by Stacey Lynn
“They’ll be fine.” He took his own swig of water, swishing it in his mouth before spitting into the bucket on the ground outside the ring. Half of it missed his target.
More blood on the ground. I looked away from it.
“I called Ryker.” Jaden spun on the ropes, resting his back against them. The move made me bounce against the ropes. “He’s coming back.”
Jaden squeezed his eyes shut and dropped his head back. He looked straight up at the hot afternoon sun beating down on us. “Fuck, Daemon. That’s going to fuck everything up.”
“I need him.” I needed him to get his ass back here, but even why I needed it, I couldn’t say. He wasn’t only my brother; he was the best long distance shooter I knew. Something told me that skill could come in handy soon, as long as he still shot. And assuming the club would allow him to be there. If not, I’d have his ass standing two feet next to Liv until all this shit was taken care of.
Although, at least the shit with Travis was taken care of our hands were clean. Something told me dealing with the Sporellis wouldn’t be that easy.
“He’s gonna go apeshit crazy when he finds out about Faith.”
Yeah he was. He’d probably kick my ass for it, too. I threw my water bottle in the trash, gritting my teeth together. “Ain’t nothin’ I can do about that. He wanted to know how she was doing, he should have asked me years ago.”
Jaden followed me out of the ring to the clubhouse. I needed a shower, and then I’d head my ass back to the hospital. I hadn’t gotten word from Finn, so I assumed Olivia was still sleeping, and I wanted to be there when she woke up again.
“Not sure this is the time to bring more shit to the club, Daemon.”
“Not sure I asked your fuckin’ opinion.” I swung the door open to the club and let it slam against the wall.
“Hey.” Jaden grabbed onto my arm and swung me around facing him. My hand instantly tightened into a fist. Damn, I felt ragey and tight all over, my skin too small for my body. “Ryker isn’t a Nordic Lord, D. You need to think about this. He took off and left you to clean up all his shit afterward. He hasn’t been back since. Are you sure now is the time you need him here?”
“Liv was shot,” I clipped angrily. “I need my brother. Someone who can be there with her while we figure out the rest. And I called Faith. Black Death have her on lockdown in Penny’s. I doubt he’ll even run in to her.”
Jaden looked at me doubtfully. I doubted me too, but maybe finding out Faith had become an escort to take care of her mom after Ryker took off on her… maybe that would be enough to shake all the shit out of his head. Make his ass see the fallout from his decision to take off and run ruined every good thing he ever had.
Some truth knocked into him might be good for him.
“She wake up at all?” I asked Finn as soon as I walked into the hospital room. He sat in a chair, one leg crossed over the other, his hands clasped together over his stomach.
Finn shook his head and stood up. “For like a second, but she just opened her eyes and closed them again. Doc’s been here a couple times checkin’ on her; said she should be okay to go home in a day or two.”
I clasped him on the shoulder and thanked him, then took my seat in Finn’s vacated chair.
“Go talk to Bull,” I told Finn as he walked toward the door. “Figure out what the hell’s goin’ on then let me know.”
I dropped my head in my hands as soon as he left the room. A group of men were in the waiting area, waiting for Liv to wake up. I wondered if she knew how much she’d been loved by all the men she abandoned years ago. Hell, everyone who met Liv fell in love with her. I had even fought with Ryker when we were kids over who got her. Not that she ever knew that. We were like six and eight at the time, but I had won.
Liv had a way about her, a smile and a word for everyone. It didn’t matter how rough they were, how broken they were, people were attracted to her kind smiles and her gentle honesty.
She just had that way. And knowing she was in this mess, all over again… my hands grabbed fists of my hair.
Shot. Again. I had promised to protect her and I had failed.
I had failed the one person who meant more to me than anyone else in the world, even Ryker.
The fog and darkness lifted slowly. Painfully, my reality became clear once again, sliding to the forefront of my mind while the sleep disappeared.
