Chapter 24
24
Cassidy
I give Mr. Anders a small smile as I hand him his prescription and discharge papers, before heading to the nurse’s station, trying to stay focused on my day.
It’s been two days since Steal kissed me, two days with my mind in a fog. He seems so sincere, but the past still haunts me.
How can I push forward with him like he wants if I know I’ll bring up his misdeeds during arguments? And let’s not forget the asshole kidnapped me and our daughter, then had prospects pack up my apartment and hand in the keys.
The soil I put in his coffee maker this morning doesn’t make up for the fact he’s churned up my life. Maybe I need to mix some laxatives into his morning shakes, though somehow, I doubt that will make him hate me. The man’s been taking everything I’ve thrown at him, including the lizards in his office three days ago.
How I got in and out undetected I’ll never know, especially when I refuse to go to the clubhouse.
“Are you okay, Cass?” Sandra, the head nurse, asks as I place the clipboard on the tray.
I smile at her and lie, “I’m good, just tired.”
She hums. “Not long now until you take your boards.”
I wince and grumble, “Thanks for the reminder.”
She laughs, her gray hair falling over her eyes, which wrinkle at the corners. The woman is a saint, I tell you. It doesn’t matter if a patient is screaming and shouting at her or crying, she always stays calm.
Sticking my tongue out at her, I walk away from her laughter, and head to the waiting room.
“Who is next?” I ask to the room full of awaiting patients.
A guy with a cut eyebrow, looking me up and down while licking his lips, stands but freezes halfway when a voice snaps, “Look at my woman like that again, and I’ll gut you!”
I look to my left and raise a brow at Steal, who is busy glaring at the guy who now looks ready to piss himself. I notice a certain little redhead missing.
“Colt Brody,” I state, and he looks my way, his eyes softening when our gazes meet, “where is our daughter?”
The guy who licked his lips sighs and looks down, making me snort as Steal walks over to me. He cups my cheek and presses a light kiss to my lips, making my traitorous body tingle, and yes, I lean into him like the idiot I am.
He whispers, “With Killian, at home.”
I nod and leave his orbit and the waiting room, needing a little space, because I can feel myself weakening toward him despite my concerns.
“You do know the brothers aren’t very happy that they don’t get to meet Moira, let alone watch her,” he says as I walk to the staff room, him hot on my heels.
I didn’t realize it was already my break time, but I’m guessing Sandra was in on Steal being in the waiting room, especially by the grin she’s currently sending me.
“Traitor,” I mumble as I walk past, making her laugh. "I don’t trust them, Colt. Killian has wormed his way in, proving he'll die before anything happens to her, but the brothers, not so much,” I remind him as we walk into the room and to my locker. He sighs as I grab my bag and dig for my phone.
“I know, but what can they do to earn that trust back, Cassy? Because I’m telling you now, if you can’t trust them?—”
I cut him off, “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll be banished from the clubhouse, blah, blah, blah.”
I grin at the thought but ignore the pang in my heart.
Steal snorts. “No, you won’t be; I’ll be handing in my patch, Trouble.” I look at him in shock, and he shrugs. “I told you, I fucked up, I know this. At the very least, over the years, I should have explained things better, and then you would have taken my cut sooner, but I didn’t, and this is my penance.”
“Colt,” I start, unwilling for him to hand in his dad’s legacy over me when I don’t know if I can forgive him, but he cuts me off and demands, “Do you love me?”
I swallow hard at the intensity in his eyes.
“It’s not that simple,” I try, but he cuts me off again, "Answer the question, Cassy; do you love me?”
I sigh. “You know I do.”
He nods. There’s no point lying. The man owns my heart, he always has, and the fact Dad loved him, even when he screwed up, cemented he was the one for me, but that doesn’t change things.
“I know you want to say it doesn’t change things, and you’re right, it doesn’t, but it helps because it means we are not done.” He steps forward and cups my cheek. “Four years, and we still love each other, Cassidy Brody. Shouldn’t that mean something?”
I slowly close my eyes, hating how they tear up, and lean into his work roughened palm.
I haven’t changed my name back because I didn’t want to confuse the hospital staff, but also because I always wished my last name was Brody….
“I don’t know if I can overcome my trust issues, Colt,” I admit, and he brushed his thumbs over my cheeks.
