Time Won't Erase Read online

  The door to the roof swung open. Gage held a large black pistol in both hands. He stepped forward as if he were a panther about to pounce on its prey. The forbidding stare in his eyes chilled her. He was alone.

  “Put that gun down, and we all go home.” His voice held more ice than a Montana winter.

  “Can’t do that, Sheriff. Where is my brother?”

  “He comes out when you let Calista go.” Gage kept the gun pointed at Jamie.

  “This ain’t no trade. My brother gave me up for you. He’s going to give something up for me. Justin? You here?” Jamie craned his neck. If he was looking for Justin behind Gage, the hall was too dark to see into.

  “Calista, are you okay?” Gage’s gaze never wavered off Jamie.

  “I’ve been better.” The gun was an inch from her head. She kept her gaze on Gage, not wanting to see the black barrel any longer.

  “Shut up, both of you. Justin?” Jamie’s voice carried over the rooftop and blew away in the wind. “Come out here and watch your friends die.”

  Justin hobbled out.

  “No.” Gage groaned.

  A cry died in her throat. Justin was barely walking, and his face was a mess.

  “It’s a party. Yeehaw!” Jamie said.

  Justin leaned against the door and held his side. “Jamie, put that gun away.” His chest heaved with each word.

  “Can’t. I want you to see what it’s like to lose your family.” Jamie cut his words with a sneer.

  “You’re going to jail,” Gage said.

  “You need help, Jamie. Gage and Calista can get you cleaned up.” Justin held himself up with one arm against the door.

  “They are nothing to me. They aren’t my family. Only family can help me, and that’s not you anymore.” Jamie grabbed her hair and dragged her toward the edge of the roof.

  She tried to pry his hands from her hair, but his hold was like a vice. Her heels dragged along the concrete roof, gripping nothing. “Let go of me.” She yelled and twisted to get free as her heart pounded against her ribs, but she didn’t have the power to stop Jamie.

  “Okay. Okay. Whatever you want.” Gage’s voice shook. He holstered his gun and held up his hands.

  Jamie dropped her on her ass but kept the gun on her. “That’s better.”

  Her gaze bounced from Justin, covered in blood, to Gage with his hands in the air. He couldn’t allow this night to end the way things had ended for Ajay and Ava, could he? She didn’t care about herself. She wanted Gage to save Justin from his brother.

  “Son, put the gun down before someone gets hurt,” Gage said.

  “I’m not your son.” Jamie shoved the cold metal of the gun against her head.

  A scream escaped her lips. Gage lunged. Jamie swung the gun in his direction. Gage backed up.

  “Easy now.” Gage kept his hands raised. “We can talk about this. You don’t want anyone else killed.”

  “This is all your fault, Justin. You wanted them as your family instead of your own. If you just accepted your life, but no, you traded us in for them. They aren’t your people.”

  Justin doubled over and spit out blood. He was going to die because no one was helping him. Just like Ava. She couldn’t let that happen.

  The blood roared in her ears. Her body moved as if she were under water. Justin needed her. He caught her movement and shook his head. Gage reached for her with both hands. His lips moved, but no sound came out. The solid crack of metal against her head made her eyes roll back. The concrete slammed into her face and knocked her out.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Gage wanted to kill Jamie Crow. Blood ran from Calista’s head, and he stood there helpless. If he drew his gun back out, Jamie would only shoot him and probably Justin and Calista too. Real life wasn’t the same as the movies. He didn’t have some trick up his sleeve, like another gun taped to his back. He was a sheriff in a small town with his heart in his throat and the woman he loved and this kid who needed him in grave danger. He should have called his brothers earlier.

  “Jamie,” Justin said, but his brother ignored him.

  “If she dies, that’s going to be two murders on your hands.” Gage’s hands shook. He made fists to stop the shaking. “Let me call for help. You can still have me, but you let Justin and Calista go to the hospital.”

  “We all stay together.” Sweat beaded on Jamie’s head. He shifted from one foot to the other.

