His Man : A Wounded Souls Novella (The Wounded Souls Book 6)

by Leah Sharelle

  “He knows, Lucky man, said it won’t be long now,” Shiloh told me with a knowing grin that spooked and soothed me all at the same time.

  “Gots to go now, dude,” Shiloh suddenly announced and jumped off my lap but not before laying a wet kiss on my cheek. “Gots shit to do,” she sang as she toddled off down the hall to where the rest of the club was camped out.

  After watching Shiloh make it safely to the waiting room, I tiredly pushed myself up to my feet, and the door to Ford’s room opened as I did.

  “You can go back in now, sir,” the nurse informed me, her smile genuine. “There is a definite improvement in his vitals and, thankfully, no infection. Looks like he got that blood at the right time.” She winked at me as the doctor came out behind her, his head jerking in the direction of the room behind him.

  “Someone is asking for you, son.”

  As soon as the words were out of the doctor’s mouth, I was moving the five steps to the door where my man was awake and alive.

  Thank you, Darth mate, thank you.

  Chapter 12

  FORD

  The pain that radiating from every muscle, every orifice of my body ceased the minute the door to my room was flung open, and Bryce came rushing in. His eyes were wild as they sought me out, and once they found me, the wild was suddenly replaced with relief.

  “Oh, Jesus, Ford baby, thank God,” Bryce rasped. A guttural cry left his throat as he dropped down to his knees beside my hospital bed, and his hands gripped onto the arm without the cast.

  When I woke, it was to people I didn’t know poking and prodding me, but by their attire, I had to assume I was in a hospital and that the car that had been coming at me did actually hit me. Bryce’s quiet sobs shocked me. His head was now laying on my arm, and I could feel the wetness of his tears on my bare skin.

  “Hey… Bry—” My mouth was so dry I couldn’t get the words to come out louder than a husky whisper. “Babe,” I tried again, this time, getting his attention.

  His head lifted slowly, and his hands still held onto me with a death grip.

  I licked my lips. “Water,” I croaked.

  Bryce nodded, then quickly got up and poured me a cup from the plastic jug on the table beside me. Placing the bendy straw to my lips, I latched on and greedily drank the tepid liquid. It tasted like it was days old, but it was wet and doing its job.

  “Take it easy, Ford. Not too much,” Bryce scolded, taking the straw from my mouth and ending my joy.

  “More,” I growled with no heat at all. Seeing Bryce was something I didn’t think was going to happen again. See, after I was knocked off my bike, I died. I shit you not, I saw a light, and I saw myself lying on the ground with blood all over me and a stranger pounding away on my chest, trying to breathe life back into me. The vivid memory of watching it all go down was stuck in my head, and the only thing that hurt was that I wasn’t going to see or touch Bryce again and that he was going to be so sad. I came back by sheer will, urged on by my love and need for Bryce.

  The second time it happened—me dying—I wasn’t that strong. The fight left me, and my body hurt like hell. I didn’t have it in me to do anything else other than go. That was when I felt like I was being pulled away from the light and yanked back to my body. That wasn’t the freaky part, though. That happened when I heard a familiar voice say something so fucking weird.

  Don’t be such an arsehole, Poindexter. Think of Shiloh and your man. They need you, so get yourself back down there.

  Whatever or whomever it was, I listened, so here I was.

  “You ever think about leaving me again, I will kick your arse, then I will withhold sex and only jerk off in front of you,” Bryce threatened, but the gleam in his eyes told me a different story. He looked so worn out. His usual five o’clock shadow was scruffy, and his shirt was wrinkled as shit. He was still wearing the white dress shirt he’d worn to the benefit with his cut over it.

  “Pfft, I can kick your arse any day of the week. As for the other? You can’t resist me, babe. My body is your weakness—well, maybe not right now—but you can’t go without me,” I said with a lot of effort. My chest hurt like a son of a bitch as did my side. I didn’t want to think about the pain my legs were giving me.

  Suddenly, Bryce moved up and got right in my face, an intense look on his.

  “You’re right there, mate. I can’t go without you, not in bed or in life. You are the only person I get weak over—you make my knees buckle with just a smile. My heart beats out of my chest every time you touch me. You are my light, Ford. I love you.” We just stared at each other, his fingers laced with mine. Second chances at life and love came about for some people all the time. It was the third and fourth opportunity to get it right that was rare, and for some reason, I was given exactly that. Be it from luck or from the intervention of a fallen mate, but whatever it was, I was taking it.

