We speed up. Maddox hangs onto me, riding one-handed. Tears flow down my cheeks and my body is going numb, my mind blanking in and out. “Stay with me,” Krypt bellows in my direction. “Skye, stay with me.”
My eyes flutter and I slump forward, I can feel my shirt soaked with blood. The sounds disappear and seem to fade off into a faint hum. Krypt keeps yelling at me, Maddox keeps jerking on my arm, checking to make sure I am awake, but the pain is too much. In and out of consciousness I go.
Some time later, the bikes slow down, and I hear the faint rattle of gates. Then my dad’s voice.
“No,” he bellows. “No!”
Daddy.
I try to lift my head from Maddox’s back, but I can’t—it’s too heavy. Hard arms go around me and I’m suddenly freed of the warm comfort that is Maddox.
“They were all along the road. I’m so fuckin’ sorry Cade.”
“Not your fault,” Spike says. “Not your fault, Maddox. It was an ambush. Fuck, Cade, we gotta get her to a hospital.”
“Can’t get out. You know we can’t fuckin’ get out. Skye?”
My eyes flutter open and I look up at my dad. “Daddy?”
“Me, baby. I got you. Hey, stay with me okay?”
“We need to get her inside, right fuckin’ now,” Spike orders. “See the damage? An ambulance would probably get through.”
“No ambulance, no cops. I’ll find a way to get her to the hospital if it kills me,” Dad barks. He turns, and I can feel every bump as he jogs towards the house.
“Cade!” My mom. Frantic.
“Oh God, Skye. No. No.”
“Skye?” Ciara. “Spike, what happened?”
“Ciara, baby, you need to move so we can sort this out. Addi, precious, come here. You know the rules. We’ve got her.”
“My baby,” Mom cries.
I try to reach out, but my hand won’t move. It hurts too much.
“Daddy,” I moan. “It hurts.”
“I know, baby, I know.”
“Make it go away,” I whimper.
“I will, honey, I will.”
I’m placed on a soft bed, or maybe it’s a couch. I open my eyes; there are so many people around. Where’s Danny? I want Danny.
“Danny?” I croak, my eyes darting around the room.
The pain comes back in full force and I try to sit up, screaming as it feels like flames licking up my back.
“He’s comin’, baby, lie down. We gotta look.”
“Roll her, Cade,” Spike orders.
“Danny!” I bellow.
“Roll her!” someone barks.
Big hands force my body to the side and my shirt is cut off and tossed to the ground. It’s red. All red. I cry even more frantically, thrashing and trying to get away from the pain that consumes me.
“Stay still,” Dad pleads. “Skye, stay still.”
“It hurts,” I scream.
Someone is crying in the background. I wish they’d stop.
Stop.
“I know it hurts, baby, I know.”
“Hey.” I blink through my haze and see Muff kneeling in front of me. “Give me your eyes, Skye.”
I hold his eyes. He’s so pretty.
“You keep lookin’ at me, talk to me if it helps, but you gotta stay still. Do you hear me?”
I nod and tears roll down my cheeks.
“You wanna tell me what happened?”
“W-w-w-we were just r-r-r-riding and—”
Someone touches my back. I scream.
“Hey, Skye, hey,” Muff says, taking my hand. “Keep talking; don’t focus on that.”
“It came out of n-n-n-nowhere,” I wail. “They just s-s-s-started shooting.”
Pressure on my shoulder, so much pressure. I thrash forward, my body arching, wailing in agony.
“What the hell?” Granddad.
“Skye?” Danny. He’s here. “Fuck, Skye?”
Muff disappears and Danny is in front of me, his face frantic, his eyes so scared.
“Danny,” I whimper.
“Baby, I’m here. I’m here. Hey, you’re okay.” He looks up. “What the fuck happened?”
“She got shot. Ambush on the way here,” Spike says quickly.
“Anyone else hurt?” Granddad barks.
“A few of my guys,” Maddox says.
“You got them?”
“Yeah, Krypt got them. Went back. Whoever was there is gone.”
