Deep Dark Mire (An FBI Romance Thriller ~ book four) (45 page)

“Excuse me?” asked Elizabeth
, staring at her like she’d lost her mind. “I’m fucking with you? How? Sitting here having lunch is now somehow related to you? I’m not allowed to eat in Cypress Grove, because someone died and made you ‘Marsh Queen’? Sorry I must have missed your inauguration when we rolled into town. Get your panties out of a bunch, Desdemona. I tolerated your idiosyncrasies before for Callen, but now it’s just not happening.”

“The damn journal! It wa
s at my house and now it’s gone!”

Elizabeth felt her temper rise
, but wasn’t willing to make any more of a scene. Already people were staring at the spectacle unfolding.

“Desdemona, come on,”
hissed Whitefox. “You think Elizabeth took the journal? The one she cleared to give back to you? That makes no sense at all. You just crossed the line here into crazy.”

Desdemona turned on him venomously. “Well someone took it. It didn’t just walk away out of a locked house. You three were there, and now it’s gone. It’s all I have left of my mom.”

“So you're accusing your boss of stealing a journal we don’t need. I hate to burst your bubble Doctor, but we have scanned copies.” Ethan was trying to be calm, but the woman was pushing his last button.

Elizabeth hopped off the wall and moved towards the woman. She lifted her glasses off her face
, placing them on the top of her head. “Here’s a news flash for you Desdemona. I’m a little too busy to be screwing with you. I have two victims, and for some reason, I’m working on keeping you out of danger. If you really think I’ve got the time to be playing games, then you're out of your damn mind, darlin’.” Now, the southern was out, and she was close to losing her temper.

Desdemona glared at her
and stormed away.

“Really Julian? You couldn’t have warned me?” demanded Whitefox.
“She’s a fuse ready to blow!”

Elizabeth heard the rev of the engine and spotted the car barreling down the street directly towards the path Desdemona was about to intersect.
Dropping her coffee, she ran for the woman as fast as she could, reaching her and pulling her out of the way. The bumper nearly grazed the doctor. Both women hit the ground, and Elizabeth cushioned her body with her own.

The men charged at them
, as the black car took off.

“Holy shit,” muttered Julian.
“You were almost killed,” he said, looking down at the women.

Ethan helped his wife from the ground. His entire life flashed before his
eyes, as he was helpless to move towards them fast enough. “Baby, are you okay?” he asked, looking at the scratch on her cheek.

Callen helped Desdemona off the ground
and passed her off to Julian. The look on her face was one of complete shock. “Take her over there and sit her down. She looks okay other than the scare of her life.”

“Elizabeth hit the ground
beneath her and took the full impact,” said her husband, softly. He was still waiting to be able to breathe again.

“I’m fine,” she
answered, moving her head to the side, causing her neck to crack. “I’m seriously getting too old for this shit. I’m not twenty four anymore. People that have no sense of preservation are on my last damn nerve.” Elizabeth directed that at Desdemona.

Callen touched her arm
, and his fingers came away with blood. “You need to see a doctor.” His heart was thundering in his chest. “Lyzee, you could have been killed,” he said, dropping a kiss on her forehead, as he stared over at Desdemona.

“Coulda, woulda, shoulda. I wasn’t and neither was she.” Elizabeth walked over and crouched down in front of
the doctor. “Are you okay?” she asked, her voice holding no emotion.

“I think so. Thank you
!” Her eyes filled with tears at what could have been.

Elizabeth stood. “Bring her to the bed and breakfast. I
need to head there and change too.”

Julian nodded. “I didn’t even hear that car,” he said, shaking his head. “I wish I had your reflexes.”

“Desdemona is on round the clock guard. I’ll give you a side arm, and you need to be on her like white on a whiteman.”

Blackhawk would have laughed if his wife wasn’t almost a splotch on the hood of someone’s car. As they walked away he looked over at her. “What did you
see?”

“
I’m afraid not much; older black Pontiac Bonneville. I’m going to say nineteen eighties. There was a plate. NWT and that’s all I got. No decals and the windows were tinted, including a haze on the front windshield. No use running it. It’s going to come back stolen. If you’re going to use your own ride, you pop the plates first.”

Whitefox started laughing. “That’s all you got? I didn’t see the damn car. I saw you drop your coffee and the fastest dash in my life. At first I thought you were going to kill her, then I heard the tires and just knew.” His voice cracked. “Christ Lyzee.
That was scary.”

The three got into the Escalade.

“Guys, I’m okay. Really! I have a few bumps and bruises, but it wasn’t me that the car was aiming for, and I couldn’t let her get hit, even if she pissed me off with being childish.”

Blackhawk didn’t care about the kissy-face rule. He leaned over and pulled her lips to his and kissed his wife. When he broke away, he sighed. “Going to be the death of me yet.”

Elizabeth snickered.

Callen stared at her
unsure what to do.

“You want to kiss me now
too? Since he already broke the rule about kissing while on duty?” she offered, noticing his face was tense, and he looked just as stressed out as her husband.

“Yes,” he took her face in his hands and gently kissed
Elizabeth, knowing that they both could have lost her. Had the man swerved six inches more to the left, the car would have clipped her and done major damage.

Elizabeth accepted the kiss and looked into his eyes. “I'm really okay. I promise. I’m pissed, because this was my favorite shirt, but I’m
just scraped up.”

“I’ll buy you ten of them if you promise to not do that again,” stated Blackhawk
, driving them towards the bed and breakfast. “Looks like Morgana Adare’s warning was right.”

“She can kiss my ass.”
That just pissed her off, but she let it go. “Now Cowboy, you know we protect and serve, I can’t just drop the first part and only serve. That’d make me a waitress.”

