Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(63)
Interestingly enough, Ro was smiling by the time she finished speaking, which angered her.
“Don’t laugh at me,” she hissed.
The smile left his face immediately. “I’m not laughing at you, love,” Ro said. “I’m chuffed that you’re so fierce. I like it.”
“Well . . . okay then,” Morgan said, at a loss for words.
“Come on. Let’s go home,” Arrow said, tugging her forward.
“I didn’t get to say bye to Allye or Chloe,” Morgan said.
“I’ll have her call you later,” Ro said as Arrow helped her into the passenger side of his truck.
The second his door shut, Morgan said, “Don’t get hurt because of me.”
Without outwardly reacting, Arrow started his truck and backed up before putting the vehicle in drive and heading down Ro’s driveway. “Here’s the thing,” Arrow said seriously. “I’ve spent almost my entire adult life fighting for other people. In the Marines, I was fighting for all Americans in general. I fought for the repressed and downtrodden. When I got out and joined the Mountain Mercenaries, I was fighting for women and kids who needed a champion.”
He glanced over at her, and Morgan inhaled at the look in his eyes.
“But for the first time in my life, my fight is personal. I’m fighting for you. For us. At this point, I honestly don’t care who was behind your kidnapping or why they did it. All I care about is making sure they don’t get a chance to do it again. I’ve never felt as passionately about something in my life as I do about keeping you safe. So if someone wants to come after me instead of you? I say bring it, because they’ll make a mistake. Assholes always do. And when they do, I’ll be ready to stomp them into the ground.
“But you have to let me do my job, Morgan. I’ve been hurt before, and I’ll probably be hurt again in the future, but until my heart stops beating in my chest, I’ll keep fighting. I can deal with pain. What I can’t deal with is seeing you in pain. So you’re just going to have to come to terms with that, beautiful.”
“I . . . I don’t know what to say to that,” Morgan admitted. “On one hand, I think it’s sexist and a little naive for you to sit there and tell me it’s okay for you to get hurt, but not me. And you’re not Superman. If something happens to you, you can’t just jump up and take on an attacker if you’re bleeding to death or something. But on the other hand, what you said makes me want to weep. I’ve never had anyone who put me first like that. Ever.”
“You do now,” Arrow said, and put his hand on her knee.
Morgan didn’t say anything else during the ride back to his house, but neither did he. She was scared, but somehow Arrow made everything seem less frightening.
By the time they arrived at his apartment complex, she’d calmed down. Yeah, having his tires slashed sucked, but it didn’t mean that her kidnapper was waiting in the wings to snatch her. Maybe she’d overreacted.
Smiling at Arrow when he stopped the engine, she asked, “What’s on the agenda for the rest of the day?”
“Grocery shopping, dinner, and relaxing in front of the TV,” he replied.
“Sounds perfect. Although eventually I need to start thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life,” Morgan mused. “I can’t mooch off you or my mom forever.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” Morgan said firmly. “That’s not me. I need to work. I like working.”
“Okay, okay,” Arrow said, holding up his hands in capitulation. “But not tonight.”
“Not tonight,” she agreed.
As they walked to the door of the building, Morgan couldn’t help but surreptitiously take a look around. She saw nothing out of the ordinary. Robert the doorman greeted them warmly as they entered and headed for the elevator.
Satisfied that she’d overreacted, Morgan let herself relax into Arrow. She was safe. Arrow was safe. Her family was safe. Things were just fine.
Chapter Sixteen
The next few days were uneventful, as far as new information about Morgan’s kidnapping went. Arrow ripped Ro a new one when Morgan wasn’t around. He hadn’t wanted to worry her about anything, but Ro’s casual comment about watching his back had blown that out of the water. She’d tried to convince him that she was fine and that she’d rather know about his suspicions than be kept in the dark, but he hated seeing her so jumpy.
It wasn’t that he was going to keep information about her kidnapping from her, but he’d wanted to give her time to truly relax first.
Her parents weren’t helping the situation at all. Her dad was hounding her to talk to the press. As much of an asset as he’d been when she’d disappeared, keeping her case in the public eye and not letting anyone forget about her, he was now a liability when it came to Morgan moving on with her life.
Carl was still making the rounds on the morning shows, talking about Morgan as if he was the one in charge of her recovery. He’d flat-out lied in several interviews, saying he was right by Morgan’s side as she integrated back into society.
And her mother wasn’t much better. While she was avoiding the press, Ellie was hounding Morgan to come back to Albuquerque. She was adamant her daughter was too fragile to be in a relationship right now, and that she needed to be with family so she could heal properly. She texted day and night, constantly needing reassurance that Morgan was all right. It was driving Arrow crazy. He was glad Ellie seemed to genuinely love her daughter and was worried about her, but the emotional strain it was putting on Morgan was the final straw.