Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(79)

Archer slid Joe a look.

Joe tossed up his hands. “Man, if you think I can talk any sense into her, you’re sorely mistaken. Why do you think I came up with the idea of putting Lucas on her six?”

“Wait,” Molly said slowly. “What?”

Joe’s expression went from mildly pissed off to oh shit.

Molly pointed at him. “Repeat that.”

“Hell,” Joe said and scrubbed a hand over his face.

“You asked Lucas to watch over me?” she asked. “When?”

Joe blew out a heavy breath. “Does it matter?”

“Oh my God, Joe,” she said, horrified. “From the beginning? Are you serious?”

“I was trying to protect you.”

Furious, and also more than a little hurt, Molly turned to Archer. “How attached to him are you because I’m thinking of killing him.”

Archer looked pained. “This is on me, not him. I’m the one who actually insisted Lucas make sure you turned the elves down. When you didn’t, I kept him in place to make sure you stayed safe.”

She blinked a few times, but nope, she wasn’t sleeping or dreaming, or in fact having a nightmare. This was all real and it was happening. She stood up to leave, realized she was shaking, and sat back down just as Archer got a text.

“He’s in recovery, we can go see him now,” Archer said and they all paraded through the hospital, where they found Lucas in another cubicle.

He was awake, but just on the wrong side of green. She hardened her heart. “Are you okay?” She needed to know that he was before she killed him too.

He nodded.

Of course. Typical man. He’d say he was fine even if he had body parts literally falling off of him. “Lucas,” she breathed. “Are you sure?”

“Quit babying him,” Joe said. “He’s going to be fine.”

Lucas flipped his partner the bird without bothering to look at him. He never took his eyes off Molly. “You saved my ass,” he said, sounding just surprised enough to piss her off.

She narrowed her eyes and he smiled. It was a tired, pain-filled smile, but there was also so much more in those dark eyes that she felt her breath catch.

“You were amazing, Molly,” he said softly, reaching for her hand. “Kickass.”

She felt herself flush with pride, until she remembered and tugged her hand free when what she really wanted to do was stroke the hair from his forehead and lean in and kiss his pain away. “They had you spying on me,” she said, jabbing an accusatory finger behind her at Archer and Joe. “A fact you kept to yourself. And you,” she said to Joe. “I didn’t tell you about the case before tonight because I knew you’d take over and try to keep me out of it. And you and Archer tried to do exactly that.”

“Whoa,” came a female voice. “What?”

Everyone turned and found Elle and Sadie standing there.

Elle crossed her arms and looked at Archer.

Her man wasn’t showing much but there did seem to be the slightest twitch in his left eyelid. “What are you two doing here?”

“Making sure my friends are okay.” Elle came in and slid her arm around Molly, giving her a hug. Sadie flanked Molly’s other side.

“Great,” Joe muttered. “Girl power.”

Molly drew in a deep breath. She appreciated the backup, but all her cuts and bruises hurt, and so did her head. And her heart. That hurt most of all. She was mad at all three men, and more than anything, she was over having everyone think they had to constantly babysit her. Coddle her. She’d proven herself, dammit.

Lucas locked eyes on Molly. “Out,” he said in a soft but deadly voice.

She stopped breathing. She was angry, oh so angry, but he didn’t have a single reason to be mad at her, and she opened her mouth to blast him because no man spoke to her like that, not ever, and—

His hand caught hers. “Not you,” he said.

Oh. Well, then. She tried to pull free again just on principle, but he wasn’t having it this time. He held on, gentle enough to not hurt her, firm enough that she wasn’t going anywhere without making a scene.

And she 100 percent intended to make a scene, but it’d be nice not to have an audience for it, so she waited it out impatiently, listening to the rustling behind her indicating that people were leaving the small cubicle.

“We’ll be right outside if you need us,” Sadie told her.

Her throat tightened, but she didn’t take her eyes off Lucas. “Thanks,” she managed.

“Right outside,” Sadie repeated, and then Molly and Lucas were alone.

“Molly,” Lucas started. “I—”

“You lied to me.”

“No,” he said. “I omitted.”

“Same thing.”

“Not the same thing,” he said. “When Archer realized you were going to take this case regardless of what he’d told you, he asked me to keep you safe.”

“And you do everything Archer tells you to?”

He grimaced when she tugged free and took a step back.

Archer stuck his head back into the cubicle just then and she pointed at him. Clearly everyone was still eavesdropping, not that she was surprised. “I’m not on the clock,” she grated out. “Which means you’re not my boss right now, so when I tell you to get the hell out, you can’t fire me for it.”