WESTON
Iwatched her sleep for a good hour or two, then shifted off the bed and headed out into the living room of the house we rented.
It had taken a lot of favors and cash to make sure we had everything we needed, but both Dax and I were well enough off that it wasn’t a problem.
The simple ranch house was about two hours outside the city, where none of us knew anyone or had connections, in an effort to keep her safe.
I thought about her apartment, but I wanted to keep it safe if we ever needed it again, and I didn’t put it past them to blow up the building.
Dax was proving to the world something I always knew was true… she didn’t go down easy.
The guys sat around the kitchen table, coffee mugs in front of them, looking half-dead but they snapped to attention when I entered.
“She okay?” Picasso ventured.
“Yeah, Dani said she’d be out for another few hours.” I yawned, pouring myself some coffee.
In the past four days, none of us had gotten much sleep, fear keeping us all on high alert even before the assassination attempt.
Things in the Empire were volatile at best, everyone wanted retribution for what happened to Dax and word had gotten out it was the Mad Dogs.
It made our alliance with the Phantom Saints all that more precarious, because in their eyes it was further proof that MCs shouldn’t be trusted, like Tricks always said.
“How the fuck are we supposed to fix this if she won’t even hear me out?” Eagle muttered, slamming his fist down on the table. He looked up at me with fear and regret in his eyes. “Did I do the one thing she won’t forgive?”
It was clear to me that any doubt these men had about Dax had been washed away with her blood on the concrete.
Seeing her holding on to life by a thread of sheer willpower had fucked with all our heads.
Never had I so badly wanted to go back in time and strangle myself for letting her pull a stunt like that without proper protection.
She should have been wearing a vest or had more than just me up there to keep an eye on what the hell was going on.
If we’d had a bigger security presence, then things might have been different.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda, isn’t going to change the fact that we almost lost her, now we needed to handle the fall out.
“Dax will never be a woman who forgives easily, even with me at times,” I cautioned.
“The trick is not to let her win, you can’t give up, no matter what she says.
The whole thing is to see if you’re really going to stay with her even if she’s cruel to you.
She’ll do everything to make you walk away again, just to prove that she was right all along to be mad at you.
But, if you don’t back down, then the level of trust will grow and grow. ”
Picasso shoved back his chair so it was balancing on two legs, chewing on his bottom lip. “I don’t get it, she’s fine with the others, just not Eagle. How does that work?”
“As much as I know that woman, she’s still a mystery.
It could be as simple as she believes that they were being good soldiers and backed up their president.
You haven’t really spoken to her yet, I’m not sure you’re in her good graces after that crack about her brother,” I couldn’t help but point out.
Most of the guys had begrudgingly accepted the fact that I was now part of the deal—everyone but Picasso. I have no idea what fucking chip on his shoulder he had about me but getting the chance to get a rise out of him was just too good to pass up.
“Fucking hell,” he swore as his chair came slamming down on all four legs. “Clearly, I screwed up. We all know that her brother is the biggest trigger for her, isn’t it?”
“Yup,” I answered with a barely concealed smirk. “I would definitely expect some retaliation for that.”
“As much fun as this is to point out all the ways we’ve fucked up, I’d rather talk about how we can keep my little demon safe,” Void interjected. “Do we know where the hit came from?”
“The Wright brothers are still radio silent, but as soon as they get my message, they should get back in touch with me,” I shared. “That and I have to make sure I tell Harper what happened, she’ll be furious with me if she finds out after all this is over and done with.”
“That doesn’t really help us, now does it?” Picasso snapped.
And that was the last strand of my tolerance for this asshole snapping.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I demanded, stepping up to tower over him. “Ever since you came back from saving Harper, you’ve been a dick.”
“Actually, that’s nothing new,” Cognac interjected.
Picasso just glared at him then turned his attention back to me.
“You’ve had her all to yourself for how long and the moment someone else has a chance with her, you pull out all the stops.
Why the fuck do you get to be the golden child when you’ve fucked up worse than us, allowing her to almost get killed multiple times? ”
“Are we really back to this?” I bit out, fists clenching.
“You’ve known her for all of two weeks and most of that has been with her pissed or unconscious.
When you’ve known her for twenty years, then you can come at me with shit like that.
I’ve earned my place next to her, going to hell and back to make sure she was safe. ”
“From where I’m sitting, all I see is Dax doing all the work,” Picasso huffed, crossing his arms. “Every story I hear is Dax going in with guns blazing but where are you?”
