Chapter Twenty-Four #2
“How did he get that fucking close?” I snarl, throwing a leg over my bike and kick-starting the engine so hard my foot nearly slips off the pedal. “Where the fuck was Atom and Ronin?”
“Questions that can be answered when we get there.” He pulls on his helmet, then rides out. The rest of us follow close behind.
It takes almost half an hour to get back into the city.
Nero directs the others to go see what they can find out while Blaze and I go into the hospital with him.
I know exactly where Colton is and lead them straight to the ICU.
Ronin is standing by the entrance, his jaw tight. He knows he fucked up.
“They don’t know,” he says.
Nero grabs my arm before I barge into the department.
“Let me go,” I snap.
“You think I don’t know what you’re going through? My woman is in there too. She was here at the same time as that fucker.”
“It wasn’t her he sent a picture of.”
“Do you want to go in there and scare her enough that she pushes you away? Is that what you want? Maybe you should and get her far away from you before you fall in any deeper. Or maybe,” he pushes me against the wall before I can fight to get by Ronin again.
“You want to calm the fuck down, not let her know the danger she was in. Or how close she came to that psychopath. You need to keep her close to protect her now she’s on his radar. ”
My breathing is so heavy I can barely think straight, but his words are breaking through the rage. He’s right. Storm is getting in our heads, he knows what buttons to push.
I should never have done this to her. She should have stayed away, instead, I got her involved in something that could risk her life.
That makes something dark and terrifying twist in my gut. Letting her go, sending her back to LA is what I should do. She’ll be safer there, away from me.
“If you can’t control yourself right now, then pull it together away from here. Do it where my woman and your sister don’t get caught in the crossfire.”
Raven’s here too? Jesus Christ. That bastard was close to everything I love.
Nero doesn’t fight when I push him off me, he knows I’ve calmed enough not to barge in there and scare the three women.
“You make sure she’s okay and Father Eastwood is good, and you either stay with her or you end it. You do not, under any circumstances, tell her about Storm. You make the choice right here, right now.”
“Fuck,” I turn my back on him and Ronin and slam my palm against the wall.
“Taylor is a part of me I won’t let go,” Nero says, quieter now so we don’t make any more of a scene. “It makes me a selfish bastard, but she means everything to me. I would die for her. If you don’t feel the same way about Kinsley, then figure that shit out fast and let her go.”
His words sink in and mingle with my own tumultuous thoughts.
Not ten seconds ago, I included Kinsley when I thought about the people I love being here and being hurt.
“You good?”
My nod is terse, but I turn my glare on Ronin. He takes it without backing away. He knows he fucked up. Nero will deal with him. I have something to do.
Kinsley looks up when I stalk toward her. Raven whispers something to Taylor, and they both laugh, but all I see is her. She gets to her feet, and I have to hold myself back from grabbing her and dragging her out of here.
That could work with some women, not Kinsley. She’d be kicking and screaming and fighting for all she’s worth.
Without warning, she wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me to her. “He’s going to be okay,” she says.
She thinks Colton waking is why we’re here, and I feel like shit for letting her.
The relief is coursing through her as I pull her against me. Over her shoulder Raven sticks out her tongue at me, she’s so damn childish sometimes, but it’s quickly replaced with a smile. I don’t even know why she’s still here, but that doesn’t matter.
None of them are aware of the danger that was standing right beside them.
The only thing that matters is that Kinsley is safe. My brothers are out there making sure Storm is gone. If I do this, they will all guard her with their lives. I sit with her a while, and reluctantly go in with her when she wants me to see Colton.
He’s far too out of it to be concerned about Kinsley holding my hand. Eventually, I convince her to leave the hospital and come home to get some rest. She’s more exuberant than I’ve ever seen her, and I struggle all the way back to my loft with the decision of letting her go.
There is no way she will leave Colton, and I don’t want her to go back to LA. Besides the bullshit that woman put her through, that fucker Kane from the pissant MC is there. And she’d be unprotected.
“Are you okay?” Kinsley asks when we’re securely locked away in my loft.
I set the security alarm and check all the cameras before I fully relax.
“Did you get rid of them?”
“Kinsley, you have to be more careful about how you speak.”
“I don’t see anyone else here.”
“Get into the habit. It’s too easy to say the wrong thing in front of the wrong person if you’re not careful.”
She cocks her head to the side. “Is this an initiation?”
“A what? Jesus, you’ve spent too much time around Raven.”
Kinsley grins. I drop onto the couch, exhausted, but Kinsley doesn’t care about that, she seats herself in my lap. Her fingers stroke through the hair at my nape.
“Did you handle our little problem?”
“Christ,” I can’t help but laugh.
“Okay, I’m running out of patience. Is he dead?”
“It’s done,” I say, grabbing her thigh, sitting forward enough so I can turn her to straddle me. “We’re not talking about it again.”
My eyes trail her tongue as she licks her lips. It doesn’t take much more than that to get me hard for her. It’s obvious when she feels it.
She places her hands on my shoulders and rolls her hips, pressing against me, I can feel the heat of her through our clothes.
“Is it wrong that I’m turned on by this?”
“By the thought of my dick sinking inside of you?” I arch a brow. I meant it when I said we wouldn’t be talking about, or referring to it ever again.
She bites her lip and sits in silence, her brain working over my words. I hold my tongue, waiting for what she is going to say.
“So long as you swear it won’t be sinking into anyone else.”
“The first time you gave me the finger, I knew staying away from you was going to be hard, little villain. And to answer your question, my dick won’t be going anywhere near another woman. Even if you tell me you don’t want it.”
She freezes at that declaration. “You mean that?”
Her eyes search mine for a lie, or any reason to believe I don’t mean it. Neither one of us is going to speak those words normal people say to express how they feel. We know without saying it. I can admit it inside my head. I fucking love her. But our love language is crude as fuck.
“I’d prefer it if you said you still want my dick. I’m sitting here handing it over.”
“Is that all you’re handing over, River?”
“No.”
Kinsley leans down to kiss me, and I hold her close, kissing her back. Part of me regrets she is becoming a part of my world, that I’m lying to her, but the rest of me knows I can’t let her go.
No one will ever hurt her again. There is no more second-guessing or being scared of my feelings.
I’ve made my choice. “You’re mine.”
“And you’re mine,” she whispers. “Now take off your pants and fuck me like you own me, Rebel.”