Ruthless Reign

Chapter 20

“They just pulled up,”Dad said, peering through the window of my hospital room, set fifteen stories above the emergency entrance. “So you can stop your fuckin’ squirming.”

“How does she look? Is she okay?”

Mythroat scraped with a hoarse dryness that begged for a solid cough, but I stifled it, swallowing with bared teeth. Coughing would only make the pain worse and possibly open my stitches. The ones on the inside and the outside.

Dad’sface hardened as he watched something out the window I couldn’t see and I felt my stomach churn. “What? What is it?”

“Kaleb,” Ma chastised, and I felt her hands on my shoulders, trying to keep me down as I moved to sit up. “Stay fucking still or so help me…”

Shetrailed off, but the threat in her tone combined with the stabbing ache in my chest had me settling back against the raised backing of the hospital bed. She’d already let me have it over the fact I wasn’t wearing a vest. She wouldn’t hear any of my excuses even though the truth was I would’ve worn the fucking thing if it was under the back seats in the Bronco where I always kept it. But when we pulled up it wasn’t there and it wasn’t like I was about to ask if anyone had a spare. They would’ve just given me theirs right off their back. I wouldn’t have anyone trading their life for mine.

“Dad,” I snarled. “How bad is it?”

Henodded. “Doesn’t look too serious.”

Ishuddered, wiping clammy palms down my face even though the movement sent more spasms of pain flickering through my chest. “Fuck,” I said on an exhale, my breath and voice shaky even to my own ears.

“She’ll be all right. She’s a St. Vincent. We don’t die easy.”

Clearly.

Iwas proof of that, but I had a strange feeling that the reason I was lying here still breathing was more than just dumb luck.

ButBecca?

Shit.

Ishould’ve been there.

Ishould be there right now. Down in emergency, holding her hand while the nurses and doctors fixed her up.

“Tell me,” I asked Dad, and he stepped away from the window and dragged the chair in the corner up to the edge of the bed.

Heleaned over his knees. “Looks a little banged up. Might have a leg injury. She was limping until your brother picked her up.”

“And it was Séamas?”

Dadnodded. “That’s what she told Hardin.”

Zadefilled us in on all the gritty details as soon as she and Hardin left her old apartment.

“Why?” I seethed. “He already took his payment in my fucking blood. AndJackGreen. He had no right to lay a hand on her or Toby. They’re innocent.”

Beccawould be crushed. Toby and Kate were her first friends here. They took her in. Helped her get a job. She’d blame herself. I knew she would. For that alone, I was tempted to raze this entire godforsaken city to ash just to smoke out all the rats.

“Unless he found out about Gilligan’sFinch,” Dad corrected.

Mapursed her lips, shaking her head. “Nah. If he did, she’d be dead, not just injured.”

“I want to see her.”

“And you will,” Ma clipped. “Let her get the attention she needs first and then we’ll get her brought upstairs.”

“I’ll go,” Dad said, pulling my phone from the little table next to the hospital bed to set it next to me, within reach. “Call me if you want to talk to her. I’ll pass the phone.”

Iclenched my jaw. I didn’t want to talk to her on the damn phone.

Youknow what? Fuck this.

Iknocked the phone from the bed and threw off the thin cover on my legs.

“Kaleb,” Dad gripped my shoulder.

“It didn’t even hit anything,” I argued, speaking quickly so neither of them could have the chance to argue with me. “It barely clipped my lung. It was through and through. The artery is stitched up. They?—”

“They said you need to?—”

“No, I need to see Vixen.”

“It’s three fucking days,” Dad hissed, but he was already letting me up.

Thedoc had only ordered bed rest for three days.

“Three hours is going to have to be good enough.”

“Kaleb?”

Ilooked up, finding Becca in the doorway, clinging to the frame with no weight on her right foot. Her face was pale. Dried blood coated her leg from thigh to ankle. There were bruises on her neck. On her face. Cuts, too. One on her cheek that was going to scar.

Mythroat constricted and something inside of me crumpled.

Mawas up and over to her in an instant, quicker than I had time to properly take her in. She helped Becca hobble to the bedside, muttering curses.

“Christ help us, you’re just as bad as they are,” I heard her grumbling.

Istood and felt the blood drain from my head in a way that had the room spinning until I fell back on my ass, grimacing. “Vixen?” I choked just as her arms came around me.

