Chapter 23
D evi opened her eyes slowly, wincing. “Ouch.”
Why was it so light in here?
“Oh God! Have I overslept?” she cried. She tried to move, but barely managed to shift her legs.
She felt so weighed down. Exhausted. And her left arm just wouldn’t budge.
“Careful!” a voice barked. “Stay still. You’re in bed.”
“I know I’m in bed,” she grumbled. “It’s getting out of bed that’s the problem.”
Then her mouth caught up with her brain and she gaped up in shock at the man standing over her bed. She blinked. Nope. He was still there.
“Why are you in my bedroom?”
A pained look filled Mac’s face. “This isn’t your bedroom, Devi.”
Slowly, she turned her head. It thumped as though protesting even that small movement.
“What’s wrong with me? Why does my head hurt so much? Why are you in . . . my . . . not my . . . bedroom?”
This wasn’t her bedroom. Nope.
This was a hospital room.
Suddenly, it all rushed back. Her breathing grew faster, panic flooding her. Images shot through her head.
“Devi! Hey, Devi, it’s all right, darlin’. I’m here. Fuck.”
Mac’s words barely penetrated the panic.
Satan’s Sons. Fury. Her father. Vega.
Then . . . then Zander. Honey. Hayes.
“Hayes. Hayes. Hayes.”
“I’ll get him for you, darlin’. Just hold on, I’m gonna get him.”
She didn’t even realize she’d been saying that out loud until Mac replied.
“What the fuck happened?” Hayes demanded, rushing into the room. “Why is she breathing like that?”
An alarm went off.
“Fuck, her heartbeat is racing,” Hayes snapped.
There were a lot of voices and then someone else was looming over her. She couldn’t see them properly through her fear-fueled panic.
Threat. Threat. Threat.
Devi needed to defend herself. She couldn’t be hurt again.
She couldn’t let them hurt her.
But as she attempted to move her arms, pain rippled through her and she screamed.
“Let me near her. Get out of the way. I can get her to calm down. You’re fucking scaring her.”
That was Hayes. She could hear his voice. Where was he?
“Listen to him. He just wants what’s best for her.” She didn’t know who was talking.
“He’s her fiancé. He can help her. She was calling for him.”
That was Mac. He sounded so distraught. She needed to do something to help him.
But what?
Sobs filled the room. They sounded terrible. As though that person was in a lot of pain.
Poor girl.
“Devi, hey baby, you’re all right. I’m here. I’m here.” Hayes appeared in front of her.
“H-hayes.” Thank God.
“That’s right. Shh. You need to calm down, baby.”
“C-can’t. Want you. Want you p-protect me.” But it wasn’t up to Hayes to protect her. “Need Coco.”
“Who’s that?” he asked.
“Squirrel. Toy. Need her.”
“I’ll get her for you, baby. Is she in your bedroom in the trailer?”
“Yes. Hidden. So Derick doesn’t find her. Where is he?”
“Who? Derick?”
Another sob filled the room and his warm hands cupped her face. Then his hand slid around to the back of her neck and he squeezed firmly.
It was a dominant hold and if anyone else had done it, she figured she would be terrified.
But she trusted him. Devi knew that Hayes would protect her.
So that gesture felt comforting. But it also felt like he was in charge and he was letting her know that.
Devi really needed him to take control. Everything was just too overwhelming.
Things could be worse.
Could they, though? Devi liked to be positive, to think the best about everything.
But could things be any worse?
“Don’t want to think. Don’t want to remember. Want Coco. Need her.”
“Your toy?”
“Need her. Need her.”
“It’s all right, baby girl.”
Baby girl?
Did he know what she was? He did give off Daddy vibes. But she thought she might have imagined them.
“I’m here. Do you need me to take control?”
Another smaller sob. His words had been so quiet that she’d barely heard them. Had she imagined them in her desperation for some help?
“If you need me to take over, just say the word. Kent and Mac are here. They’re at the other end of the room, though. They can’t hear us. And there’s a nurse. But he’s by the doorway.”
She shuddered. “Don’t want him near me.” Devi knew that she was being silly. He was a nurse. And he was only trying to help her. She was in the hospital and she had to let nurses near her.
But in that moment, she was terrified of any man she didn’t know.
“No one comes near you that you don’t want.” The words were said low and firm.
As though he meant every word. As though he would never break a promise to her.
Devi wasn’t sure that she believed him. But those words and that tone helped cut through her panic. They helped her breathe.
“That’s it, just breathe nice and slow for me,” he told her. “You’re doing so well. Keep going. In. Hold. Out. Listen to me. What code word do you want to use for when you need me to take over?”
Had he really said that?
