Witness in the Dark (Love Under Fire #1)(44)

She slid behind the wheel and tore off down the lane, driving way too fast. Not that he blamed her for wanting to put as much distance between them and the chance of being caught. Garrett winced sharply when she hit a pothole hard enough to make him come out of his seat.

“I know your arm is bleeding,” she said with a glance at his hand holding his ribs, “but what about the rest of you? They were kicking you.”

“I’ll be fine. Stop worrying. You’re not even supposed to be here. You’re supposed to still be hiding like I told you. Don’t think for a second that I’m not pissed that you didn’t listen.” He huffed, then winced again.

He was being ridiculous. Obviously if she hadn’t come back, he’d be dead right now. But things could have gone terribly wrong. She might have been killed, too. And Howe would have gotten away with murder because Garrett had failed to protect her.

She looked like she wanted to shout back at him. And point out that he needed her as much as she needed him.

But she said nothing until they got to the end of the lane, except to ask, “Which way?”

He was already tapping a destination into the GPS. He turned it toward her so she could see. “Go right.” His voice was fading fast. “Follow this. I’m going to rest now.”

“What? No! You can’t rest, Garrett. You got kicked in the damn head. You could have a concussion. You need to stay awake.” She reached over and shook him between shifting gears. “Stay awake!”

“You’re getting on my nerves,” he mumbled. All he wanted to do was to give into the darkness that was pressing at his vision. At the moment, he didn’t even care if he ever woke up.

He should care. He knew that. But he couldn’t muster the will.

“Garrett, you cannot leave me high and dry. You told me I need to trust you, remember? Well, I do. I trust you to help me. So, stay awake and help me!”

Of all the things she chose to remember, naturally it would be the thing that was most inconvenient. “That was before I knew how much you were going to get on my nerves,” he muttered, but knew it would be useless to argue.

“The code on the hatch. What does it mean?” She was obviously trying to distract him and keep him talking.

Now that the road had evened out and he wasn’t being jostled into unconsciousness, he attempted to clear his brain of pain and cobwebs. “You mean the numbers?”

“Yeah.”

“March thirteenth.”

She glanced over at him. “Is that your birthday?”

“In a way, I guess. It’s the day I walked away from my old life and started this one.”

“Did they fake your death, too?”

“No. They didn’t need to. The only family I had left was my grandfather, who was at death’s door.” He peeked at the wound on his bicep and pulled the towel tighter. It was still bleeding.

“So, that’s why you didn’t change your name?”

“Right. No one cared.”

“Would you have done it all again if you could go back?”

He nodded and rested his head back against the seat.

“Garrett, please don’t fall asleep. I’m worried about you. I need you with me.”

He nodded again, and reached out with his good hand to pat hers where it was clenching the gear shift. She released the knob and laced her fingers though his.

The chill of her skin made him come alert. Was she going into shock? She wasn’t trained for this kind of thing. Although she had dealt with things fairly well so far, it had to be taking its toll. She had kept her shit together while she witnessed a murder, got chased by killers, had her team turn on her. And now this. She was made of some pretty tough stuff, but killing five men would make anyone go into shock.

He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand to reassure her, hoping she could draw strength from what little he had left to offer.

As they drove on and she chattered and asked him question after question about nothing and everything, he did his best to stay awake. Every time he stopped talking, or started to drift off, she would squeeze his hand and ask another question to keep him talking.

Night fell and he was feeling a little better, so he finally asked her about the shootout. He wanted to know exactly what had happened. How many of them there were. How many shots she had fired.

He was extremely impressed by her clear-headedness during the attack. He had only lasted long enough for her to return because of his reinforced doors and bulletproof windows. It had taken them a while to infiltrate his stronghold. Still, he wouldn’t have lasted much longer without her.

“You did a good job,” he mumbled.

Other than the whole disobeying-his-orders part.

After another hour, they came to a small gas station and convenience store. They needed to fill up. “Pull around the back and stay away from the lights,” he instructed, peering around for a security camera. Thankfully, he didn’t spot one. “Stay here.”

He used his left hand to open his door and get out. The sunny yellow towel was now completely soaked with blood as he went to the edge of the parking lot and threw up.

“Oh my God.” She jumped out of the Jeep and went to help, back to not listening.

He braced himself up against a sign that said no parking at any time while he wiped his mouth. “Didn’t I tell you to stay in the Jeep?”