?”
“For tonight.”
He sounded tired. But then, they all did. Even with the state police in town helping with this whole mess, it didn’t feel like enough.
Noah glanced at her. “You okay, Bon?”
“Mm-hmm.” She reached out and squeezed his hand.
As everyone said their goodbyes and filtered out of the gym, Bonnie moved over to Zane. His hand immediately slipped around her waist and tugged her closer, but he was still looking at the photos.
She frowned down at the three mug shots. A bald man with tattoos down his neck. A dark-haired guy with an eyebrow ring.
She frowned at the third picture. “That’s Monty.” She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did.
“Yeah. My dad and his mother were siblings. They’ve both passed now but they look similar, so we look similar.”
That was it. He looked like Zane. But he also didn’t. The difference was in the eyes. Monty’s were flat and hollow, like they were completely devoid of warmth.
Zane was everything Monty wasn’t. Good. Warm. Kind.
Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “You know what I was thinking?”
“That we should get the hell out of this town and disappear?”
“No. That we’ve been dating all this time and we’ve never gone a round in the ring together.”
A ghost of a smile curved his lips. “You want to get in the ring?”
“With you? Absolutely.” She grinned before stepping out of his arms and crossing to the octagonal ring. Without a word, she slipped off her shoes, pulled off her sweatshirt, and held out her hands. “Glove me.”
Humor danced in his eyes. But he grabbed two pairs of gloves from the equipment box. She barely held in the shudder as he strapped the gloves onto her hands. There was something so sexy about having a man—no, not a man, Zane—getting her ready to step into the ring.
When he had his gloves on, they both slipped into the ring.
“Ready?” he asked, the humor still there.
She lifted her gloved hands and softened her knees into a fighting stance. “Do you find something funny, Zane Merrick?”
“Of course not. I know better than to underestimate a beautiful woman wearing gloves.”
“Damn straight.” She danced forward and threw her first punch.
Zane dodged it with practiced ease. “That was good.”
She lifted a brow. “Surprised?”
“By you? Always.”
She grinned before throwing two more punches, followed by an uppercut.
Zane blocked all of them with his gloves but did look at least a bit impressed. “Who taught you this?”
She moved around him, staying light on her feet. “I told you. I did mixed martial arts when I left Amber Ridge. I had a lot of emotions to work through. I got kind of good.”
“Are you telling me you could wrestle me to the floor right now?”
“Hot, right?”
He didn’t even crack a smile, but the intensity in his eyes almost made her lose her breath.
“You haven’t thrown a punch yet,” she said, jabbing at his chest.
He absorbed the jab and threw a right hook, but it was more of a tap to her shoulder.
She lifted a brow. “You can do better than that.”
He smiled, then threw an almost playful hook that grazed her chin.
God, she loved that smile. “You might not be treating me like a real threat, but don’t think that means I’m gonna go easy on you.” She threw two jabs, both dodged by him, followed by a hard and fast kick to his thigh.
He caught her leg and spun her so her back was pressed to his front, her leg still in his hold. Then his mouth touched her ear as he whispered, “That was good, Bon. But you give yourself away with your eyes.”
“I do not!”
“You’re too open.” He kissed her ear. “Want a break?”
“No.” Hell no. She threw a hard elbow to his gut. No reaction from him. No grunt or hunching. But still, he released her.
“Hell yes, we are,” Noah pushed. “He shot my sister and I’m going to make sure he pays for that.”
“I’m staying with Zane,” Bonnie said quickly.
Zane shook his head. “No, it’s too—”
“Dangerous?” Bonnie lifted a brow. “He almost shot me today. He did shoot my pregnant sister. We’ve passed dangerous. I’m not endangering any more of my family. I’m either with you or by myself.”
Zane didn’t want to agree. Because every part of him knew that something big was coming for him.
But she was right. The danger had found her anyway, and at least with him, he’d be able to protect her himself. “Fine. You’re coming with me.”
CHAPTER 27
Bonnie shot up in bed, her heart racing.
Darkness surrounded her, the unfamiliar bedroom in the cabin making the fear settle deeper in her belly.
Just a dream. It was just a dream.
But it wasn’t. It was a memory. Of Indie. Shoving her aside. Of the blood.
She dropped her head into her hands, fresh tears filling her eyes.
Indie had been hurt because of her…while saving her. She and her baby were okay, but it could have ended so much worse.
She turned to study the bed beside her. Empty.
Where was Zane?
After leaving the hospital, he’d brought her to this isolated cabin. It was big. So big that Ethan was in one of the bedrooms upstairs while she and Zane had the entire downstairs to themselves. They’d had dinner. Showered. And he’d held her until she’d fallen asleep.