She shouldn’t fall into this dream. Into the idea of him. Devi had no idea why he was doing this . . . feeding her fantasy that she could be his.
His woman. His baby girl.
He likely just pities you.
“You need to stop thinking,” he told her firmly. “Stop thinking right now.”
Her mind cleared of thoughts. “How do you do that?”
“Get you to obey me? It’s my superpower.”
A soft snort escaped her. “What’s your kryptonite?”
“Those I love being taken from me.”
It hit her like a bowl of cold water being poured over her. May had been taken from him. She wasn’t May. He felt nothing for her like he did his wife.
But maybe this had hit him harder than she thought.
“I’m alive. I’m all right.” She stared up at him. And she really studied him this time.
He looked exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes and his shoulders were slightly slumped. Worry clung to him.
Worry and . . . anger?
“Are you mad at me?”
Shock had his eyes widening. “No, baby, never.”
“I need to check her over.” That came from the nurse.
Shit. She’d forgotten about him. She instantly tensed and then cursed herself. He was a nurse.
He wasn’t going to attack her.
“Devi needs a female nurse. Go get one,” Hayes demanded,
“Excuse me? She can’t just demand a female nurse.”
“I can’t,” she said to Hayes.
“Of course you can. Kent?”
“On it. Go find a female nurse, now. That patient was attacked by armed men. Do you think she wants a strange man touching her right now? In her space? No, she doesn’t.
Especially not one with so little empathy that he doesn’t recognize that.
So go and find a female nurse and I will try not to lodge a complaint with the administration. ”
The nurse fled and Devi stared at the handsome guy with light brown hair standing by Mac.
He nodded at her, his face filled with worry and fatigue. That seemed a familiar theme around here. Mac looked terrible too.
“Hi, Devi. I’m Kent Jensen. I own JSI Security.”
“I can’t believe you just did that,” she whispered. “For me.”
“Of course he did it for you, girl,” Mac told her.
“Any of us would. Shit, Devi. I’ve got to go and let Michelle and Silla know you’ve woken up.
Silla went home to shower. Michelle was gonna go box up some of your pottery for the show.
She wanted to do something productive to help.
We all do. I might close the tavern for the night and go help her. Mind you, I’m feeling a bit shaky.”
Alarm filled her. “Are you all right, Mac? You should go home and rest.”
He wiped at his eye. Was he . . . was he crying?
“Mac?” she asked, with growing alarm.
“Yeah, just got something in my eye. I’ll be back later.”
“What about the tavern? Who will cover for me? What about the café? Oh, Aaron is going to be mad.”
“Honey called him,” Hayes told her.
Honey? Oh, right. She remembered her. She’d found her in the trailer with Zander.
“Did he . . . was he upset?” she asked with a wince.
“Yeah, but that’s his problem not yours.” Hayes scowled.
That was a weird thing to say.
“Don’t worry about the tavern,” Mac told her. “Just get better.” His gaze moved over her as he patted her hand, then left.
She watched as Kent walked out with him.
“It’s really my problem. I should be there.”
She tried to sit up, but her left arm wouldn’t work properly. “What’s wrong with my arm?”
Oh God.
How had she forgotten?
Her breathing grew faster.
“Calm down,” Hayes ordered. “Breathe. Don’t think about that. Don’t think about anything.”
That was impossible when her brain kept showing her images of what had happened.
How had she forgotten that he’d stabbed her arm! Fury had stabbed her arm!
“H-how bad?” Her teeth started chattering. How could she work with an injured arm? Well, it would be difficult, but she could do it.
But what about her pottery? She still had a few pieces to finalize. How could she . . . how could she do that?
“What’s your most hated vegetable or fruit?”
Huh?
Was he having some sort of strange moment? Was he ill? Why would he ask her that?
“Tell me, baby.”
God, she couldn’t think.
“Parsnip,” she told him.
“All right, parsnip it is. That’s your safeword. It gets too much and you need me to take over, then you say that word and I take over.”
“Shouldn’t it be a v-vegetable I l-like?” she asked.
His lips twitched. Surprisingly, this rather strange conversation was helping clear her mind of panic.
“All right, what’s your favorite food?”
“Croissants,” she said.
“Yeah? All right. Croissants it is. You say it, I take charge and you don’t have to think at all. You just have to obey me. Now, breathe. Good girl. Everything is going to be all right.”
She shook her head as another sob worked its way through her. She didn’t see how. It couldn’t possibly be all right.
Hayes looked over as someone entered the room. Another nurse. A woman this time, with a concerned look on her face.
“Hi, I’m Anna. I’ve just come to check on Devi. Her heart has been racing a bit hard. I know it can be a shock coming out of surgery like this.”
“Surgery? I had surgery?” she asked as the nurse moved around.