“We got here clearly; they must have known you were comin’ through. We need to do a head count, make sure everyone is here and in lockdown,” Granddad orders. “You good with bein’ here, Maddox?”
“Got a few more comin’ in, but yeah.”
“Cade?” Granddad calls. “What’s the damage?”
“Bullet still in there, but it’s fairly close the surface. Clean wound. I don’t think it’s gone near anything vital—looks like it’s stuck in the muscle and flesh, no bone. I think we can get it out and stitch her up without a doctor. We’ve still got antibiotics on the premises?”
“Yeah,” Granddad says, his voice pained. “You want me to take over?”
My dad’s voice comes back, broken, hurting. “I can’t do it, Jacks. Can’t hurt her.” His voice hitches. I start to cry.
“Hey,” Danny says, grabbing my face in his hands. “You’re okay, you hear me? You’re goin’ to be fine.”
“It hurts,” I whimper.
“I know, baby, I know.” He moves closer, pressing my face into his chest and hanging onto me.
“Cade, take Addison and get out. We’ll sort through this.”
“Can’t leave her, Jacks,” my dad argues.
“Best for you and your wife. She’ll be okay. You know she will be.”
“She’s awake . . .” His voice hitches.
“Cade, leave. We’ll do what we can to make this painless.”
“Jacks . . .”
“Leave!”
There is a commotion and my mom’s frantic voice, begging Granddad to let her stay. The room clears quickly.
Danny smells so good, so comforting. The hands on my shoulder seem to fade into nothing and all I can feel is him. My mind spins again, the pain having gone above and beyond intense.
“Don’t think you need to worry about her fightin’,” Danny says, his voice sounding almost far off. “Think she’s gonna black out.”
“Let’s hope so,” Granddad murmurs. “Spike, get me what I need to stitch this. Muff, get me towels and water. This is goin’ to make a mess.”
A mess. I thrash. “No,” I bellow. “No.”
“Just hang onto her, Danny,” Granddad orders. “Don’t let her go.”
“I won’t.”
Pressure on my shoulder has me screaming in agony again, so loudly Danny flinches. “Fuck, Jacks, stop, you’re hurtin’ her.”
“You think I fuckin’ like this?” Granddad yells, his voice breaking. “Fuck, it’s killin’ me. She’s my goddamned Grandbaby. Just hold her.”
More pressure.
My screaming becomes thrashing and then darkness finally grabs hold and drags me under.
Bliss.
~*~*~*~
My eyelids flutter open and I try to get my bearings together. There is a dull ache in my shoulder, quickly reminding me of where I am and what happened. I shift and moan; I’m lying on someone’s lap. I blink a few more times and Danny comes into view, looking down at me, his hand stroking through my hair. “Hey beautiful,” he murmurs. “How’re you feeling?”
“Danny?” I croak.
“I’m here. We’re all here. You remember what happened?”
I nod.
“Got the bullet out. Stitched you up. You’ll be okay.”
“Our baby?”
His face grows concerned. “Don’t know. I don’t know how much affect any of this has had . . .”
Tears well in my eyes.
He cups my face. “It’ll be okay. Trust that, yeah?”
“I need to sit,” I whisper.
/>
He helps me sit up, and I realize we’re in his room at the club. I’m wearing an oversized shirt of his and I can feel extensive bandaging around my shoulder. I got shot. Oh my God, I got shot. I jerk and swing my head in his direction. “Who else was hurt?”
“A couple of Maddox’s guys. Luckily the gunmen were moving too fast for a good shot to get in, so they’re all going to be fine. No deaths.”
I exhale in relief.
“You fuckin’ scared me,” he says, his voice so quiet I nearly don’t hear it.
I turn to him. His eyes . . . oh, his eyes. I cup his face. “I’m so sorry.”
“Not your fault,” he murmurs, pressing his lips against my head. “I just never wanna feel that again. I never got it, Skye. Never got the fear. Never got why you ran.” He sucks in a deep breath, and his eyes cloud with a darkness I’ve rarely seen in them. “I get it now. When I walked in and saw you like that, I felt it—I felt it with every ounce of my being. I’ve never been so fuckin’ scared in my entire life.”
