6. Jack #2
Her gaze darts worriedly from me to the door. I can tell she doesn’t want to leave me, but she’s not sure what to do or say.
I give her an out.
“I need some rest,” I tell her with a sigh. “Why don’t you grab a coffee or something?”
She smiles, the expression tight. “Okay. I won’t be long.”
All I can manage is a nod, and my eyes slip shut.
Her hold on my hand vanishes and the door swings open and shut, leaving me alone with just the beeping machines.
The pain is back again, aggressive and bright. I can’t get comfortable. As I shift my position, something rustles near my head. Moving cautiously, I feel around my pillow. Slipping my fingers beneath it, I touch a piece of paper. Curious, I draw it out. It’s folded in half. I frown. A note.
I unfold it and my eyes skim over the words. My heart swells in my chest. It’s from Camile.
Jack, get better, be strong. I love you, Camile.
My gaze focuses on three of the final four words. I love you.
She loves me. I want to punch the air in celebration, but I’m far too weak and I have to think about my goddamned stitches. That doesn’t stop the wide smile from breaking across my face, though. I’m in fucking agony, but this is also the happiest I’ve been for a long time.
Fuck everything else. If she’s brave enough to leave me a note telling me she loves me, when all I do is reject her, I must man up and be brave enough to face my feelings for her.
How will Ghost, Rook, and Ace react if I claim her?
Do I want to stop her being with them? There’s a part of me that wants her all to myself, but a bigger part that wants her safe and taken care of.
Camile will always have a target on her back, and having more than one man looking after her makes her a lot safer than if she was only with one.
I know those three will lay down their lives for her, so, really, the best way forward is for us to figure out a way to make this work between us all.
I realize I should have asked Vani what was happening with the club, who got hurt, or worse.
I wish I could remember more about the hit, but my thoughts are foggy.
I remember riding my bike, and hitting oil, and the next thing there were gunshots and I was lying on the road with Rook leaning over me.
After that, there’s nothing. How much will Vani even know?
Yes, she’s my daughter, but she’s not a member of the club.
She grew up inside my old club, but she doesn’t know many of the new chapter in the same way.
They might not have thought to bring her up to speed.
I need one of my guys here. Smokie Saul, or Big Mike, or Ghost…
Something about Ghost tickles at my mind, a dark thing.
The memory suddenly hits me. Ghost, being shoved into the back of a large, black car. Fuck. What the hell happened? It clearly has to do with the reason I’m in a hospital bed.
I need to speak to someone at the club urgently.
Struggling, I reach for the buzzer beside my bed and press it.
The patronizing nurse appears again. “Everything okay, Jack?”
“Cell phone,” I manage. “I need my cell phone.”
“I believe your daughter was given all your personal belongings.”
“Then get my goddamned daughter,” I growl.
I immediately feel bad, because the nurse shrinks away. Even after almost dying, stuck in a hospital bed and attached to machines, and in a gown that probably flashes my ass if I managed to stand, I’m still a scary looking guy.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I just really need to see her. It’s important.”
“You should be resting. You can’t allow yourself to get worked up like this.”
“I appreciate you’re doing your job, but it can’t wait. I promise I’ll rest after I’ve spoken to her.”
I’m not sure I can really make such a promise.
If Ghost has been taken by God-only-knows who, then I can’t just lie here on my back and do nothing.
I remind myself that I’ve surrounded myself with a good group of men in the club, and they can handle almost anything, but it’s still incredibly frustrating.
I have to be involved, if only to know what’s going on.
At least I know Camile is safe, for the moment.
The fact that she had a fight with Vani means she’s at least physically well.
How long will that last, though? The only reason I can think of for us being hit like we were is because of fucking Ledger and the cartel.
Maybe we were wrong to let Camile shoot him, but how could we have let him go after what he did?
The nurse huffs out a breath of frustration, but she leaves my room.