Shehugged me gently as her warm tears smeared onto my collar, but I pulled her hard against me, inhaling her scent, tainted with the earthy copper of blood.

“Don’t, you’ll hurt yourself,” she protested weakly, her voice watery, but I only squeezed her harder.

“You’re okay?” I asked.

Shelaughed against my neck. “Really? You did not just ask me that.”

Ipulled her back to look at her, ignoring the cold sweat rushing over my chest and back. “What the fuck did that bastard do to you?”

“NothingI can’t handle.”

Shelooked at the bandage dressing on my chest with pain and guilt in her eyes. I placed my palm on hers, right between her breasts, where I knew she had a wound that likely looked a lot like this one. “We match now, Vixen.”

Shewiped her nose and huffed a dark laugh just as a doctor was unceremoniously shoved into the room. He tripped, catching himself on Ma’s chair to right his glasses.

Hardinappeared in the doorway behind him and a nurse squeezed past with a tray of medical supplies she placed uneasily on a rolling table.

Marelinquished her chair for Becca, who grudgingly stepped away from me to sit down as the doctor set to examining her wounds.

“Brother,” Hardin said, his dark eyes analyzing the bandages before tracking upward. He nodded as his gaze met mine, a rare depth of emotion in his stare. His fists clenched, and he swallowed.

You good? he asked without words.

Ireturned his nod and a tiny notch of the tension straining in his shoulders loosened. A muscle in his jaw ticked.

Good.

“Ah, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Becca hissed as the doctor started to clean the wound in her thigh.

Iswung a leg off the bed at the same time Hardin stomped further into the room.

“Boys,” Ma growled. “Let the doctor work.”

Butthen she herself slapped the doc upside the back of the head. “CharlieBaker, your mother would have your balls for that bedside manner. Give the girl something for the pain before you start poking around like that.”

“Right,” the young doctor blurted, dismissing the nurse to go and get something for her. We didn’t have to come to the hospital often, our resident ex-military medic was able to handle the majority of injuries we had, but when we did, they knew better than to dose us up with pain meds. The doc probably just thought Becca was no exception to this rule.

Orat least that was what I rationalized to myself to stop from wanting to scalp him for being so rough with my girl.

“N-no,” Becca stuttered out. “No, I don’t want morphine. We need to talk and I can’t be fucking out of it for this conversation.” She gripped the arms of the chair and gave the doc a hard look. “Just get it over with.”

“I’ll lidocaine the area,” the doc offered, and she nodded, flinching as the needle injected the freezing agent into her skin.

Hardinthrew his hands through his hair, turning to look away as the doctor worked. He didn’t have to explain why.

Wewere no strangers to blood and gore, but there was something deeply fucking offensive about it when it painted her skin. Watching the doctor stick needles in her and having to see her flinch made my trigger finger twitch. ButI deserved it.

Ireached over, peeling her hand from the arm of the chair to squeeze it in mine as the doctor worked.

Ididn’t let go until he was finished and both he and the nurse left.

Theyrigged her up an IV for fluids and already there was a little color returning to her face. They were able to close the long cut across her cheekbone with medical glue and butterfly closures instead of stitches, but I could tell from the look of it alone that it would scar. She’d have to look at it for the rest of her life.

I’dtake Séamas’ whole damn head for this in repayment.

“What did you want to talk to us about?” I asked Becca as she rejected the tray of food offered by the rounds nurse and she put both of them on my bed table instead.

“You need to eat,” Hardin said, still standing sentinel by the door like he expected the Sons to walk in here and take over the hospital Joker style.

Beccashook her head. “Later. We should talk.”

Sheand Hardin shared a look I didn’t like one bit and then Hardin jerked his head toward the door, eyeing Ma and Dad. They took the not so subtle hint and left, Dad muttering that they’d be just down the hall.

“What’s this about, Vixen?” I asked as the door closed, hating that I felt like an outsider to whatever information she was about to drop when clearly Hardin knew what the fuck was up.

Beccabit her lip, thinking for a second as she stared at the floor. “I owe you both an explanation?—”

“For what?”

Shelooked over at me pleadingly, and her eyes glossed over with unshed tears. “This is my fault,” she said. “All of it. IfI’d?—”

“Don’t say that. It’s not true. None of this is your fault.”

Shelifted a hand, asking for my silence.

