Coup De Grâce (18 page)

Smart girl.

I walked purposefully up to Nikki and her new friend, and roughly yanked him away from her.

“Go find your own woman,” I hissed at the boy.

The boy’s eyes narrowed, and I yanked my badge from my belt and held it in front of his face.

“Now do you really want to try it?” I asked him honestly.

I didn’t
think he would, but I’d give him the option. I was itching for a fight.

He shook his head frantically. “No.”

Didn’t think so.

I nodded my head. “Good boy.”

When he stayed where he was, waiting for my next direction, I cocked my head towards the exit and said, “Why don’t you go ahead and go?”

He went.

And I was left with Little Miss Trouble Maker.

“Really, Nikki?” I asked, amusement clear in my voice.

She narrowed her eyes.

“Go fuck yourself,
pendejo
,” she snarled.

There was my little Spanish hellcat. The one that only came out when she was well and truly pissed.

I raised a brow at her, and then took in her attire.

I liked the way her spiky heels brought her up to me.

I liked the way she stared me in the eyes, all fire and innocence with a hint of prissiness.

“Take it outside, buddy,” Elliott said from my back.

I looped my fingers around Nikki’s wrist, noting that she’d gotten more delicate since I’d last seen her, and made a mental note to speak with her about that as well.

First on the agenda, though, was setting her straight.

I’d gone long enough keeping her in the dark.

It was time to bring her into the light.

Let her know what all she was about to get into.

Because I’d just given my notice, so to speak.

I wouldn’t be the FBI’s guinea pig.

I would be my own man and I’d have my woman at my side.

“Let go of me,” Nikki yanked her arm out of my grip before we’d made it outside.

I stopped, then pushed her into the handicap bathroom, slamming the door closed before she could protest.

“Michael! Let me out!”
She shrieked.

I moved forward, until my body was pinning hers to the door, and she started to squirm viciously.

Her shirt rode up, and I looked down, feeling the new hardness of her abdomen.

Before it’d been soft and yielding. Now it was hard and round, causing me to lose my train of thought.

I moved my hand down until it rested on the side of her belly, my hand cupping the small life inside her tummy.

“You’ve gotten big,” I murmured softly.

She froze.

Then smacked me upside the head.

“You don’t tell the woman you knocked up that she’s gotten big!” She snarled.

I chuckled, then dropped down to my knees in front of her.

I moved my hands up, catching the hem of her shirt, and pushed it over her belly as I slid my hands up to her ribs.

My eyes feasted on the sight before me.

Her gently swollen belly popped out over the top of her pants.

A black hair tie looped around the hole of the jeans, and then over the button, holding them closed.

Her belly button was a little less concave, and I assumed, by the end of her pregnancy, it’d be an outie instead of an innie.

I leaned forward, pressing my lips against the soft skin of her belly, and said, “I’ve been a fool.”

Her hands found my hair, and I looked up to see tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, Nikki,
” I told her. “I’ve only been thinking of you, though.
This guy…whomever he is…he’s good. He’s gotten fifteen couples to date, and out of his thirty five kills, only two have made it. We have one witness, and he hasn’t been able to give us a fuckin’ thing to go on beside the build and color of the man’s hair. He never went to any of the appointments, so we’re all hanging on by a
fricking thread.”

“Why haven’t you come to see me?” She asked, devastation clear in her voice.

I shook my head.

“At first,” I said. “It was because I was trying to get my head on straight. Then I started seeing a therapist that the department recommended. Then another murder happened, and well, I’ve been a fucking coward. I should’ve come to you. I actually have every night since I left you in bed that night two months ago…I just don’t come inside.”

She glared.

“Who’s the woman?” She snapped.

“An FBI agent. She’s going to help us catch this man. She’s been posing as a new patient who moved here because her husband was transferred to another police department…but I’m not sure that’s going to work too well now since I was supposed to be that police officer,” I told her honestly.

