Chapter 32 Mac
MAC
It didn’t seem that long ago I was in this hospital with stab wounds. Now I’d been fucking shot. Thankfully, they’d gotten both bullets out in surgery.
Concerned, I watched Arro as she slept in the armchair beside my bed.
She was there when I woke up for the first time during the night, while the nurses explained what happened to me and assured me the doctor would be in first thing to talk to me.
The doc had arrived fifteen minutes ago, and Arro had slept through the whole conversation.
Still in a lot of pain, I wanted to reach out for her, but every time I did, it hurt.
Apparently, I’d been out after surgery for a whole day and night. I’d sluggishly demanded answers from Arro last night before exhaustion pulled me under again.
The shooter was Lee Kilmany’s girlfriend, Roisin Bankman. She was also Craig Kilmany’s ex-girlfriend. They’d been working together to avenge Craig. I still didn’t know if she’d been aiming for me or Arro, or both. All I knew was they were both behind bars now, and Arro was safe.
A noise brought my head up from watching Arrochar sleep. Robyn hurried into the room with Lachlan at her back. Remorse filled me as my brave, strong girl’s face crumpled, and she burst into quiet tears as she reached for my hand.
“I’m okay, wee birdie,” I promised, tightening my hold. “I’m right here.”
Lachlan rested his hand on her shoulder as Robyn sat down on the free chair at my other side and tried to gather herself.
“I was so worried.” She swiped at her tears, her gaze roaming over me. “Dad, you gotta stop doing this to me.”
I chuckled and groaned as pain shot through my back.
“What? What’s going on?” Arro jolted awake, her face adorably sleep-creased as her wide eyes flew around the room. She relaxed at the sight of Robyn and Lachlan, but tensed as soon as she looked at me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, darlin’,” I promised her.
Arro stared at me, haunted.
I wanted to kill Lee and Roisin.
“I’m okay,” I assured her.
“Are you okay, Arro?” Lachlan asked her.
“He’s still furious the police arrested you,” Robyn said. “We all are.”
Confusion and anger filled me. “What the fuck?”
“I hadn’t told him yet.” Arro shot her brother and my daughter an annoyed look.
“You got arrested?” I demanded.
She shrugged wearily. “I fought with the police about not getting to go in the ambulance with you, and then Roisin said some things … I just flew at her.”
“Broke her nose,” Robyn added proudly.
I raised an eyebrow at Arro.
But she didn’t smile. She shrugged again, dark shadows in her eyes. “I would have killed her if I’d had the chance.”
Realizing how terrified she must have been, how much trauma it must’ve brought back from her father’s death, I held out my palm to her. Arro slipped her hand into mine, her lips trembling as she refused to look at me.
Fear niggled in that place where all my demons laid in wait.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Arro called me. I called my lawyer, and we both arrived at the police station to ream them. They had witness statements from her neighbors. They told me they were keeping her there to calm her down. Oh, aye, fucking arresting my sister after her boyfriend gets shot is one way to keep her calm.” Lachlan’s voice rose angrily with every word.
Robyn hushed him, reaching up to soothe him.
Looking back at Arro, that niggle wouldn’t leave me alone.
She still wouldn’t look at me, even though I silently begged her to. I squeezed her hand, but she merely tightened her grip.
Robyn cleared her throat, drawing my attention and I saw her watching us with a furrowed brow. Ever so perceptive, she released my hand to stand up. “Lachlan and I will get us all some coffee. Can we get you anything, Dad?”
“Water, if I’m allowed.”
“We’ll check with the nurse.”
I gave her a grateful nod as she led Lachlan out of the room to give us privacy.
“Talk to me,” I demanded.
Finally, Arro lifted her gaze to meet mine. And promptly burst into tears, racking sobs that gutted me.
I tried to reach for her and hissed in pain, which only made her cry harder.
Fuck!
“Arro, please, darlin’.”
And then suddenly she was clinging to me, resting her head on my stomach as she cried more tears than I knew a woman had in her.
It was awful. I’d give anything not to have to witness her like this. Emotion tightened my chest as I caressed her hair and waited for her to calm.
Finally, she whispered, “I was terrified. So terrified of losing you.”
I squeezed her shoulder as I brushed her hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry if it brought things back up about your dad.”
“Only you would know that.”
“Anyone who loves you would know that. I’m sure your brothers are worried about it too.”
“There was so much blood, Mackennon,” she whimpered.
“It was just a scratch,” I assured her.
Arro lifted her head, expression belligerent. “Just a scratch? Try two more wounds on top of the three that are already my fault.”
“These weren’t your fault, Arro. This was my shit that got us into this mess. And the other three weren’t your fault, either, for Christ’s sake. Fergus was unwell.”
“But you covered me.” She grabbed my hands. “As soon as that first bullet hit, your first thought was to cover me.”
Of course it was.
Understanding filled her eyes along with something like awe.
“I’m here, and I’m alive,” I reminded her. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“There was so much blood.” That haunted look flashed across her face again.
“Your pulse was fading beneath my hands. And all I kept thinking …” Fresh tears scored her cheeks.
“All I kept thinking was that I’d spent the entire morning trying to figure out a way to tell you I love you too … and I was terrified I was too late.”
I gripped her, pulling her toward me, the cardiac monitor picking up the sudden racing of my heart. “I know you love me. I knew it then, and I know it now.”
“But I never said it, and I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, Arro.”
“I love you, Mackennon.” She leaned gently over me to press a kiss to my lips. “I love you so fucking much, I think I would burn down the world for you.”
I kissed her harder, ignoring the pain for the pleasure. “I love you too,” I promised. “And I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got too much to live for. You. Robyn. Our family. You’re stuck with me for life, Arrochar Adair.”
She studied my face, her eyes and nose red with tears. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. “Move in with me. When you get out of the hospital. I know it’s fast … but we fit. Don’t we? It feels right.”
Joy filled me, obliterating any anger or resentment I felt toward Kilmany. “Aye, I’ll move in with you.” I grinned against her lips as she kissed me with happy pecks. “There’s definitely no getting rid of me now.”
“Good.” She kissed me harder.
“Okay.” Robyn’s voice cut loudly through the room. “That stuff can wait until you’re healed up.”
Arro smirked as she broke the kiss, but promptly slid off the bed to take her seat beside me.
I might have been lying in a hospital bed recovering from gunshot wounds, but watching my daughter, once estranged, fuss over me with worry and love, while a woman I’d adored from afar sat by my side with open love between us … well …
I actually was like the luckiest bastard out there.