But had he slept?
She pushed the covers back and touched her feet to the wooden floorboards. Even though the cabin was old, it had clearly been updated with heating and top-notch security.
So why was she still so cold?
Without bothering with a sweatshirt or pants, she left the bedroom, only wearing one of Zane’s shirts because they hadn’t grabbed anything from her place yet. The shirt drowned her, and it also smelled exactly like him—a mix of eucalyptus and smoked vanilla. So uniquely Zane.
Her footsteps were quiet as she padded down the hall, the darkness keeping her pulse racing beneath her skin.
She searched the kitchen first, then the living room.
Nothing. Had he gone outside? Maybe he was doing a perimeter check.
She was about to shift the curtain aside to look through the window when something sounded. A dull thump, like a fist hitting leather.
Was there a bag in this house? Zane had given her a tour, but there hadn’t been a workout room.
He’d only shown her the stairs to the basement though.
She turned and moved in that direction, then quietly opened the door and closed it behind her before descending. The thumps got louder, quickly accompanied by heavy breathing.
And that’s where she found him.
Zane was shirtless, his back toward her, hands wrapped and wearing only shorts. Every time he hit the bag, a thousand muscles pulled and strained in his back.
She shuddered at the fury in his hits. Like every time a fist landed, he was trying to beat the rage out of his bones and silence something inside him.
For a moment, she didn’t move. Just watched him throw hit after hit, her arms wrapped around her waist. She’d felt so much anger herself, about everything happening to him. The unfairness of it all.
But now, in this moment, all she could feel was a deep sadness. Sadness that he’d been chasing peace for the last year but still couldn’t reach it.
She stepped to the side of the bag. Two more hits and his eyes finally landed on her.
He took his earbuds out. “Bonnie.”
She stepped toward him, gaze going to the straps on his hands. “How long have you been down here?”
“I’m not sure.” He touched her chin and tilted her head up. The gentleness of his touch was in complete contrast to the aggression of his hits moments ago. “Are you okay?”
“I woke up and couldn’t find you. I was worried.”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
She nodded at his hands. “Can I take these off?”
His silence stretched so long she thought he’d say no. Then he nodded. Carefully, she started unwinding the material before switching to his other hand.
“I missed you.” His quiet words whispered into the silence, almost knocking the breath from her chest.
She dropped the last bit of strapping. “It was only three days, but it felt like forever.” She looked up, and the intensity in his eyes…it burned into her. Filling every cold crevice. Making all of her feel warm and claimed.
“I can’t let him take you from me,” he said, a fear she’d rarely heard slipping into his words.
She cupped his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere. Neither are you.”
“Promise me.” He touched his forehead to hers. “Promise me we have a future.”
It wasn’t a promise she should be making, and they both knew it. She didn’t care. “Not just a future. We have forever, Zane.”
Warm breath danced over her face. He ran his thumb over her bottom lip before touching his lips to hers. Once. Twice. The softest kisses she’d ever felt, while his hands slipped around her waist. On the third kiss, he stayed there, and the second she opened for him, he dove inside, his tongue curving around hers.
She groaned. “Love me, Zane.”
The second the words slipped from her lips, he growled and lifted her so that her entire front pressed to his, her legs wrapping tightly around his waist. And she knew that this, being enveloped in the safety of his arms, was the only place in the world she wanted to be.
Zane lost himself in the kiss. As if the world had narrowed to the taste of her lips and the soft feel of her skin.
A second ago, he’d been drowning. Hitting the bag like it was his only refuge from a world that was crushing him. But it wasn’t. She was his salvation. She was the one person who could pull him from the water when he was too deep to come up for air.
He threaded his fingers through her hair, his other arm secured around her, as if that could stop anything and anyone from taking her away.
She felt so fragile. Like she could slip from his grasp if his hold loosened. And she could. Today, he’d almost lost her. And it would have destroyed him. Pulled the foundation from beneath his feet and thrown him to his knees.
He turned and pressed her against the wall, her core surging into him, making blood roar between his ears. He tugged at the bottom of her top, pulling it over her head. Her creamy breasts bounced, so fucking beautiful that the need to touch them, taste them, throbbed like a pulse beneath his skin.
He lowered his head and took one pebbled nipple between his lips.
Bonnie’s cry was fucking music to his ears. He could listen to it every day for the rest of his life and never tire of the sound.
He swirled his tongue around her bud, flicking it back and forth before sucking.
This time she was louder, her fingers latching onto his hair, pulling at the roots.