She glared.

“And what does being a fake husband make you have to do?” She asked, clearly not happy with my answer.

I shrugged. “Go to doctor’s appointments. Be seen with her in public. Stay in the same place at night.”

Her eyebrows rose to her hairline.

“And what about
my
appointments?” She asked.

I saw where she was going with it, and I knew she wouldn’t like my answer.

“I can’t go to them.”

And I couldn’t.

Not if this was to be authentic and believable.

“What about the birth of our child…will you be able to come then?” She asked calmly.

“If he’s caught,” I said carefully.

She dropped her hand from my face and stood there, looking up at the ceiling.

Her tears had never abated, and I felt about six inches high.

“Please get off me,” she said. “Please.”

“We can have each other at night,” I told her. “I love you.”

Those words seemed to make her snap.

She pushed me away from her with enough force that I fell backwards, my ass planting on the ground solidly.

And I was also far enough away that she almost had the door open.

Almost.

“This doesn’t change anything,” she growled, yanking on the door.

I slammed my hand down to stop her progress.

“It has to look real!” I yelled at her.

“You want to have real, use me! I’m real! You put this baby inside of me, maybe you should use me since I’m actually
yours
!” She yelled, waving her hands in the air in true Pena Tantrum fashion.

My eyes narrowed, then I moved forward until I could only make out the whites of her eyes.

“I can’t use you. Because you’re mine, and I don’t ever want you on that man’s radar,” I hissed, crowding her into the dirty, grunge covered wall once again.

She pushed at my shoulders, but I didn’t budge.

“Get off me!” She screamed, drawing the attention of the entire bar I was sure.

I pulled back and let her escape, and immediately saw Dane.

Dane had taken my place on the Lisette’s arm. He looked at me in concern, but he didn’t intervene.

Nobody did, in fact.

I followed Nikki out of the bar.

Then followed her to her car.

Then followed her straight to her apartment.

When I got to her front door, I tried the handle, and was surprised to feel it unlocked.

So she wasn’t too mad at me, otherwise she would’ve locked the door.

Right?

Wrong.

When I pushed the door open to her apartment, I was startled by what I saw.

She was on her knees in the middle of the living room.

She was facing away from me, her chest up tight to the coffee table as she looked at something with such focus that I wasn’t sure what to think.

“Nikki?” I called, walking up behind her slowly.

She looked over her shoulder at me, and I read the determination there.

The understanding.

The resignation.

“Come look at this, Michael,” she said softly.

As I made my way up to her side, I looked down, and my knees went weak at what I saw.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked softly, dropping down to my knees beside her.

My knees sank down into the plush carpet.

The pretty purple carpet that Nikki just ‘had to have’ when we were at Lowe’s one weekend looking for paint thinner.

And I thought to myself, ‘this’ll look good in the baby’s room.’

“You need to choose, Michael. The killer and your duties, or me. Because I can’t do this anymore. I can’t put my life on hold, wondering how long it’ll be before you come back. Wonder if you’ll make it to the birth of our little girl. Wondering if this killer will take you from us. I just can’t Michael. So choose. Them, or us.”

I closed my eyes, and made the easiest decision of my life.

“I gotta go.”

Run like Dean just saw you crash the Impala.

-T-shirt

Nikki

My emotions were swirling around me like a black funnel cloud of doom.

I’d given him my ultimatum, and he’d chosen.

It hadn’t been what I thought he’d choose, but he’d chosen, nonetheless.

I walked up to the elevator from the parking garage, and depressed the button that would take me down to the ground level, allowing me to the cross the breezeway to my destination.

Another doctor’s appointment.

This would be my four month checkup, and the gender reveal.

Even though I’d technically had that two weeks ago when I’d gone to Georgia who’d insisted on doing an ultrasound.

See, it turned out, that we saw each other quite a bit, working in the same hospital.

I’d started my job on the labor and delivery floor a little over a month ago, and I’d had a freakin’ blast doing it.

