Chapter 4 #3
Only a few months ago, Scar had broken into a jail cell to sit next to Steel.
True to form, he hadn’t said a word, hadn’t even looked at Steel.
He’d sat down on that unforgiving metal bench, and that was it.
For three plus days and three nights, Scar had remained in the cell with Steel keeping him company.
They’d never spoken, though Bulldog had fumed at Scar from the other side of the bars for pulling such a stunt.
When Carlos let Steel out to visit with Jenna, Scar would vanish and then reappear again when it was time to lock Steel back up for the night.
The unknown of his situation was frustrating and unnerving, but there was something reassuring in Scar’s silent presence.
Like Steel wasn’t facing the gallows alone.
Now, Scar had a grip on his throat so tight that Steel wondered if those piercing blue eyes would be the last things he saw in this world.
He understood the difference between then and now.
In Scar’s world, family meant everything, and Steel was family.
Scar would protect and sacrifice himself in a heartbeat for family, including willingly locking himself up in a jail cell after being held prisoner and tortured by the Taliban for weeks. He’d done so for Steel.
But there was one person who stood above the rest, one person that mattered so much more to Scar that he wouldn’t just sacrifice for her but destroy for her.
He would rip and maim and exterminate any danger against her without thought or hesitation.
Tally was, in the most primal sense, Scar’s greatest weakness and the source of his sanity.
In Scar’s mind, whatever the sniper’s vendetta was against Steel, it had endangered Tally, and that was beyond unacceptable.
Steel understood that mindset completely.
Scar might have only had Tally in his life for several months, but Steel had had forty plus years with Jenna.
While some might call Scar unhinged for attacking his friend and brother, Steel didn’t.
If their positions were reversed, if there was an enemy he could fight to save and protect Jenna, he’d battle to the death to hand her a cure.
Scar’s touch sensitivity only occurred to Steel as the man brought them nose to nose against the wall.
It must be killing Scar to be touching him so, yet the man took the pain like it was nothing.
Then again, Scar had always been able to touch someone when it came to killing.
Steel had seen him do it before without hesitation.
His lips formed a single word, but no sound came out of his mouth. Steel didn’t need to see to understand though. The man’s sapphire eyes had always been expressive, even when the rest of him wasn’t.
“I don’t know,” Steel croaked out. “I don’t know who it is!” Though he continued to struggle to get Scar off him, he wasn’t about to plead for his life.
A soft, feminine voice broke through, catching Steel’s attention above everything else. “Scar, put him down.”
Scar lifted his chin as if he wasn’t going to listen, but Tally somehow squeezed herself through the very small space between the two men’s bodies. He stepped back automatically so she didn’t hurt herself, letting go of Steel’s throat in the process.
Steel gasped and coughed as air reentered his body. His tunnel vision ceased and he saw the entire club standing behind Scar, looking furious. Ghost had his arm around Scar’s torso like he’d tried to throw his brother back to get him off Steel.
Steel waved them off, not wanting to cause Scar anymore pain. The bandage on his head wound was starting to show blood patches. “Bear.” Steel gestured to Scar’s head.
The big nurse moved forward, but Scar practically jumped away from him.
“Stop that,” Tally smacked Scar’s chest. “Look, I know you’re pissed, but it’s not Steel’s fault I was in danger!
You think I’m happy that you ended up in the water?
I’m fucking pissed too! But you don’t see me punishing him for what he doesn’t know!
And for fuck’s sake, stop moving and let Bear look at your head.
I can smell your blood, and while I promised to love all of you, I have to say, I can’t stand that smell.
So sit down and stop squirming like a child. And you owe Steel an apology too.”
Scar’s jaw ticked. He stared down at his fiancée for a moment before turning and walking over to the now-empty couch. He sat down, looking pointedly at Bear.
Bear looked like he was about to treat a wild animal as he neared the couch.
Tally’s shoulders slumped. “And that’s probably the best apology you’re going to get from him,” she said to Steel over her shoulder. She walked over to sit on the couch next to Scar.
Ghost approached Steel. “Are you okay?”
Steel nodded. “He has a right to be pissed.”
Ghost’s jaw ticked. “Then let’s get him some answers.”
Steel toed his boots off before crawling onto their bed from the foot.
