Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
GYPSY
“Baby.” I jerked at Marco’s touch, turning from the tiny window on the hospital room door. “We should really get you home. You need to rest, and the kids and Odette need to see you.”
Marco had called to let my family know I was safe as soon as he got me out of that god forsaken cabin, and Odette and the kids had already been waiting by the time we arrived at the hospital.
At the sight of the bruises on my face, Sunny and Odette had burst into tears.
Not understanding why they were crying, Holly quickly joined in.
Marco held a confused Raleigh in his arms, and Rhodes stood off to the side, his fists clenched and his jaw ticking in anger.
But it was Ray’s reaction that had shocked me the most. He’d wrapped his arms around my waist and refused to let me go until he’d been forced to so the doctor could look me over.
They’d put up a fight when I told them all to go home. None of the kids wanting to leave my side, but Raleigh was getting restless, and they had school the next day. So with the coaxing of Rhodes and Marco, Odette got the kids loaded up and back to the house.
My friends weren’t so easy to convince.
Rory had pretty much broken down at the sight of me.
Considering the circumstances, I was lucky to have come out of there with only some bruises and a mild concussion, but she didn’t see it that way.
She blamed herself for not going to look for me sooner no matter how many times I told her it wasn’t her fault.
Cord eventually showed up and strong armed her into letting him take her home.
There were a few seconds before she finally relented where I worried he might actually throw her over his shoulder and carry her out against her will.
In fact, if it wasn’t for the men in their lives, I was pretty sure Eden, Nona, and Tempie would have packed a bag and temporarily moved into my house.
As it was, they refused to go unless they had my promise that I’d call as soon as I woke up the next morning so they could come over.
I never thought I’d say it, but thank god for bossy alpha-men.
Heaving a sigh, I turned back to the window while leaning into Marco, giving him my weight as I looked through the glass at McKenna. She sat beside Bruce’s hospital bed, hunched forward with his hand clasped in hers.
It was amazing how time could feel so off kilter during stressful events. The short time I’d been abducted by Malachi had felt like an eternity. However, the several hours after being rescued had gone by in the blink of an eye.
After spending more than an hour giving my statement to the police, I finally found out what Malachi had been talking about when he said he’d lost everything.
Marco told me how McKenna and the girls were working with the police and a team from Alpha Omega to take Malachi down.
He told me about the raids the night before, and how Black had escaped before he could be arrested.
Bruce had been the one watching over McKenna and ended up taking a bullet to the chest trying to protect her.
Once Marco got us safely away from the hunting cabin, he’d informed her that Hayes and Walker found him, and that he was still alive and in surgery at Mercy Hospital.
She’d spent the forty-five-minute drive sobbing uncontrollably in the back seat while I held her and whispered soothing words in her ear.
Turned out, she’d been in love with Bruce for quite some time and she didn’t know how to handle the relief she felt after hours of thinking he was dead.
The only reason she’d been sucked in by Malachi was because she didn’t think she was good enough for a man like Bruce.
It was a feeling I used to be all too familiar with.
Bruce had pulled through surgery and was going to make a complete recovery.
As soon as McKenna got the all-clear from the doctor, she’d rushed to his room and refused to budge, making such a scene that the nurses and doctors finally relented, and brought in a more comfortable chair so she could spend the night in his room.
I watched as Bruce lifted his hand and gently caressed the side of her face. She smiled and leaned into his touch, placing her hand over his.
“You think they’ll be okay?”
“They’re gonna be just fine,” Marco answered, wrapping his arms around me from behind.
“She didn’t think she was good enough for him,” I murmured, staring at the couple so clearly in love with each other. “She’s one of the sweetest, kindest girls I’ve ever met, and she didn’t think she was good enough.”
“Sounds familiar,” he said with a soft, teasing lilt.
“Yeah.” I pulled in a determined breath. “But I’m going to help. I’ll make her see just how truly amazing she really is.”
“If anyone can do it, girasol, it’s you.” Shifting me to his side, he started leading me down the corridor toward the exit. “What are you thinking?” he asked once we reached the parking lot?
“I’m thinking....” I paused to really give that some thought when my stomach decided to let out a loud grumble. “I’m thinking I haven’t eaten all day, and right about now, I want to binge on a huge pizza from Momma Gianna’s, then take a scalding hot shower and collapse into bed.
Beeping the locks on the Cherokee, he opened the passenger door and helped me inside as he stated, “That’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll get.” Just as simple as that.
My guy. Always taking care of me.
Marco
As expected, the kids and Odette had clung to her like shrink wrap when we first got home earlier.
Fortunately, once they realized she was going to be okay they’d been able to settle.