He switched to her other breast, cupping it as he tasted her.
Perfect. She was so fucking perfect. Made for him.
She arched, pushing her chest into his mouth as if she felt the suffocating need to be closer too.
He kissed back up her breasts then neck, stopping at a spot behind her ear and nibbling.
Another feminine groan slipped into the air, then her mouth was moving down his neck, onto his chest. Soft kisses that whispered over his skin. When she kissed a spot right over his heart, he swore the thing beat for her.
He cupped her cheek, and she turned her head and pressed her lips to his palm. But then she reached up and grabbed his hand to turn it over. And one by one, she kissed every scrape and bruise on his battered skin.
He felt her lips everywhere. They hollowed him out, making space for her. Only her.
At the lift of her gaze, she tugged his head but only so that her lips touched his ear as she whispered, “Feel this.” She placed his hand on her chest right over her heart. “It’s beating for you.”
Time bent around her, so much so that nothing else mattered.
He held her with one hand and used the other to push down his shorts. After sliding her panties to the side, he positioned himself at her entrance. Before he could move, she tightened her legs, tugging his tip inside.
And fuck, he almost lost himself then and there.
“Bonnie.” Her name was something between a whisper and a growl. His eyes shuttered, his temple touching hers.
He kissed her, slipping his tongue inside her mouth and curving it around hers. Then, slowly, he slipped the rest of the way inside her.
It was only then that he lifted his head, and the words finally slipped free.
“I love you, Bonnie.”
Tears immediately filled her eyes, air stuttering from her chest. “I love you too, Zane. I think I’ve loved you for a long while.”
He took a moment to breathe. To absorb her words and let them fill every part of him. Change him. Make her his.
He started to move, pulling out and sliding back in.
She whimpered, her hands now on his shoulders, fingers digging into his skin. “Zane.”
“I’ve got you.”
He kept moving. Thrusting in and out. Every time he returned to her, it was like coming home. Because somewhere along the line, this woman had become his home. The only damn home he wanted or needed.
He cupped her breast, rolling her nipple with his thumb as he moved.
Her breathing shortened and grew louder. Faster.
Beautiful. All of her. The sounds she made, the way her brow furrowed in that cute fucking pout he couldn’t look away from.
He lowered his hand to her core and swiped her clit with his thumb.
Her cry shuddered through the room.
He did it again, this time rolling her clit in a circle.
She started to buck. She was close.
“Zane,” she whispered.
He latched onto her throat, sucking. Then she screamed, her walls clenching his cock as she broke.
And fuck, she felt good around him. He wanted to keep going. To feel this, feel her, for longer, but he couldn’t. Two more thrusts and he crashed and burned with her, his cock pulsing inside her body.
Long seconds of stillness passed where neither of them spoke or moved…they just breathed.
Until, finally, she touched her forehead to his chest. “God, I love you.”
“You have no idea, honey.” He kissed the top of her head.
And she really didn’t. Because how could anyone understand this feeling inside him? He barely understood it. Only knew it was fierce and all-consuming and utterly unshakable.
CHAPTER 28
Bonnie tried hard to focus on Addie. She was telling a rock-climbing story. One that Bonnie absolutely should be listening to, just like the other women.
But it was hard to concentrate when the guys were huddled around the gym’s front desk, talking about the remaining criminals who needed to be found and detained.
Not just talking about them. Studying profiles and photos. Talking about possible hiding places. Well, a hiding place for Monty… The rest had most likely hightailed it out of Amber Ridge.
The gym blinds were down, and pizza and drinks littered the tables, but none of that lightened her mood.
It had been five days since Indie was shot. Her sister was still in the hospital, mostly for observation because of the pregnancy. Indie had people with her. Colt. Holden. Clara. But their absence tonight felt big and heavy.
Bonnie wished she’d been able to visit her sister every day, but with Monty still out there, evasion was necessary. Plus, there was no way she wanted to bring danger to her sister’s doorstep again. The only reason they were at the gym tonight was because Zane needed to talk to the guys, and he didn’t want to bring anyone to the cabin and risk the location.
When she couldn’t hold off any longer, she glanced over at the men. They were still huddled over the desk, looking at mug shots. Of course, Bonnie could be over there if she wanted. All the women could.
She didn’t want to. Plus, Zane would report back. And unlike the men, she didn’t have a military background, so what would she do with the information anyway?
“Bonnie.”
She looked back at Addie. The rest of the women were talking amongst themselves now, but Addie only had eyes for her.
The other woman’s gaze was soft but also concerned. “Are you okay?”
“Just worried.” Big truck-load levels of worried.
