Maya Banks - Sweet Surrender

Gray shoved himself into an upright position and nearly passed out as a wave of pain hit him. He groaned and reached down with his free hand to steady himself.

Micah gripped his arm. “Hang on to me, and don’t try to stand up too fast.”

Between the two of them, they managed to get Gray out of bed. The doctor returned a moment later and handed Micah a piece of paper with the prescriptions on it. Then he shoved a clipboard at Gray.

Gray took it and didn’t bother reading over it. He knew what it said. The whole spiel about the hospital not accepting responsibility if he dropped dead in the parking lot. Yeah, he got it. He scribbled his signature and thrust the clipboard back at the doctor.

He waited for Micah to head out, and he followed slowly behind, trying not to acknowledge the way the floor shifted and swayed underneath him. He felt like a goddamn sissy.

By the time Micah half dragged, half helped him to the lobby, Gray was sweating, and he was sure he had to be white as a sheet.

“Dude, I’m not so sure this was a good idea,” Micah said. “You look like shit. Are you going to make it?”

“I have to find her,” he said, allowing the desperation he felt to flow out in his voice. “Have you heard anything? What’s going on?” And as they stepped out of the front entrance, sunlight blinded him. He blinked and then shook his head. “Where the fuck are we?”

“Houston,” Micah said shortly. “Look, you stay here. Sit on that bench and don’t move while I go get my truck. I’ll be back in a second.”

Gray slid onto the bench and tried to settle his rolling stomach. To be honest, he felt like he was going to fucking puke. He wiped his sweaty brow with the back of his hand and tried not to let panic overtake him.

Faith. God, what must she be thinking? Not only was she scared to death, but she thought he’d betrayed her. Used her. Fuck. He had, but not in the way she thought. He closed his eyes and tried to hold back the rage that consumed him.

A few minutes later, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Micah standing over him. He groaned as Micah helped him up, and as much as it pissed him off to do so, he had to lean on Micah in order to make it to the truck.

“I’ll dump your prescriptions off at the pharmacy down the block from the office, and I’ll go back and get them when they’re ready,” Micah said as he slid into the driver’s seat.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Gray said as they drove away. “What was that about Mick and a news story? And Faith. Have you been able to get any leads? Has the bastard contacted Pop?”

“Slow down, dude. One question at a time. I’m sorry about Mick, by the way.”

Gray closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat. “I want this bastard, Micah. First Alex, then Mick and now he has Faith. I want him.”

“I know, man. We all want to nail his ass. And we will. You have to believe that.”

“What about the rest?” Gray asked tiredly.

“Mick was pissed that not enough was being done to catch Samuels. His words, not mine. So he took it upon himself to try and draw Samuels out. It was stupid and desperate. I don’t know what the fuck he was thinking. He contacted a local news station and gave them the entire story. He wasn’t thinking clearly. The interview was a mess. I can’t even believe they ran it. He was obviously out of his mind. He put himself out there, and Samuels capitalized. I don’t know much else. Neither do the cops. They’re all waiting to talk to you. They’re going to be pissed when they learn you left the hospital before they got a chance to question you.”

“Too fucking bad,” Gray muttered. “Goddamn it. What was Mick thinking? It’s such a damn waste. How did Samuels get to him so quickly? And how the fuck did Mick know where I was?”

Micah grew silent, and Gray yanked his head to look at him. “Jesus, you don’t think I used her as bait do you? I never told Mick where Faith and I were. Nobody but you and the others knew.”

“I don’t think so,” Micah said after a long pause. “But I can’t guarantee you what Pop and the others think. This whole thing has gone straight into the shitter. We have no leads, thanks to your buddy.”

Gray closed his eyes and pounded his fist on the seat, ignoring the sharp burst of pain that washed over him.

Micah pulled up at a drive-through pharmacy and handed the prescriptions through the window. He answered a few questions then asked Gray for his date of birth before he rolled his window back up and drove away.

They rode the rest of the way in silence, and a few minutes later, Micah parked outside Malone and Sons. Gray sat there a moment, steeling himself for the confrontation that was to come. He didn’t blame Pop for being angry. Gray had let Faith down in a big way.

Micah opened the door. “Come on, buddy, I’ll help you in. You look like you’re about to fall over.”

