by Ali Parker
A rush of dizziness swept over me when I saw the handle of a knife sticking out of him.
I tore my gaze away from them and fixed my stare on Ruby, who had turned to face me and was staring at me with something I couldn’t place. Either she was pissed or impressed. Maybe it was a bit of both.
“Why, hello there,” Ruby drawled. “Come to see the final act?”
I wanted to curl up in a ball on the floor and apologize for interrupting her madness. I wanted to pretend that none of this was happening.
But Sabian had a knife in him, and my brother was barely staying on his feet. Jax couldn’t get any air into his lungs, and Ryder was looking at me with a desperation I could feel in my own heart. They needed me.
I had to stand my ground.
“I’m here to tell you to get the hell out,” I said coldly.
Ruby blinked at me and then burst out into unconvincing laughter. “Sweet girl, you have no fucking clue who you’re messing with.”
“I know who you are,” I said. “And I know who he is.” I pointed my chin at the big man who had been facing off with Ryder moments before. “There’s a bunch of news crews outside. This is over, Ruby. You’ve all been caught red-handed, and the cops know you were behind Hyde’s murder.”
“Impossible,” Ruby scoffed.
“No, it’s not. You’re guilty. But don’t worry, there’s a silver lining to all this.”
Ruby arched an eyebrow and waited for me to let her in on what that silver lining was. I wasn’t going to hand it over to her. I was going to make her ask. I was going to prove that I was the one in control right now, not her.
“What?” Ruby hissed.
I found myself smiling. “At least you get to pass the years the same way as TJ now. In a prison cell. Too bad you can’t bring The Devil’s Hand with you. Poor Ruby Johnson won’t have any men to leech off of in a women’s prison. How will you get ahead?”
Ruby narrowed her eyes on me. “Watch yourself, you little whore.”
“Me?” I pressed my hands to my chest. “I didn’t get paid to fuck men for two years. I also never used them to climb the ladder all the way up to MC leader. You did that all on your own. Well, you and your well used lady bits, of course.”
Ruby took a step toward me.
“I wouldn’t come any closer if I was you,” I said, standing my ground and lifting my chin. “Unless you want to make a statement for me to publish in the New York Times tomorrow morning. Don’t worry. I won’t mention the prostitution thing.” I gave her a wide smile. “Just kidding.”
Ruby let out a furious yell and came for me. Axel and Sabian both yelled my name. I moved back out onto the porch, and Ruby followed me out into the afternoon sun. As she raised her fist to strike me, the audible clicking of cameras sounded, and the voices of reporters converged around us.
I grinned at Ruby, knowing that the media was at my back.
“Anything you want to say to the people, Miss Johnson?”
Ruby stiffened and stood like a deer in the headlights.
“Smile pretty,” I said. “This is your debut appearance.”
Then, possessed by something I didn’t know I was capable of, I struck her across the face with the back of my hand.
The reporters went mental. Ruby clutched at her bright red cheek and started yelling profanities at me. She moved to hit me back, and I was ready for her. My fists were up, and I was ready to show her the fight of her life.
I never got the chance.
“NYPD!” someone yelled from behind me.
I darted to the side as footsteps sounded on the porch steps.
A woman with brown hair slipped past me and grabbed Ruby’s wrists. I recognized Dani instantly.
“Ruby Johnson, you’re under arrest for homicide and conspiracy to commit murder,” Dani said. She read Ruby her rights and then pinned her against the side of the house as she cuffed her. When she was secured, Dani looked over at me. “Please tell me everyone is okay.”
“I think so,” I said. “Can I go inside?”
Dani nodded.
I didn’t wait for her to say anything else. I slipped by her and wove through the other police officers who had made their way inside and were confronting Ruby’s men. Arrests were happening all around me as I slipped between two cops.
I spotted Ryder helping Jax to his feet, who was rubbing his already-bruising neck.
I kept going. I made my way straight to the back of the living room where I found my brother and Sabian.