Beeping sounds. Fluorescent lights that I knew would blind my eyes when I opened them.
My baby. Gone.
Travis. Gone.
Daemon. I looked away from where I knew he was sitting. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know he was here. I could feel his presence in the room like a warm, thick blanket; ready to save and protect me, ready to tell me everything was going to be okay.
I opened my eyes and stared at an open door. Inside I could see a small sink.
Daemon’s hand went to mine on the left side of the bed.
“You’re up.” His voice sounded relieved, maybe hesitant. I absorbed the deep rumble and closed my eyes.
I nodded but said nothing.
Daemon sighed as if he released the weight of the world through that one breath.
Slowly, I opened my eyes and faced him. With one look from me, I saw the tension in his eyes disappear. “How long have I been out?”
My voice was scratchy and dry. The words burned in my throat. I nodded toward a glass of water and Daemon handed it to me, holding it so I could sip through the straw.
“Thanks,” I mumbled when he pulled the cup away.
“Almost a day,” Daemon said. His weary, blank eyes made me cringe inside. “The doctor said you’ll be okay, though. He said you can come home tomorrow, probably.”
Home.
I didn’t have a home. A flash of my burned and soaked apartment flashed through my mind and I flinched. So much had changed in the last few weeks.
“How do you feel?”
I took stock of my injuries. The morphine, or whatever pain med they had me on, must have been stellar. I felt no pain in my body.
There was, however, a hole somewhere in my heart that I knew wasn’t a physical pain. I pressed my lips together and my chin shook.
“I’m fine,” I lied, right as the first tears swelled in my eyes and one spilled over. His thumb caught my chin and he pulled me back to him.
“I’m so sorry, Liv.” He swallowed slowly and blinked. “About the baby; I’m so sorry you lost the baby.”
I nodded once and squeezed more tears out of my eyes. “I’m fine.”
Daemon shifted and his forehead rested against mine. My shoulders shook from the weight of my grief. “You’re not fine, Liv. I know you’re not. And it’s okay to not be fine right now.”
The kindness of his words made me feel worse. I expected his anger. I expected him to be upset or hurt because I had gone to Travis and not to him.
I hadn’t really expected him to be sitting by my bedside when I woke up.
I wiped my eyes and took a shaky breath.
“I want to be alone,” I said and closed my eyes. Daemon’s hand smoothed down the hair on the top of my head. His large, strong fingers felt so gentle on me, but I didn’t want them to.
Four weeks. It took four weeks for my life to fall to shit all over again. It wasn’t Daemon’s fault. I knew it.
Somehow, I still blamed him for it.
“Liv, baby, I’m not leaving you this time. I already told you that.”
His lips brushed against my forehead and I flinched.
I said nothing as I turned my head away from him. I kept my eyes glued to the television that was on, silently playing a stupid soap opera I had never watched in my life.
Daemon didn’t leave.
He stayed when the nurse came in and checked my vitals. He stayed through the changing of my dressings even when the nurse asked him to leave. The glare he gave her told her he wasn’t going anywhere, even if it was just to the hallway for a minute.
He stayed wh
ile members of the club came in, squeezed my hands, and kissed my head as he had done.
He stayed when the nurse came in and served me lunch, and then dinner.
And when the darkness fell outside and the pain meds pushed me back to a fitful sleep—he was still there.
Even though I hadn’t spoken to him since I told him to leave.
“Here are your discharge papers.” The smiling nurse handed me a packet of information along with a box of gauze and tape. “You’ll need to change the dressings twice a day for the next two weeks. Then you can come back in and have your stitches removed. You don’t need an appointment, you can just head to the walk-in clinic and they’ll take care of you.”
I told her I understood as Daemon took the box of supplies out of my hands and stuffed them into a small duffel bag he had Finn bring to the hospital for me.
I wasn’t too keen on the idea that Finn had picked out clean underwear for me. He didn’t seem too happy about the delivery either.
