Bailey, Debbie - Stephanie's Homecoming [Men of Kinsey 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (20 page)

Shaking with fury, Jenny could do nothing but stand there, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, as Kane walked back to his truck and pulled it to the side of the road.

“I suggest you get in your car and leave quickly before he decides to change his mind and go after your parents now,” Ryder snarled to her.

Jenny jumped quickly into her car and backed up as fast as she could until she was some distance away from them then turned her car around and headed back to town.

“I hope that’s the last of it,” Turk said, finally allowing himself to calm down.

Stephanie came running from the truck and practically jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his lean hips and grabbing handfuls of hair so that she could pull his face closer to cover it in kisses.

Kane had gotten out of his truck and was now standing behind her with his body pressed closely against hers.

Wrapping one arm behind her, Steph grabbed a handful of Kane’s hair, as well, and pulled his mouth to hers.

All three of them lifted their heads at the sound of Ryder clearing his throat.

“As cute as this is, you need to get your woman safely home because I don’t think Jenny is going to end this without at least one more try. She has built this fantasy world around you two, Kane. One that you have given her no reason to believe would ever come true, yet she is still living in her happy place. This tells me that she isn’t sane any longer, and she knew you were right when you told her she needs professional help, but until you can speak with her parents, she’s not going to give up, so take Steph home and keep her there.” Ryder smiled and added, “I’m sure the three of you can find something to do in that fortress of yours until my brothers and I can get in touch with Jenny’s parents and have them come talk to you.”

“But I have to go to work, Ryder. I can’t just let things go while some crazy bitch tries to destroy my life.”

“Tomorrow we’ll have Shayne come out to the house, and you can go over everything with him. You wanted him to be your eyes and ears, as well as someone you could completely trust, right? Well, this is the first test for him. You need him to watch over the day-to-day operations of the paper for the next while. He’ll keep you updated daily through phone calls and e-mails. If anyone needs to speak with you about something that Shayne can’t deal with, then they can come out to the house, or they can call or even e-mail you. It’s only going to be for a short time, baby, but until Jenny is taken care of for good, both you and Turk are in danger,” Kane said.

Dropping her legs from around Turk’s waist, she stepped back and turned to look at Kane.

“Promise me that neither one of you will do something stupid. After your little speech to her, Kane, I don’t think Jenny has quite the same warm fuzzies for you right now, so you need to be careful, too.”

“We’ll all watch each other’s backsides. Don’t you worry about a thing. This is what we do for a living, sweetheart, we protect people from the crazies of the world,” Turk said, laughing as he picked her up in his arms and carried her back to the truck and buckled her in.

“We’ll see you at the house in a few minutes, Kane.” Turk smiled as he stood on the sideboard of the truck by his open door.

The next second seemed to go in slow motion. One minute Turk was laughing and waving good-bye to Kane, and then there was a loud noise, and his arm went back behind his head as he fell against the open door and slid to the ground.

She tried to get out of the driver’s side to get to him, but Kane was already there, pushing her back into the truck and telling her to get down on the floorboards. She kept yelling Turk’s name and saw all the blood around him. His eyes were closed, and he looked so pale.

“Stephanie, get the fuck down on those floorboards now and stay there until I tell you to move.” Stephanie snapped out of her fog at the tone of Kane’s voice and then did exactly as he told her to do.

Even from her position, she could see that Ryder was on his cell talking to the 911 operator, his gun out as he stood in a protective stance over Kane while he worked on Turk.

 
“I just saw her car pull out from the Jefferson Lane. Fuck, how the hell did we miss her doubling back, Kane.” Ryder glanced down at Turk, and his face visibly paled before he turned his eyes to her.

The police and ambulance arrived within minutes, and the paramedics started working on Turk, trying to stop the flow of blood.

Steph was still huddled on the floorboards, shaking like a leaf when they lifted him on to the stretcher and loaded him in.

* * * *

As soon as Turk was loaded and headed off to the hospital, Kane ran back to the truck to get Stephanie. When he got to the open door he just about passed out.

Stephanie was curled in a ball on the floorboards of the truck shaking so badly it looked like she would break apart. Quickly, he moved to the other door and opened it slowly so as not to frighten her. The moment he did, she turned to look at him, tears running down her face, her beautiful angel eyes filled with worry.

“Come here, baby,” he said gently, reaching in to help her out of the truck and into his arms.

“She killed him, didn’t she? She killed my Turk,” she cried.

“No, angel eyes, you’re not going to get rid of him that easily, that’s for damn sure. He’s lost a lot of blood, but it was a clean through and through in the shoulder, so he should be just fine. He’s gonna hurt like a bitch and be grumpy as a bear for the next few weeks, but I’m pretty sure he’ll live.”

“I need to go to the hospital to see him, Kane. There was so much blood, how could anyone survive that?” she asked.

“The human body has an amazing ability to heal, honey. We’ll leave his truck here so the police can do their investigation, but you and I will head off to the hospital.” Stephanie wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face against his shoulder as he carried her over to his vehicle and gently placed her in.

“Mr. Bryson, we need a statement from both of you as soon as possible,” the young detective said sternly.

