23. Dax
DAX
“Back the fuck off or I swear I will find a way to stab you,” I growled as Cognac hovered around me while I shuffled to the bathroom.
“Loba, it’s only been six days since your surgery, and they just okayed you to get out of bed. I don’t believe that was approval to go wandering all over the house,” Cognac scolded, as he followed me into the bathroom.
I paused and looked at him. “Can I get a minute?”
“No.”
“Dude, I need to pee, we are so not at the level where you can be here for that,” I grumbled.
“Sorry, loba, if you want to do it on your own, I’m going to be right here to pick you up off your throne when you can’t stand up.”
“When did you turn into such a mother hen? God, all of you are smothering me and it’s driving me insane,” I yelled, so the others in the house could hear me.
Cognac didn’t budge from where he leaned on the wall with a raised brow. “You gonna pee or not?”
“Fuck it,” I muttered and used the IV pole to balance as I plopped unceremoniously onto the toilet.
Being able to pee like a normal person was magical, I would never take it for granted again after this.
In all the years that I’ve been Two Tricks, this was the worst shape I’d ever been in.
Yeah, I’d gotten shot, stabbed, or beat up, but this—this was different.
Dani told me that I coded twice during surgery, and they weren’t sure I was going to make it, then somehow, I turned a corner, and they were able to fix me up.
With one arm in a sling, it made getting to the toilet paper a little tricky, but I managed, even if I had to grit my teeth in pain.
Something about feeling this weak just pissed me off, I hated that I wasn’t able to just bounce back from this, that I had to rely on others for almost everything.
Well, I was sure as fuck going to wipe my own ass, that’s where I drew the line.
Finished, I gripped the IV pole and pushed up with my legs, but my whole body started to shake with the effort.
Just as I was halfway up, the pole rolled forward and it sent me chasing right after it.
My body tried to put both arms out to save myself, but the left was trapped, and the right side screamed at the strain on my back wound, letting me know I was fucked.
Next thing I knew, Cognac was swooping in and catching me against his chest as he wrapped his arms gingerly around me, keeping me from toppling to either side.
“Now who could have predicted that this would happen,” he teased, as he scooped me up bridal style and waited for me to grab the IV.
I glared up at him, sticking my tongue out as we exited the bathroom. Thankfully, he didn’t put me back in bed but brought me out into the living room where everyone else was lounging about.
“Well, look who’s making an escape?” Sprocket grinned when he saw me. “Come to see what’s happening out in the real world?”
“The warden finally said it was time for me to get some privileges,” I answered, returning his grin.
As if her ears were burning, Dani walked back into the house after taking the morning off. “Ah, looks like you decided to take advantage of your new freedom.”
“I would have done it sooner, but they didn’t tell me I was free to leave the bed until ten minutes ago,” I shared, glowering at Cognac. “Some seemed to believe I couldn’t be trusted with that information.”
Dani just laughed and headed into the bedroom, only to return with everything she needed to change the bandages.
This was my least favorite part of the whole thing.
My skin was all but raw from the tape they’ve been using to hold the gauze in place.
It was unfortunate that all of my wounds were in areas that moved a lot and tended to weep more than others.
“Seeing as the first thing you did was get up and walk to the bathroom, trying to do it all yourself, I think we made the right call. Then she almost wiped out getting off the toilet,” Cognac informed Dani.
My jaw dropped at the fact that he had just thrown me under the bus. “Whose side are you on?”
“Yours always, loba, even if that means I have to piss you off to take care of you,” Cognac stated, with a shrug.
I didn’t really have anything to respond to that, so I just huffed and shifted away from him so Dani could get to the dressing on my back.
“Dax, I can tell you’re going to be that patient but please understand that if you push your body too far too fast, it will only make things worse.
Getting up and moving around will help, not to mention physical therapy for your shoulder, it took a lot of damage.
The bone was shattered and cut up a lot of your muscle.
It’s a miracle that it hit your non-dominant arm but it’s going to limit you for a while,” Dani explained as she worked.
“You also seem to have the benefit of six men who want to take care of you, and that doesn’t happen.
Teach me your secret,” she whispered that last part, making me smirk.
Then the reality of what she said sank in.
My left arm was going to be jacked for a long time, the undercurrent of what she was saying is that I should count myself lucky to eventually have full use of it again.
If I didn’t fuck it up before I got to that point.
I wanted to scream at the world. Hadn’t I been through enough?
Void’s imposing shadow crossed over me as he sank to be at eye level. “You’re strong, little demon, this isn’t anything you can’t handle. Like Dani said, we aren’t going anywhere, whether you like it or not.”
My gaze flickered over to Eagle and Picasso, who sat next to each other on the couch, watching me intently. “You sure about that?”
“All set here, I’m gonna deal with things in the bedroom if you need me,” Dani said as she made a quick exit.
I couldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to be involved in another person’s drama if I could help it. Hell, I didn’t want to deal with my own drama.