Tears flow down my cheek.
“Dealt with everyone else sufferin’, watched bad things, but never understood just how fuckin’ terrifying it is to see someone you love bleeding because of an action of the club.”
“Danny . . .”
“I’m steppin’ down.”
I blink. “Danny,” I gasp. “No.”
“I can’t see that again in my life, not for a single second. I can’t bear even for a heartbeat to think that you could have died. You were lyin’ there, blood everywhere, and I’ve never been so terrified in my entire life. If I had lost you . . .”
“It was just the wrong place at the wrong time, and—”
“You could have died, Skye. It came down to more than wrong place at the wrong time. This isn’t the first time this has happened in the club, and the cold, hard reality is that it won’t be the last. I can’t stand the thought of seeing you there again, but more than that—I can’t stand to see my child there. I don’t want to see myself the way Cade was today, or the way my dad was when Mercy got hurt, or how Granddad was when Ava got taken. I can’t . . . I won’t.”
“The club is who you are. It’s who you’ve always wanted to be.”
“No,” he says, cupping my face. “You’re who I am, Skye. Without you, none of this means a damned thing to me. I nearly lost you today; I won’t let that happen again.”
“Danny, you’re reacting out of fear—”
“I’ve already stepped down.”
I gasp. “Danny, no.”
“Not a single thing you say will change my mind, Skye. Not a single fuckin’ thing.”
“Danny, please think about this.”
“Ain’t nothin’ to think about,” he mutters, getting off the bed. “You need a drink?”
“Danny . . .”
“Do you need a drink, baby?”
More tears roll down my cheek, but I nod. He jerks his head in acknowledgement and disappears out the door. A second or two later, my dad walks in. He looks exhausted, his face broken, his eyes terrified for me. And I see it. I see what Danny sees—I see the end result of such an ordeal. I can’t argue and say I don’t agree with him, but seeing him give away who he is . . . that doesn’t make me feel good. At all.
“Daddy,” I whisper.
“Fuck,” he says, striding towards me with purpose. “Skye, I’m so sorry.”
He sits on the bed and carefully pulls me into his arms. I clutch his jacket with my good hand and let the tears come, flowing down my cheeks in rivers. “Never thought it’d be you. Never thought I’d be the one lookin’ at my daughter bleedin’ on the ground.”
I flinch.
“I’m sorry, baby.”
“It isn’t your fault,” I whisper.
“It’s not my fault directly, but all this is a result of club business gone wrong. No one should have ever suffered for that. Not a single hair on your, or Ava’s or Mercedes’s bodies should have ever been touched or messed with. It was our job to keep you safe.”
“Daddy . . .”
“I’m sorry.”
I hug him tighter. “It’s okay.”
“You feelin’ all right?” he asks, not pulling his face away from my hair, and I know it’s because he doesn’t want me to see the hurt in his face.
“Yeah. Danny told me he stepped down.”
He exhales. “Smart boy.”
“Daddy, being president is all he’s ever wanted to do.”
Dad pulls back finally and looks down at me with red, glassy eyes. “Until he found something better. Until he saw the horror this life can bring to a family. He’s smart, Skye. He can amount to so much more.”
“Don’t talk like that. This club is everything.”
“Once it was. Now it feels like a fuckin’ nightmare none of us can escape from.”
That makes me so damned sad. “He won’t be happy without it. I know him.”
Dad strokes a thumb over my cheek. “You’d be surprised what fallin’ in love and havin’ a family can make you feel. Let him make this choice, Skye.”
“I don’t want him acting because of hurt and fear. I want him to do it because he truly thinks it’s for the best.”
“Danny is a smart kid. He’ll do what’s right; he never acts without thought.”
Still, the idea of him losing everything he’s ever loved . . . it breaks my heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“I heard about Danny,” Ava says, sitting cross-legged on the couch beside me.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Mercedes adds, her eyes wide with shock.
“I could,” Max says with a shrug.
