“I make you regret sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
I thought he was going to shoot me, but he shoved my gun into the waistband of his pants and swung his huge fist.
I ducked, which angered him.
“You’re not getting out of this.”
I was sure as hell going to try. Going on the offensive, I ran at him and drove my head into his abdomen.
He grunted and stumbled back. While he was off-balance, I turned and fled. I doubted I could outrun him, and I was probably going to end up lost in the swamp, but that was better than getting beaten to death.
I heard his pounding footsteps. He was moving faster than a man of his bulk should be able to. Then a shot rang out, and I heard a thump.
For a moment, I was sure I’d been hit. When I didn’t feel any pain, I started to run again, but Ambrose called my name.
When I turned to look at him, he yelled, “It’s okay. He’s dead.”
The man lay face down in the mud, a hole through his head. The shot had come from Ambrose.
I stared at him, needing to make sure he was real. “How did you… I didn’t think…”
“I told you when it comes to tracking, I’m the best.”
“But how did you know I needed you?”
“All you told me was that you were going out on a call. When you refused to respond, I called the station, and the nice woman there told me where you’d gone.”
“She’s not supposed to—”
“It’s a small town, and I may have pretended to be an old friend from Baltimore.”
I shook my head. “I guess I can’t be mad at you, not when you had to save me.”
Ambrose made a disgusted sound. “None of it would have been necessary if you’d just stayed home today.” He paced back and forth between two trees. “I ought to walk away now and leave you to make your own stupid decisions. I don’t have any business being here. I should’ve sent you away and dealt with this on my own.”
“Why didn’t you?” I’d like to think I would have been able to fight Ambrose if he was determined to send me away, but I knew if he’d been determined to take me to a safe house, that’s where I’d be.
“We need to get the hell out of here,” he said, ignoring my question. “There’s no telling who else could be around. Carlotti would have to really trust this guy not to have sent in any backup.”
He turned, and I followed him, sure he knew the way back to the Bergerons’ house.
I saw his bike parked next to my truck. How the hell had he gotten it here?
“Are you okay to drive?” he asked.
I was shaken, but I’d learned how to compartmentalize the scary and horrible parts of my job. I’d had to. “Yes, what about you?”
“I’m fucking fine.”
He was anything but. He rocked from side to side and brushed his hands rhythmically against his thighs. He looked like he might rattle apart.
“Go home,” he ordered.
“Are you following me?”
Instead of answering, he cranked the engine.
With a sigh, I climbed into my truck and started home.
Ambrose did follow me. He entered the house ahead of me, and I felt a chill rolling off him as soon as I closed and locked my door. His barriers were back up, and I almost believed if I tried to get near him, a force field would repel me.
Was he going to walk away and leave me at Carlotti’s mercy? Did I deserve that for being a fucking idiot?
Ambrose paced the length of the house. When Tubby began to follow him, he reached down and scooped him up. I wasn’t even sure he realized what he was doing. He held him in his arms, absently stroking his fur.
I wanted him to be holding me. I wanted to apologize, but I didn’t know how.
Finally, he spoke. “You could have called me.”
“It was a police matter.” Shit. That was the opposite of an apology.
“I told you—”
“I know. I…” I paused for a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”
Ambrose turned and studied me as if he knew what those words had cost me.
“Tell me you at least believe you’re in danger now?”
“I do.”
“You can’t go anywhere else by yourself.”
That was too much. I couldn’t let Ambrose dictate my every move. “I might have gotten away if—”
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I don’t even want to think about what might have happened if I hadn’t tracked you down. I won’t lose you. I…” He turned away abruptly, but I’d already seen the tears shining in his eyes. “Don’t you get it?”
“I’m not sure I do.” I was afraid to believe I was more to him than someone to protect and experiment with. I laid a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away, and I let it drop.