Hector stopped just inside the door, his eyes scanned the room, found me, did a head-to-toe, then they moved to Jerry now on the bed with hotel towels wrapped around his leg and a uniformed officer guarding him.

Hector didn’t order everyone out and he didn’t move. His body was solid and his eyes were scorching and that scorch was directed at Jerry.

Then I saw his jaw clench and a muscle move in his cheek.

Oh my.

I put my coffee cup in its saucer on the desk and moved swiftly across the room toward Hector.

I got within touching distance, Hector’s hands came to my h*ps but he didn’t look at me, his dark, angry eyes were locked on Jerry.

“I’m gonna f**kin’ –” he started but I pressed into him and put my hand over his mouth and muffled the rest.

“The police,” I warned but his hand came from my hip, his fingers curled around my wrist and he pulled it away. Before he could speak, quickly I said, “I’m all right, I’m fine. Everything’s okay.”

His scorching eyes turned to me.

My free hand went to the side of his face.

“Babe, I’m okay,” I whispered.

He looked at me for a second then two then three, his eyes scanning my face, reading me.

I got up on my toes and pressed even closer to his heat.

“Hector, baby, I’m okay,” I repeated softly.

Suddenly he let go of my wrist, his arms went around me, crushing me to him and his mouth came down on mine in a long, hard, closed-mouthed kiss.

When his mouth detached from mine, his face went into my neck and his arms got even tighter.

“Fuck,” he said against my neck.

My arms wrapped around his shoulders and I held him close thinking it was best not to tell him, just yet, that I couldn’t breathe.

Finally, his arms loosened, his head came up and I pulled in a deep breath.

“Sorry, Chavez, we need to ask Sadie some questions,” a uniformed officer said from our side just as the paramedics came in with a gurney.

Hector nodded, we moved away so the paramedics could see to Jerry and I sneaked a peek at the bed while we moved.

Jerry was glaring at Hector, eyes filled with hate. His obvious emotion made me sad, angry and happy. I couldn’t process this, it was too complex, so I decided not to think about it until… well, never. I thought it best never to think about it.

Ever.

We moved into the hall (unfortunately, away from my coffee) and I noted the Hot Bunch were amassing there. Darius was, obviously, a part of the rescue effort. Lee and Eddie had come with Hector. Luke was now with them, the elevator pinged and Vance and Matt walked out of it, their eyes coming directly to me as they moved down the hall toward us.

The uniformed officer had to wait while the Hot Bunch did their Sadie assessment. I got hugs, cheek kisses, temple kisses and there were a lot of set but relieved male faces and firm, clenched, square jaws. I noticed they looked tired, none of them had shaved and none of them were wearing fresh clothes. Mace and Bobby showed up in the meantime and both of them (even Bobby) engulfed me in bear hugs.

The elevator pinged again and Detective Marker walked out when the uniformed officer asked, exasperated, “Do you guys mind if I talk with Sadie?”

I was feeling weird. A good weird.

No, a great weird.

Not that they’d obviously had a tough night looking for me.

But, (I hated to admit it but had to) because they’d spent a tough night looking for me.

And they were relieved they found me alive, well and none the worse for wear.

They cared and they didn’t mind who knew it, not the hotel staff and customer onlookers, the police or the paramedics.

Tough guys or not, I was one of them.

I wasn’t Ms. Townsend anymore.

I was Sadie, Rock Chick.

How great was that?

“You get her statement?” Detective Marker asked, coming up to me with a smile.

“Tryin’,” the uniformed officer replied.

“Well, f**k boy, get it so she can go home,” Detective Marker snapped.

The officer looked at the ceiling.

I pressed into Hector, his arm went around my neck and he pulled me deeper into his side, partially into his front.

The officer asked me questions and I answered, telling my story.

I was, of course, not thinking clearly, considering all that happened. If I was, I might have asked for privacy before I shared in front of Hector how I duped Jerry. The Hot Bunch clearly found my tactic amusing. Hector, I could tell by the electric current whipping around the hall, absolutely did not.

I hurried through the rest, the officer finished with some questions, Detective Marker asked a few more and finally the officer flipped his notepad closed, nodded and took off.

The Hot Bunch and Marcus had been joined by Tom, Hank and Monty by this time. I got a couple more hugs and cheek kisses and we all stood around in the hall with Detective Marker.

“So it goes.” Detective Marker looked at me, “The Balduccis are all talkin’. Pointin’ fingers at each other. It’s confusin’ as hell and most of it’s lies but far’s I can read it, they been gettin’ pressure from outside factions.” Detective Marker’s eyes slid to Hector then to Marcus and I could tell he was lying when he went on, “Don’t know who. Don’t care.” His eyes came back to me. “Those boys never trusted each other anyway. For weeks they been establishin’ and breakin’ allegiances to each other and outside the fold. Marty was the smart one, pullin’ ahead of the pack, feignin’ loyalty to the brothers but makin’ outside deals. Donny felt the pressure, allied with Ricky and he knew where Jerry’s head was at regardin’ Seth and you. He used it, fed Jerry some of Marty’s potions so he would take out Harvey, the weak link, but also so he’d cast suspicion on Marty. Don’t know where Glover and Cordell fit into all this but Cordell has always been loyal to Seth, I’m surprised he was involved.”

“I think Jerry lied to him about what he was doing. Neither he nor Glover seemed to know what was happening. They didn’t even know Jerry roofied me. They thought they were doing something for me on my father’s orders,” I told Detective Marker.

Detective Marker nodded. “At least that makes sense,” he said then he got closer. “Ricky, Donny and Jerry obviously are goin’ down. But you gotta know, we don’t have shit on Marty, nothin’ that’ll stick anyway. He’s doin’ okay and he’ll be released without charge.”