“Dax, I owe you an apology. No, more than that, I rightly deserve for you to make my life hell until I prove to you that what I did was wrong, and you didn’t deserve it,” Eagle voiced, getting up from his spot and sitting on the coffee table in front of the lazy boy I was sitting in.
“I would like to explain to you why I reacted as I did, not as an excuse, not to guilt you or to make what I did right in any way—because it wasn’t.
Hearing this might just help you understand what triggered me into being a bigger asshole than usual. ”
Did I care enough to listen? Was there a chance he could ever redeem himself to me? Did I want him to?
“Just because I listen to this doesn’t mean it will change things between us right now,” I warned. “You fucked up in epic proportion and I demand penance from those who have wronged me.”
“Understood.” Eagle nodded.
“Fine, I’ll listen.”
“Did you ever hear of an MC called the Devils Spawn?” Eagle asked.
Now he had my attention. The bust of that MC had been all over the news. They had been caught smuggling and trafficking people in and out of the US.
“Yeah, I remember watching the take down on the news,” I answered.
Eagle caught my gaze as he spoke. “My uncle was the leader of that crew, and I was a part of it when I graduated from high school. He went by Hannibal, but his real name was Enzo—that’s the reason I don’t let anyone use my birth name anymore.
When Picasso and I were younger, we looked up to Hannibal and would do anything to be like him.
When I was old enough to prospect, I found out what really happened behind closed doors, but it was too late.
I couldn’t just walk away. I lasted as part of his crew for about two years before I got up the balls to turn him in to the FBI. ”
“You blew the whistle?” I gasped.
“Yeah, I was forced to help out behind the scenes at the auctions where they drugged them and raped those who didn’t need to stay pure.
It was one way they made it so we couldn’t snitch on them, since we would go down with them.
Since Hannibal wanted me to run the Devils with him, he kept me doing other jobs until others complained that I was getting special treatment.
I knew my time was running out, and I had to do something, so I turned myself in and flipped on my uncle.
Since it was such a big hit, I was able to deal immunity from being prosecuted for those crimes and got off scot-free…
” Eagle paused and ran his hands through his hair.
“When they raided the place, they were able to get everyone but Hannibal. A week or so later he grabbed Picasso and nearly beat him to death and sent me pictures of what he’d done and what he’d do if I didn’t give myself up to him.
My uncle was a psychopath, but he’d been able to hide it well enough that no one in my family had a clue but my other uncle who ran the Blackjax.
I turned to him for help and we went together to get Picasso.
I ended up killing Hannibal—point-blank shot to the skull.
He’d lost his mind completely at that point and when I shot him, I knew that I had the same fucked-up genes he did buried deep inside me. ”
Eagle reached out slowly and grabbed my hand, giving me all the time in the world to jerk back from him but something stopped me. I looked deep into his eyes, and I saw his pain and fear as clearly as if it was my own.
“Dax, you scare the fuck out of me.”
I went to pull my hand back, but he held on tightly, dropping to kneel before me with both hands clutching mine, his gaze piercing with its intensity.
“You scare me, little hellcat, because I would let that crazy out to burn down the world if you asked me to. I chased you away any way I could, to make you hate me so I wouldn’t have to admit to myself how I’m already yours.
Which means that no matter how much I have to grovel and beg for you to let me stay by your side, I’ll do it.
Even if you never end up forgiving me or letting me into your heart, I won’t fail you again. Just let me stay by your side.”
Out of all the things I expected to come out of Eagle’s mouth, this was not it.
One of the proudest, controlling, confident men I’d ever known was now on his knees begging for me to not send him away.
Most girls at this point would burst into tears and sob their forgiveness and undying love—but I’d never been like most girls.
This terrified the fuck out of me. Yeah, I’d taken big steps and admitted that I loved Weston but that was a long time coming.
This… this was something uncharted that I didn’t know how to handle.
I looked up, searching for Wes and we locked eyes as I pleaded for his help.
He gave me a small smile and shook his head no… I had to do this on my own.
Double Fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck.
Then out of nowhere a thought struck me. There was a second reason I knew about the Devils Spawn.
“Eagle, didn’t the Devils work with the De León Cartel?” I demanded.
He blinked at me, taking a moment to catch up to what I was asking. “Yes…”
“Wes, were they still trafficking when we kicked them out of the West Coast?”
Wes frowned, grabbed his computer, fingers flying over the keyboard.
He paused to read something then looked up at me.
“Yeah, but they were the middleman at that point. Losing the Devils all but killed their business for years, then they joined up with a major cartel in Mexico and started to supply them with the flesh they needed.”
“What cartel?” Cognac asked.
“The Tesoro Cartel,” Wes answered as we all watched Cognac lose his shit.
In the blink of an eye, the carefree man I’d come to know was raging, punching holes into the wall and yelling and screaming in Spanish.
From what I could pick up with how fast he was talking, it would seem that the Tesoro Cartel was the one he lost his family to and now they were after me… but why?