Oracle Seeing (The Phoenix Files Book 2) (38 page)

“He doesn’t even care about me. Why did you save me?”

There were so many reasons he saved her, and Lucian wasn’t really even on the top of the list. She needed to live, and life was precious.

She kept asking him the same thing, over and over again. It made him want to kick Lucian’s ass himself.

Looking at his watch, he got their coordinates. This was why he loved being prepared. There was no way anyone would find them.

It wasn’t possible. It was dark, cold, and it was time to call in the one person who would have a clue how to track him. Bishop wasn’t going to be able to walk out.

They needed extraction, and fast.

He pulled out his cell and prayed the military grade case had held up. If not, he was carrying a hundred and thirty pound woman, who knew how many miles, to a road.

The second he dialed, he heard it ringing.

“Jagger! What’s going on? Lucian and Avalon nearly lost it.”

“The sheriff took a swim. She’s in bad shape. I need a pick up. She’s okay for now, but hypothermia and shock are kicking in.”

Jagger watched her shaking.

He gave her the coordinates.

“Hurry. She needs to get to the ER.”

That was all Maura had to hear. She hung up and got the team moving.

When Jagger hung up, he knew it wouldn’t be too long. First, he needed to make sure Bishop stayed warm. All he could hear in his mind was Avalon telling them that Bishop was the key, and Lucian was dead without her.

It was motivating.

He picked the sheriff up and held her against his body. “Hang in there, Bishop. We’re going to be chilly, but we’re getting out of here alive.”

She closed her eyes and tried to focus. In the static in her mind, she could hear him. It was Lucian.

He was calling to her like in her dreams.

Instead of reaching for him, she did something she’d never thought she’d do.

She shut him out.

Forever.

       
                
* * *
  O R A C L E   * * *

One Hour Later

Lucian couldn’t breathe.

Avalon’s words had nearly come true. She told him he couldn’t leave or she would die, he tried to abandon her, and Bishop had nearly lost her life.

He couldn’t help but feel responsible.

He felt the life ebb from her, and it was a fate worse than death. He’d made a huge mistake.

He’d screwed up.

That one moment in time, where he nearly lost her had proven one thing. He couldn’t live without her. The entire time she felt dead, his life had stopped. While he’d planned to leave and then one day return for her, he knew that wasn’t going to work.

Fate had put down her foot.

He had to fix this.

Lucian wanted to weep. After the pain stopped, he stayed on his knees.

Only this time, it was to pray.

He wasn’t a religious man, but if she’d be okay, he’d rethink that stance. He’d do anything for her.

Anything.

He wouldn’t give up. Bishop couldn’t be gone from his life. Fate wouldn’t be that cruel. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. He was going to make her mad, buy her some time, and instead, she was gone.

When Jagger called and Maura raced out of there to find them, his life was held in flux.

He couldn’t move.

As he sat on his floor, Avalon beside him, he knew that he had to make this right.

He had to fix what he’d done. All he couldn’t think was that she’d nearly died thinking he didn’t love her. That he was going back to Wendy. He’d been a bastard, and he needed to help her understand.

When Nate got the call that they were on their way to the hospital, Lucian didn’t hesitate. He pulled on his shoes, grabbed a jacket, and didn’t look back.

Nate drove them there, Avalon in the back, him praying in the front, and the unknown waiting for all of them. As they pulled up to the hospital bay, it was chaos. There were deputy vehicles, ambulances, and then the Feds.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who cared about Bishop. She was well loved. He didn’t know what that would feel like, but he was grateful that she had this.

She deserved it.

“Where is she?” he blurted, dying to see her. Lucian needed to make sure she was alive.

Maura placed her hand on his shoulder. “They’re checking her out. She’s had a rough one. Breathe. She’s alive, and that’s what matters.”

He couldn’t.

He’d caused this.

He stared at Avalon, who Nate was cautiously blocking from any of the attention going on around them.

“Tell me she’ll be okay.”

Avalon shook her head. “You broke her heart. She doesn’t want to do this anymore. If you want her to live, you need to fix what you did. You’re an asshole.”

They all looked at her.

“What? He is. Just because I don’t always say stuff like that doesn’t mean I won’t when I really believe it. Besides, he told her he didn’t love her.”

Maura shook her head. “Douchebag move, Lucian. I’m with Avalon on this one. You’ll be lucky if she ever even looks at you again. I know I wouldn’t.”

Everyone there agreed.

He had news for them. Lucian was well aware that he’d jacked this up. Now he had to repair what he’d done.

“Get me in to see her. I’ll fix it. I’ll make it right.”

Hell!

He’d cut off his arms to fix it. He just needed to see Bishop with his own eye.

There was a screech of tires, and they all looked over. It was Doctor Faust, and she was pulling in like a bat out of hell.

A well-dressed one at that...

“Where is she?”

They told her.

“They won’t tell us anything,” Nate offered, as the woman blew right past them.

Then she stopped.

“I work out of this hospital when they need a standby coroner. I’ll get information.” Roxy saw Jagger in scrubs and wet hair. “Did you save her?” she asked. “Did you really dive into that water to find her when she fell?”

“Yes.”

She moved toward him.

