Page 27 of Waggs

“I’m glad it’s you, Aubrey.”

“Hey, Waggs.”

“Willow, this is Detective Aubrey Herbert, she’s Will Granger’s fiancée.”

“Hi.”

“I’d normally try and get a statement but as this is Waggs, I can get one tomorrow when you aren’t freezing and bleeding.”

“Reid was right behind us. He probably saw as much as we did.”

Aubrey cocked her head back towards Reid and Callie. “I’ll start there.” She pointed at Willow. “Take care of that cut.”

“Yeah, I will,” Aiden responded.

He had the paramedic check her over too and declined a visit to the hospital against their wishes, but she knew if anyone could look after her, it was Aiden. With her head wound, which was way better than it looked, and some glue holding her cut closed, she let Reid and Callie drive them home.

Exhausted and a little bit shocked, she followed Aiden as he led her to bed and then helped her undress. This wasn’t what she’d planned for the night, but she didn’t have the energy for anything else. Once she was under the covers, she watched Aiden strip to his boxers and climb in beside her. On autopilot she rolled into him, settling against him, her head on his chest, arm draped over his belly, leg thrown over his muscular thighs.

He kissed her head and held on as tight as she did to him, both lost in thought of how they could have lost each other. She’d already lost one man she loved; she wouldn’t survive losing another.

Chapter 11

Waggs stormed into Eidolon on a mission, and that was to destroy the man who’d tried to hurt Willow. He’d lain awake all night holding her, reliving every second of the crash. From the second he’d seen the lights he’d known. Swerving at the last second had stopped a direct hit to Willow’s side of the car and probably saved her from a fatal injury. Still, plunging into the ice-cold river, she could have drowned, and if AJ had been there… He couldn’t even consider that, or he became homicidal.

Fuck, he already felt homicidal. Liam going after the man and apprehending him was a stroke of luck and another example of how his friends had his back. As Alex and Reid had hauled him and Willow from the river, Liam had gone after the car.

Pushing into the conference room, he saw Lopez and Blake talking. “Where is he?” His friends looked at each other, and he knew they were seeing a side of him that rarely showed, but this was personal, and he was fucking angry. “Where the fuck is the man who tried to kill Willow?”

“In the interrogation room with—”

Waggs didn’t hang around to hear the rest, he just wanted to get his hands on the fucker who had tried to take someone he loved from him. Heading through the secure doors and the cells at the back, he walked into the viewing room where he could get a look at the man. Jack turned to the door when he barged through it. Arms folded across his chest, he raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on Waggs’ wild, manic look and he knew that was how he must look because it was how he felt.

Through the glass, he saw a man of about thirty, medium build, non-descript brown hair. Nothing about him stood out or called attention to him, which made Waggs think he was a professional at blending into his surroundings. Certainly, he nor any of the team, had spotted him, and they were as good as it got.

“We got a name yet?”

“Nope. But Deck only just went in. We’re going to start with subtle and then move it up to Liam.”

“I want to question him.”

Jack turned to him fully. “Is that wise? The mood you’re in, you’re likely to kill him before we get what we need.”

Waggs shook his head. “I won’t, but I won’t go easy either. He could’ve killed her, and fuck, if AJ had been in the car…” He couldn’t finish the sentence. It gutted him like a pig to think the kid who’d lit his whole world with joy could be dead right now if it hadn’t been for fate.

Jack grasped his shoulder firmly. “I get it, I really do. Let Deck try, and if we get nothing, you can have at him. Just leave him alive.”

Eidolon wasn’t above the law when it came to people dying, but they certainly had more leeway than most. Boy scouts they were not when it came to criminals, but innocents would be protected at all costs.

“Thanks, Jack. Liam or Deck can come in with me if you want to make sure.”

“I trust you, Waggs, but if you want one of them in with you then be my guest.” He glanced at the two-way glass. “He’s definitely a professional. The only reason he failed was that you were there. You saved her life.”

“It should never have got to that. I should’ve seen him. Known he was there.”

Jack shook his head. “Don’t go there, man. It only leads to a dark, dead-end road.”

Waggs knew Jack was right, but he hated the thought that anyone could get the jump on him.