My tears fall as he whispers, “It won’t happen overnight, Trouble. It’ll take time and hard work, but I’m willing to put in the effort. The question is, though, are you?”
I swallow hard, my eyes racing between his.
He held a gun to my head, he called me a patch-chasing whore, and I know that was to protect me—Piston showed me video recordings of all the conversations Steal and Anchor had without the club knowing—but that doesn’t change four years of his neglect, of being an afterthought.
I go to answer his question, determined to put myself and my happiness first, when my phone beeps. I sigh, pulling out of his hold to check it and make sure it’s not Killian.
I frown when I see a message from an unknown number, but my heart stops when I see a picture of my unconscious daughter with a grinning Faith beside her.
I gasp in horror. “Oh God….” Steal quickly takes my phone.
“Fuck!” He curses and gives me my phone back. He gets his out and runs out of the room, shouting into the phone, “Get to my house now, go!” and I rush out of the staff room after him.
Sandra frowns when she sees my frantic look, and I state, “I-I need to leave; it’s Moira….”
Her eyes widen, and she nods, “I’ll let Dr. Carmichael and Tanner know.”
I rush out of the ER only to find Steal climbing onto his bike. Instead of running to my car, I sprint over to him.
He holds his arm out, and I take it instantly, and jump on behind him, my arms going around his waist just as he spins away from the door of the hospital. I place my head on his back as my tears fall, my hold tightening around him.
She took my daughter….
It takes us half the time it normally would to get to the clubhouse when Cam opens the gates for us.
Steal parks near the door and I climb off before he even cuts the engine, and rush to the door with Steal hot on my heels, and chaos ensues when we enter the common room.
Women are crying while Medic is frantically putting pressure on a wound on Killian’s chest, and my eyes tear up seeing him unconscious on the floor.
“How in the fuck did she get onto club grounds, shoot Killian, then leave with a three-year-old without anyone knowing?” Anchor shouts with anger as Piston taps frantically at his laptop.
“Fuck,” Steal rasps behind me, and I shake myself out of my panic, and rush down the steps toward Medic.
His head shoots up when I skid to a stop next to him. He exclaims, “Fuck, Cassidy, he was shot in the chest and we brought him here, but I-I, fuck….”
I knock his hand out of the way and inspect Killian’s wound, leaning over to grab his shoulder and hip to roll him. Medic understands and helps, and I curse when I see no exit wound.
“Shit, the bullet is still lodged in his chest,” I curse, my heart pounding.
“Piston, what do we know?” Steal demands and I roll Killian back, then press against the wound, my mind spinning.
We’re not near the medical room, and even then, Medic doesn’t have the equipment I need.
Swallowing hard, I push aside my fear and allow my years of training in triage and emergency to take the wheel, and I hope it doesn’t bite me in the ass as I push my finger into the wound.
“Holy fuck,” I hear someone rasp behind me, watching me, but I ignore them as I feel around.
I don’t have any access to medical equipment, and the wound is on his right peck. I frown as I feel around, mumbling, “Subclavian artery is intact.” Medic sighs in relief and I continue cataloguing the injury, “the sternum is also intact and….”
“And what, Cassy?” Acid asks from beside me, but I ignore him as I feel the metal in his muscle tissue, and I quickly add another finger into the wound while Medic wipes up the excess blood pouring out.
“Got it!” I state and gently pull the metal out, handing it to Acid, then take the wet gauze from Medic and push down on the wound, then make eye contact with the dark gray ones I fell in love with. Suddenly, reality hits, his fear showing clear as day.
"Oh God," I choke.
Killian was shot trying to protect my daughter….
Moira has been taken….
“I’ll find our daughter, Trouble, I promise, and when I do, Faith will suffer,” he asserts, and a sob builds in my chest as Killian coughs, showing the first signs of life.
“I-I’m sorry,” he stutters in pain, and I shake my head at him, knowing it’s not his fault, while trying not to cry my eyes out.
“Y-you are t-the only o-one I-I trust with-with her. Y-you did all you could,” I tell him, and his “not enough” just hits my ears as he passes out from blood loss. I sob as I try to minimize his bleeding so I can stitch him up.
She took her, Faith took my daughter….
Oh…God.