Jagger wasn’t quite sure what Roxy was going to do until it was too late. She grabbed him, pulled his mouth to hers, and kissed him like it was the last few seconds they’d share on earth.

It was scorching hot.

He simply held on as the woman destroyed every ounce of control he had with just that one meeting of mouths.

When she pulled away, she ran her thumb over his lower lip. “Thank you for saving my best friend. You’re my hero, and I owe you one.”

Then she was gone.

Doctor Faust headed into the emergency room.

It took Jagger a few minutes to be able to think again. He was pretty sure the heat had dried his hair.

Lucian paced back and forth.

He wanted to go with her. This wait was going to kill him. There was no way he’d survive this.

“Maura, get Avalon back to the house. I’ll head with Luke to the bridge, and we’ll help work the scene. Jagger, you stick like glue to Lucian.”

He could do that.

“That wasn’t an accident,” Jagger said. There’s no way that person missed seeing the sheriff’s truck, and us on that bridge. This was the killer.”

They didn’t doubt it.

“What did you see?” Nate asked.

“Nothing. I was hanging below the bridge. I heard the engine, I saw Bishop topple, and I went in after her. That’s it.”

They knew the truth. If they did find the vehicle, it was likely stolen. No one used his or her own ride for a hit and run.

“I’ll grab your gear,” Luke said, referring to the change of clothes in the back of their ride. “Although, you look sexy in green scrubs, but they don’t
‘hide’
anything,” he said, busting the Marine’s ass.

It was clear what Roxy’s kiss had done.

Well, clear to the team and anyone else who looked down at Jagger’s groin area.

“You’re funny for a Fed,” he muttered. He was well aware that he was rock hard, and that was the problem when Roxy was around.

“What doesn’t it hide?” Avalon asked.

Maura was laughing her ass off. “I’ll tell you all about it on the ride back to Graymoor.”

“Maura!” Nate and Jagger said at the same time.

“
ALL ABOUT IT
,” she repeated, enjoying how both men looked irritated by that. Score one for the girls on the team. This was going to be fun.

Everyone split up to take care of business.

Lucian paced the ER, waiting for some word. He knew people were staring at him, but he didn’t care. Bishop was hurt, and at that point, she was the only one who mattered.

He needed to make sure she as okay.

Until then, his life would be on hold.

       
                
* * *
  O R A C L E   * * *

Lucian didn’t know how much time had gone by, but it had been a while. He’d had two cups of shitty coffee, paced for about ten miles, and was still waiting to hear about Bishop.

He was getting angry.

He was scared.

As Jagger sat there, as calm as ever, he wanted to rage around like a maniac—not only because he’d screwed up, but someone had hurt Bishop.

“You need to chill,” Jagger said, watching him.

It was getting late and the ER had emptied out of patients. The staff, out of respect for the sheriff, had booted the media out the door and off the premises. It gave them some privacy.

Lucian was shocked they had been allowed to stay. It showed that an FBI badge worked wonders.

“She nearly died. I can’t chill.”

“Actually, she did die. She wasn’t breathing, and her heart wasn’t pumping. That’s the definition of death.”

Lucian stared at him. “That isn’t helping.”

“You need to be aware of what happened. That vehicle clipped her, she moved out of the way, and she fell. You nearly lost her. It was a bitch to find her in that black water in the dark. If not for her ponytail, she’d be dead. I lucked out.”

Lucian ran his hands through his hair.

“I’m aware.”

“What you aren’t aware of, Lucian, is that when I finally got her back for you, she was weeping. Not because she’d nearly been flattened by a car, or that a killer was trying hurt her, but because you had broken her heart.”

Jagger didn’t often interfere, but the team’s mission was to follow Avalon’s instruction. She said they needed to be fixed, so that was what Jagger was going to do.

Okay, maybe he was a little bit of a romantic at heart, but no one needed to know that.

He was going with tough. The man before him needed a wakeup call, and fast. If they were going to keep them both alive, they needed to be on track.

“I feel horrible.”

“You should. She kept saying,
‘He doesn’t even care about me. Why did you save me?’
,” he offered. “I have a sister, and if a man treated her like that, I’d kick his ass and then bury the body where no one would find it. Hell! Her husband got her the wrong color roses for her birthday, and I wanted to take out his liver. Men should treat women better.”

Yeah, and he didn’t follow his own damn advice. Jagger was such a hypocrite, but Lucian didn’t need to know that.

Lucian sat. “I had my reasons.”

“Well, they sucked.”

He was aware. Lucian was curious if the man really had feelings. Well, there was one way to find out.

“Bishop is a keeper. You can tell. Maybe I’ll ask her out. I did save her. To the victor goes the spoils.”

Lucian glanced up and his face said it all. “She’s not a fucking trophy. She has feelings. She…”

Then he realized what the Marine was doing.

“Screw you, Jagger.”

He laughed.

“If it’s any of your business, I didn’t want her to lose her career for me. I’m not worth it.”

Jagger popped a piece of gum into his mouth. “That’s not up to you to decide. She gets to decide if you’re worth it, not you. You took her choice away, and to hurt her—that makes you a dick.”

He was aware.

“Fix it. Oracle is
NEVER
wrong. If she’s telling you to do one thing, do it. If you don’t, this shit happens. We learned that on our last case, where someone nearly died.”