Love Me (WITSEC #3)(66)

“Where are they?” he demanded. “Where is my nephew and Amber?”

“I don’t know,” I said as tears filled my eyes.

“Don’t play dumb. I know they chased you through the woods. My daughter told me. They went after you and never came back. You did something to them. You did or he did.”

“I didn’t do anything to them.”

“What the hell is going on in here?” an authoritative voice said.

The sheriff pushed away from me quickly. “Attorney General.”

Without him pinning me to the table, my weak body slid to the floor. Lying there on the cold ground, I felt too stunned and too hurt to move.

“Jesus, Shiloh!” I heard Ian say, followed by shoes slapping on the floor. Hands grabbed me and I was rolled over to face him. Ian was kneeling next to me, his eyes wide. “What did you do to her?” he demanded and looked up at Sheriff McAllister.

“She attacked me.” The sheriff only had eyes for the man in an expensive suit who was holding the interrogation room door open. He was a short man, but that didn’t take away from the importance he gave off.

“She’s a third of your size, Steven,” the man said, clearly not believing a word. He looked toward Ian and me. “There’s a hospital next door. Is she well enough to walk there or do I need to call EMS?”

Ian looked back at me. “Can you sit up?”

I nodded and sat up, then got to my feet with Ian’s help. I had to hold my shirt up to keep it from falling off. During the struggle, the rest of it must have ripped. My entire back was exposed, along with the lime green and black Riddler bra I had on.

Ian kept his hands on my shoulders and steered me out of the room.

“After I deal with this, I’ll meet you next door,” the man said to Ian and shut the interrogation room door.

Ian led and walked with me slowly through the precinct. I tried to hold my head up high as I passed police officer after police officer.

“Could you hear me screaming?” I asked Ian.

“No. We couldn’t until we opened the door,” he answered.

“Who was that man?”

“He’s Arizona’s attorney general.”

“The sheriff’s boss?”

“You could say that,” Ian said.

“Where is Logan?”

“In the lobby. Because of his relationship with you, he wasn’t allowed back. The attorney general didn’t want an incident to occur.”

“One still did,” I said numbly.

“Yes, and it probably just sealed the sheriff’s fate,” Ian said.

My feet tripped and Ian caught me. “Do we need to call EMS?” he asked.

“I just want to get out of here,” I said, my tone pleading.

“All right,” he said and kept an arm around me as we continued walking.

We had to pass metal detectors and go through a large bulletproof door to reach the lobby. I spotted Logan standing near the door we walked through. He took me in, and his eyes widened. Then he looked to Ian.

“We need to take her to the hospital,” Ian said to him.

“Shi.” I heard Creed’s voice, and I looked past Logan. Knox, Keelan, Colt, and Creed were standing on the other side of the lobby, where there was a sitting area. Their eyes were just as wide as Logan’s, and they began rushing over.

Seeing them released a tightness in my chest and I finally felt like it was all right to breathe. Relief hit me quickly and as I moved to meet them halfway, I made it two steps and then everything gave out on me. I was falling. I saw Logan’s face staring down at me before everything went black.





20





I really hated hospitals. They ate away time and I had lost another full night in one. Because I had fainted, they ran a bunch of tests on me. Everything came back normal. Apart from the cuts, swelling, and bruising, I didn’t have anything life-threatening going on. The doctors assumed I had fainted due to stress, and I was released.

In the middle of all the testing, the attorney general had shown up with a high-ranked, gentlemanly police officer and another official-looking guy in a suit. Both were very kind. They had taken my statement of what had happened in the interrogation room. As I’d spoken, I’d felt detached, factual. It had been easier to tell it that way. Everyone around me had been quiet as they’d listened. My guys, even more so.

After I’d told them what had happened today, they’d had me go over my previous interactions with the sheriff, which had led to everything that I’d been dealing with from Cassy and her friends. It had been a long night.

Yet again, it was almost morning by the time we returned to the guys’ house.

“Can we get you anything?” Keelan asked.

“I just want to take a shower,” I said and left them to go to the twins’ bathroom.

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror for the longest time. I felt like Two-Face from Batman. One side of my face looked normal, but the other was purple and puffy. There was a cut across my cheekbone and along my jaw. Both my top and bottom lips were split from being smashed against my teeth.

I had gotten my butt kicked.

There was a knock on the bathroom door before Colt poked his head in. “Can I come in?”

I nodded.