We’re all sitting on the couch in the living area. Being on lockdown sucks, because you can’t leave. Hell, you can’t even go outside. I’m going stir crazy after a day. My mom has driven me mad with her obsessive attempts at looking after me. I love her to death for it, but it’s getting a little crazy. There are only so many people that can be in one space without sending each other over the edge.
“Yo!”
I look up to see Phoenix and Quinn waltzing in, pizza in hand.
“How the hell did you get that?” Max asks.
Phoenix wiggles his brows. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I would, actually.” Max grunts. “Sick of fuckin’ eating the shit we got here.”
“It’s not shit,” I point out. “It’s all very healthy.”
“It’s shit,” Phoenix and Quinn say in unison.
“Gotta agree,” Diesel mutters, coming into the room with Molly and Matilda behind him. “Total shit.”
“It’s good for the baby,” I argue.
“So is pepperoni,” Quinn says, thrusting a slice in my face.
God, it does smell good. I snatch it out of his hand, scowling at him. He winks at me.
“Come over here and give your woman some lovin’,” Mercy says, wiggling a finger at Diesel.
He rolls his eyes at her. “Woman, gave you lovin’ twice today.”
“Oh gross,” Ava mumbles.
“Like you can talk,” Mercedes throws back at her. “I heard you and Lucas in the bathroom earlier.”
Ava grins.
“Seriously,” I mutter. “I’m trying to eat.”
“Just because you can’t get any”—Ava throws a slice of pepperoni at me—“doesn’t mean you gotta hate on the rest of us.”
“I’m pregnant and semi-broken. Believe me, I’m hornier than a teenage boy at prom. If I could jump on and fuck Danny, you can guarantee I wouldn’t be sitting here eating pizza with you morons.”
Phoenix spits out the soda he just poured into his mouth, and Matilda laughs hysterically. “Oh my God, check out his face.”
“Whose face?” Molly asks.
She points, and we all turn to see Danny standing at the door. My eyes get big and I clap a hand over my mouth. He looks at me like he wants to eat me alive.
“Down, tiger.” Ava chuckles.
“Interestin
g conversation happenin’ in here,” Jack says, shoving past Danny and waltzing in, grabbing a slice of pizza.
“Ah . . .” I flush, looking away from Danny’s hungry eyes.
“Skye?” Danny orders.
I look at him sheepishly. “Mmmm?”
“Get up.”
I swallow.
“Now.”
“Okay,” I squeak, standing.
“Ohhh, she’s going to get some serious lovin’.” Ava giggles.
“Ew,” Mercedes groans, throwing her hands over her ears.
“It’s revenge for your loud fucking,” Jack says to her.
“Man, that’s my sister. Shut the fuck up,” Danny snaps, reaching out and grabbing my hand when I get close enough. “And if you don’t wanna hear Skye scream, I suggest you all get the fuck into the end rooms.”
“Oh God,” Mercedes cries. “Ew.”
“You go you good thing!” Ava grins.
“Seriously, why am I the only one not getting fucked in this house?” Max groans, throwing his feet on the coffee table.
“I’ll fuck you for a price,” Molly adds with a grin.
“Oh boy,” I mumble, letting Danny jerk me out of the room.
He strides down the hallway with purpose, leading me to his room. When we get in, he shuts and locks the door before moving to a speaker in the corner of the room. He presses a few buttons and music comes on, effectively drowning out any noise.
“Ah. . .” I say as he stalks towards me.
“Can’t fuck you hard, but I can fuck you, and I’m done waiting.”
“Umm . . .”
“The baby is okay, yeah?”
“I’m not bleeding or cramping, so I’m thinking yeah.”
“Then you can ride me real slow. Get your clothes off.”
My eyes get big. “Seriously?”
He shrugs his jacket to the floor, jerks his shirt over his head and reaches for his jeans. The sight of his very hard, very gorgeous body has me hurriedly removing my clothes. Well, as fast as I can with a sore shoulder. He drops his jeans and his cock springs free, hard, big, and ready, and I stop mid-removal of my pants and just stare.