Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CIDNEY
I wake again, but this time, it’s not because of the beeping. It’s because there are voices in the room. Deep, manly voices. I suck in a breath, my heart slamming against my ribs as I instantly begin to panic, but as those deep, manly voices register, I realize one of them is Justin’s.
Letting out a long sigh of relief, I turn my head slightly and look over to the little sofa against the wall and see him, Posey, Maverick, and Zadie.
Justin and Maverick are standing together.
They’re the ones talking, but the moment they sense I’m awake, they stop, and their gazes swing over to meet mine.
Maverick doesn’t make a move, but Justin does. He walks with purpose to my bedside. I don’t know what I expect him to say. I’m still pissed at him, but at the same time, I’m really happy to see him.
“You know who it was?” he demands.
“I’m feeling okay. How are you?” I snap.
His brows snap together, then his entire face softens, and I see a dash of pity in his eyes before he shakes it off and speaks. His voice comes out soft, almost like warm honey that soothes all of me from the inside out.
“How are you, Cid?”
My lips curve up into a small smile. It’s about all I can muster because the pain meds are beginning to wear off, and that phantom pain I was feeling earlier is very much real now. And it hurts just as I expected—everywhere.
“I don’t know yet,” I whisper. “It hurts.”
He crouches down beside the bed slightly, taking my hand in his as his gaze focuses on mine. “This is on me. This is my fault, and I’m going to fix it.”
At his words, tears well in my eyes. Maybe he feels guilty, and I’m not going to ask him why he does.
This isn’t his fault, though. Even if he thinks he could have prevented it by doing something different, it doesn’t matter.
This isn’t his fault, because he wasn’t the man who did this to me, and that is just a fact.
As much as I want to verbalize that, I can’t. I’m too filled with emotion, and my eyes well with tears that threaten to slide down my cheeks. I don’t let them, though. I refuse to cry in front of him or anyone else.
I blink them away and inhale deeply through my nose, holding it for a moment before I let it out my mouth slowly.
He asks me again who did this to me, and I don’t know why he’s asking.
I’m not sure who the hell he thinks it can be other than Goffredo.
He is the only man who could hate me enough to do what he did.
“You know who did this, Justin. And if you want to see it all, Goose probably has it all on video since he’s got my entire apartment on surveillance.”
His eyes narrow. He knows my place has cameras everywhere. I know he does, but maybe it’s because I mentioned Goose, maybe it’s because Goose has full access. I don’t know. But I also don’t have the energy to care.
Justin lifts his head, then turns to look over his shoulder at Maverick, who is watching intently… probably listening intently, too. Justin jerks his chin in Maverick’s direction, then he shifts his attention back to me.
“Tell the cops nothing when they come sniffing around. We take care of our own.” I have so many smart-ass things I could say about that little comment, but I decide against it. Again, I’m exhausted.
Justin shifts his face closer to mine, and then I feel his lips press against my forehead. He stays there for a moment, then lifts his head, but only slightly, before he murmurs low enough that only I can hear him.
“He will pay. Slowly.”
“Good,” I exhale.
He straightens and then, without another word, walks out of the room. Maverick follows behind him, leaving me alone with Zadie and Posey. They share a glance between one another before their feet carry them to my bedside, almost in unison.
Posey walks over to the chairs in the corner and drags them over to the side, where they both sit down, neither of them having said a word. Once they’re seated and settled, it’s Zadie who wraps her hand around my ankle and squeezes before she speaks.
“You don’t have to tell us what happened, but can you talk to us? It doesn’t have to be about the incident. It can be about anything.”
God, she is so damn sweet. My lips curve up into a small smile. “I appreciate that. What do you want to talk about?”
“The hot doctor?” Posey asks.
Pressing my lips together, I laugh softly, but then moan because everything hurts. It’s at this exact moment that I wonder what my face looks like. I know that if I asked them, they would tell me or show me, but I think I should maybe look at my reflection when I’m alone, so I don’t ask.
“We slept together,” I blurt out.
Lainey is the only one who knows. But I didn’t tell her she had to keep it a secret, so they may already know, too. But it’s an easy distraction from the hell that my body has been through.
“Shit,” Zadie hisses.
“Well, I say good for you. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a man,” Posey adds.
“I feel guilty about it,” I whisper. “And he’s working through heartache himself, so he suggested we do that together, basically be companions.”
“Companions who come together…” Posey says, her eyes dancing, her mouth smiling huge as she watches me.
“Something like that,” I mutter.
Zadie doesn’t comment, but I can feel her watching me. I don’t know if she’s judging me or anything like that. I don’t get that vibe from any of the women I call my friends, but she is what I would call… concerned.
“It happened, and it felt nice when I was feeling so very alone. When he suggested it the next morning, it sounded like a great plan, mainly because nothing else had worked. I don’t have to pretend with him, and he doesn’t with me, either.”
Posey frowns, then opens her mouth, but the only thing that comes out is her saying my name in a sad, pitiful voice. “Oh, Cidney.”
“Love isn’t for me. It never has been, and this with George is going to be safe.”
If he still wants me, that is. He’s seen the absolute worst of the worst. I probably wouldn’t want anything to do with me if I were in his position.
“I want it to be Goose,” Zadie whispers, speaking for the first time. “I wanted a sister. I wanted nieces and nephews. I wanted it all.”
That’s sweet, but it’s nothing but a pipedream. Goose will never go behind Justin’s back. He will never do something against the rules of the club.
Against the rules of society? Yes.
The club? Never.
I don’t ask her if he’s been called about me being here.
I hope he never finds out. I don’t want him to know, and honestly, I don’t want Goffredo to know that he’s succeeded in his plan to make it to where I am ruined for all of them, a gigantic piece of trash.
Goose will never know, so it doesn’t matter.
GOOSE
“The fuck you mean she’s in the hospital? Zadie just said she was hurt.”
Maverick doesn’t speak immediately. He clears his throat, then he lets out a whoosh of air. The silence is deafening, and I can’t help but feel completely out of control. I am too far away to do anything, and I mean that in so many more ways than just physical distance.
“I’m going to kill Ivy,” I grind out.
“Trent.”
The word comes out as a warning, and it’s my real name, so I know he means it, but I don’t think I care. In fact, I know I don’t. All I know is that Ivy is a goddamn dead man walking.
This is his doing.
Whatever happened to her, he didn’t do it, but he might as well have. If he had given me permission to be with her, none of this would have happened. She would have had my protection. My name.
“Is it not his fault?” I ask.
“Does it matter, really? Are you coming home?”
Home.
I don’t have a fucking home. “I’m a nomad, Maverick. I don’t have a home.”
Silence.
I’m met with silence again, but I can feel my brother’s ire. I don’t blame him. I would probably feel the same way if the tables were turned. Maverick would always have a home with me because he is part of me, and I know he feels the same way.
“Don’t cut your nose off to spite your face, Trent. You left without a second glance, and maybe you need the closure.”
“Where was she hurt?” I ask. Because I’m a fucking glutton for punishment.
“It doesn’t matter.”
His words consume me. They are ominous. “I need details.”
“No, you don’t, Trent. You’ve made it clear that you don’t need or deserve them.”
He ends the call, and I feel like the biggest piece of shit that walks the earth. Maybe I am, except I have a feeling there is another one. Whoever hurt Cidney is actually bigger. And I aim to figure out who it was.
Thumbing through the apps on my phone, I find her security cameras. The next thing I do is possibly the stupidest fucking move I’ve ever made in my entire goddamn life. I watch her cameras. And I see everything that was done to her. Everything that motherfucker did to her.
Everything I’m going to do to him.