Chapter Fifty-Two
Maddie
The first thing I notice the moment my subconscious floats to the realm of reality is that my arm really fucking hurts. Like, not a little, but a whole lot.
The second? I’m not dead. Because if I were dead, there wouldn’t be a horrible throbbing pain pulsing in my arm that drags me farther and farther away from the dreamland I’d been cozily tucked in.
Despite my annoyance, being alive seems like something that should be celebrated, so I don’t cling to my irritation as much as I would if the cute dream I’d been having was more of a sexy little fantasy of my guys, something I’ve had a time or two.
The Sandman and I would have some solid beef if that were the case.
The third thing that floats through my awareness is a Baxter-sized body sprawled beside me in the cloud of comfort that is my bed, looking like a demigod of the wind and sea but without the wild mane of hair.
His strands are loosely tied in a messy bun, his bearded face peering down at his cell phone as he sits quietly beside me.
Man, he’s handsome.
I shuffle awkwardly and, the second I move, his head snaps up just as his face morphs into one of pure relief that nearly renders me stupid. With a gentle drawl, he says, “There she is.”
My throat feels drier than Mom’s homemade cake when I croak, “Did I die?”
Baxter chokes on a laugh, shaking his head as his eyes close with the look of a man trying to find the patience to deal with his dumbass girlfriend. It makes my lips twitch, even as he rolls his head against the bed frame before looking down at me. “No, Sunshine. You didn’t die.”
“Well, shit,” I murmur. “I was convinced I saw the light for a second there.”
“You fainted,” the burly man covered in sexy tattoos says, those same tattoos only covered by a tight long-sleeved Henley shirt and lounge shorts that show off those wicked thighs when they ride up a little.
It’s not enough to distract me from the memories that suddenly slam into me with all the force of a well-timed wrecking ball. Crazy Toby. Baxter tackling him to the ground. Gunshot. Blood. Rayne tackling me.
Rayne.
My stomach twists into a sickening knot and I bolt upright, shoving myself into a sitting position way too fast for my lagging brain. “Rayne? Is he—”
“Shh, it’s okay,” Bax coos, hands landing carefully against my waist with a touch that sends comfort all through me. “He’s fine, Sunshine. Totally fine. Minor flesh wound on his arm, but that’s it. I think you scared him more than the cut on his arm.”
“So he’s okay?” I press, willing my sudden rapid heartbeat to calm the hell down before I pass out again.
Bax nods quickly, reassuring me with a smile.
I narrow my eyes on him. “Okay-okay, or man-okay?”
That’s when he pauses, pulling a face of contemplation that tells me he’s being picky about his words. I glare, and he eventually sighs before confessing, “Man-okay. But not from the cut on his arm. You scared the shit out of all of us, Mads.”
The exhale that leaves my body makes my lungs ache, and I fall against the bed with my usual dramatic flair. Only this time, that flair comes with a raging pulse of pain, and I whimper loudly before peering down at my arm, wrapped snugly in a white bandage.
That’s when I remember the bullet wound I spied just before my brain checked out of the Real Life Hotel.
Swallowing hard, I turn to face Bax before quietly asking, “What the hell happened?”
Bax shakes his head slightly, reaching out to brush my hair from my face, and I swoon at the soft action. Hey, I’m not dead, remember? My body reacts just as well now as it did before I was shot. Sue me.
“Toby was arrested at the scene. Well, after he woke up from the nap I put him in,” he answers, scratching his hand through my hair.
“There were enough witnesses and enough video evidence to send him down for assault with a firearm, attempted murder, and a whole other string of offenses. He’s done, Sunshine. It’s all over.”
Even as relief washes over me, there isn’t an ounce of victory that comes with Baxter’s words. Instead, I just feel tired, my shoulders a little lighter but no less burdened with the Toby-sized exhaustion that has plagued me for months on end.
“And Rayne? He’s really okay?” I push, desperate for the confirmation.
Bax gestures to the bandage on my arm and explains, “The bullet grazed Rayne before it buried itself into your arm. Paramedics patched you up while you were out of it, only after Rayne insisted that you were treated first. Neither wound is serious, but yours is probably going to hurt a little longer than his.”
I groan, feeling my arm ache at the mention of it.
“You fainted into Rayne pretty soon after you realized you took a bullet to the arm. Not before you called yourself and Rayne twins, though. Good little tension breaker, Sunshine,” Bax reminds me, and I slap a hand over my face before laughing into my palm.
