Prologue
Even with my eyes closed, the flashes of red and blue blinded me. The bite of the metal around my wrists gave me something to focus on, other than the ache in my hands and the blood stained on my knuckles.
Too many people came at me with questions, but I couldn’t think straight. All I remembered was tackling him, trying to save her, but they acted like I was the guilty one.
As I was shuffled past the growing crowd, I locked eyes with my buddies, their faces a mixture of worry and confusion. My mouth refused to part, the plea resting in my throat abandoned when I was shoved into the back of a car, the gated divider sending a chill down my spine.
I wanted to tell the officer I was innocent, that I’d been defending someone, but the way their eyes raked over my size told me they wouldn’t believe me.
I didn’t like to fight because I was bigger and stronger than most.
I wasn’t a danger.
I wasn’t a killer.
But when they wheeled his lifeless body away on a stretcher, I feared that was no longer true.
1
The sound of groaning assaulted my ears, and it took several moments to realize the noises came from me. Every breath I released was laced with agony. I couldn’t form a single word, though, the pain slicing through me immobilizing my brain-to-mouth filter.
Whenever I fell quiet, I’d hear faint whispers. Sometimes it was my name and sometimes it was multiple words strung together. I couldn’t make out exactly what was being said, but I heard the desperation laced in the tone.
A woman’s voice.
She sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place who it was leaning over me, her gentle touch soothing. I tried to pry my damn lids open, but they were too heavy.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “Rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.” But I was already awake. I just couldn’t tell her.
And why was I so damn hot? Every pore in my body leaked and the moment when I thought I’d burst into flames, shivers racked through me. My muscles ached from the gyration and my teeth chattered.
Then it was back to burning up, only to have the chill return.
Back and forth.
No end in sight.
The cool cloth on my head helped soothe the inferno racing through my blood, and the heavy blanket covering me kept the chills to a minimum, but if this shit didn’t stop soon, I was gonna be one pissed-off man.
“I’m gonna check your wound,” the voice whispered. The weight of the blanket shifted and the cold clamped down over my drenched skin. “If I could switch places with you, I would.” Her warm breath caressed my jaw, the press of her lips against my cheek comforting, if only for a fleeting moment.
I was thankful for every rise and fall of my chest, even though I wasn’t quite sure what was happening. I wanted to ask, only I couldn’t force my lips apart to speak.
The pads of her fingers drifted over my chest, pressing lightly near my heart. The jolt of pain that accompanied her touch made me flinch and she apologized. I thought I heard her mumble, “That’s not good,” but I couldn’t be sure.
A heavy fog of exhaustion pulled me under as she spoke again, every syllable she uttered muffled and twisted.
“I think he’s coming around.” The woman’s voice was followed by two others—a man, and another woman. When the edge of sleep finally fell away, I opened my eyes. At first everything was blurry, but my vision quickly snapped back into focus.
Addy and Stone stood at the foot of my bed, both staring at me in silence. Stone’s brows drew inward when his eyes landed on mine, pushing back a strand of his dark blond hair before shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. He didn’t say anything, glancing at his wife quickly before looking back to me.
“Hey,” Zoe greeted, entering the room and rushing to my side, a limp washcloth clutched in her right hand. “How are you feeling?” She pressed the cloth to my forehead and the wetness helped to relieve the heat in my veins.
“Like shit,” I garbled, my throat dry, like I’d swallowed a puff of rock dust before speaking.
“Here, take a couple small sips.” She placed her hand behind my head and the edge of the cup at my lips. The slight movement forward stole my breath, but I needed the liquid, so I pushed through the pain before turning my face away and dropping my head back to the pillow.
I wanted to thank her, to ask her so many questions, but I couldn’t find the strength. All I wanted to do was fall back into sleep, but something told me that wasn’t gonna happen anytime soon. There was a reason Addy was here, and our club’s VP, and I doubted it was because of a routine checkup on the status of my wounds. The air in the room thickened and I prepared myself for news I didn’t want to hear, watching Addy’s every step as she moved to my bedside. Stone stayed put, his attention on his wife. If I could muster the strength to do so, I would’ve laughed at the way the corner of his top lip arrowed up, or when he removed his hands from his pockets only to clench them into fists, his sole focus on watching his woman as she reached down and touched my bare chest. Or to be more accurate, touched the bandage covering the wound. And when she felt my cheeks and neck, I thought the man was gonna have a coronary.
Addy followed my line of sight and looked back at Stone, only to shake her head before turning away from him. “Don’t pay him any mind.” She smiled, her expression working to ease the bit of anxiety that reared its ugly head. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here.” I gave her a curt nod, wincing from the gesture. “Zoe called and asked if I could come and check on you. I was here last night, and everything looked okay, but you’ve since spiked a fever and she couldn’t get it down.” She flipped the washcloth, and again, I welcomed the cool against my forehead. “She also told me your chest wound didn’t look right. So, that’s what I’m gonna look at now. Okay?” Another hesitant nod from me. “Good.”
Zoe’s hand clasped mine and my eyes glided to hers. “You’re gonna be fine.” Her full lips collapsed into a thin line, her tentative grin contradicting her words.
When Addy peeled back the edge of the covering, she made a noise with her throat, released a long breath, then peeked up at me, not once saying a word. Several strands of her blonde hair fell forward over her eye and she quickly tucked them behind her ear before continuing.
“Your wound got infected.” She looked to Zoe. “Do you see these red marks zigzagging away from the sutures?” She didn’t wait for her to answer before she continued. “Not a good sign, but luckily I can give him something to help.” I closed my eyes, allowing Addy to do what she did best.
“I bet you wish you had my condition right now, don’t you?” the VP asked. Fucker was lucky. He had some weird issue where he couldn’t feel an ounce of pain, no matter what happened to him. I once heard Addy refer to it as congenital insensitivity to pain. He’d been shot several times and was even run off the road many years back while on his bike, all instances happening before I joined the club. Stone often brought up his mishaps, as he referred to them, when some of the guys compared battle scars.
And now, it looked like I had some of my own, unfortunately. One on my chest, and sure to be a smaller one on the outside of my right thigh. I believed that one only required four stitches.