  “The guys are in the waiting room. Everyone is really worried. Let me go tell them you are awake and send a couple of them in at a time.” Bryce made to move, but I stopped him.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” I asked with a grin that probably looked more like a grimace.

  “Forgetting something?”

  “Never leave without kissing me,” I reminded him.

  Quick as lightning, Bryce was back in my face, only this time, the intense look was replaced with one of love.

  “Never leaving you, babe. Never again.”

  I nodded my head once before his mouth descended on mine. The kiss wasn’t heated, it wasn’t filled with hot lust before some even hotter sex, but that was okay because this kiss was one of love and promise, and that was just fine with me. I had the rest of my life with the only man for me.

  My man.

  THE END

  Epilogue

  SHILOH

  My dogs were cool as sh— Oops, I’s nearly said a bad word again. But I’s was getting better, and coz I’s don’t swear much, my piggy bank was gettin’ fuller.

  You are getting much better, baby girl, and soon, you will have enough money to buy that new game and another bloody bed for C.O.D.

  I laughed at Darf. He was so silly sometimes.

  “Maybe I can gets a new tutu—a blue one,” I told him, so excited now. I’s was goin’ to try even harder to stop swearing all the time.

  I thought your favourite colours were pink and camo.

  I nodded my head up and down. “They sure as hell is, big man, but blue is yours, so I’s gettin’ blue.”

  “Shiloh Zoe, did I hear you swearing,” my mummy yelled at me.

  Well, shit. Her was sitting with Daddy and Bastian on the picnic table wif Unca Vinnie and his baby boy, Gabriel. My daddy’s club was havin’ a big party to welcome Fordy home from the hospital. He was nearly all better. His ouches were gone ’cept for his arm and his legs. Lucky gots to push him around in a cool chair wif wheels on it. Before, I sat on Fordy’s lap, and Lucky pushed us all around the compound. It was so much fun ’til Fordy gots tired, and he had to go to bed. Lucky went to bed wif him. I s’pose he was tired, too.

  I looked over at Darf and rolled my eyes.

  Busted, Squirt.

  “It ain’t fair. Hell ain’t no swear word,” I grumbled. Then I looked at Daddy, and he was lookin’ at me with a funny look on his face. He was always lookin’ at me funny now. He looked sad and unhappy, and sometimes, he looked at me like he did when Mummy went off wifout tellin’ him.

  “They is always watchin’ me wif funny looks, Darf.”

  They are just worried about you, Squirt. This is hard on them. Sometimes, things are hard to explain why they are happening.

  “Can’t youse tell them?”

  Darf looked sad. The big scar on his face was gone now. After he gots shot and died, I was very sad because my Darf was gone, but one night, he camed back to me, and his scar and his other ouches were all gone.

  It doesn’t work like that, baby. I am here just for you.

  “You ain’t ever gon
na leave me again, is ya, Darf? You promised me youse would be wif me always,” I reminded him.

  I’m never leaving you, Shiloh, believe that.

  I smiled at him. I always believed everyfing Darf tolds me. He never lied to me.

  “I dos, Darf. Can we go watch Zeke now?”

  Nothing I want to do more, sweet girl.

  I whistled for my dogs, and Trigger and C.O.D. came running to me. Damn, my dogs were cool. My chest puffed up. I didn’t swear.

  Darf’s big laugh made me laugh, too. Darf talked to me, but he could hears me when I only talked in my head, too.

  That’s my girl.

  Acknowledgments

  When people started asking me about Ford, I thought, hmmm, should I? Could I?

  I didn’t want to write a full-length novel, but I did want to give my readers something.

  This was my first foray into the male/male romance world, and I was pretty nervous going in. With Rogue taken care of and all the babies born, this was a story just concentrating on Ford and Lucky, and their backstory. So now you all know why they fought all the time.

  You also know the direction Shiloh’s book will be taking. I promised you more Darth, and that is what you shall get.

  About the Author

  Leah Sharelle loves the idea of being in love. Since her early teens, when she first discovered Silhouette Desire novels, her life has been all about reading. She would find herself rewriting scenes if she wasn’t happy with them and then would hide them under her bed. That led her to writing love stories of her own. They all ended up under her bed and are still there—where she says they will stay.

  Leah is a mum of three beautiful girls, living in Australian, and she has what most say is a weird sense of humour. She spends her free time doing movies, Sons of Anarchy, and Friends marathons. And reading. She doesn’t do angst. In fact, it drives her crazy. She loves Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. There’s that weird humour.