Sabian was hunched over on all fours, and Axel was at his side, bent over, talking to him in hushed tones.
I dropped to my knees in front of them.
“Are you okay?” I breathed. As soon as the words left my lips, all the emotions I had been holding at bay came rushing out of me. My breathing quickened, and I felt lightheaded from the adrenaline. My hands started to shake, and I pressed them down flat on the carpet to stop it. A shuddering breath gave way to a panicked sob as I reached out and cupped Sabian’s face. “Please tell me you’re okay.”
There was so much blood. It was warm on my palms, but I didn’t care.
Sabian nodded with his face still in my hands. “I’ll be all right.”
My eyes flicked to Axel. He looked as concerned as I felt.
Dani came barrelling into the room and raced to Ryder, who caught her in his arms and buried his face in her shoulder. She stroked his hair and sobbed into his embrace. When they parted, they exchanged some quick but sweet words, and she assumed the part of working detective and cast her eyes around the room. When she spotted the three of us on the floor, she came to our aid.
Jax, Ryder, and two others whose names were lost on me joined us. Each and every one of them was injured somewhere. A split eyebrow or lip, a bruised jaw, a broken nose, a sagging shoulder. The fight had been vicious, and it seemed that no one held back.
And somehow, Sabian was the only one who’d managed to get stuck with something sharp.
Ryder was on his knees beside me. He glanced up at Dani. “Where are the paramedics?”
“They should be here any minute. They were only four minutes behind us.”
Sabian surprised all of us by leaning back to rest on his heels. He wiped a bloody hand over his even bloodier brow. “You saved our asses, Angela.”
Ryder clapped me on the back with enough force to knock me forward a bit. Perhaps the adrenaline was still coursing through his veins, and he had forgotten his strength. “We’re lucky you did what you did, coming in like that. You frightened me a bit. Like a protective mama bear.”
I wasn’t sure I liked being referred to as a “mama” or a “bear,” but I let it slide. I shuffled forward so that my knees rested against Sabian’s. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I came as fast as I could and—”
“Shut up,” Sabian said. Then he chuckled. He actually chuckled while he had a knife sticking out of him. He reached out and grabbed my wrists and pulled me to him with strength I was sure he shouldn’t still have. He wrapped his arms around me and held me to him as his lips sealed over mine and he kissed me deeply. He tasted like copper and smelled of iron, but I didn’t care.
When we parted, I stayed pressed in tight to him. I looked up at Ryder as Sabian wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I didn’t acknowledge that I noticed how he was leaning on me for support. I could hear the ambulance sirens. They were close.
“Ryder,” I said. “Let me print the story of what happened here. Let me take off this mask the Black Hearts have been wearing all these years and expose them.”
Ryder shared a look with Dani, who nodded once. Ryder looked back to me. “Knock yourself out, Angela Cooper. You’ve earned more than just a story.”
Chapter 27
Sabian
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered as I stirred awake and pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. My head was pounding so furiously that I dreaded opening my eyes. I kept them closed for a while, trying to remember everything that h
ad happened in the last twenty-four hours.
Memories of what had transpired at Ryder’s house came back to me and left my chest feeling tight. I let my hand fall from my forehead to massage the aching spot where the big bastard had buried his knife in me. It was tender to the touch and covered in bandages.
I opened my eyes and found myself staring up at a white ceiling I didn’t recognize. I blinked away my confusion and looked around. I was in a hospital bed.
The door to my room was closed, but I could hear people moving about and talking in the halls. Sunlight was streaming in through partially open blinds, and a machine was beeping somewhere behind my head.
There was also a source of heat pressed up against my left side.
Angela was lying beside me on the hospital bed. She had herself neatly tucked into my side, and she was half off the bed. Somehow, she was sleeping without falling off the edge, and her breathing was slow and peaceful.
I smiled to myself and kissed her forehead.
