Chapter Thirty-Four Peyton
I’ve been watching as Cooper sleeps for the past few hours hoping that at any moment he would open his eyes.
Knox and the babies are sitting in the corner playing.
Devil came in for a little while and sat with us, he wanted to take the little kids home so asked that we keep him updated on everything that is going on and when Cooper wakes up.
I still feel so helpless, I am glad they were able to find him alive, but it is horrible that we are still sitting in a hospital bed waiting for him to wake up.
There is so much I want to say and so much I want to do.
I know they’ve gave him the all clear, but it doesn’t really mean much when he won’t open his eyes and his body has been so badly beaten.
Who does this to their family? Knox told me his brother was one of the men that took him and tried to obviously get something from him that he was unwilling to share.
I can’t even imagine the amount of pain he went through when they had him.
It breaks my heart to see him like this.
To see this man that has been through so much, even more than I know, broken by people that were supposed to love him be put in this bed like this.
This life has so much pain and suffering in it and I know that everything is worth it, but I just hate that we have to sit and do all this.
It seems like we have been living in hospitals for years at this point.
We’ve been dealing with some crazy motorcycle club that is after my family, crazy bat shit club girls, mafias that want to help these crazy assholes and now this.
Now we’ve got a mafia around us trying to take someone away from me again all because his fucking blood brother decided that he would be a good way to get points with the boss.
“What are you thinking so hard about over there?” I hear rasped and my head shoots up and I look at Cooper and Knox is up out of his chair and rushes over.
“Fuck, Cooper you had us so worried!”
“I’m okay, baby. I’ve been through this and then some. So don’t worry.” He says as he wipes away the tears I didn’t know were falling down my cheek.
“Daddy!” Rowan squeals from Knox’s arms and Cooper chuckles while putting his arms out.
The triplets all call Cooper daddy and Knox dada. I’m sure when they get bigger that will change, but for now they are almost one and we are taking it. Rowan basically jumps out of Knox’s arms and into Cooper’s and you see Cooper wince, but doesn’t let it show that he is in any pain.
“Hey little man. Have you been good for mama and daddy?”
Rowan babbles back a bunch of words and you have no idea what he is saying, but Cooper pretends along that they are having a full conversation.
“Thanks for coming to save my ass. I didn’t really know if I was going to make it out of there. Where are all the men?” Cooper asks without taking his eyes off Rowan.
“Luca Moretti took the other Italians. We have your brother. While, Chaos has your brother. Thorn made sure of it. Speaking of Thorn, I’m gonna go get him and Devil. Give you guys a few minutes.”
He reaches down and takes Rowan from Cooper and walks him over to the little playpen we set up before walking out the door.
“Devil, huh?” He looks at me with a sad smile.
“Yeah, Devil. I’m sorry you didn’t find out until now, but I am glad that you finally found out. Devil is probably taking it just as hard, hating that he didn’t know about you until now. I think he wants to kill your mom. I guess I just don’t know how bad you had it.”
He looks at me and goes to speak and I put my hand up, “That wasn’t me trying to get you to tell me all your secrets, Cooper. I just really until this shit, I guess I didn’t realize how much you probably needed a family outside of the one that was supposed to keep you safe. I hate that for you.
I’ve felt so helpless and I’m just so glad you’re okay!”
He scooches over a little, winces as he goes, “Come here, baby.”
I climb onto the bed, careful not to pull any of the cords or anything he has attached to him. He puts his arm around my shoulder and then lifts my chin so I am looking at him. He bends his head down and kisses me. When he pulls away he places his forehead against mine.
“I know you weren’t fishin’ for any information, baby. I also know that I need to tell you a lot of shit, not because you want to know, but because it will be good for both of us. I owe you a lot of explanations.
There are a couple things I want you to know more than anything before we go too deep down the rabbit hole.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“One is that I love you so fucking much. I have for a long time, probably longer than I should. But you were Tanner’s little sister and I didn’t want to do anything to fuck with that. Second, when were were sleeping together before that day I fucked up, I mean I know there were several,
but the day that you finally ended it, I want you to know that while we were hooking up doing whatever the hell it was we were doing, I wasn’t with anyone else. I made you believe I was and that was fucked up of me, but I wasn’t. My past isn’t pretty.
The life I lived before I moved out of my parent’s house was not pretty. Some of it is dark and twisted. I pushed you away because I didn’t think you needed to be touched by my darkness. You are such a light that I hated how I felt like I was using your light to make my darkness go away,
while I was rubbing it on you. I’ve been told most of my life I am worthless and unloveable. I didn’t want you trapped with a man that was any of those things. I mean if I could take all of it back, I can’t say I would because we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Knox completes this messed up relationship we have and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Plus I can’t imagine a world where the triplets don’t exist. And—”
“Oh hello! I’m sorry for interrupting, but your friend told me you were awake and we need to do our checks.”
I look and it’s the doctor and I go to get off the bed, but Cooper just pulls me closer to him.
“Sorry, we should’ve called you as soon as he woke up.”
“Oh no, that’s okay honey. Your friend did come and grab me and said you were awake for a couple minutes before he walked out into the hall. I just need to do an exam and explain to you everything that is going on. Everything that we told your family.
You are going to need some rehab for the shoulder because of the gunshot wound.”
“I was shot? Damn, I don’t even remember that. That must have happened when I blacked out.”
“It could be. You had several stab wounds on various parts of your body, some internal bleeding. We had to make repairs to your liver and remove your spleen. But all of that went well. You had some stab wounds on your legs and other parts of your body that we had to take care of.
If it weren’t for Doc and your club being someone I am familiar with your case would’ve been escalated. I know you guys have your own way of doing things and I am sure you have men in law enforcement. But anyway, you should make a full recovery. You did not have any brain bleeds,
despite the beating it looked like you too. We are going to keep you in the hospital for a week or so to monitor you and make sure nothing changes. You have a lot of family that is waiting to see you. So I will go out and come back when it is time to make my rounds. Is there anything else you need?”
“No doctor, thank you so much.” Cooper says.
The doctor smiles and walks out while holding the door open for what appears to be Tanner and Devil.
“Thank fuck! You fucker, never do that shit again. I can’t get a new fucking best friend.” Tanner says as he comes over and sits next to Cooper. “I saved you a present back at the clubhouse. Figured you’d want to take care of that yourself.”
Cooper smiles at Thorn, “You know now everyone is going to know you’re a big softie. All the brothers that run away when you come walking down the hall are going to know you’re not as badass as you say you are.”
Tanner scoffs at him, but has a smirk on his face. The room gets quiet when Cooper turns to look at the other Devil’s Chaos member in the room.
“Hey Devil. I heard you got some good news for me.”
“I do, do you mind if we get the room?” He turns to everyone and asks.
I look at Cooper and he is looking at me, “It’s okay, I’m not going anywhere I promise.” He kisses my lips and I get off the bed and head over to grab one of the babies. I bring Ronan to Tanner, Knox grabs Rebel and I grab Rowan and we head out into the hall.