  Time was running out. If Jamie had been high, that high was ending. He was going to be edgy, skittish, and even more desperate. Gage had to figure out a way to get them all out of this alive.

  “He’s your brother. You need to let him get some medical attention. I know you love him. I love my kid brothers. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them.” He stole a glance at Calista. She hadn’t moved. He needed to get to her. He inched forward.

  “Don’t talk to me like we’re friends, ’cause we ain’t. You hate me ’cause of my skin and where I’m from. Back up.” He waved the gun.

  Gage didn’t move.

  “Justin, they don’t care about you. Why did you snitch on me for them?” Jamie wiped his nose with the back of his shaking hand.

  Justin held his side and coughed up more blood. “I don’t want to live in that shitty apartment anymore. I don’t want to live on the rez with empty cabinets and my belly twisting in knots because of hunger.”

  “Sheriff, there’s a change of plans. I want you to call for a helicopter or something. We’re getting out of here.” Jamie dug in his pocket and tossed over his phone. It skipped across the concrete.

  “Where am I supposed to get a helicopter?” This guy had to be high.

  Jamie fired a shot in the air. Gage took the chance and drew his gun. Jamie pointed his gun at him. They were at a stalemate.

  “Wait.” Justin grabbed his arm. “Don’t shoot him.”

  Calista stirred. She pushed off the ground and shook her head. “Gage?”

  “Don’t move, babe.” He kept his gun drawn on Jamie. He wouldn’t put it away again. As long as she stayed on the ground, he’d have a clean shot to the chest.

  “Sheriff Ryker, please put your gun away,” Justin said. “I’ll go with you, Jamie, but you have to let the sheriff and Calista go. I’m sorry I hurt you. You are my family. Not them. I see that now.” Tears slid down his face.

  Tears ran down Jamie’s face too. “He’ll arrest me. I robbed his ranch and those other places.”

  Justin shuffled forward. “No, he won’t. Sheriff Ryker is a good man. A fair man. He’ll let you go, but you have to let them go. Put the gun down, okay?”

  “Justin, what are you doing?” Gage said.

  “Trust me, Sheriff. This is what’s best. Jamie, put your gun down.” Justin moved closer to his brother.

  “Why did you snitch on me?” The tears continued to spill down Jamie’s face.

  “I was afraid. I didn’t want you to kill anyone. You’re all the family I have left. I thought I could fit in off the reservation, but I can’t. You showed me that tonight when you found me on the street.” Justin cried too.

  Gage tilted his chin, indicating she slide to the side. He kept the gun on Jamie, but Justin had moved into his path and blocked any chance of a clean shot.

  “I don’t belong in their world.” Justin stopped inches from his brother.

  “No, you don’t. You’ve always been a dumb shit brother. I guess that beating finally knocked some sense into you.”

  He tried not to think about the times he wanted to beat the shit out of Ajay in hopes of turning him around. He had never been gladder that he hadn’t.

  “Let me come home, Jamie.”

  Jamie tucked the gun behind his back with still shaking hands. Justin grabbed him in a hug. Jamie pounded on his back. Justin groaned from the slaps. Calista crawled out of the way. Gage kept the gun poised. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he wasn’t about to leave Justin behind.

  Jamie’s eyes grew wide. His hands hovered over Just
in’s back in mid-slap. Justin jumped away. Jamie grabbed for Justin’s hands.

  Justin had the gun. And he pointed it at Jamie.

  “Gage,” Calista yelled.

  He still didn’t have a clear shot. The brothers struggled for the gun. He risked hitting Justin, who still stood in front of Jamie even though they fought.

  Calista ran behind him and grabbed on to his shirt.

  The wind picked up. A fire burned somewhere in the distance. Time slowed down.

  “Drop the gun, Justin,” Gage said.

  But Justin didn’t let go. And neither did Jamie as they continued to struggle and fight. No one was going to win this battle. “Drop the damn gun, Justin,” he shouted.