Whirling around quickly to face the detective, Kane snapped at him, “You’ll get your fucking statements when we know that our family member is okay. If you want to meet us at the hospital then fine. Once we know Turk is out of danger, we’ll sit down with you, but until that time stay the fuck away from me and my woman.”

Kane should have felt bad for speaking to the detective so harshly, but he couldn’t get the picture of Turk lying on the ground with a bullet hole in his shoulder out of his head. All of this was because he was too blind to see earlier just how mentally unstable Jenny truly was.

* * * *

Arriving at the hospital, Kane strode through the emergency room, straight to the nurse’s station.

“My friend, Turk, was brought in here by ambulance, and we need to find out how he’s doing,” he said to the older woman behind the desk.

“Are you family, sir?” she asked.

“No, he’s my best friend, but he is her fiancé.” He pulled Stephanie up beside him and smiled at the woman. “Her name is Stephanie Morrison,” he added.

Patting Steph’s hand, the nurse said quietly, “Let me go and check to see what’s going on with him. Just sit down for a minute, and I’ll be back as soon as I can. Is Turk his first name or last?” she asked.

“It’s actually his nickname, ma’am. His real name is Garth Delray, and they just brought him in with a gunshot wound to his shoulder.” Kane hoped his friend wasn’t going to make a liar out of him and that he would be okay. Even a clean through and through wound, he knew from his experiences overseas, if not treated correctly, could cause a lot of trouble. Infection was the big thing to worry about, but he had to keep reminding himself that they were in a hospital, not in the middle of a battlefield somewhere.

Still holding onto Steph’s hand, he sat down on the nearest chair and pulled her onto his lap. She’d been really quiet during the drive over, and she still hadn’t said a word.

“He’s gonna be just fine, baby. He’s in a great place, and they’ll take real good care of him.” As he rubbed her back, he started to feel some of the tension leaving her as she leaned heavily against his shoulder.

“I can’t lose him, Kane. He didn’t deserve this. I shouldn’t have come back here. Nothing but bad things have happened since I arrived.” Kane felt the tears on her cheek when he reached up to gently stroke her face.

Lifting her up, he had her straddle his lap so that he could look her in the eyes.

“You listen to me, Stephanie Morrison. You are not the cause of this, angel eyes. If anyone carries any blame here, it’s me. I should have seen how demented Jenny was long before this happened. But I thought that if I ignored her that she’d eventually tire of her little games, and that’s all I thought they were, games. You have brought nothing but joy back into my life, and Turk…well, he’ll tell you that he feels the same. We both love you, and we are not going to let Jenny or anyone else take you away from us. Do you hear me?”

Before Stephanie could answer, Brian came rushing through the emergency doors, seeing them and heading in their direction.

“What the fuck happened, Kane?” he asked angrily.

“He’s gonna be okay, I think, Bri. Jenny shot him. At least we’re pretty sure it was her. She caught him in the shoulder with a clean shot.” Kane stood and set Steph on her feet in front of him, never breaking contact with her body.

There was a distinct clearing of a voice, and they all turned to see the nurse that Kane had spoken with earlier.

“Your fiancé is doing just fine, Ms. Morrison. The bullet didn’t hit anything major, so they’re just cleaning and suturing him up now. He’ll have to stay for the night, but if all things go well, he should be able to go home tomorrow.”

“Can we see him?” Brian asked.

“And you are…?” The nurse looked at Kane to tell her.

“I’m his brother, Brian. If we all can’t see him, at least let Steph in to see him,” he said.

“Just give the doctor about another half hour or so, and then I’ll take you all to see him. We’re not going to put him in a room, because he won’t be here long, so he’ll just stay in the bed he’s in. They’re going to give him some heavy pain medication, so he’s going to be really groggy, if not asleep, when you go in. As soon as I get the okay from the doctor, I’ll come and take you to him.” The nurse then headed back to her station, and all three of them sat down to wait.

* * * *

Turk woke up in agony. He’d been shot before, but that was when he was a lot younger. He knew he was in a hospital. He just didn’t like it. He hated hospitals. They reminded him of some pretty bad times overseas.

He could tell by the light in the room that the sun was just coming up, and he wanted out of here now.

“Well, it’s about time you woke up, you big oaf.” Kane stood up and placed the still-sleeping woman on the small sofa they’d been sitting on.

“Why the hell didn’t you take her home, Kane? She didn’t need to sit here all night looking at me sleeping.” Turk looked over at the sleeping woman and smiled. She was absolutely adorable, and he loved her with every fiber of his being.

Laughing, Kane patted his good shoulder, gently saying, “There was no way in hell I was going to fight that wildcat to get her to leave your side, my friend.”

“Kane tried, but I’ve never seen a more stubborn woman in my life, big brother.” Brian stood up from the chair he’d been sitting in and stretched his arms over his head.

“That little firecracker was ordering the night nurses around like a drill sergeant. It was a sight to behold, let me tell you.” His brother smiled as he glanced over at Steph.

“She shouldn’t be here sleeping on that hard-assed couch, waiting for me to wake up, though,” Turk grumbled.