by A. M. Myers
“I suppose you’re right but you can’t really think I’m going to allow you to marry her if you can’t take care of her.”
“The only reason she’s in that bed is because of you.”
He waves his hand through the air, dismissing me. “The point is, you have a chance to avenge her pain. Do you want to take it?”
“You have him?” I ask, watching him warily. He nods.
“Oh, yes. I’ve got Devlin and I’ll deal with him if you’re not man enough to handle it but what would she think if you didn’t end the monster who spent the last twenty-four hours torturing her?”
I nod. “Let’s go.”
“Kodiak,” Smith breathes and I shake my head. He’ll never understand – not unless it’s the love of his life lying in a bed being tortured.
“Stay out of this, Smith.”
“Tate wouldn’t want this,” he growls under his breath and I suck in a breath. The night she learned the truth about the kind of man her father is pops into my mind and I remember how horrified she was that he was a part of her. Dropping my head, I sigh as my mind wars with my heart. Images of what that animal did to her replay in my head and I want to hurt him even a fraction of how much he hurt her but Smith is right. Tate wouldn’t want me to become her father. Shaking my head, I turn to Dominic.
“I would love nothing more than to sink a blade into his gut a couple hundred times but Smith is right, that isn’t what Tate would want.”
Dominic laughs. “As far as I’ve heard, Tate is as fierce as some of my best men.”
“She is,” I say, turning back to the image of her on the screen and my chest aches. “But she’s also good and pure in a way that you’ll probably never understand. Besides, she already has one murderer in her life and you brought all this trouble down on her head so it’s only right that you clean it up.”
“What do you know of it?” he scoffs and I glare at him.
“I know that as that animal was forcing himself inside her, he wanted her to plead with you for rescue. Don’t act like this isn’t on you.”
He takes a step toward me. “Know your place, you little punk.”
“My place is by her side,” I assert, squaring my shoulders and meeting his gaze. “Now, where is she?”
Dominic studies me for a moment, a wry smile stretching across his face. “You know, I could just take her and go back to Chicago right now. You would never see her again. So maybe you should try to be a little respectful to your future father-in-law.”
“And I could kill you right now,” I assert, taking a step forward as my hand hovers over the gun in my waistband. “Where is she?”
He sighs. “Baton Rouge General, but don’t think this is over.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I snarl, turning and walking out of the room without waiting for a response. Everyone files outside, including Nix, Emma, and Rodriguez, and I nod to them as I jump on my bike and fire it up. I don’t wait for anyone else as I peel out of the parking lot and no one stops me. They’ll catch up eventually but I’m getting to my girl now. Pulling down on the throttle, I speed up, racing through a yellow light as a car horn bellows. They can go fuck themselves. Nothing is stopping me now.
When I pull up in front of the hospital, I park my bike in a spot and jump off before running through the door. I spot a nurse and I sprint to the desk she’s working at.
“I need to find my fiancée. She was brought in here a little while ago.”
She nods. “Name?”
“Tatum Carter.”
She types something before glancing up at me with a sympathetic expression and my heart stalls.
Please tell me she’s okay.
She has to be okay.
“Second floor. Room 208.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
Turning away from the desk, I decide to take the stairs instead of waiting on the elevator and people shoot me looks as I race past them but I don’t give a fuck. No one in this hospital is as important as my girl. Once I get to the second floor, I find a sign and race down the hallway until I skid to a stop in front of room 208.
Sucking in a breath, I step forward and my pulse spikes when I see her lying in the middle of the bed with wires and tubes all over her. Her arm is covered in bandages and a tear slips down my cheek as I walk forward and grab her hand.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” I whisper, kissing her hand and willing her to open her eyes. Apart of the bandages covering her left arm, she doesn’t look too worse for wear but from all the work I’ve done with the club, I know all the hard work is still in front of us. I will stand by her through it all, though. “Eyes on me, gorgeous. You don’t get to leave me anytime soon.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tatum
“Where are you at, baby?” a familiar voice says, pulling me toward the light as darkness clings to me, trying to pull me back under its warm embrace. My entire body aches and I try to remember why. An image of Devlin slicing me open with the scalpel fills my mind and I cry out. Or, at least, I think I do but no one seems to notice. “I’m missing you something crazy and I need you to come back to me, Darlin’.”
I try to reach for him but my arm doesn’t budge. More memories flood my mind – I was fading in and out of consciousness as the door to the room burst open and then I was in someone’s arms. There were people calling my name and pain, so much pain that I couldn’t stand it anymore. I whimper. Someone grabs my hand and a sense of peace settles over me.
Oh, I’d know that touch anywhere.
“Tate? Can you hear me, baby?” he whispers, one hand cradling the side of my head as he brushes his thumb over my forehead. I try to squeeze his hand but my fingers won’t work and I let out another whimper. “Eyes on me, gorgeous.”
Fighting against the darkness, my eyes flutter open and I wince at the bright fluorescent light filling the room. Where am I?
“Hey,” the voice whispers and I turn my head to the side, my heart pounding when Lincoln comes into view.