Addie glanced at the men, then back to her. “There are only three guys left and we don’t know if they’re all in Amber Ridge or some have left. That means it’s possibly Monty against all of them.”
Looking at the powerful men who, between them, had decades of tactical training and military experience, most would agree that the odds were in their favor. But Zane knew Monty best—and Zane was worried. That made Bonnie worried.
She nodded anyway. “How’s Noah been?”
“It feels like we only just recovered from everything that happened at the park, and now we have this. Even though he won’t admit it, it’s been a lot for him. And he’s worried about Indie, as we all are. But I just keep reassuring him that she’ll be okay. And we’ll get through this.”
Bonnie touched Addie’s arm. “I’m glad he has you.”
“And I’m glad he has you back.”
“I don’t know about that. I got Indie shot.” Shit. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
“No, you didn’t. You didn’t ask someone to shoot at you. And it was Indie’s choice to push you out of the way. I doubt she regrets saving you.”
She wasn’t sure she believed that. Saving Bonnie had probably been a reflex when Indie more than likely wished she’d protected her baby.
But the baby was safe and healthy. Bonnie just needed to keep reminding herself of that.
Footsteps sounded, then Noah was behind Addie, touching her back. “Hey. Ready to go?”
She rose. “Finished?”
“For tonight.”
He sounded tired. But then, they all did. Even with the state police in town helping with this whole mess, it didn’t feel like enough.
Noah glanced at her. “You okay, Bon?”
“Mm-hmm.” She reached out and squeezed his hand.
As everyone said their goodbyes and filtered out of the gym, Bonnie moved over to Zane. His hand immediately slipped around her waist and tugged her closer, but he was still looking at the photos.
She frowned down at the three mug shots. A bald man with tattoos down his neck. A dark-haired guy with an eyebrow ring.
She frowned at the third picture. “That’s Monty.” She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did.
“Yeah. My dad and his mother were siblings. They’ve both passed now but they look similar, so we look similar.”
That was it. He looked like Zane. But he also didn’t. The difference was in the eyes. Monty’s were flat and hollow, like they were completely devoid of warmth.
Zane was everything Monty wasn’t. Good. Warm. Kind.
Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “You know what I was thinking?”
“That we should get the hell out of this town and disappear?”
“No. That we’ve been dating all this time and we’ve never gone a round in the ring together.”
A ghost of a smile curved his lips. “You want to get in the ring?”
“With you? Absolutely.” She grinned before stepping out of his arms and crossing to the octagonal ring. Without a word, she slipped off her shoes, pulled off her sweatshirt, and held out her hands. “Glove me.”
Humor danced in his eyes. But he grabbed two pairs of gloves from the equipment box. She barely held in the shudder as he strapped the gloves onto her hands. There was something so sexy about having a man—no, not a man, Zane—getting her ready to step into the ring.
When he had his gloves on, they both slipped into the ring.
“Ready?” he asked, the humor still there.
She lifted her gloved hands and softened her knees into a fighting stance. “Do you find something funny, Zane Merrick?”
“Of course not. I know better than to underestimate a beautiful woman wearing gloves.”
“Damn straight.” She danced forward and threw her first punch.
Zane dodged it with practiced ease. “That was good.”
She lifted a brow. “Surprised?”
“By you? Always.”
She grinned before throwing two more punches, followed by an uppercut.
Zane blocked all of them with his gloves but did look at least a bit impressed. “Who taught you this?”
She moved around him, staying light on her feet. “I told you. I did mixed martial arts when I left Amber Ridge. I had a lot of emotions to work through. I got kind of good.”
“Are you telling me you could wrestle me to the floor right now?”
“Hot, right?”
He didn’t even crack a smile, but the intensity in his eyes almost made her lose her breath.
“You haven’t thrown a punch yet,” she said, jabbing at his chest.
He absorbed the jab and threw a right hook, but it was more of a tap to her shoulder.
She lifted a brow. “You can do better than that.”
He smiled, then threw an almost playful hook that grazed her chin.
God, she loved that smile. “You might not be treating me like a real threat, but don’t think that means I’m gonna go easy on you.” She threw two jabs, both dodged by him, followed by a hard and fast kick to his thigh.
He caught her leg and spun her so her back was pressed to his front, her leg still in his hold. Then his mouth touched her ear as he whispered, “That was good, Bon. But you give yourself away with your eyes.”
“I do not!”
“You’re too open.” He kissed her ear. “Want a break?”
“No.” Hell no. She threw a hard elbow to his gut. No reaction from him. No grunt or hunching. But still, he released her.