“Right behind her watching her motherfucking back!” I roared.
“In the early days, she didn’t have bodyguards or other people to back her up.
When she started the Hidden Empire and created Two Tricks, she worked from a grunt on up to make sure no one knew she was the mastermind behind it all.
Yeah, I was placed up in the top ranks faster because of my skills, and it let me watch over her better, but I used to go on every job I could. ”
“When did it change?” Sprocket asked.
“What?” I questioned not following his train of thought.
“When did it change? When did she lock you away in your tech tower?” He rephrased.
I blinked at him a few times as I thought back to when she’d stopped letting me go with her.
“Just after we moved in together. She rose in the ranks and became an underling to the lead enforcer at that time. Dax pointed out that it didn’t make sense for one of the most valuable people to go with her to get the money we were owed and shit like that. ”
“Hmm,” Sprocket mused, nodding his head. “Seems to me, from your expression, that’s when a lot of things between you changed.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Picasso butted in. “It doesn’t change the fact that he let her walk into those jobs without backup.”
“Did Eagle go with you everywhere as you guys worked through the ranks?” Sprocket challenged. “I don’t recall you getting special treatment at all from anyone, least of all your big brother.”
Picasso opened his mouth to argue but shut it again, scowling.
“We’re missing something...” Eagle announced, catching all of us off guard.
He looked around at all of us and rolled his eyes.
“The attacks, we have to be missing something that connects all of this. Why Dax? Why the Mad Dogs? Why the cartel? She’s been running the show for a decade, and no one has made a move this big before. ”
“Dax said the same thing before she went out to give her announcement. She’d had a meeting with one of our arms suppliers and he gave her a tip that someone international was coming after her, but no one knows who,” I mused, tapping my chin with a finger.
“It would have to be one hell of a threat to make moves this big and no one really knows who was going after her.”
“Do you have a list of people the Empire has taken down? There might be a connection to all of that you didn’t see at the time,” Cognac suggested, surprising me.
I walked over to the counter, grabbed my laptop, and sat down at the table. “It’s something to look into, that’s for sure. It’ll take me awhile, but it would be a good place to start.”
“Mr. Weston,” Dani called from Dax’s room. “She’s getting restless, like she’s having nightmares again.”
Since they’d lightened up her pain meds the last two days, she’d started having these nightmares.
Normally just having someone in the bed seemed to help, but it seemed to be getting worse and only Void or I could get her to calm down.
Scooping up the laptop and my coffee, I headed back to do the work in bed.
We needed a break in this, because I wasn’t sure how many more hits like the one we’d just survived we could take.
The guys couldn’t stay here with us for much longer, they had a whole club to deal with and protect.
If the Empire got hit, who’s to say they weren’t next, thinking we’d hide out there.
I pulled up the security system of the compound and took a look around as I did most days to keep Eagle from losing his mind.
Things look normal, but didn’t they always before it was too late?
Dax started to toss and turn her head, flail her right arm and kick out with her legs as if she was fighting someone off. Quickly, I set my computer aside and reached out to comb my fingers through her hair.
“You’re safe, my heart, I’m here with you watching your back like the good shadow I am,” I whispered, placing a kiss on her forehead. “I promise, I’m doing everything that I can to find out who is behind this.”
Her arms shot out and clutched my arm, her nails digging into my skin but I ignored it. Instead, I shifted closer, so my body was aligned with hers. It seemed to calm her a bit, but it wasn’t enough. She needed someone else to make her feel protected on both sides.
“Dani, can you grab Void? I think she’s gonna need more than just me this time,” I said, my gaze never leaving Dax’s face.
A few seconds later, Void was pulling off his t-shirt and climbing in on her other side. He tucked in as close as she could without messing with her shoulder and put his arms around her waist. “Be a good little demon and rest now,” he murmured into her ear.
A frown appeared on her face at his words. “Don’t pout, my heart, we just need you to get better.”
Now that she knew that we were both here, it seemed to set her at ease, and she took as deep a breath as she could and finally relaxed.
“Do you think the nightmares will keep happening after the pain meds wear off?” Void asked Dani, who watched with a worried expression.
“Hard to say.” She sighed. “It could be a side effect of the meds, or it could be PTSD from everything that happened. The fact that she doesn’t have any other issues from what we can tell so far is a miracle.”
“That’s our girl, always defying the odds,” I whispered, placing a soft kiss on her lips.