CHAPTER 20
AVA
Mason left me in my room to shower and get dressed while he went to Jack’s to do the same. When he was done he managed to fix the broken lock on the window temporarily and called the intrusion in so there would be an official report on file.
Just over an hour after the scare of the alarm going off we were back at the hospital.
Mason stopped outside to speak with he two security guards Ky had hired to protect my brother.
I slipped into the room, once again leaning heavily on my stick.
Despite the fact I hadn’t even been awake two hours after my impromptu nap I was tired again, and my pain was setting in at the higher end of the scale, especially in my lower back.
“Ave? Where the hell have you been?” Jack snapped the second I walked in.
“Do not fucking start with me,” I growled as I turned to glare at him hard. He was sitting in the corner of the room, his cel in hand. I knew he’d been texting and calling me since I left, but I had ignored him.
“Is everything okay?” Colt asked as I completely bypassed Jack and headed towards the bed.
Colt was sat up, his cell, or what I knew had to be a replacement cell, in his hand and a coffee on the table in front of him.
He had some color back in his cheeks and he looked fully awake now.
Kylan was sat right beside him in the same clothes he’d been wearing earlier.
He looked just as drawn and exhausted as he had when I last saw him, but there was a satisfied, happy smile on his face now.
“Jack’s an ass, but I guess we all knew that already,” I shrugged nonchalantly. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. The pain meds they have me on are good,” Colt laughed. “Where did you disappear to?”
“I went to meet Mason, then we went to Jack’s to sleep for a few hours. I’m sorry I just walked out like that,” I told him.
“You needed to rest. I’m glad you went,” Colt told me. “Now you can help me to convince Kylan he needs to do the same.”
I looked to Ky and smiled softly. “He’s right. You look beat. Why don’t you go home and sleep for a while? I’ll stay until you come back,” I promised.
“Why don’t you all just go home to sleep and shower? I’m a big boy. I’ll be fine here on my own for a while,” Colt cut in, and if I didn’t know him so well I might have missed the slight wobble in his voice that told me he was pushing the easy tone he was using.
“Come on, pal. I’ll drive you home on my way to my place. I really need to shower and change,” Jack spoke up.
“You sure you can stay?” Kylan asked as he looked to me with concern.
“I’m sure. Mason’s here too, and Deacon text to say he’d be back in a few hours. He just had to sort out the security at the club for tonight,” I explained. “I’ll take care of him, Ky. I promise. He’s safe now.”
“Okay. Just for a few hours. I know I look quite a state,” he laughed as he self consciously ran a hand over his rather wild hair.
“You always look amazing, you know that,” Colt said, looking to his finance with a gentle smile. “But you have to get some sleep for me, babe. I’m worried about you.”
“I will. I’ll sleep, sort myself out and come back later, okay?
You rest to though. No trying to get out of bed on your own,” Ky insisted as he looked to me.
“Damn idiot nearly ripped his stitches open earlier trying to get to the bathroom alone while I nipped out to take a call. He’s unsteady on his feet. ”
“Mason will be here to help him. I won’t let Colt do anything else moronic,” I promised.
“Now who’s ganging up on who?” Colt demanded, but I saw the smile on his lips. He was happy to see his sister and his fiancé getting along so well.
As Colt and Ky hugged and said goodbye to each other, Jack approached me where I had sat in a chair beside Colt’s bed. He crouched down beside me and I glared at him.
“When are you gonna stop being pissed off with me?” he asked softly.
“Not yet,” I snapped back. “I’m still really pissed at what you did Jack. It wasn’t fair on me or Colt.”
“I just wanted the truth to come out once and for all. I cant lose you again Ava, and you were thinking about running. Don’t try and deny it. I’d do anything to stop that from happening again.”
“I’m not leaving,” I told him flatly. “Not yet anyway, but even if I do, you can’t stop me Jack. I’m an adult and I’m allowed to live my own fucking life!”
“Just know that there won’t be any running from me this time, love. You go, and I come right after you. I meant what I said. I love you and I am hot letting you get away again. You, me, and Mason were always meant to be. I know that. Mace knowns, and you do too if you’ll just stop fighting it.”
“I’m not fighting it anymore, but you make it a fuck of a lot harder to embrace what we could have when you act like you did earlier. If we’re together then we need to be a team. What you did…it hurt me. It made me feel like you didn’t trust me, and I don’t like feeling that way.”
“You ready, Jack?” Ky asked, breaking whatever Jack was about to say.
