30. Chapter Thirty
CHAPTER THIRTY
ORA
Lu and Xanthe run up to me with open arms when I step back inside the clubhouse. Lore is behind them and quickly wraps me in his arms. “Thank fuck,” he mutters under his breath just as Scorp runs outside.
“Are you okay?” he asks me, in full doctor mode. He checks my wrists—there is red marks but nothing that will need treatment. He then touches the side of my lip with his thumb. “They hit you?”
“Just once,” I reply, wincing as he inspects the damage closer.
“It should heal fine by itself,” he murmurs, looking down at my body. “Hurt anywhere else?”
“No,” I mutter, glancing around. I want to tell him that I’m about six weeks pregnant and haven’t seen a doctor yet, but I want War to hear it first. “I’m fine. Have you heard from them?”
Scorp shakes his head. “No, they called me in and told me to be on standby.”
Lore leads me through the clubhouse with his arm around my shoulders. “Come inside and rest. You’ve been through enough for one day.”
I don’t know how I’m meant to rest. Instead, I spend the time pacing up and down until I hear motorcycles rumbling. Then I run outside, watching as the gates slide open and the bikes drive through to park.
One by one, I watch them slide off their bikes.
When War gets off his, my knees almost give out. We close the space between us, and I jump in his arms. He holds me tightly with one arm, burying his face in my neck. “You okay? I thought you were shot!”
He slowly places me back on the ground and brushes a soft kiss against the cut on my lip. “I was so fucking scared, Ora.”
“You’re not mad?”
“Of course I am, but I’m more than happy we are both alive to have this conversation,” he rumbles, filling his lungs with a few deep breaths. When I pull away from him, I realize there’s blood all over his T-shirt.
“You’re bleeding? You did get shot!”
“Yeah, I got one in the shoulder,” he admits, wincing. “Angel’s was just a graze.”
Scorp comes out and drags us inside, getting War to sit on the couch. War pulls me down next to him, so I’m basically sitting on top of him.
“Where’s Rome?” I ask, glancing over all the other faces.
Bones comes up and kisses the top of my head. “Nice to see you breathing, gorgeous.”
Skull gives me a long look, then presses his lips to my cheek.
War pulls me closer. “Never a dull moment with you, is there?”
“Everyone is okay?” I ask them, frowning. “Where is Rome?”
“He was shot in the stomach,” War explains, taking my face in his hands. “Haze and Ghost drove him straight to the hospital.”
“Is he going to be okay?” Even I can hear the fear in my voice. The last time we spoke, we had a fight. I don’t want those words to be our last. I’ve only just met him, and it will break my heart if he dies, especially because it would be my fault. “Can I go and see him?”
“I’ll take you soon,” War promises, kissing my mouth. “Ghost messaged and said he’s in surgery right now.”
“Take your cut and T-shirt off,” Scorp tells War, who is sitting there like he’s not currently bleeding out. I help him peel it off and gasp at the wound. Scorp handles his business, and I stand and look around at the men who put their lives on the line to save mine.
How am I going to thank them?
“I don’t think baked goods are going to cut it,” I mutter, then start to cry.
I blame the baby.
I usually never cry or show much emotion, but right now, I’m feeling everything.
“Baby, come here,” War says softly, and I sit beside him. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Did we lose anyone?” I ask, dreading the answer.
“I don’t think so, but we would have if we didn’t have the snipers,” he explains, kissing my neck.
“That’s who took John out?”
He nods. “We had Sniper and four members of his team set up around the warehouse. They’re special ops, and we pulled in a marker they owed us.”
“I’m so sorry I left like that,” I whisper.
“We need to talk about everything, Ora,” he says, wincing as Scorp starts to stitch him up. Aside from that, he doesn’t react.
“I know.” I sigh, not looking forward to it but knowing it needs to happen. I watch Lu helping to clean up some blood on Blade, and I think they make a cute couple. Xanthe is holding Heaven’s son in her arms, rocking him from side to side.
What a day.
Scorp sees to Angel and then heads off to the hospital, where War and I join him. When I see my dad lying there, shirtless and bandaged, my throat starts to burn.
“Dad?” I whisper, and then his eyes slowly open, familiar blue pools of warmth.
“Ora,” he whispers back, his lip twitching.
Bending over him, I gently rest my cheek on his chest, careful not to touch his stomach. “You scared me there, old man.”
“No more than you terrified me,” he replies, cupping my head with his hand. “Going to take a lot more than a rival MC to get rid of me.”
War takes a seat, letting us have our moment.
“Did you know that John was Kate’s ex?” I ask, and he nods.
“I did. He used to beat her, so she left him and ran to us. He never got over it and started his own MC,” he explains, closing his eyes as if this small interaction took all of his strength.
“Are they still going to try and come after us?”
“You don’t worry about that,” Dad says in a soft voice. “I love you, Ora. From the moment I knew you were mine, I should have told you that.”
“I love you, too,” I reply, my tears dripping down my chin and onto his bare skin.
Scorp steps into the room and picks up his chart. He’s in his scrubs with a stethoscope around his neck. And yeah, I’m not blind, he’s damn sexy. “He’s going to be fine, Ora. He had surgery to remove the bullets, and he needed a blood transfusion. We’re going to keep him here for a few days. He’s lucky the bullets missed his vital organs.”
“Thanks, Scorp,” I reply, ignoring War’s growl from behind me. Looking back down at my dad, who is now asleep, I kiss his forehead and turn to face War.
“Let’s go home. We can come back in the morning.”
When we returned to the clubhouse, most people left, aside from the brothers and Lu and Xanthe.
We catch Lore on the way out. “Where are you going?”
He rubs his thumb across my cheekbone. “Clean-up duties. We don’t want anything being traced back to us.”
Does he mean the dead bodies? I don’t know, but I don’t have the energy to deal with it so I don’t ask.
“Get your hands off my woman, Lore,” War mutters, staring him down.
Lore simply grins and walks out, a little spring in his step like he’s off to get laid instead of potentially dealing with dead bikers.
War lifts me with his uninjured arm and carries me to his room, where we slowly undress and step into the shower together. War washes my hair, massaging my scalp. Nothing about this is sexual. We are both in our own heads, processing everything that happened today. And there’s a lot to unpack.
We don’t speak but enjoy the intimacy of the moment. I think we know that once we start talking, this truce we have now is likely to end.
We almost died today.
But just before that, our relationship almost did.