“And here’s your prescription for your pain meds.” She handed me a small pink, square of paper, which Daemon snatched from her fingers. She gave me a funny look and I simply rolled my eyes.
“We’re good to go,” Daemon said, once the nurse left the room. He had the duffel bag swung over his shoulder and his hands on the wheelchair that I was supposed to leave in.
I messed with the hem of my Nordic Lords t-shirt Finn had also brought. I had glared at it and then put it on because it was the only shirt he brought. It also smelled like Daemon. The club name was written across it in an arch with their logo of a Vikings skull holding two axes and four lightning bolts at the corners. All the men had the ink of the logo somewhere on their body after they were patched in.
Daemon’s was across his back right shoulder. He also had a smaller one on his right forearm.
“I think I should stay with Gunner.” I kept my eyes down and my voice soft. It was the first time I’d spoken to Daemon since I told him to leave the day before.
Daemon’s booted feet appeared in my line of vision.
“You’re coming home with me.” The words came out dark and slow.
I shook my head. I may have been glad he had kept his word and stayed, but it didn’t change the fact all of this had happened because of my connection to Daemon. And being with Travis had just brought more trouble for the club.
“I’m not letting you use this as another excuse to leave, Liv.” Daemon’s hand came down on the bed and covered my knee. He squeezed it gently but firmly and heat spread throughout my entire body.
I tried to shift away from him but he held me tight, somehow cementing me in place with just a touch.
“You’re not runnin’ again. You’re coming home with me, and I’m going to take care of you.”
I raised my head slowly until I was staring directly into his eyes. “You mean you’ll do that until you have club business.”
My words came out harsher than I intended. But it was still the truth. He would be with me until he had to go kill the men who hurt me. Payback. Revenge.
The cycle of death would never end.
I was so sick of all the death that came from being tied to a club. It was why I’d left in the first place.
I hated it.
“You’ll be protected.” His eyes gave away nothing. I almost wanted to snap, ask him how well he’d done protecting me so far, but I shut my mouth before the words came out. Even I knew if I had just one of the prospects follow me to my doctor’s appointment, none of this would have happened.
If I had done what Daemon told me to do… none of this would have happened.
I closed my eyes and when I opened them, I looked at Finn who was quietly standing in the corner. He hadn’t left since he brought me my clothes. He looked at the back of Daemon and smiled lightly, silently, encouraging me to give in.
“Okay—” And then my words stopped in my throat as the door to my room opened. I saw a flash of dirty blonde hair enter the room first and then her head.
She moved slowly, as if she were afraid to be there, and froze to her spot as soon as she took in Daemon.
“Liv?” She asked, letting the door softly close behind her. She raised a hand in greeting. Her lip shook slightly. “Hey.”
My eyes widened. Holy crap! “Jules?” Then I smiled. The only person I had ever kept in contact with. She had left town years ago, transferred to a college in Arizona. Her skin looked like it carried a permanent tan but other than that, she looked just the same as I remembered. “What are you doing here?”
My eyes flickered to Daemon and Finn when she didn’t move. Daemon looked as surprised as I was.
“Faith called me,” she said, smiling softly and moved closer to me. Daemon took a step away and crossed his arms against his chest, glaring at her. Her lips twitched nervously when she saw his glare, but she closed the space until she was next to my bed. “Said you got hurt and might need a friend.”
I did. I absolutely did. It was also only then that I wondered why Faith hadn’t come by to see me. We had grown closer in the last few weeks. Not enough to have our friendship back to where it had been, but close enough where I thought she’d at least stop by.
I shook the thought out of my head and opened my arms for Jules. She took the invitation and leaned in, her arms wrapping around me gently. “It’s so good to see you,” I said, clinging to her.
“I came as soon as I heard. I’m so sorry you got shot.” She pulled back from me and looked me over. “Are you okay?”
