Tattoo (Take It Off #7)(48)
Author: Cambria Hebert

On my way down, I wrapped my arms around her body and rolled, trying to take the impact of the fall. We hit the side of the wall and slid down. I rolled, pinning her beneath me and lifting my arm, which was also brandishing a gun.

I squeezed off two shots in rapid succession, and then the room fell into absolute silence.

Only after I saw Snake lying on the ground, twitching, did I lower my weapon. But even still, I didn’t trust him. I pushed off the floor and reached for Taylor, who was shaking uncontrollably. She was covered in something and it made me frantic.

“What happened?” I asked, running my hands all over her body, looking for bullet wounds. The shot Snake fired just moments before hit the wall just above us, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t shot her before I got here. “What the hell is all over you?”

“It’s eggs,” she said, a hysterical laugh bubbling up from her throat.

“Eggs?” I asked, glancing back at Snake, who was bleeding on the floor. He appeared to be unconscious, but I wouldn’t believe that until I walked over there and kicked him.

“I was making you French toast.” She laughed again, her body still shivering.

“Aww, Tay,” I said, pulling her against me. The minute her face hit my chest, she started to cry. Deep, heaving sobs that wracked her body and made the inside of my gut shrivel.

“There’s a big mess in the kitchen,” she wailed, like that was somehow worse than almost dying for the third time in three days.

“I’ll clean it up, baby,” I told her, stroking my hand down the back of her head.

Snake groaned and Taylor shrieked, plastering herself even closer to me.

I wish I could say I was the bigger man. I wish I could say I knocked him out with a punch to the side of the head.

It wasn’t good enough for me.

Instead, I shot him.

I made sure he was dead.

Taylor started to cry again, and I wrapped my arms around her and picked her up, sitting down on the steps and cradling her in my lap.

The first of several patrol cars pulled into the driveway, and I laid the gun down beside me. “It’s over now,” I told her, stroking her back. “He’s dead and the rest of his buddies are in jail.”

“What about you?” She sniffled.

“What about me?” I asked.

“How many others are going to come for you?”

It was something I couldn’t bring myself to lie about. “I don’t really know.”

She buried her face in my neck and the wetness of her tears against my skin made me feel sick. “I was so scared,” she whispered.

“Being attacked is scary.” I agreed.

She jerked up, her wide, green eyes tearful. “I wasn’t scared for me.”

I frowned and wiped away one lone, fat tear making a track down her cheek. “What were you scared of, then?”

“I was scared he was going to shoot you,” she said, her voice breaking on the last part as she started sobbing again.

All these tears were for me?

Cops started rushing inside, weapons drawn, all of them looking at me. “He’s there,” I said, motioning with my head as I tried to swallow back the emotion clogging my throat.

It’d been so long since someone worried about me.

“He’s dead,” I said, flat. “He tried to kill us.”

Police started milling around as Mac entered the house.

His eyes widened when he took in Taylor, who was still wiping tears from her face. “What the hell happened, West?”

“The real Snake showed up.”

“Any injuries?”

“Tay,” I said gently. “How bad are you hurt?”

“I’m not,” she replied, leaning her cheek against my shoulder.

“We’re good.” I glanced over at Snake’s unmoving body. “He’s not.”

Mac nodded and went over to give some orders to the guys standing over Snake.

“Taylor,” I said quietly, nudging her so she would look at me. Reluctantly, she pulled back and sat up. “This is really shitty timing. And I’m probably a big dick for doing this, but it’s something I have to say.”

“What?” Her eyes stayed dry and her limbs were no longer shaking.

“What happened here tonight… I can’t promise it won’t ever happen again.” I couldn’t help but run my palm over the side of her hair while I spoke. I was very aware that this might be the last time she let me hold her like this. “My career as an undercover cop is over, but I’m still a cop. If I stay here—if you still want me—there might always be that chance that someone will recognize me from my time in the organization. I can cover up that tattoo on my back, but the effects of it are permanent.”

“Brody,” she began, and I shook my head.

“Think about it, Tay. Think about what happened here tonight, what happened at the lake earlier today. Think about how scared you were. Being with me is a risk. I swear I will do everything humanly possible to protect you, and I really don’t think I’ll have any more problems with the organization, but I can’t guarantee it.”

I fell silent. I said everything I needed to say. I gave her an out and I would totally understand if she took it. Some things—some people—just weren’t worth the risk.

“You’re such an idiot.”

I blinked, not sure I heard her right. “Excuse me?”

She sighed. “I said you’re an idiot. A big, fat one.” She wiggled her butt so it was more solidly in my lap and glared. “If you think I would allow some stupid pack of criminals to make me walk away from the first man in my entire life that actually made feel something special, then you, sir, are an idiot.”

“A pack of criminals…” I echoed.

“You know you aren’t the only one with a tattoo,” she said, looking up at me through partially lowered lashes.

“You have a tattoo?” I asked, surprised. I had been over every inch of her body and I didn’t see any tattoo.

She nodded. “You can’t see it, but the effects of it are permanent.”

I shook my head, still wracking my brain, trying to think about where it might be.

“You’re the one who gave it to me,” she whispered, picking up my hand and laying it against her chest. “It’s right here,” she murmured. “Right here on my heart.”

“Tay,” I whispered. It sounded more like a prayer, maybe because it was.