Gray slid out of the seat, wincing when his feet hit the ground. He felt the jolt all the way to his chest. Like an old man, he staggered to the entrance, and Micah went in ahead of him.

The office was in chaos. When Gray entered, Pop, Connor and Nathan all turned around to stare at him.

Pop started forward. “What the hell are you doing here? You should be laid up in the hospital.”

Nathan quickly shoved a chair in Gray’s direction, which was good, because he was about to fall over. He sank into the chair, grateful that the room quit spinning at least.

Connor, however, stayed back, arms crossed, a glare on his face.

“Any word?” he heard Micah ask.

“Bastard called a half hour ago,” Pop said grimly.

Gray surged to his feet. The room spun at a dizzying angle, and if Micah hadn’t caught him, he would have fallen on his face.

“Jesus, dude, cut that shit out. Sit your ass down,” Micah said.

“Faith. Is she all right?” Gray demanded as he sucked in steadying breaths.

“He says she is, but he wouldn’t let me talk to her,” Pop said. “He wants a million tomorrow morning, or he says he’s going to kill her.”

The tears that he’d been trying to hold back flooded his eyes. Gray closed his eyes and tried like hell to get a grip on the anger and grief storming like a locomotive through his head.

When he opened them, he saw anger in Pop’s eyes but no condemnation.

“I didn’t sell her out,” Gray croaked out around the knot in his throat. “I love her.”

Pop sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. “I know. You shouldn’t be here. You need to get back to the hospital or at least go home. Let us take care of this. We’ll get her back.”

Gray shook his head fiercely. “She’s out there. Scared. Alone. She thinks I betrayed her. No way I’m going to bed until she’s safe.”

He looked beyond Pop to where Nathan and Connor stood. “That bastard killed my partner, and now he’s killed Mick. I won’t let him take Faith from me.”

He saw grudging acceptance in Connor’s eyes.

Micah touched him on the shoulder. “Man, there are two Galveston cops here to talk to you. They want to question you about what went down at the beach house.”

“I’d like to hear as well,” Pop spoke up. “If I’m going to get my daughter back, I need to know everything I can about this asshole.”

Faith became aware of someone shaking her shoulder. She tried to open her eyes, but it hurt too much.

“Faith, Faith, baby, you have to wake up.”

The harsh whisper, urgent, roused her, and she pried her eyes open. She blinked when she saw her mother staring down at her.

“Mama?”

“Shhh,” Celia Martin said, placing a shaky finger over her lips. “He’ll be back any time. You have to be quiet.”

Faith tried to order her muddled thoughts, but she was having trouble focusing. When she tried to move her arms, she discovered she couldn’t even feel them. Same with her legs.

“What happened?” she whispered.

“I need to get you untied. Don’t move, okay?”

Faith nodded and winced as another excruciating bolt of pain seized her skull. As Celia fumbled with the knots at her wrists, Faith closed her eyes and tried to reassemble everything that had happened.

An ache grew in her chest, horrible and black as she remembered the gunshots. She saw Mick fall and then Gray. Betrayal. Grief. Confusion. Nothing made sense.

Hot tears leaked from her eyelids. Then the rope around her wrists loosened, and a thousand little needles attacked her as the blood started flowing again. She moaned in agony, and again Celia hurriedly shushed her.

A few minutes later, her legs were free, but she lay there, unable to move. Celia pulled at her arms and forced her into a sitting position.

“Listen to me, honey, you have to get out of here. He’s crazy. He’s going to kill you whether he gets the money or not.”

The stark fear in her mother’s voice roused her from her lethargy.

“Did you hear me, Faith? You’ve got to go now. He won’t leave you here alone for long. I’ll help you out the back way, and then you’ll have to run for help. I’ll stall him as long as I can.”

“You can’t stay here,” Faith whispered. “You have to come with me.”

Celia made a sound of impatience. “He won’t kill me. He needs me. But you have to go. I don’t have time to argue with you. Come on.”

Her mother’s urgency spurred Faith to action. She stood and wobbled as pain shot down her spine. Had he hit her? She had to think hard. The time after the beach house was one big blur. She remembered struggling, trying to escape. Then he’d struck her in the head with the butt of the gun.