Her makeup was smudged, no doubt from the tears she had cried when she found me in Ryder’s living room in such a bloodied state. I thought back to everything that had gone down and wondered how everyone else was. I remembered the others all coming to see me when the press showed up—and when Dani showed up.
Gently, I nudged Angela awake. I wanted to let her sleep, but I had to know if everyone else was all right.
She came to quickly, snapping her head up to look into my eyes. “Hey,” she said, a smile touching the corners of her mouth as she blinked away fatigue. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” I said.
“You scared the hell out of me.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Things sort of—”
“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t control any of that.” Angela leaned in and kissed me. Then she kissed my nose and my forehead and ran her fingers through my hair. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Is everyone else all right?”
She nodded, and relief flooded through me. “Everyone is home. You were in the worst shape out of all of them. You’re lucky Derek and Caleb came back to Ryder’s. If they hadn’t gotten there, I think I would have been too late.”
I had completely forgotten that they came back to the house and participated in the second fight. “Is anyone still here?”
“In the hospital? No. Everyone is home safe and sound. It’s just you who needed some extra attention.”
I pressed absently at the wound in my chest, and Angela took my hand in hers and took it away from my chest.
“Don’t do that,” she said sternly. “You’re healing. The wound wasn’t as deep as we thought. The blade was short. Only a two-inch pocket knife. The doctors say you’ll heal up nicely.”
“Good to know,” I muttered as I shifted around to try to get comfortable. “Why the hell does it feel worse than that?”
“Well, there’s more damage than just that. You have three bruised ribs and a minor concussion. The worst of that has probably passed. Your fingers,” she added as she looked at my hand, “are broken.”
I lifted my left hand and found my index and ring finger in a splint. My wrist was also in a metal brace.
“And you have a fracture in your wrist,” Angela said, sighing. “Besides that, you just have some bruising. The doctors say you’ll be out of here either tomorrow afternoon or the following day.”
“Tomorrow?” I exclaimed. I had no interest in lying in a hospital bed that long.
“Yes, or the next day,” Angela repeated.
“Oh, come on. I don’t need to hang around here that long. We can free up this bed for someone else, and I can just go home.”
“Sabian,” Angela said flatly. “You’re hurt. Just give yourself some time to heal. There’s nothing wrong with that. Besides, there are nurses here to help. If you go home, I’ll be taking care of you myself, and that scares me. You had a knife in your chest for crying out loud. Let’s take advantage of having professionals looking after you.”
I lifted my good hand and cupped her cheek. “You don’t need to worry anymore. Everything is going to be fine.”
“I know,” she said. “But I still don’t like that you’re hurt. I should have gotten there sooner.”
“Angela, no. Enough of that. You saved my life. You saved all our lives.” I kissed the tip of her nose again and earned myself a smile. A radiant, beautiful, wonderful smile that somehow made some of the pain in my chest and head go away. “You were a straight up badass the way you came in there and faced off with Ruby. I think I actually found you more frightening.”
“I don’t think your head was in the game at that point, but I’ll take it as a compliment anyway,” Angela said slyly.
“It is a compliment.”
Angela clasped her hand over mine on her cheek and closed her eyes. I could have lain there and counted her eyelashes if she’d let me. But she opened her eyes when I’d only made it to fifteen. “Ruby is in jail. She’s being charged with Hyde’s murder. They have The Devil’s Hand in custody, but there’s no evidence to pin Hyde’s death on him since he never actually admitted to anything while at Ryder’s place.”
“Who?” I asked curiously.
“The big guy. The one who stabbed you.” Angela sat up and tucked one leg under the other. “It took three cops to get him in the back of the cruiser. He was wild. Insane. I swear he was foaming at the mouth.”
“He was a piece of work. That’s for sure. Do they really call him that? The Devil’s Hand?”
