45. Logan
logan
My fist connects with the piece of shit’s face, and he goes flying into the wall, losing his grip on his knife, and it clatters to the ground. CT and Mitch rush in, each grabbing an arm and holding him still.
“Bones! Bones!”
“Bones is not available right now,” Mitch tells him, holding him for me and nodding.
I step into his space, my fist flying over and over again, feeling his nose break under my knuckles and his blood drip off of my hand. His desperate, pathetic pleas only make me want to hurt him more.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Stetson untying an unconscious Thea. Her hand up above her is pale, her face streaked with tears and a redness caused by someone hitting her, and her leg. Fuck. He cut her leg enough that there’s blood dripping from it in a constant stream .
The sight of her has me stepping away from Eric and rushing to her side.
I don’t give a shit about him. I know my brothers and the rest of the group who joined us today will take care of him.
All I care about is her.
Stetson lifts her up, but I grab her gently from him. “I got her, I got her.”
Her light, fragile body is cradled against my chest, and I rush down the stairs, worried that she hasn’t stirred even once.
God, what if I was too late?
I feel my eyes burn at the prospect of that and yell for Stetson’s name.
He gets into gear, flying down the stairs behind me, and opens the door, first to the abandoned house and then the one to the back seat of the truck.
I somehow manage to slide us both in, taking care not to hurt her, and without a word, my brother gets in the driver’s seat and heads down the mountain to the nearest hospital.
“Hang in there,” I say, cradling Thea to me and pushing her hair back away from her face. I kiss the top of her head, and my hand goes to her throat, holding my thumb over her pulse and feeling for her heartbeat.
My eyes water, and I breathe a sigh of relief to feel it there, pulsing under my finger.
But I don’t remove it. I hold it there all the way to the hospital.
I was pissed.
Thea was coming back any minute from the x-ray they were doing on her wrist. They’d immediately gotten the cuts on her leg taken care of and assessed all the other damages, but they left me in the waiting room for the rest, stating I wasn’t family and couldn’t go back there.
I could have said I was her husband; I could have said I had every right to be there with her, but the truth is, I needed a moment to get myself together.
In the grand scheme of it all, now that Thea was safe and her sisters were on their way, I was allowing my brain to go over the entire situation.
She had locked me out.
Pushed me away.
Broken us up.
And for what?
She still got hurt and abused by her ex. She now had scars from that son of a bitch.
I could have prevented that from happening if only she didn’t push me away.
I had heard from CT, and they had done the noble thing and called the cops, retelling everything that had happened, and because Eric was on parole and clearly violated that in more ways than one, he was heading back to prison.
I wasn’t sure how long he would last in there, but I secretly hope it isn’t long.
He deserves everything that’s coming to him.
Mitch and CT were heading back to my mom’s to be with Lue, who I hear had begged to let her come to the hospital.
I said no.
I needed a minute with Thea before her sisters arrived, and I wasn’t sure how the conversation was going to go .
I love her. I’m in love with her heart, body, mind, soul—all of it.
But fuck, she hurt me.
I am man enough to admit that my feelings were hurt.
I’m finally called back, and Stetson waves me off, claiming he was getting coffee. I follow a nurse to a room, and she leaves me to it.
The sight of Thea in the hospital is not one I’ve ever wanted to see. Unless maybe she was fresh off having a baby, but that was most definitely not the case.
On her left wrist was a splint, holding together her fractured wrist. Her hair had been pulled up by someone in a ponytail, and she was working with a rag on her face to wipe away grime around her bruising face.
I knew under her blanket had to be a mountain of bandages from where he sliced her up.
Thank God he didn’t hit anything vital.
“Hey,” I start and clear my throat when I hear how rough it is.
She stops her movements and looks at me, her expression worried. “Hey.”
We stare at each other for a few minutes, and when I’m expecting her to start talking, she starts to cry instead.
As mad as I am, I’m not heartless, and her tears move me to come rest on the edge of her bed, opposite the side of her injured leg. I carefully pull her into me, holding her while she cries, and I admit that a few tears escape my eyes as well. Overwhelming relief that she’s okay has me emotional.
“I’m sorry.” Her words are soft and quiet, and I let her go when she starts to pull back .
“I know,” I say, sighing and running a hand through my hair. I have no idea where my hat ended up in all the chaos, but I don’t care. “What were you thinking, Thea? He could have killed you.”
Her eyes find mine and narrow slightly. “I was thinking he could have killed you too. And Lue. And how would I feel if I was responsible for that?”
I see being kidnapped put a bit of fire back in her.
“Like shit, but I wouldn’t have let that happen.”
She scoffs. “You think I let him kidnap me? He set fire to my restaurant to try to get me! You think he wouldn’t have done that to your house? With Lue in it? He has no compassion for human life. None. He would have done whatever he could to get to me, hurting others be damned.”
I stand, smirking slightly to myself with no humor attached. I pace away from the bed, angry, tired, and ready to fight.
“I was ready to take this on for you.” I turn back to her and place my hands on my waist. “I married you, Dorothy. I fell in love with you. I dreamed with you. And when trouble came knocking, you left? That’s not how this works.”
“This is not your problem!” Her chin trembles and her eyes shine, but I don’t allow myself to be pulled back in, we have to hash this out.
“This is my problem! You brought me into this!”
“I never meant for you to be so involved.” Her words absolutely gut me. Didn’t she know anything about me?
“I want to be involved, Dorothy. I am asking that you let me in.”
“I can’t.”
I take a breath, shaking my head. “Can’t what?”
“Can’t let you get too close.” Her voice breaks. “Can’t let you or Lue get hurt. ”
I clench my teeth, my brain unable to comprehend the lack of faith my wife has in me.
It cuts me to the quick.
“I would never do anything to hurt my daughter, and neither would you. But pushing us away, breaking us, is not a solution.”
Her tears fall, and I have to resist the urge to comfort her, even as anger overwhelms my senses.
I was just so pissed.
But…I still love her.
“Don’t push me away when we need each other the most. Don’t break us.”
For several moments, neither of us spoke. The deafening silence seems to be an answer, and I take a step back. “Thea, I?—”
“Holy shit, I’m going to fucking kill you.” Annmarie’s voice breaks us out of the trance we’d been in, and my time is up.
I take another step back, and Thea watches as I walk away. It kills me when she doesn’t say anything, but it’s killing me to stay.
As Juniper and Annmarie crowd her, I notice a third woman walk into the room, and I know whatever we need to say to each other will have to wait.
Thea has her sisters now. It was time for me to make my exit.