After the ordeal she’d been through, Gypsy had gone to bed early, crashing almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Odette helped me get Holly and Ray tucked into before heading home herself. I rocked Raleigh to sleep before putting him in his crib, and had moved around, quietly shutting the house down and locking up for the night.
When I finished and started for the bedroom, Rhodes was waiting in the hallway for me.
“Hey, bud. You good?”
Looking straight into my eyes, he mumbled, “Thank you,” in lieu of answering. “You kept your promise. You protected her. So I just wanted... well, I just wanted to say thank you.”
“Always, Rhodes. For any of you. Never doubt that.”
His throat worked hard to swallow as he gave me a nod. “I don’t doubt it. Not for a single second.” Then he turned and opened his bedroom door, issuing a quiet, “Goodnight,” before closing it behind him.
It took me a few seconds to get a grip on everything I was feeling from that, but once I did, I headed into my and Gypsy’s room and climbed into bed.
She rolled, throwing her arm around my waist and snuggling against me.
Her warm body was heavy, her soft breath steady and even with sleep as the events from that day continued replaying in my head.
I laid there for more than an hour, trying to find sleep.
When it became obvious that wasn’t going to happen, I slowly rolled her to the other side of the bed and climbed out.
Dressing in a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt, I moved out of the room and into the kitchen, keeping the lights off so as not to wake anyone up.
Bracing my hands on the counter, I dropped my head and closed my eyes, pulling in a deep breath to try and calm my heart. It had been racing since Rory appeared in the door of Lincoln’s office earlier that day and hadn’t stopped yet.
I’d seen some of the most horrible things you could imagine during my time as a Ranger. I’d experienced heartbreaking loss when Juan died. But never in my life had I been as scared as I was today.
The thought that I could lose her had nearly crippled me, and had it not been for Linc, Xander, West and Cord at my back, I didn’t think I would have made it.
The forty-five-minute drive through the woods to that cabin had been the longest minutes of my life, and when those gunshots sounded from inside, my heart stopped.
It was only thanks to Xander and Cord’s strength that I hadn’t killed Black once we had him detained.
That short amount of time spent thinking I was about to lose the one thing that meant the very most to me was too much to bear, and the nightmare I’d lived through just wouldn’t loosen its death grip on me.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Black pinning Gypsy to the ground, I heard the sounds of her screams and gunfire, and every time that happened, I felt like I was dying all over again.
I felt Gypsy’s arms come around my waist and her heat hit my back as her melodic voice asked, “Can’t sleep?”
Grabbing her wrists, I pulled her arms tighter around me and let out a sigh. “Not sure I’ll ever sleep again after today,” I admitted, looking out into the dark living room.
“Oh honey.” She shifted, squeezing her way between me and the counter. “Marco, I’m okay,” she said, placing her palms on the sides of my neck. “I’m right here with you. I’m perfectly safe now.”
“You are now, but what about earlier? Gypsy, he had a fucking gun. He could’ve killed you.”
Her hands shifted to my cheeks, and she forced my face closer to hers. “He wouldn’t have killed me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes I do,” she answered quickly. “I knew you were coming. I knew it with everything I am that you were coming for me. I just needed to fight long enough for you to get there.”
I appreciated her words, but I just couldn’t accept them. She was giving me way too much credit. I didn’t have the faith in myself that she did. “And what if it had taken me longer, huh? What if I didn’t get there when I did.”
“Then I would have kept fighting,” she said with determination.
“I would have fought and fought for as long as it took.” Her fingers slid into the hair at the base of my neck, and she lifted up on the balls of her feet so our lips were only an inch apart.
“I wasn’t going to die in that cabin. Not when I had so much to live for.
I had you and the kids to get back to. We promised each other a great life, and nothing is going to come between that. Ever.”
That tightness in my chest began to loosen and the knot in my gut started to unfurl. “Girasol—”
“I believe in you, Marco. I believe you when you say you’ll always protect me, that you’ll keep me and this family safe.
I believe it and I’ll never stop. So when I lay my head on that pillow at night, I’ll do it knowing that nothing is going to hurt me because you’ll be here.
And I’ll wake up every morning knowing that it’s going to be one of the best days of my life because you’re in it. ”
“Christ, Gypsy. I love you.”
Her smile brightened the entire room. “I love you too. And I’m here for you for as long as it takes to get you past these demons.”
Leaning in, I pressed my lips against hers in a hard kiss. “Thank you, Gypsy.” I wrapped her in my arms and buried my face in her hair on a sigh. “I’m just so fucking thankful you’re okay.”
Looping her arms around my neck, she pressed another kiss to my lips. “As long as I’ve got you, I’ll always be okay.”