I’ve got no idea if she’s gone to find Vani, or if she’s just ignoring my request. Exhaustion sweeps over me again, and I can’t help my eyes slipping shut.
My body draws me under again, no matter how much I fight it.
I imagine I’m also on a whole cocktail of pain meds.
But when I open my eyes, it’s to my daughter’s face again.
She’s holding a takeout cup of coffee in one hand, and she smiles at me. “The nurse said you were asking for your cell phone.”
I try to sit up. “I want to call the club.”
“No, you don’t. You need to rest. They’ve got everything handled.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because the rest of the world can function without you being there, Dad. I know important shit is going down, but the most important thing is that you rest and recover. You’re not going to be any good to anyone if you end up in surgery again.”
“That nurse spoke to you, didn’t she?”
“Yes, and she said you can’t be overexerting yourself like this.”
I blow out a breath. “If I can’t get my phone, then call the club yourself, and get one of the guys to come in and speak to me. Fuck their family only rules. It’s important. And tell them to bring Camile with them, too.”
Her expression tightens. “Seriously, Dad? Camile doesn’t need to be here.”
We’re back to this again. I think of the note Camile slipped under her pillow. Her words saying ‘I love you.’
Fixing my daughter with a heavy stare, I try to get her to see the importance of what I’m about to say.
“It’s about time you grew up, Vani. I love you, and that will never change.
You’re my daughter. But you’re an adult now, and you have your own life, and you have to let me lead mine, however I choose.
I’ve tried to fight it for you, but it’s making me miserable.
The fact is that I love Camile. I’m truly head over heels fucking in love with her.
And I know you understand how that kind of love feels, Vani.
Like you will sacrifice the whole world if it means you can be together. ”
She doesn’t want to look at me. She presses her lips into a thin line, her nostrils flaring. But she’s also not arguing with me.
“I almost fucking died,” I say, softening my tone.
“My life could have been over, and I’d have spent my last days fighting the one thing I want.
How do you expect me to wake up tomorrow, continuing to pretend like I can simply go on without shouting to the whole world that I love her?
I’ve already wasted too much time. I refuse to go another second without her. ”
Ivani’s dark eyes glisten as she finally looks at me. “But Dad—”
I cut her off. “No. I won’t hear it. You need to get your head around this, so we can all go back to living our lives.
You don’t get to dictate to me how to live mine, and you don’t get to tell Camile who she gets to love either.
I could have come down really fucking hard on you, Vani, when I found out about you being with three men, but I didn’t.
I trusted that I’d raised you right, and that you would make the correct decisions for yourself. Now you have to do the same for me.”
She bites her lower lip until the skin turns white beneath her teeth, gives a brisk nod, and sniffs.
“Okay, Dad. I’m not saying I’m happily going to give you my blessing, because honestly, I still think about Mom, and it doesn’t feel that long to me since we lost her.
Also, I’m sorry, but the whole thing still icks me out some.
But I’ll stop standing in your way, if that’s what you want. ”
“It is.” I sigh. “I lost your mother, too. I will never stop loving her, and she won’t be replaced by Camile. Our hearts are big enough to love more than one person in this life.” I give her a wry smile. “As you know all too well.”
Her mouth twitches a little in response to that.
“Your mother will always have a place in our hearts and lives, but… I’m ready, to try to love again.”
Tears shimmer in her gaze and she sniffs, nodding once. “I’m just glad you’re going to be okay. I was really scared I was going to lose you.”
I take her hand. “I know, sweetheart. But I’m still here. Takes more than an ambush and a few hours in the OR to kill me.”
She gives a small, choked sob-laugh at that. “I’d hate to think of what it will take.”
“A broken heart because of a daughter who refuses to love the woman I love? Her friend, at that?”
“Dad, stop. I told you I wouldn’t stand in your way. That’s the best I can do for the moment.” She looks away, then back to me. “I’ll try, okay? I promise. Just… give me a bit of time.”
“Okay, thank you. Now go and call the club for me.”