Angela nodded. “Yeah. He has a long and violent history of these kinds of things happening around him. He’s spent a lot of time in prison but always manages to find a nice soft landing amongst an organization of criminals once he’s released. This time, it happened to be Ruby who found him, and his particular set of skills matched her intentions well.”
“What’s going to happen to Ruby?”
“There aren’t any court dates yet, but Dani says she’ll keep us in the loop. Obviously. This was a big bust for her.”
“Do Hyde’s sisters know?”
Angela nodded. “Ryder called them after you were loaded into the ambulance. He wouldn’t let anyone make the call for him, and he wouldn’t let any paramedics have a look at him until it was done.”
“Good. They needed to know.”
Angela looked down at her hands in her lap and twiddled her thumbs. She was thinking about something. I waited and hoped she would speak on her own, but her gaze didn’t come back up to me.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked finally.
She shrugged one shoulder. “Ryder still feels a tremendous amount of guilt over all of this. I spoke with Dani early this morning, and she says nothing she can do will pull him out of it. He thinks he’s to blame for Hyde’s death.”
I fought the urge to change the subject. “I may have had a hand in that.”
“I think you need to talk to him.”
“I will,” I said. “When I’m out of here, I will. I know Ryder. Having some time alone with his thoughts isn’t a bad thing. It’ll be hard on Dani because he’s an isolated griever, but he’ll come back around.”
Angela studied me curiously. “How is it you know this about him? Have you lost someone before?”
“My brother. A long time ago. Ryder took me under his wing after Rafael was killed, and I never looked back. The Lost Breed became my family, and Ryder filled the role of my older brother. But he struggled for a long time. We both did. It will be the same now.”
“I’m sorry,” Angela whispered.
“Don’t be. It’s in the past now.” I pushed myself up a little higher on the bed and grimaced at the tightness in my chest and the ache in my ribs. Angela watched me with concern as I pressed a hand to my side. “Tell Dani I’ll talk to him.”
“Thank you,” Angela said quietly.
“Now, how can I repay you for saving my neck?”
Angela’s eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “
Repay me? I don’t need you to repay me. I only did what I would do for anyone else I love—” She blinked and her cheeks turned the brightest shade of pink I had ever seen.
I felt my eyebrows climb up my forehead.
Angela licked her lips nervously and refused to look at me. “I did what any good person would do. You were in trouble and needed help, and I was the only one with the means to do something about it.”
“Because you love me?” I asked.
She swallowed. When her gaze finally came back to mine, her cheeks were still pink, but the horrified look that had been plastered on her face seconds ago was gone. “Yes.”
I felt myself grinning like an idiot. “I love you, too, Angela Cooper. My foul-mouthed, stubborn, smoking hot guardian angel.”
Angela giggled before leaning over to kiss me. “Always the sweet talker, hm?”
“How else should a man talk to his fake fiancé?”
Angela pursed her lips. “On second thought, maybe there is something you can do to repay me.”
“Anything.”
Angela kissed me again. Her lips were warm and soft, and I didn’t want her to pull away. My heart was full, and my body was tingling with something I hadn’t felt in a really, really long time: sheer joy and elation. The girl I loved felt the same way about me. I considered pinching myself. Maybe I was in a coma and dreaming all this.
No. She was as real as the pain still lingering in my body.
“I want to come clean to my parents about this whole fake engagement,” Angela said. “It’s time I stop lying and start telling them what I really want. And not letting them stand in the way of my dreams. And you and I deserve the chance to start on the right foot. No lies. Just you and me, together, how it should be.”
“When do you want to tell them?”
“Saturday night? Depending on how you’re feeling. Two days may not be enough time—”
“It’ll be enough,” I said confidently. “Make the plans. I’ll go with you.”
Angela smiled brightly and kissed me one last time. She tasted like strawberry chapstick and mint. When she pulled away, I heard her stomach growl. She pressed a hand to her tummy and giggled bashfully. “I haven’t eaten all day. I’m going to run down to the cafeteria and grab a sandwich or something. Do you want anything?”