Jenna was lying in the same position he’d left her in on her right side, facing the center of the bed.
One hand was near her phone on the mattress, which was on Do Not Disturb, while the other lay curled on her pillow by her face.
She cracked her eyes open as he worked his way up to his pillow. Steel turned off the baby monitor, placing it and his phone on the nightstand behind him, before mirroring her position. Her little smile was the most radiant thing he’d ever seen.
“Everything okay down there?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Steel raised an eyebrow. “Of course. Why do you ask?”
“Other than the fact that I could hear something break and then the guys shouting? Your neck is turning purple.”
Steel frowned. Scar certainly had a grip on him. Even one-handed, the man had been able to pin Steel to the wall and fend off the others trying to pull him away. “It’s being handled, and before you ask, I’m fine.”
Jenna’s snort was nasally with her nose against the pillow. “I’m sure you are, but I still want the name of who touched you.”
Steel cracked a smile at her. “Going to defend my honor and kick their ass?” He’d have to tell the club to keep their mouths shut about Scar.
Steel certainly wasn’t holding what he’d done against him.
Scar might have ended up in the water, but that was only because of his quick thinking.
Tally had been the one over the cracking ice.
It could have easily been her who went under.
Jenna gave him a tired smile. “Damn straight.”
Warmth filled him at her strength. He reached up to touch her hair. “How are you feeling, my warrior queen?”
Jenna let out a mix of a moan and a groan. “I’m so tired, but I just can’t sleep. I feel like I got hit by a bus before being run over by a freight train.”
Steel had to school his face to keep her from seeing his emotions. “Do you want to go in to see Dr. Epps?”
She shook her head into the pillow. “We’ve been here before. He won’t prescribe the steroids until my symptoms worsen. Until then, we’re in a sit-and-wait holding pattern. Going in now would be pointless, and he wouldn’t tell us anything new.”
It sucked, because he didn’t want her to get worse, and he hated that certain treatments weren’t available to her or covered by insurance until she was.
The steroids wouldn’t prevent her symptoms but it would help her recover from a relapse sooner.
The list of side effects was long, but Steel didn’t care how irritable she got or that she might have difficulty sleeping if it helped manage her pain levels.
It was the other side effects that terrified him, including thinning of her bones, headaches, rashes, chest pains, an increased heart rate, and stomach pain or indigestion.
As with a lot of things in life, the question was if the risk outweighed the reward.
Steel would never voice out loud how much he hated this, how he felt like he was the one who was slowly dying from the inside out as he watched helplessly as she suffered. “Have I told you yet today how beautiful you look and how much I love you?”
Jenna’s lips twitched, but her eyes fluttered closed again. “Twice, but I’ll never get tired of hearing it, even if it is a complete and total lie.”
“I would never lie to you.”
She let out a sleepy sigh, “Yes you would, if the alternative would hurt me, and I love you for it.”
Steel leaned over to kiss her forehead gently. “You’re fucking beautiful, Jenna, and I love you more today than I did when I was fifteen years old.”
Her chin trembled like she was trying to keep in tears. “Please don’t ever regret it.”
Steel pulled back, unsure at first that he’d heard her correctly. Her words were like a punch to the chest, and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. “What the fuck did you just say?”
Jenna squeezed her eyes shut, but a tear escaped, falling over the bridge of her nose, across her other eyelid, and onto the pillow below. “Please don’t regret falling for me. Don’t look back on our life together and wish you’d never met me to escape the pain of watching me die.”
Steel’s body was frozen as he stared at her.
What the fuck? How dare she? How fucking dare she?
What gave her the fucking right to even demand such a thing of him, as if it was possible?
Yes, for a fleeting moment, it had crossed his mind, but even that millisecond of wonder was too abhorrent to contemplate.
“Open your eyes.”
Jenna shook her head. “You’re going to yell at me.
You’re going to say that you’d never do such a thing, because you’re loyal and you’re a good person, Jack.
I know you love me, and that will never change.
I know you’ll be with me until the end. You’ll never in a million years admit how much pain you’re in, Jack, but I see it.
I love you, and I hate that I’m putting you through this, and I just pray that you don’t look back on our life together with regret—”
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up. And look at me.”