“Lincoln.” My voice is weak and it cracks as I force the word through my lips but his face lights up as he brings my hand to his lips and kisses it.
“There she is.”
I try to sit up but pain floods my body and I squeeze my eyes shut again as I realize just how dry and uncomfortable my throat is. “Ow.”
“What do you need?” he asks, gently setting my arm back on the bed as he stands and I glance at the cup on my bedside table.
“Water.”
He nods, grabbing a pitcher and filling the cup with water before setting it back down and helping me sit up a little bit. I hiss as pain swamps me again and he murmurs apologies as he raises the head of the bed. When I’m finally comfortable, he grabs the cup again and helps me take a sip of water.
“Thank you,” I whisper, my throat still feeling dry but it’s better than before. He nods, setting the cup down and sitting in the chair again as he grabs my hand and presses it to his forehead.
“Thought I almost lost you.”
I shake my head, smiling through the constant pain now throbbing through my arm. “Lincoln Paul Archer, I’m never leaving you.”
“Damn right you’re not,” he forces out as he looks up and brushes away a tear. My heart breaks for him as he stands and presses a kiss to my lips. When he pulls away, he flashes me a smile that melts my insides and I let the peace I feel with him radiate over me before memories start rushing back to me.
“Oh, Lincoln,” I gasp, fighting back tears. I know I have to tell him what happened to me and I have no idea how he’ll react.
“Hey,” he whispers, running his hand over my hair. “What is it, sweetheart?”
“I have to tell you… He did things…”
He shakes his head, giving my hand a squeeze. “You don’t have to tell me anything, Tate. I already know.”
“How?”
Gritting his teeth, he looks away from me for a second before his gaze drifts back to mine and he sighs. “Your fa
ther showed up at the clubhouse and showed us the video Devlin made.”
“You saw?” I ask in horror as tears burn my eyes. He nods.
“Yeah, baby, I saw and I don’t care, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
I shake my head. “I don’t really know what I’m thinking yet.”
“That’s okay, too,” he says with a nod and I stare at the wall for a moment, trying to play catch up. Turning to look at him, I suck in a breath.
“Do you know where he is now?”
He arches a brow. “Devlin? Or your father?”
“Both.”
Shaking his head, he sighs and kisses my hand again like he can’t get enough of me. “If I had to guess, I would say that Devlin is dead and who the hell knows where Dominic is.”
“What happened?”
He meets my gaze. “What do you remember?”
“I remember the scalpel carving through my skin,” I whisper, turning to look at my bandaged left arm. “And I remember Devlin humming Don’t Worry, Be Happy as he stitched me back together.”
“Jesus, baby,” he hisses, closing his eyes as his jaw clenches. “Is that all?”
I shake my head. “I was fading in and out of consciousness and I think someone broke the door down but after that it’s just flashes of stuff that don’t make sense.”
“It was your father. He rescued you from Devlin and then the hospital staff found you dumped on the ground out in front of the emergency room door.”
“He just left me here?”
He nods. “I assume he had to get Devlin somewhere secure and then you know the rest.”
“I can’t believe he showed up at the clubhouse,” I whisper, wishing I could have been there to witness that.
“There’s one more thing you should know, babe.”
I turn back to him, nodding. “Dominic is fairly certain that Devlin was responsible for your mother’s death.”
“Oh,” I spit out, staring up at the ceiling. I’d like to say that I’m surprised but after everything else I learned, I’m not. His anger and pain was eating away at him for a long time and in the end, it took control over everything else.
“Do you know why he went after you?” Lincoln asks and my head falls to the side.
“Dominic didn’t tell you?”
He shakes his head. “I get the feeling he didn’t know.”
“He still doesn’t,” a voice says from the doorway and I stiffen as a handsome man with salt and pepper hair and an impeccable suit walks into the room.
“Dominic, I assume?”
He smiles and I can actually see how easy it would be to fall for his charming act. “You can call me Dad.”
“I won’t,” I answer, pressing my lips into a thin line.
“Dominic, what are you doing here?” Lincoln asks. My father barely even spares Lincoln a second glance as he strides into the room and sits on the edge of my bed by my feet.
“I told you this wasn’t over.”
“Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble?” Lincoln growls and Dominic dismisses him with an eye roll. Rage twists through my belly and I narrow my eyes into a glare.
“What do you want?”
Chuckling, he pats my foot and I immediately want to pull it back. “I’m here to check on my daughter, of course.”
“Yeah, right. Why don’t you tell me what you really want?”
He adjusts his sleeves. “Tell me why Devlin took you.”
“You’re the one who rescued me. Why don’t you ask him?”
“I am. A thank you is not necessary, by the way...”
“Good. Because I wasn’t going to provide one. Do you have Devlin now?”
“I do,” he replies with a nod as he studies me with amused eyes.
“Then ask him.”
He sighs, crossing his arms over his chest. “He’s being annoyingly tight-lipped about his reasons for acting so crazy. It doesn’t make sense. He’s always been such a good soldier.”
“Claire,” I reply, watching his response. His eyes widen and I watch as the truth slowly dawns on him.