  The gun went off. Justin stumbled away from his brother. Jamie’s mouth formed a large circle, but no sound came out. Gage’s ears rang from the gunshot. Calista’s scream came to him as if she were down a long tunnel. The wind continued to blow.

  Justin turned to him with narrowed eyes. He clutched his stomach. A dark, red circle grew on his shirt. He fell to his knees. Jamie dropped the gun and ran for the stairs.

  Gage begged his legs to work. Time stalled. It was sixteen years ago, and he had to get to Ajay. The dash across the roof seemed to take hours. Justin was on his side. Blood spilled over his long, tan fingers as he clutched his stomach.

  “Help. Don’t let me die,” Justin said.

  The same thing Ajay had said to him.

  He threw the phone at Calista. “Call nine-one-one.” He knelt down by Justin and turned him on his back. The gunshot wound was big. He was losing a lot of blood. He might not make it.

  His throat closed, but he forced a swallow and tore off his shirt to press against the wound. He pulled Justin’s hands over the shirt. “Hold on to this. Press hard. Help is coming. You need to hang on, okay?”

  Justin opened his mouth to speak.

  “Don’t talk. Keep looking at me. I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re going to be fine.” Justin needed to believe him if he had any chance to survive.

  Calista dropped down beside him and gripped Justin’s arm. “Help is on the way. Hang in there. You’re going to be okay.”

  “Please don’t let me die.” Tears ran down his face.

  He hadn’t had the power to save his brother. He was the last person this young man should rely on to save him. “You aren’t going to die tonight.”

  It was the same lie he’d told Ajay.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  The doctors and nurses ran alongside Justin on a stretcher. They shoved through the operating room doors and shut Calista out. She heaved a breath and wiped the sweat from her brow. All she could do now was pray. Praying hadn’t helped the last time she was in this hospital.

  She had left Gage filling out paperwork for Justin. He didn’t know the information the hospital needed, but because he was the sheriff, the person working at admittance allowed him to try. He needed to do something. The helplessness had been in his eyes.

  In the waiting room, Gage sat on the edge of the plastic seat, holding his head in his hands, the clipboard forgotten. His fingers raked through his hair. She took the seat beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

  He turned to face her. The pain of sixteen years carved lines in his face and darkened his eyes. “This is my fault.”

  “No, it isn’t. It’s Jamie’s fault. He committed the crimes, beat up Justin, and threatened to kill me and you and his brother. You did all you could do.”

  “That young boy tried to save us all and will probably end up dead because of it. If I had listened to you from the beginning and searched someplace else for the people robbing my town, I would have found Jamie Crow. Shit, even Lincoln Smith told me to look into Jamie as a possibility, but I was hell bent on it being Justin.”

  He shoved out of the chair and paced the small area. She went to him and grabbed his arms to keep him from moving. Her heart ached for what he’d been carrying around inside him for so long. “What happened tonight is not the same thing. You couldn’t have saved Ajay no matter what you did. Someone should have told you that. I should’ve told you that, but even as recent as a few days ago, I still blamed you for not knowing. How can you possibly still love me?”

  His eyes filled with unexpected tears. She held him tighter.

  “He needed me, and I let him down.”

  She didn’t have to ask him who he was talking about. “It’s time to forgive yourself.”

  “If Justin dies, I won’t be able to do that.” He removed her grip on his arm and went to the window. The dark night and the parking lot with scattered lights offered no explanations.

  “Saving Justin isn’t your salvation, Gage.”

  “Oh really? Isn’t that exactly what you were doing with him?”

  She had been. Justin was the stand-in for Fox and Ava. Until recently, she’d been too afraid to love someone as she’d loved her sister, and then Fox stole her heart and died, taking a piece with him. If she lost Justin too, nothing would be left of her. She might not even be able to go on loving Gage. So much pain surrounded them.

  “Why don’t you go home and get some rest? I’ll stay until the surgery is over.” She dropped into the chair and leaned her head against the wall.

  “Do you need a doctor to look at you?” He took the seat beside her and laced his fingers through hers.