“Look, I’m going to just get it all out there. If you could both just not say anything until I’m finished, I would really appreciate that.”

Itwasn’t like she needed to ask Hardin.

Ihad no idea what the hell she was going on about, but I mimed zipping my lips, giving her a wide eyed look of incredulity that I hoped conveyed that I was not worried in the slightest. Even if Hardin looked like he was ready to tear apart the room at the drop of a pin.

MyVixen took a deep breath and began.

Ididn’t know what I was expecting, but the words that poured out of her definitely weren’t it.

Sheknew Aodhán.

Andnot just knew him, but he was her friend. They were friends. They were…friendly.

Notimportant. Nothing happened between them.

Whatwas important was that Aodhán cared about her enough to try to warn her to leave town. He was in her fucking classroom while Hardin and I were out in the hall.

AndGilligan’sFinch?

Itwas him. He blew it up to make sure Becca’s cover was maintained.

Hewas just as fucking unhinged as his damn father, but…he saved her. Made it so the Sons could never find out she was there.

Sheagonized over the last few things.

ThatAodhán had tried to warn her about the meet. That something was wrong.

Andthat Séamas had known about her—who she is to Damien—for a while now and she didn’t tell us.

Icould see Hardin’s face turning progressively more and more red as she spoke, but like she requested, he didn’t speak until she seemed to be finished. ButI suspected there was even more she hadn’t quite gathered up the courage to spill yet.

Hardinlooked at her with enough acid to eat away at the heart of even the strongest man. “You don’t get to decide what’s important,” he said slowly, each word carefully selected. “You do not get to put yourself at risk to save us from worry.”

“He’s right,” I agreed. “The instant you knew that Séamas was aware of your connection to Damien you should’ve told us. And as soon as you figured out who Aodhán was—or even just suspected it—we should’ve known.”

Hardincursed, muttering something to himself as he ground his teeth behind his lips.

“I’m so, so sorry.”

Shedidn’t have to say it for me to see it in her eyes. To feel it. She would never lie to us again. Never keep anything from us. I could tell. This was a hard lesson, but she’d learned it.

“No more lies,” she promised as if reading my mind.

Whenher eyes met mine, I gave her a small smile. “You know we would’ve gone anyway.”

“What?”

“To the meet. Even if you had told us all about this Aodhán guy and that he said something was off or whatever. We still would’ve gone. And you still would’ve stayed. It wouldn’t have changed anything.”

Shelooked at me dubiously, but I wasn’t just saying it.

Iwaved a hand toward Hardin for him to confirm it, and he grunted his grudging agreement. “So, this isn’t your fault. But maybe we can use it.”

Herbrows lowered.

Hardinbalked, giving me a sour look. “He would’ve cleared out of the house on FrederickDrive by now.”

Ishook my head, trying to string together the frayed edges of thoughts fighting through the exhaustion, blood loss, and the sedative still wearing off in my veins from surgery.

“Do you trust him?” I asked Becca, earning myself identical looks from her and Hardin. “Do you trust Aodhán?”

“He shot you,” Becca replied, deadpan.

Imade a noncommittal sound, tipping my head from side to side. “Didn’t kill me, though, and I think…I think maybe it was on purpose.”

“What?” Hardin said, the single word a whip cracking clean across the room. “Take a fucking nap. We’ll talk when you?—”

“No,” I said, the forced tone making the ache in my chest bloom. I grimaced. “Just hear me out for a goddamned second, okay?”

Hischeekbones flared, but he leaned back against the wall, waiting with his arms crossed.

“At the meet, when Séamas told us to give up the guns—I thought maybe I was imagining it—but I was so sure he mouthed the word ‘don’t’ to me. Like he was warning us not to do it. And then after, just before he finally raised his weapon to fire, he clenched his fist at his side.”

Hardintipped his head to one side, considering.

“I’m sorry, why does that matter, exactly? About his fist?” Becca asked, turning in her chair to face me.

“It’s the sign for telling someone to ‘hold.’ Not to move,” I explained.

Somethingpassed over Becca’s face.

“He wasn’t lying,” she said, mostly to herself.

“What do you mean?”

“He said that he never misses,” she explained. “WhenI…saw him earlier.”

Hardinpushed off the wall. “When you fucking what?”

Sherecoiled, putting her hands up. “I didn’t get to that part, yet.”

“Mind sharing with the class, Vixen?”

