Page 90 of Eagle

“That’s all this was, baby,” Eagle said, taking over. “Let Leo leave, and it will be just you and me again. Like before.”

My eyes remained locked on Eagle’s as the silence grew. Tears built as the hopelessness of the situation began to engulf me. Mandy wasn’t going to let me go. She was too unstable. I understood the lies embedded in his words, but Mandy could only guess at his intentions. She wanted to believe him; I could hear it in her voice. But she was afraid and confused, and part of her, deep down, knew the truth.

I felt her shake her head. “No.” The finality I heard in that single word frightened me more than anything else that had happened until then, so I was shocked when I felt the gun removed from my temple. “The only way I will truly have you is in death.”

She turned the gun on Eagle. I didn’t think. I reacted. I grabbed her arm and pulled it downward the second that she fired her gun. In the next instant, another gunshot sounded, and then Mandy fell back against the wall and slid down to the floor, a neat, round bullet hole in the center of her forehead. Once my addled brain registered that she was no longer a threat, I turned and ran to Eagle.

He wrapped his arms around me tightly as I lost it. “Fuck, babe, when I heard your scream ...” He didn’t finish. “We’ve been looking for her. It never crossed my mind that she might be hiding up here all this time.”

I turned my face up to him, trying not to sob, but failing miserably. “I’m sorry you had to kill her.”

“Shh.” He kissed my forehead. “I’d die for you, babe. That’s how much I fucking love you.”

He loved me? He loved me! I loved him too, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. I sobbed again, still trying to pull myself together. “We should call the police.”

“Yeah.” He took me by the hand, and we went downstairs. He led me to his bedroom, his gaze moving over me with a frown. “You go shower and get dressed.”

I glanced down, seeing the blood spatter on his shirt that I wore. Mandy’s blood.

“I’ll make the calls.”

I knew that his “calls” would be to both his club and the sheriff. I nodded and started to turn away when he drew me back with a hand clenching into the material at my shoulder. I glanced up at him with worry.

“Are you okay?”

Forcing a smile, I nodded and asked, “Are you?” I knew that Mandy had meant something to him once.

“Yeah.” He leaned forward and kissed me briefly. “Go.”

I did as Eagle asked, showering and then dressing into the clothes I’d worn the night before. By the time I entered the living room, he, along with some of his brothers and the sheriff, were heading upstairs. I decided to remain downstairs. I didn’t need to see Mandy again. The image of her sitting against the wall, blood running down her forehead, and those lifeless eyes staring straight ahead at nothing, would always haunt me.

I made a fresh pot of coffee, vaguely listening to the muted sounds of the men above me. Without warning, the front door opened, and a man rushed inside. His appearance suggested that he was the medical examiner.

“Where, ma’am?” he asked respectfully.

“Upstairs.”

I made myself another cup of coffee and sat down on the sofa. I felt numb. The harrowing experience had caught up to me. Unwelcome thoughts ran through my head as I thought about what could have happened. I reached up and fingered the spot where the barrel of the gun had rested against my head. I couldn’t stop the replay. I would have died instantly if she’d fired. But when she had turned that gun on Eagle and her intentions had become clear, I’d seen my world ending.

Fresh tears stung my eyes, and I sat my coffee cup down and wrapped my arms around my knees. When had Eagle become so important to me that thinking about a life without him caused so much pain? I’d accepted that he lived a dangerous life. It wasn’t that. But left alone with my thoughts, I was crashing, and I knew it.

I suddenly felt sick.

I jumped up and raced to the bathroom, reaching the toilet just in time. I slammed to my knees, hugged the bowl, and threw up until there was nothing left, and I was dry heaving. The violent sound echoed in the tiled room.

“Babe?”

I turned my head and met Eagle’s eyes. He came in, wet a washcloth, and came over to me, crouching.

“I love you,” I declared, suddenly needing him to know.

His grin revealed that I’d made him happy, but he didn’t acknowledge the words I’d just spoken.

“I thought you were okay.”

He gathered my hair in one hand and wiped my face with the other. The coolness of the cloth felt good against my heated skin.

“I am. I don’t know why I’m suddenly sick.” I made a face at the nasty taste in my mouth. “I guess everything just caught up to me.”