“That’s embarrassing,” I grumble through my chuckles.
“No more embarrassing than Caid screaming like one of those fainting goats when he came running out of the apartment lobby and saw you on the floor,” Bax counters.
I frown and peek at Baxter through my fingers, laughing at the absurdity. “No, he didn’t.”
“Okay, no, he didn’t,” Bax confirms. “But it would have been real funny if he did.”
That makes me laugh loudly, and it’s the worst mistake I’ve made since I woke up, the pain that rattles through my arm drawing out a pitiful groan. “Ow.”
“Yeah, maybe don’t do that for a little while,” Bax suggests, leaning in to press a smiling kiss to my forehead.
I melt under him before glancing at the bedroom door, asking, “Where’s everybody else?”
“There’s an interrogation happening in the living room, but there aren’t any police officers involved,” he cryptically announces, lips twitching.
I raise an eyebrow. “What does that even mean?”
Bax chuckles lowly before taking pity on me, explaining, “Your girls showed up shortly after we got you into bed. Apparently, they got worried when you didn’t call them when you said you would.
They’re a group of women who are certain you had to be dead to miss a single phone call, so they rushed over.
I’m not convinced they didn’t see the videos circulating the internet right now of the whole incident, but they glared at me and I decided to hide in here with you until you woke up. ”
“Aww.” I pull a face, those adorable assholes making my heart all mushy and gooey, the cuties overshadowing the amusement I feel at having my burly, dangerous-looking man hide from three tiny women.
“It’s not so aww right now. They’ve been giving the guys the third degree. The only one who hasn’t cracked under the pressure is Rayne, and I think it’s pissing them off,” Bax admits, snickering when I snort loudly.
Nodding, I tell him, “If that man is going to share anything about himself, it’ll be to me. They’re shit out of luck.”
“Then how about we go save the others before they discover their security numbers and PIN codes to their bank accounts? Pretty sure AJ threatened to fight him,” Bax declares.
“Rayne?” I ask, wondering why the hell she’d fight him.
Bax shakes his head. “No, Toby. But I think she’d swing on anybody right now, so I wouldn’t rule Rayne out completely.”
Honestly? That’s so valid. I’ve known AJ almost my entire life, and she’s the kind of woman who would throw several punches for those she loves.
She’s as feisty and scrappy as she is lovey and sweet.
My little enigma of a best friend. She’s a complex mixture of actions and emotions, and I love every bit of her.
Bax goes quiet after that, and neither of us actually makes a move to get out of bed, leaving Rayne to fend for himself.
When I look over at him, his expression has changed into something softer, something sweeter.
There’s a vulnerability there now that wasn’t moments before, and my heart stalls as his fingers brush carefully against mine where my hand rests on my comforter-covered belly.
Quietly, so quiet I strain to hear him, he confesses, “I genuinely thought we lost you for a second there, Sunshine.”
The honesty cracks my heart in two, and I whisper his name like a prayer. “Bax.”
“I love you, Maddie,” he breathes suddenly, the confession knocking the wind out of me and mending that crack, the rhythm my heart beats doubling suddenly enough that my head feels light and fuzzy.
It’s a simple declaration, blurted like he couldn’t hold it any longer, and my throat tightens almost painfully at the warmth and certainty that bleed from those three words.
Swallowing three times, I wrangle my voice box into working properly so I can tell him, “I love you, too.”
The look on his face is enough to devastate me.
It’s like I’ve gifted him something precious that he doesn’t feel worthy of, and he leans down to cup my face and press a long, lingering kiss to my mouth.
He only pulls away long enough to mutter, “You scared the fuck out of me. Don’t do that again, Sunshine. ”
“Sorry,” I whisper, my lips brushing his.
“You should be.”
I scoff, and I see his smile even as he hovers close enough that his breath cascades over my lips. “I got shot. I think I deserve a free pass just this once. Cut me some slack.”
A tender laugh escapes him before he kisses me softly once more, the relief bleeding through the sweet touch of his lips against mine. It’s like he’s grounding himself with the kiss, proving that I’m still here, and I almost lose my composure and cry.
Thankfully, a knock at the door absorbs any tears that almost form.
Before either of us can grant entry to whomever knocks, Dad waltzes right into my bedroom without a single care in the world. “Malyshka!”
“Papa?” I yelp, eyes widening as I push Bax away, only to grit my teeth through the pain that slices through my arm. “Ow, ow, ow. Bullet wound. Hole in arm. Oh my God.”