Whenshe was done, she had Hardin by the throat. Metaphorically. And actually, I think she had us both.

Thisgirl.

Thisfucking girl, man.

Icouldn’t help the light chuckle that escaped me as Hardin sank down into a crouch in front of her chair, peering up at her like a courtier before a queen. I couldn’t tell if he was furious or if he was about to offer his unwavering fealty to her for the rest of his miserable life.

Ididn’t think he knew, either.

Hecocked his head at her. “You beat him with a tire iron?”

“Just a little,” she replied with an innocent shrug that had my balls in a vice. “He shot Kaleb. I should’ve done far worse.”

“You could’ve been?—”

“But she wasn’t,” I interrupted Hardin, wondering when exactly he’d gotten so damn comfortable talking to her. He barely talked to Ma and Dad this much. I was the only one who got regular tongue lashings from my brother.

Iscoffed, wincing when it sent a pang of discomfort through my chest.

“He really does care about you, doesn’t he?”

Bothof them looked affronted by the question, but an idea was starting to take shape in my head. Hardin wasn’t going to like it. Becca might not, either, but I needed them to listen, anyway.

“What are you thinking?” Hardin asked.

“What if we asked him to meet?”

Hiseyes lit with black fire. “Have you lost your damn mind?”

“Just hear me out. We know he cares about Becca, right?”

Noone argued that. Men didn’t go around blowing up entire fucking pubs filled with people to protect a woman they didn’t give a shit about. And while I wanted to skin him alive for taking out the Kents, I also knew it was likely the only reason Séamas didn’t find out about Becca’s or our involvement in the deaths of two of his men.

“We also think he might’ve not killed me on purpose, yeah?”

“Debatable,” Hardin grumbled.

Igave him a look.

“I think we should show him what Séamas did to you,” I told Becca, and she looked visibly ill, her pale complexion going a shade of green.

“He’s not getting anywhere near her,” Hardin seethed, his nostrils flaring as he glared at me and rose to his feet. “Forget it.”

“Think about it for just a second.” I pushed myself up to sit higher on the bed, trying to get level with him. “If he cares about her, maybe he’ll help. Maybe he’ll even take care of the problem for us.”

“I don’t like it,” Hardin argued.

“If he refuses to help us or anything about him seems false…fuck, if he even breathes wrong, you can kill him or take him, whatever you want to do. ButI think we need to play this angle. It’d be a waste not to.”

“You really think he would kill his own father?” Becca asked skeptically and I didn’t miss how Hardin flinched at her words. She noticed it, too, but didn’t draw attention to it, sharing an oopsie look with me, instead.

Iopened my mouth, but it was Hardin who answered her with a grudging sigh. “He might.”

AndI knew he was thinking the same thing I was.

Hardinkilled our father to protect the people he cared about from him.

IfAodhán cared about Becca as much as he claimed to, then who was to say he wouldn’t do the same for her?

Ifit became her or him?

“If he won’t cut the head off the snake, maybe he’ll at least be able to buy us time until Diesel can get here?”

“They’re coming?” Becca asked, panic and relief warring on her face.

“They’re mobilizing,” Hardin corrected her.

“It’ll take time. Diesel has his own shit that he needs to take care of in ThornValley. He’ll need to make sure things are properly looked after while he’s gone.”

“What about the Crows?” Becca pressed.

“They’re coming, too,” Hardin told her.

Ireached for the sad hospital burger on my tray and took a bite, knowing I was going to need my strength back. “We have Zade to thank for that,” I said around a mouthful. “Dad’s pissed at him, but as soon as he told Diesel what happened at the meet his mind was made up. I think Dad’s only pissed at Zade because it should’ve been him who did the asking himself.”

“They’ll be here in a week,” Hardin continued. “But he can only spare half his force without leaving a backdoor open in ThornValley for trouble.”

“And we still don’t have any idea how many men Séamas has at his disposal. For all we knew it could be ten or two hundred.”

Beccalicked her lips. “MaybeAodhán will tell us.”

Iforced my throat to swallow, feeling the food sink like a weight in my chest, aching as it traveled all the way down my esophagus.

“Maybe,” I agreed. “ButI don’t want you or my cousins or anyone else in any more danger than they need to be, so I need to ask you again, Vixen, and I need you to answer me honestly this time…”

Herthroat bobbed.

“Do you trust him?”