  His touch was warm and safe. No matter what happened, where they ended up, he would be a part of her. “I’m fine. I’m also sorry about what happened at the ranch. I should’ve listened to you too.”

  “Don’t do that. You were just opening your heart in the way I love about you. You have that soft side I can’t find in me. You see the best in people when I only see the worst. This isn’t your fault.”

  “Thank you for coming to the apartment building to help Justin.”

  He shrugged. “You should be the one to go home and rest. I can call Kace to come and get you.”

  “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to stay.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be okay with me?”

  “What’s going to happen to us?”

  He sat up and faced her. “No matter what, I will always love you.”

  “Sheriff Ryker?” A tall, thin man dressed in blue scrubs with a paper cap on his head stood in the doorway. His arms were crossed over his chest. He averted his gaze. The thin line his lips made said more than he needed to.

  Her heart splintered.

  Gage stood. “Yes. Is Justin okay?”

  “Why don’t you have a seat?”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The sun climbed into the bright, blue sky and warmed the fourth day of July. Calista always loved the vast Montana sky, especially from Gage’s ranch where nothing blocked the view. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Today was the anniversary. They had all come so far.

  “Ready?” Her father’s voice brought her attention back to what they were doing today.

  She smoothed the dress she’d chosen. A far cry from her wide-legged gauzy pants. But today deserved something nicer than the clothes she threw on without thinking about it.

  She slid her hand into her dad’s, as she had when she was little and life hadn’t worn the dark coat of trauma and loss. He smiled down. His eyes were clear behind his glasses, and his skin was smooth again. Through all the recent tragedies, she had her father back.

  “I’m ready.” She looked over her shoulder.

  Gage leaned against his truck with his ankles crossed. He looked great in his khakis with the sharp crease and white button-down shirt against his dark skin. He’d rolled the sleeves up to his elbows and showed off his roped forearms. Arms that held her night after night, keeping her safe and as warm as the Montana sun.

  “You’ll be right here?” she said to him.

  “Like I promised.” He gifted her his smile.

  She hadn’t been sure if he would come today. He was making progress since the incident with Justin and Ja
mie, but he wasn’t totally healed.

  She stepped off the walkway and onto the grass. Justin survived the gunshot and the surgery. It had been touch-and-go for the first forty-eight hours, but he was young and strong. Gage hadn’t had the heart to charge Justin with anything. After he was released from the hospital, she moved him into the family cottage with her dad on the lake. They were a family now. Jamie and his accomplices were still on the run, but Gage hadn’t given up. His friend Lincoln was helping him look.

  She and her dad navigated the headstones until they came to the place they wanted. With a sniffle, her father placed the bouquet of flowers on the top of Ava’s gravestone. No one had been here in quite some time. Weeds poked out of the ground. It seemed nature tried to take back its spot and wanted to cover Ava’s headstone. She bent to pull some of the weeds out.

  “Leave it. I’ll come back tomorrow and clean this place up. She deserves that much out of me.” Dad wiped tears away from his cheeks.

  “We can do it together.” Ava deserved that much from her too.

  They stood there for a while not saying anything. Her father took a long breath. “I think I’m ready to go.”

  They walked back, and Gage still leaned against his truck, waiting as he’d promised. He’d been waiting for her for a long time. Her chest filled with the joy of knowing he never stopped loving her.

  “Your turn,” she said.

  He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you for doing this with me. I wouldn’t have come alone.”

  “I know.” His mother had cried and held her tightly when she told Karen about this plan. Gage deserved some peace too.

  They walked in the opposite direction of Ava’s grave and up the hill to the large stone that read Ryker. Three plots had been secured for this site. One spot was for Mr. Ryker, and the second spot was left open for the day Karen would join him. The stone to the right was the one added for Ajay.

  Gage ran a hand over Ajay’s name. “Hey, bro.” He blew out a loud breath and hung his head.

  She gave him some space to let whatever he needed to happen, happen. But that didn’t stop the tears from spilling down her cheeks. The weight of this visit pressed against her lungs.