Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
AYDA
Ihad a headache from all the flashing lights.
The blue and red LED light bars had been blinding, the intense colors alternating over and over again until I could still see the sequence with my eyes closed.
There were little yellow tent flags littered around the area at the back of Rusty’s, and if I never spent another moment in the back of a police cruiser for the rest of my life, it would be too soon.
Sutton had been doing his best to put out fires, but there was a look of defeat in his eyes as he leaned into the back of the Navarro Sheriff’s car to talk to Travis who was saying nothing.
He let his officers question us briefly, as well as the people of Babylon, but we stayed as quiet as we could get away with, for the most part.
Slater was handing out the specifics, while the rest of us watched on, nodding and agreeing where it was deemed necessary.
My wrists ached from the metal cuffs that had been put there while I was in the back of the car.
Something else Sutton hadn’t been able to help with.
I couldn’t say I’d never been that scared in my life because I had been more scared than this before—the night in the warehouse had been far more terrifying than being handcuffed in the back of a car knowing the worst that could happen was a criminal record and possibly prison.
Okay, the situation was bad, but I could have been dead, so I had some perspective.
Emergency technicians had Autumn sitting in the back of an ambulance, and most of the men Travis had brought with him were treated in an area they were using as triage… One of two as they were doing everything in their power to keep the two clubs apart.
Four hours later, I was released and sent home with the others on our own recognizance. The usual warnings of not leaving town rang in our ears as we helped Rusty lock up and rode home.
The moment I was inside The Hut, I slipped behind the bar and did a mental eenie meenie miney mo between, Johnny, Jack, and Jose. Johnny Black Label won. I twisted the cap off and inhaled the liquid fire as my eyes locked on my betrothed.
He was battered, bruised, and worn, but damn him, he still managed to look sexy as hell as he approached the opposite side of the bar with his T-shirt sleeves rolled up to his shoulders proudly showing off his strapped up bullet wound.
That usual damn smirk was in place, only he had enough respect for me to at least look a little bit cautious in his approach.
“Is now a good time?” he asked softly.
I tipped back my head and held the bottle to my lips, letting more of the liquid trail fire down my throat, while holding up a finger to ask for a moment. I shuddered as I rocked forward and held the bottle out to him, letting out a gasp.
“Now is a perfect time, Mr. Tucker. I need you to explain what the fuck just happened.”
“You shot me,” he said with amusement as he swiped the bottle from me and tipped it to his lips, never once taking his eyes from me.
“Yeah, I caught that. It was the why I was unclear about.”
He shuddered and gasped, dropping the bottle back down onto the bar to push it toward me.
“Trigger… Sorry, Travis, was trying to frame you for Jacob’s murder.
I needed to create a scene that made it look like there’d been a struggle—that he’d been the one to snatch the gun from you, causing the trigger to be pulled by accident, which led to Jacob being shot in the head.
I tried to step forward to defend you, he twisted the gun in both your grips, tried to aim it at me, and it caught my arm…
just not enough to stop me getting to you.
I managed to break you apart. We fought.
” Drew paused and faked a harsh wince of pain.
“He got me real good. Right here.” He pointed to his left eye.
“And I hate to admit it, but the little sniper got me in the ribs a few times, too. Way more hits than he’d have got if I hadn’t just been shot in my arm.
” His eyes met mine as he looked up and tried not to smile.
“You stumbled back. Slater caught you. You were… traumatized. The rest happened so quickly. What can I say?” He shrugged.
I pulled the bottle toward me, my hand tightening around the neck as I studied him. The adrenaline was still racing through my veins, but it was only a matter of time until the inevitable crash came, and I had more questions.
“Thank you,” I said, running my thumb around the lip of the bottle. “He didn’t blink, Drew. When he shot Jacob, he didn’t even blink. It didn’t affect him enough to even blink. His own brother.”
I covered my face with my other hand and sucked in a deep breath.
“What am I looking at? Time wise? It would be manslaughter, right?” I sniffled, teetering on the edge of sanity.
“Ayda,” he said quietly, losing all his breeziness as his tone slipped from casual to cautious in an instant. I felt his arm reach out, and when his fingertips brushed my wrist, I saw him lean against the bar. “Do you honestly think I’d let you do time? Ever?” he whispered.