“Nothing that a surgery and a few stitches can’t fix,” I quipped and then my eyes were instantly sad as I thought of the baby I lost. Stitches couldn’t fix that pain.
She saw my eyes go cloudy and squeezed me again, whispering in my ear. “I’m so sorry about the baby. Faith told me everything when she couldn’t be here.”
Tears filled my eyes and I closed them. I nodded against her shoulder and clung to her tightly. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Her hand ran down my hair in a soothing gesture before she let her arms fall again. “I’m on summer break so it was no big deal.”
It was though, and her sad eyes told me it was hard for her to be here. She had her own reasons for leaving Jasper Bay. I knew she came back occasionally to see her family, but it was something we never talked about.
I looked at Daemon who was still glaring at Jules. “Maybe I should stay with Jules.”
His head snapped to mine and blinked as if he didn’t understand what I said.
He shook his head. “You’re staying with me.”
My nose twitched in annoyance. “Jules can change my dressings just as good as you can. And who’s going to mess with the mayor? I’ll be fine over there.”
Jules took a step back, and it was then she finally saw Finn standing guard in the corner. His expression was blank, but he nodded once when she gave him a meek smile in greeting. I wondered if she knew who he was. Had he been around when Scratch was still alive? I didn’t have time to do the math before Daemon was in front of me, glaring down at me.
I backed up on the bed.
“You’re coming home with me. You are not using this as an excuse to run again, Liv. I’ve already told you that.”
“Yeah, because the club’s done such a good job of keeping her safe.”
My eyes flashed to Jules. It was the first time since she entered the room that she didn’t seem afraid of being there. Daemon glared at her again before looking back at me.
His expression softened and he moved in closer. He was blocking me on the bed with his hands on the outside of my thighs, pressing firmly into the bed. He whispered in my ear and I shivered under his lustful look and pleading voice. “Please, Liv. I know you’re pissed at me right now, and I know you’re blaming the club for all this. But don’t run from me.” I brought my eyes to him and it felt like time stopped. He looked so serious, so much in pain at how I’d been hurt. “Let me take care of you. I need to know you’re okay.”
&
nbsp; One of his hands came up and gently cupped my cheek. I swallowed slowly, loving the feel of his warm hand on my cheek.
I nodded. I opened my mouth to tell him that I’d stay with him, as long as Jules could come over, too; but before I spoke, there was a loud bang as the door to my hospital room slammed open. All eyes jerked to the intruder, but I couldn’t see anything besides a flash of black.
Then Daemon was pulled away from me, shouting and clutching his cheek with one hand. He had been thrown across the room, and was bracing himself against the cement wall.
Finn had a gun pulled, cocked and ready to shoot, aimed directly at the man who had punched Daemon.
I blinked. Once. Then twice. Then a third time before my vision cleared and I recognized him. Oh, shit.
“What the fuck!” I roared and spun around, gun pulled.
I shook my head, trying to clear my vision and the pain blasting in my head.
The blurry man in front of me cleared and I lowered my gun.
“What the hell was that for, Ryker?” I rubbed my cheek he had just hit and stared at him. His breathing was harsh, his hands still balled into fists. He glared at me like he still wanted to pound the shit out of me. “That’s a hell of a welcome home, brother,” I said, as I put my gun in the back of my jeans.
I looked at Finn who did the same thing, although he didn’t remove his eyes from Ryker.
“You’re such a son of a bitch, Daemon. How in the hell could you not tell me Faith was working at Penny’s?”
Fuck. I squeezed my eyes closed and then braced myself for his next punch. “You never asked. Not once did you ask about her.”
I saw the pain of my words hit him. It had to be tough for him to be back here, and I knew I owed him the world for coming back and facing this town. I just hadn’t expected him to know about Faith before he saw me. Hell, I’d been hoping he wouldn’t see her.
“Ryker?” Liv’s soft and questioning voice cut through the daggers we were throwing at each other with our eyes.
