Emily's Protectors (The Protectors 2)

Not sure what to say to that since it sounded rhetorical, she just shrugged her shoulders in answer.

“When can we take her home?” Dane asked the nurse sharply.

“We?” she asked, shocked.

“Yeah, when can we take her home? You hard of hearing?” Coop repeated so

unding pissed off.

“Hmmph, no, just surprised is all. I didn’t think a woman flaunted herself so cheaply nowadays is all.” The insult stung. She wouldn’t lie; it hit her right in the heart of every single one of her insecurities. She’d been afraid of the judgment from other people but knew that if she wanted things to happen with Dane and Coop, she’d have to get over it. Didn’t make it hurt any less, though.

“Are you fucking kidding me, lady? Who the fuck do you think you are to judge any of us?” Cooper practically screamed while getting out of the bed to stand without jostling Emily around too much.

Seeing the nurse shrink back slightly at his tone had her almost feeling bad for her, but not quite. Feeling Dane’s chest vibrating had her looking down into his laughing eyes. Scowling at him in reprimand had him burying his face in her neck, where he tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle his laughter at the shock written across the nurses face.

“Yo – you can’t speak to—” she sputtered out when Coop interrupted again. “Think about what you were just gonna say and then run through the bullshit you said to our girl just a minute ago, lady, and then you spout this self-righteous crap at me. Until then? Get the fuck gone,” he said stonily. Standing at the end of the bed at full height, arms crossed, feet apart, and fury in his eyes.

She’d never been more turned on than at this moment.

Watching the nurse bustle out of the room like her ass was on fire would have been comical if her panties weren’t wet and Dane wasn’t rubbing his erection against her core. “Baby girl.” Dane groaned out, putting one hand on her ass and squeezing.

“Fuck, I can smell her arousal from here. Time to go home,” Coop said before walking out to find the doctor.

After a long three hours of bureaucratic bullshit between the doctors about not wanting to release Emily yet— even though they were told what a judgmental bitch the nurse was being— they still had to fight to get her released before their impatient, smart-ass girl decided she was just walking out. Well, more like hobbling out since she was limping from her wound.

After signing all the paperwork, they were waiting for Coop to get their truck when the police stopped them wanting a statement about what happened the night before. Once that was finally finished, they were able to go home.

There they sat in front of his house with Emily curled up, sound asleep in his lap. Climbing out he made his way up the front steps, passed Creed and Linc, who were sitting on the deck poring over the files they had on Emily and who her stalker might be since they seemed to be no closer to finding him than the day before. They were running background checks on every man she had come in contact with since moving from her hometown, Olds to Lincoln, Nebraska.

So far they’d found out that she was just as reclusive then as she was now. He wasn’t shocked, not really. Emily had this aura about her that made you want to know her and be close to her. As soon as you looked into her eyes, you could see she would welcome you with open arms… but only after you proved yourself worthy of her trust. He didn’t even think she knew that’s how she was. He found it oddly sweet.

It also made him wonder if she was like that before? Did she make you prove your trustworthiness before letting you into her life? Would she have been more open to him and Cooper? Or would she have been closed off? He wished he knew the answers to some of those questions. All he could hope for was that she’d stay open-minded about a relationship with them after they found her stalker because they would. They would get her, her life back, and she would remain in theirs.

Laying her down on the sofa in the living room, he placed the afghan he had on the back of it around her before going back outside to see what they’d come up with.

As he stepped out onto the deck, he pulled the door over behind him; not closing it all the way so they could hear her if she woke and needed one of them. Looking at his friends— closer to him than any brother could be— he knew they’d help him keep Emily safe or die trying.

“How’s she doing?” Linc asked him with a frown marring his face.

“She’ll be out for a while. They gave her some pain meds before we left the hospital. But I’m worried. She hasn’t really digested things the way I figured she would. There’s been no crying, no anger, nothing,” he explained.

“She’s empty, Dane,” Coop said flatly, looking at the door behind him like he was seeing through it and watching her sleep. “You can see it in her eyes that she’s ready to give up. There’s no fight left in her.” Frustration was laced in his harsh words. It was true, though. He knew it. Hell, they all did.

He was so pissed off and frustrated with the whole situation. She was their fucking woman and yet, they were helpless at the moment. The information was slow in coming and he felt like they were missing something. “We’re missing something. There has to be more. This guy can’t be this fucking good!” He raged.

Roughly pushing his hands through his hair and closing his eyes to try and calm down, he felt Coop come over to him and grab his arms. They always had this closeness. From the minute they met, they’d clicked. They shared a bond not many would ever experience. He knew it sounded corny as fuck, and maybe some people thought they were lovers, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. They had love for one another but not sexually. It was purely platonic like brothers, but not.

Looking down into his friend’s worried eyes, he knew what he was going to say without him having to utter a word. Nodding his head at Coop’s silent question of whether he was ok or not, he let out a deep breath and sat down.

“You good?” Creed asked meeting his eyes.

“Yeah. Do we have anything new?”

“Henry went missing three days ago. I don’t know if he’s here or on vacation or just walked away, but I’m tracking his financials as we speak.” Creed explained, reading something on his laptop. “Those murders I was telling you about, though? It was some gruesome fucking shit, man. Those girls…. They didn’t deserve that torture. The guy that did that was sick, like something is mentally wrong with this person.” He explained with disgust written across every feature on his face.

“Do you have the files for them?” Coop asked sounding slightly shaky about seeing something like that if it had Creed so shaken up.

Tapping a few keys on the laptop, he handed it over to Coop who immediately looked paler than mere seconds before. Plopping down beside Dane, he let out a harsh breath before showing him. Looking at the screen in horror, he was immediately saddened that those girls had to go through something like that.