I dropped my hand into his, twisting, so our fingers linked, and brought his bruised knuckles to my lips. “Do you honestly think it’s going to be that easy to get out of this?”
“Yes,” he said confidently. “I do. You need to trust me. I love your honor, baby. I love your fight. I love the way you’ve brought me to life and loved me like no other living, breathing thing has ever loved me before.
I love watching you grow from this shy, unsure woman who used to look at me like she was afraid I was going to bury her, to this woman who now looks at me with instruction—a woman who now tells me how to live.
A woman who has become my moral compass for life.
” His fingers dug into my palm as he pulled me closer.
“But if you think for one fucking minute that I would let my future wife go to jail before I did, then you’re mistaken.
I would take the fall a thousand times for you.
I would die for you tomorrow. Tonight. Right fucking now.
And if you think this is up for debate, then you’re mistaken, Ayda, ‘cause I love you so fucking hard, I’d rather die right now than see you suffer.
So take those words I’ve just spoken, taste them, let them slip down your throat and sink in.
You’re mine. I protect what’s mine. Your future is safe. Let me worry about mine.”
There were no words for the way my heart beat in my chest. I couldn’t describe the feeling that ran through my body. If they could bottle my emotions and sell them, we’d be millionaires. It was an odd high that had my knees trembling, and not one part of that was from the shock.
“I love the way you love me, but I think we’re at an impasse.”
“No, you think we’re at an impasse. I know what I’m doing,” he whispered, bringing my hand to his lips and closing his eyes as he spoke against it. “Please. Just for once. Fucking trust me.”
I smiled at him, my hand releasing the bottle and reaching out to run through his hair. “Jesus, Drew. I think I proved how much I trust you when I shot you.”
“That was so hot, by the way.” He smiled against my hand. “Got a little hard when I saw that look in your eyes.”
I started to laugh. It was inappropriate and a little hysterical and drew the attention of the men closest to us, but I couldn’t have cared less. “I am so in love with you, you crazy ass.”
“I know.” His eyes peeled open as he looked up at me. “I love you, too. You wanna know why?”
“Always.”
He sighed heavily, his breaths washing over my knuckles as he brought both hands to hold mine and ran his thumbs across my skin.
“Words are easy, Ayda. Actions are harder. You never fail to act.” Drew looked up at me, wearing the most, sincere heartwarming expression I think I’d ever seen. “You just don’t know how to let me down when I need you the most.”
I’d gone the entire night without crying.
I’d had a man shot point blank in the face beside me, I’d watched Autumn get beaten before she’d gone badass and taken a bite out of a guy, I’d shot my future husband, and I’d been arrested, but I’d managed to keep my composure through all of it.
All it took was my gorgeous, rugged, and smooth-talking man to say something so genuine to spark those tears in my eyes.
“Bastard.” I sniffled, just as The Hut door was thrown aside and Sutton stormed in.
“Hold that thought, wifey,” Drew whispered, dropping another kiss to my knuckles before he winked, spun around and turned his attention to the chief of police storming through The Hut.
Sutton had always had confidence. Even when he’d come back from the disaster at the warehouse, and he was the prey among the predators, he’d held his own until Drew had been fit to walk out into the middle of his brothers and announce that Howard was now a friend of the Hounds.
But as he stormed through The Hut, it wasn’t confidence that shone from him.
It was fear.
Worry.
Desperation.
As soon as Drew saw him, he pushed up from the bar, straightened his spine and stood tall.
Gone was my man with the smooth tongue and all the wonderful words he was about to speak to me.
The president had taken over. The difference in his posture as he took his position always astounded me, no matter how many times I saw him shift from man to warrior in the blink of an eye.
“Howard?” Drew said roughly.
Sutton’s eyes were frantic at first, but when they eventually landed on Drew, his whole face and body sagged.
Nothing was said as a thick silence descended over the entire building. Sutton’s eyes zoned in on Drew’s, and it was the little flickers and flinches of his face that told Drew, me, and everyone who was watching, that whatever news Sutton had to deliver, it wasn’t good.
It wasn’t bad, either.
It was fucking catastrophic.
“Drew,” Howard said quietly.