Page 63 of Her Faithful Protector

“You know visiting hours aren’t for another forty-five minutes, right?” Nic asked.

“Yeah,” Raiden gave him a sideways look. “But I was pretty sure you’d be here.”

“You could have called,” Nic mentioned.

“Sure could have. Wanna go grab some coffee?” Raiden was almost smiling. “Now that you’ve filled me in on Lisa you can fill me in on your Cami.”

“First I want to know how it went with the women and kids at the village,” Nic said as they headed out to the elevators.

Raiden blew out a breath and rubbed at his jaw. “It was hard, Nic. Really fucking hard. We only had to wait twenty-four hours for the Mexican federales and aid workers to fly in, but in the meantime, we did what we could. One of the women died on my watch.”

Nic didn’t respond—after all, what could he say? He just led Raiden toward the cafeteria. “Why don’t you go get us a table, I’ll grab the coffees.”

Raiden nodded.

Nic went through the early morning line, mingling with mostly hospital staff. He thought about what Raiden said. The little girl who’d held a gun on him and her baby sister had broken his heart. What was she going to do without a mother and father? The village might have seemed poor and in the middle of nowhere, but it had been a little community of people who prayed, loved, and supported one another and it had been ripped apart.

“Sir?”

Nic looked up at the cashier and realized she was waiting for him to pay.

“Sorry,” he pulled money out of his wallet and handed it to her. She gave him a tentative smile. He must not have been giving off a very good vibe. I better pull it together before I see Cami.

Nic spotted Raiden sitting in the corner with his back against the wall. He deposited the black coffee in front of him, along with packets of sugar and cream. He pushed his chair sideways so he had a good view of the room but could still talk to Raiden.

“Do you know what happened to the little girl who had the gun on me?” he asked.

Raiden’s lip ticked upward. “Yeah, Leo told me about that. He pointed her out to me. They brought in some damn good people to help. I saw one of the nurses talking to her. I can tell you she wasn’t being ignored, you know?”

“What do you think is going to happen to her and the others? A lot of those kids have to be orphans now.”

Raiden looked at him from under his brows. “Kid, you can’t solve the world’s problems.”

If only he had a dime for the number of times he’d heard that, he’d be rich.

“Seriously Nic, concentrate on what you can take care of. Concentrate on Cami.”

“I want to take her home with me. I want to take leave and take care of her.”

Nic spun his coffee mug around, looking at the brown liquid, trying to figure out how he was going to get her to agree to his idea.

“And her parents?” Raiden asked.

“They’re ice cold. I don’t know how someone as warm and loving as Cami came from two people like them, it makes no sense. But I’m going to have a battle on my hands with her mother.”

“Is she here?”

“She will be. She said she’d be here when visiting hours started this morning. I just can’t wait,” he said sarcastically.

“What does Cami want?” Raiden asked as he took a sip of his doctored coffee.

“She already said she doesn’t want to stay with her parents. She was making noise about staying in her apartment and hiring a nurse. Over my dead fucking body.”

“Glad to see you have some perspective on the whole situation,” Raiden smiled. “I would hate to think you were barreling in without any thought.”

“Says the man who is here in Miami instead of in Virginia for a woman that he’s never even really talked to. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black,” Nic grinned.

Raiden raised his coffee mug in salute, and Nic laughed.