“Oh… All this over a girl? What a grave mistake on his part.”
Anger surges forward in me seeing his total lack of compassion or remorse. “Really? That’s all you have to say? He only did to me what you did to her.”
“He knew what he was doing by going after you and now he’ll pay the price.”
“How did you know where I was?”
He shrugs. “Devlin never intended to survive this so he didn’t bother to cover his tracks. It took me no time at all to find him.”
“You’re going to kill him?” I ask, unsure how I feel about it. A part of me really felt for Devlin but after what he did to me, I’d feel so much safer knowing he was no longer walking this earth.
“Unless you want to, my dear.”
I shake my head. “I’m not you.”
“Yes,” he muses, his gaze flicking all over my face. “I can see that now, although I do hear that you have a bit of my temper. You know, you could always come home with me.”
Lincoln stands up as his grip on my hand tightens. “I don’t fucking think so.”
“I am home,” I answer, meeting my father’s gaze. “And from now on, I don’t want to see or hear from you again.”
He nods, standing from the bed as he straightens his suit. “I understand, Tate. I will never claim to be a good man because I’m not but for you, my darling daughter, I would go to fucking war and don’t you ever forget it.”
“The difference is, I would never ask you. Get out of my life and don’t come back.”
He sighs. “Children never appreciate their parents until it’s too late. If you ever need me, all you have to do is call.”
He tosses a card down on the bed and walks out without another word as Lincoln scoops it up.
“Want me to rip it up?”
Sighing, I hold my hand out for the card and he gives it to me. There’s a huge part of me that wants to rip it into a million pieces but something stops me.
“Are you okay, babe?”
I shake my head. “I don’t even know how to answer that question.”
“You wanna talk about it?”
I meet his gaze and hold my hand out for his. “No. I don’t want to give Devlin’s pain or anger any more life – especially when I have such a fantastic future to look forward to with you.”
“Sounds like a pretty good plan to me.”
“I’m glad that you’ve finally learned to just give me what I want,” I shoot back with a smirk and he laughs.
“Fuck, I love you, baby. The next seventy years with you are going to be interesting as hell.”
I shrug, lying back in the bed as I squeeze his hand. “Would you want it any other way?”
“Darlin’, as long as I get you, I’ll take it however I can get it.”
Epilogue
Six Months Later…
A cool sea breeze drifts in through the open sliding glass door and I smile, turning back to the full length mirror and running my hands down the gauzy fabric of the dress. It’s a simple design but I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and I know it’ll make Lincoln lose his mind with the deep V and the open back. My hair is curled and pinned back as Ali secures little white flowers with bobby pins. Her belly bumps me and I laugh.
“Watch where you’re swingin’ that thing.”
She growls. “Don’t start with me, woman. It’s hot as hell, my toes look like sausages, and this baby won’t stop kicking my bladder.”
“Well, sit down,” I instruct, gently walking backward toward the bed as she holds a piece of my hair. As I sit on the edge of the bed, she sits behind me and sighs as she gets back to work.
“You look stunning, Tate. If he weren’t already barefoot, you’d knock Kodiak’s socks off.”
I catch sight of the scars on my arm and collarbone and sigh. Maybe I should have gotten a dress with sleeves. “I hope so.”
She fo
llows my gaze and pokes the back of my head with a bobby pin. “Knock it off. You’re gorgeous and Kodiak is one lucky bastard.”
“Ow,” I mumble, rubbing my head. Physically, I healed from Devlin’s attack fairly quickly but the emotional side of it still haunts me daily. Of course I don’t know what I’d do without Lincoln. He wakes up each morning and the first thing he does is kiss every scar on my body, telling me how beautiful I am. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t even want to imagine where I would be.
After I was released from the hospital, Lincoln took me home and promptly moved in. Neither one of us was willing to be away from the other after we almost lost it all and I still needed a lot of help as I healed. Rodriguez came by a few days after we were settled in and delivered the news that they’d found Devlin’s body on the edge of town. They also found journals detailing all his plans at his house so as far as the police department was concerned, the case was all wrapped up with a tidy little bow. I thought I would find some peace in knowing who killed my mother but I don’t. Instead, I’m still haunted by the type of man my father is but I suspect that’s something I’ll have to learn to live with.
“Knock, knock,” someone says and I smile as Theo opens the door and pokes his head in. When he sees me on the bed, he sucks in a breath and a wide smile stretches across his face. “You’re beautiful, T.”
“Thanks, little brother.”
He growls. “The only reason you’re going to get away with that is because it’s your wedding day.”
“Uh, Tate?” I glance across the room as Carly ducks in through the sliding glass door. “I don’t want to alarm you but there are some dark clouds rolling in.”
“I’m done, you can get up,” Ali says, patting my shoulder. I stand and make my way across the room, pulling the sheer white curtain back to peek outside. She’s right. Dark, ominous clouds are rolling in toward the beach and I can’t help but smile. For some reason I can’t explain, it feels like Mom is with us here, which is the whole reason Lincoln and I decided to get married in Grand Isle where everything started for us.