So far, I’d delivered twelve babies.

All of them happy and healthy.

The elevator dinged when the doors open, but I was in my own little world thinking about my job, which meant I didn’t see the man standing in the elevator until he spoke.

“Going down?” An amused male voice asked.

I looked up, and my heart started to race.

“Michael,” I breathed, tears starting to form in my eyes.

He smiled, and held out his hand.

“Come on, or we’ll be late,” he said laughingly.

I blinked, but took his hand and made my way into the elevator.

“How’d you know where I would be?” I asked softly.

My eyes stayed firmly planted on the floor, though.

Because I didn’t want to believe he was here, and look up to see that I’d imagined it all.

That would be cruel, but life was a bitch like that.

“Your best friend,” he said.

I could hear the smile in his voice, and if Georgia had been in the room with me right then, I’d have punched her for not telling me.

We rode the elevator in silence.

Me not saying anything because I just didn’t know what to say.

Him not saying anything because I was sure he was waiting for me to flip out on him.

Something I wouldn’t do at my place of business.

When the elevator doors opened, I made my way out with Michael directly at my back.

I could feel his warmth from the top of my shoulders to the backs of my thighs.

“Nikki, wait,” he said softly.

The pain in his voice had me turning sharply, looking at him in worry.

“What?” I asked.

He closed his eyes, and I realized just how tired he looked.

“I told them I couldn’t do it. And I’m sorry. I knew if I stayed there with you last night, I’d put it off, and I needed to get it done,” he answered.

“Michael, I wouldn’t say what you did didn’t hurt, but I understand. I gave you the night to think it over, and I meant it. I knew you’d make the right decision,” I told him.

He nodded, his eyes shifting from my eyes to my lips where I was currently worrying the bottom one with my teeth.

“I love you,” he said again.

My heart melted at those words.

The same ones that had come out of his mouth last night.

The ones I hadn’t returned because I couldn’t.

Today, though, knowing he would be staying with us. Giving us a chance.

I said it back to him.

Meaning it with all my heart.

“I love you more,” I said simply.

His rumbled laugh warmed my insides when he pulled me into his arms.

“I’m gonna fuck up,” he promised.

I snorted.

“You and me both, big boy,” I shot back.

“I don’t know anything about kids.” He informed me.

I looked up into his eyes and said, “Really? You’re pulling that card?”

I turned on my heel and started walking inside, very aware of the man at my back.

“Yeah, that card. I don’t, though. I really don’t,” he said.

I rolled my eyes.

“Michael, you make it your mission in life to save kids. Trust me, you know how to handle kids even if you think you don’t,” I told him gently.

Michael smiled.

“Whatever. So tell me about your doctor. I feel like I’ve missed a lot,” he changed the subject.

I smiled. “Dr. Mead is my doctor, but we’ll be seeing the PA, Joanie Dooley, today. I have to see them all just in case my doctor is out of town or at a birth or something when I go into labor.”

Michael nodded, but his eyes had clouded like he did when he was concentrating on something.

“What?” I asked.

He shook his head, and when the elevators dinged, signaling we’d arrived at the floor I needed for the doctor’s office, he froze.

I’d already walked out and turned the corner before I realized he wasn’t following me.

“Michael?” I called, turning around and looking for him.

I found him still inside the elevator, his hands on the doors to hold the door’s open.

“What doctor’s office do you use?”
He hissed.

I reeled back at the vehemence in his tone.

Blinking, I said, “Women’s Center. Why?”

Michael yanked me to him, then further pulled me to the stairwell.

“What, Michael? What is it?” I asked in alarm.

He didn’t stop until we were three floors up, and I was breathing hard from exertion.

He yanked the door open to the sixth floor, and pulled me right along with him.

Once he saw that the coast was clear, he visibly relaxed.

He let me go almost immediately, then pulled out his phone and placed a call.