Whitefox leaned back and closed his eyes. His heart was just now starting to slow down. “I don’t know how you live with this terror every day Ethan. It was scary before
, but now I’m pretty much scared shitless.”

“Welcome to my world.
My consolation is that I don’t have to live the terror alone now.”

Elizabeth just shook her head. “Guys, I’m okay. I’ll go change, you can stay here.”

“Uh no.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. One husband was bad enough
, but she hit the genetic jackpot on overbearing, over protective men.  If she thought one of them was going to make her crazy, then two were sure to drive her to madness. Then she weighed the benefits, deciding it was worth it.

She jumped out of the vehicle and
practically stormed into the building.

The woman behind the counter stared. “Were
you in an accident?” she asked incredulously, taking in the blood on the woman’s arm.

“No, there was nothing accidental about it,” she muttered, taking the stairs two at a time
, with both men right behind her. Once in the room she waited until they closed the door.

“Strip,” ordered her husband, pointing to her body.

“Why Cowboy as exciting as that sounds…” She noticed he wasn’t laughing and contemplated the look on his and his brother’s face. “Okay, relax.”

Elizab
eth began unbuttoning her shirt and toed off her boots. Once topless, she dropped the shirt on the bed and then stood there. “Okay?”

“
Drop the jeans too. I want to see your hip. The mirror hit your side and I know you’re hoping I didn’t notice.”

Elizabeth should have known that the man was old eagle eyes when it came to her. “I’m really okay.” She started unbuckling her belt and undid her jeans.

“Off.”

“Oh come on
!” She dropped them and stepped out of them.

Whitefox moved to stand behind her and dropped to one knee to inspect her side and hip. “She’s going to have a big bruise from her ribcage down to her hip.” The car had
indeed been close- too close.

Blackhawk pulled a first aid kit from his suitcase and entered the room. “I now carry one for obvious reasons. I learned this lesson months ago.”

Whitefox inspected her arm and shoulder. His whole body hardened in fury that she’d been harmed once again. Gently he ran his fingers over it, and she flinched ever so slightly.

“Roll your shoulder,”
Ethan ordered, moving to stand behind her. When she obeyed it didn’t roll smoothly. “You need a doctor to look at that. I’ll get Desdemona.”

“Hell no
! If you do I won’t speak to you for years. I don’t want her touching me, got it? I’ll go to the fucking ER first.” Now the anger was at the surface. Yeah, she had to save her life, but she was furious that the woman accused her of sleeping with her fiancé, stolen her journal, and God only knew what else. Enough was enough. “If you think I’m kidding Ethan try me.”

“Hey, shhhh it’s okay,” soothed
Whitefox, pulling her into his arms and just holding her. It wasn’t like Elizabeth to get emotional, and she was definitely stirred up.

“I’m sorry baby,” said her husband, stroking her back and closing her between them. “It’s okay.
I won’t get her.”

The emotion swamped her.

It was more than she could handle.

Part of her was still
mourning Timothy, then the loss of a friend to stupid circumstances, a new relationship with Callen, and now she’d almost been run over saving a woman who hated her fucking guts. Elizabeth just let the tears come. The adrenaline crashed, and she just succumbed to it.

Both men held on through the storm and just let her feel safe between them. The
y soothed her and offered her comfort, as both were unsure how to patch up her heart. Cuts and scrapes they could do, but emotional wounds were out of their reach.

Elizabeth just stayed between them, taking in the scent of both men. Completely different cologne, but when it came together it just offered her complete peace.

“Are you going to be okay?” Blackhawk inquired, feeling overly concerned. He never saw her break like this while on duty. His wife wasn’t one to weep at work.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s been a bad week.
”

“I’m going to get you some ice. Callen, will you clean her shoulder
and arm off?” Blackhawk needed to make sure Julian made it back in one piece with Doctor Adare.

“
I can do that.” He dropped kisses onto the top of her head and led her towards the bathroom. “Let me patch you up, angel,” he said, turning on the water and pulling down a washcloth. He wiped the blood off her shoulder and elbow, and then he soaped up the wound to kill the bacteria. “I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t hurt,” she said, honestly.

“That’s not what I meant.” Callen was talking about the mess he’d made and dragged them into. “If anything happens to you or Ethan, I’ll never forgive myself.”

Elizabeth turned and looked into his eyes. “Cal
, I’ll be fine.” It was blatant what he needed. His heart needed soothing too, and she’d do anything she could to heal him. “I love you,” she whispered, and then kissed him. Slow, easy, completely and offering him what she had in her heart. When a moan escaped his lips from deep within his chest, she pulled away.

“Better?” she asked, touching his cheek.

“How does he do this all day, working with you and keeping his mind off the obvious?” Right now, Callen wasn’t thinking about cleaning her shoulder, he was thinking of taking her to bed and making love to her for hours.

“Notice he took off and left you here with me dressed like this,” she laughed.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice the very sexy girly underthings. I did. I’m just trying really hard to not think about them right now.  I’ll be suffering all day knowing you're wearing them.” And he would. There was something about pink lace on a bad ass woman.

Elizabeth
patted his cheek and turned around so he could finish her shoulder.

“Do you always wear sexy things under your clothes?” he
inquired, trying to sound nonchalant as he continued working.

“Know how I like really frilly girly aprons, and paint my toes all kinds of girl colors like pink and purple?”

“Yes,” and they drove him crazy. He loved finding the colors changed, sometimes daily. He’d watch her toes while her feet were in his lap while they sat on the couch at home watching TV.

“I like sexy girly lingerie too. I
have a drawer full of it.”