“We’ll talk later. Just stop being angry with me. I am always on your side. I love you,” Jack told me as he kissed my cheek feather light.
“Love you too,” I whispered. He wasn’t forgiven and he knew it, but we had come to a truce for now.
Just as Ky and Jack started for the door to leave, Mace walked in and stopped them.
“You guys leaving?” he asked.
“Yeah. I need to shower and I’m dropping Ky at his place on the way,” Jack answered.
“Just hold up a minute. Did you tell them?” Mason asked as he looked to me. I just shook my head. I should have, but I hadn’t really had chance yet.
“Tell us what?” Jack asked as he looked between Mason and I.
“Ava and I went back to crash at your place. The security alarm was triggered while we were there. No one came into the apartment, but someone tried. The fire escape window was jimmied and the lock broken,” Mason explained.
“Are you both alright?” Colt asked as he sat forwards and reached for me. I took his hand in mine and smiled.
“We’re both fine. Like Mace said, no one got in. The alarm must have scared them away.”
“Who do you think it was?” Ky asked. He was back at Colt’s other side, looking terrified all over again. “Not the guy who hurt Colt?”
“No. I doubt it. If he wants to finish the job he started, he’ll know Colt’s still in the hospital. I was thinking the Owen’s,” Mace answered as he looked to me with a weak smile.
“The Owen’s? The crime family?” Colt asked.
“Yeah. When Ava found that file you made we had suspicions that they had been the ones to grab you. They had already sent goons after Ava in search of you, so it seemed possible,” Mason went on.
“What? Did they hurt you? I thought I saw bruising on your face. Did they do that?” Colt asked all at once. The bruising on my face was barely even there any longer, having faded over the time I’d been in the city so I was surprised he’d noticed anything.
“It was nothing. I handled it,” I brushed him off. “When I went to see Owen’s he told me he’d back off. I assured him you knew nothing about their business and he seemed satisfied, but maybe he wasn’t. He may still be looking for you.”
“Fuck! How did I make such a damned mess?” Colt sighed.
“I’m on it. I have forensics dusting Jack’s window for prints as we speak. We’ll beef up security there if Ava’s staying there for now and we’ll keep her close. You’re safe with the security Ky hired, and I’ve spoken to them so they know to be even more vigilant.”
“I want Ava to have a security guard twenty-four seven. There’s no way this shit storm I created is touching her again,” Colt raged as he looked around at all of us.
“I can arrange that, Colt. We’ll keep her safe, Just try to stay calm,” Ky fussed as he pressed Colt to lie back again.
“I don’t need security. I can handle myself, plus one of the guys is usually with me. I’m safe, Colt. Ky’s right. You need to stop getting so worked up,” I warned.
“Mason?” Colt looked to his best friend.
“She’s right. Jack, Deak, or I will make sure one of us is always with her, and she’s carrying too. She’ll be fine,” Mason agreed, and when I smiled gratefully over to him, he gave me a panty melting wink.
“Carrying?” Ky questioned.
“I have my gun on me,” I explained as I pulled it from the small of my back and held it up to illustrate. “I might not be able to fight the way I could before, but my aim is really fucking good.”
“I still don’t like it. You have to do something to put an end to this, Mace. We’re not risking Ava or Colt getting hurt again,” Jack spoke up.
“I need evidence first. W have to prove Owen’s is behind it all. We got nothing from the struggle outside Temple, and that sonofabitch got the bun back. Maybe if I’d had that I could have got prints and tied it to Owen’s, but without it…” Mason trailed off as he looked sheepishly to me.
“Thanks for reminding me exactly how much of an idiot I am,” I told him with a rill of my eyes. I never forgive myself for never hanging that damned gun over. I’d been such an idiot to forget about it.
“Hold up!” Colt said. “What altercation? Is that where those bastards did that to your face?” Colt asked. “And what gun?”
“A lot has happened, big bro. We don’t need to go into it all now,” I said in an attempt to put him off.
“You said you spoke to Owens? When and how?”
“She’s right, man. You don’t need to hear everything now,” Mason told him.
“Stop trying to protect me. I’m fine and I want to know everything, especially when it has put my little sister in fucking danger. Tell me damn it!” Colt demanded. All four of the guys in the room turned to look at me and I sighed exhaustedly.
“For fuck’s sake, Colt! I’m trying not to overwhelm you. You’re in hospital. You need to rest and relax,” I growled.
“Tell me now, Ava or I swear to god I will get up and discharge myself this fucking second,” he snapped and I knew he was at the end of any patience he might have had before.