Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
brYCE
It felt like a decade had been shaved off my life by the time I slammed my truck to a stop outside my house.
Leaving the door hanging open, I ran at a full sprint toward the house. “Tessa!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. “Tessa!”
“Back here.”
That was her voice. Christ, I could have broken down in tears at the sound of it. Rushing toward the living room, I skidded to a stop at the sight of my woman and her girl curled up on the couch, holding on to each other.
She looked up, giving me a sweet, serene smile. “We’re okay, baby.”
I didn’t trust my eyes or ears at that point, so I bolted to the couch, going down on my knees so I could wrap my arms around the two of them. Only then did I truly believe they were all right.
“Christ,” I grunted, squeezing them even tighter and burying my face in Tessa’s hair. “I thought I lost you.”
“You didn’t, honey. I’m right here. Everything’s okay.”
I pulled back, cupping Tessa’s cheeks, my eyes darting between both of hers just to make certain. She was fine. In fact, she looked so relaxed she might as well have been curled up with a book in her lap. My woman, so goddamn strong.
Once I knew she was good, I let her go and shifted to Charity, taking hold of her the same way I had Tessa. Her blue eyes grew round at my touch. “You okay, darlin’?”
“I—” She stopped, tears leaking from her eyes as she nodded. I brushed them away with my thumbs and let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”
“Y-you’re not mad at me?”
I let her go and rested back on my haunches. “Sweetheart, why would I be mad at you?”
“It . . .” Her throat worked on a swallow. “It was my mom—”
“Yeah, your mom, Charity. Not you. You did absolutely nothin’ wrong.”
With that, she threw herself off the couch, colliding with my chest, her tiny arms squeezing so tight my ribs creaked.
I held her close, stroking her hair as she drew comfort from me, content to stay like that all night if necessary.
When I lifted my gaze to Tessa, she was beaming past the tears running down her beautiful face. “I love you,” she mouthed, pressing her hand with my ring on it against her heart.
And just like that, everything in my world was right once again.
“You sure you want to do this, brother?” Hunter asked as he moved beside me through the hospital corridors. “This shit’s still fresh. You think you can see her without doin’ anything stupid?”
I didn’t bother answering. It had been two days since Tessa was attacked, and I still couldn’t close my eyes without the worst-case scenario running through my head.
I had to do this. I had to look that bitch in the eyes myself to confirm my woman was safe.
Stopping in front of the hospital room, I looked to Fred Duncan, the officer standing guard at the door, and tilted my chin up.
Silently, he gave me a nod before moving to the side to grant me access.
Stepping into the room, I slammed the door closed behind me and flipped on the lights. The waif-thin woman in the bed shot awake and jerked up, hissing in pain and grabbing her injured shoulder.
It took a second for her eyes to adjust to the light, but once they did, she narrowed her furious gaze on me. “What the fuck are you doin’ here? You aren’t supposed to be in here.”
I moved quick, closing in on the bed and ripping the call button out of her hand before she could push it.
Ava Winslow looked like death warmed over.
Her skin was sallow, her cheeks were sunken, and it looked like she hadn’t bathed in days.
Whatever she’d been on when she’d decided to break into my house and terrorize my woman and girl had long since worn off, and by the shakiness in her limbs, I knew she was going through withdrawl.
“You’re fucked,” I hissed, bending at the waist to get in the woman’s face.
Her eyes bugged, and I could see the fear clear as day. Good. I wanted her to be scared.
“Talked to the DA this mornin’. You’re goin’ in for attempted murder, child endangerment, and a whole hell of a lot of other shit that’s gonna make goddamn sure you don’t get out for a long fuckin’ time.”
“Fuck you,” she snarled, bravado pasted on her face, but I saw right through it.
“I’m gonna call in every favor I can, collect on every marker owed to me, to make sure every single day you’re inside is more miserable than the last. You won’t be safe anywhere, you hear me?”
“Y-you can’t do that,” she whispered.
“Already did, bitch. No matter what you do, you’ll be lookin’ over your shoulder for the rest of your pathetic life. And you’ll do it knowin’ me and my woman are givin’ Charity a life you could never give her.”
She began to rant and yell as I stood tall and turned on my boots. The door closed on her screams of rage, and when I looked over at Hunter, his lips were twitching with humor. “You feel better now?”
“Fuck yeah,” I grunted. With that task done, we headed back down the hall and out of the hospital. “Haven’t said it yet, but thank you. What you did the other night . . . I’ll never be able to pay you back.”
Because of him, Tessa and Charity were safe. Not only had he gotten there in time to stop Ava, but he’d also caught her tweeker boyfriend running from the scene and incapacitated him before he could escape. Now they were both going down on serious felonies.
“Nothin’ to pay back, brother, you know that. I’ll always have your back, no matter what.”
Stopping at the side of my truck, I looked across the bed and studied my best friend closely, seeing the sincerity shining in his eyes. “Still, doesn’t mean I’m not gonna try.”
Hunter shook his head on a laugh. “Fine, if you’re dead set on payin’ me back, there’s a forty-year-old bottle of Scotch I’ve had my eye on for a while. You can start there.”
“Deal.”
With that, we climbed in my truck, pulled out of the parking lot, and started for home.
Where my wife was waiting for me.