A machine beeped at her side and she craned her stiff neck toward the sound, watching as the monitor signaled her steady heartbeat.
“Hey. You’re awake,” the voice she recognized well said from the chair beside her.
Sitting forward he reached for her hand and Annie’s mouth formed a content smile. He was there. When she first arrived at the hospital they’d taken him to another room, away from her, and she panicked; her pulse spiking and they had to sedate her. She didn’t want to be away from him. Not after everything that happened. She’d received a new perspective during her time in captivity on what a life without Brax would be like. If she hadn’t been so careless with her actions, her abduction never would have happened. Sure it might not have happened if she never met Brax to begin with, but women get kidnapped all the time. Well maybe not all the time, but it certainly happens, and those women don’t have anyone to save them. She did and she pushed him away. Thought for a moment life would be better without him, but now she knew the truth. Knew what she really wanted. And it was him.
“Hi,” she said, letting her head lull back to him. His face was unshaven and he had bags under his eyes, but was still the most handsome man she’d ever seen.
Bringing her hand up to his mouth, he kissed her palm and held it to his face, nuzzling his cheek while breathing her in.
“How long was I asleep?”
“You’ve been out of it for a couple days. How are you feeling?”
“Better. I can talk again so that’s a plus.”
“Maybe for you,” he joked and laughed softly, still holding her hand to his face.
She missed the sound of his laugh. It was a rare occurrence. Something she needed to make happen much more often. “You’re such an ass.”
“You love it.”
“Yeah. I do.” And she did. She loved everything about him. Yes, sometimes he could be an ass, but he could also be kind, affectionate, caring. All things he demonstrated for her and no one else, and there was something about that that made her feel special. She was the only one who got to have that side of him.
Brax let go of her hand, resting it softly on the bed and readjusted himself in the chair, absentmindedly rubbing his shoulder. She’d forgotten about the bullets he’d taken for her. Each time he was hit during the fight she could feel the pressure, his body being jolted toward her from the impact. She remembered thinking he was going to die, right there in her arms trying to protect her. He loved her no matter what, was going to give his life for her. It made her want to cry, but she didn’t want to in front of him. Not again. She wanted to be strong for him, for herself. This wasn’t who she was, it wasn’t who he wanted her to be.
Taking a calming breath, she pressed her fingers to her eyes, pretending to be rubbing the sleep away when she noticed her right arm, heavy and sore, a white bandage wrapped around. Annie knew instantly what her bandage meant. What she’d find under it, forever welted on her arm. Her eyes widened in shock, but she wasn’t upset. If this were a couple weeks ago she would have had a full blown heart attack, but now she almost felt content. He’d marked her. Still wanted her no matter what.
“Does it hurt?”
“No,” she shook her head.
“I know your pissed, but I’m not taking anymore chances. You’re fucking mine and I want everyone to know.”
“I’m not mad.”
“You’re not?”
“No. If I’d gotten this like you asked in the first place, none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t be like that,” she pointed to his bandaged shoulder. “I messed everything up.”
“No. Don’t you fucking dare. None of this was your fault. None. It was all me.” Braxton paused to crawl into the bed with her, gently lifting her aside to accommodate his large form. “I love you. So much. When I saw you in there,” he stopped and swallowed down his emotions. “I’m too scared to ask what happened. I don’t know if I want to know. Did they?” He couldn’t finish the sentence. The thought of them touching her, violating her. It made him sick. He thought he had more time. Didn’t think they’d be so quick to get their revenge.
Annie knew what he was asking. Knew it’s what troubled him the most. The beating, the starvation, those things he could handle, another man touching her he could not. She could see the worry etched on his face while he waited for her to answer, but he didn’t need to be worried. “No. They didn’t.”
Braxton sighed in relief, but something about the way she answered made him question the truth of her statement. “You know you could tell me. Nothing could ever make me not want you anymore.”
“I know, but I’m okay babe. I promise. I’m okay.”
“Thank fuck,” he whispered, looking up at the ceiling like maybe he was actually sending thanks to someone.
“Brax?”
“Yeah?” he asked, turning his face back to her.
“Did they all die? Back in the warehouse?”
“You fucking bet they did.”
“No one got away?”
“No. Why? What are you getting at?
Annie didn’t know where she was going with her line of questioning. She didn’t want to have to tell him his second in command was a traitor. If he died in the fire fight, maybe she wouldn’t have to tell him at all, but then she realized if he did die, Brax would already know Benny betrayed him. Would have found his body there when he didn’t take him to begin with.
“What about Benny?”
Brax froze. The heaving of his chest the only thing moving on his body. “No. That asshole got away somehow, and when I find him, he’s going to wish he stayed to die rather than face me.”
“You know?”
“That’s how I found you. One of my men followed him. Noticed he was up to something shady and tracked him to the warehouse. I just can’t believe he would do that to me. To the Emmo. We hate the Grims. They’ve always been our enemy and now he’s just going to go work for them? How long has this been going on? It doesn’t make any sense.”
It was now her time to console him and she scooched in closer, lifting a leg to settle over his, her head resting on his good shoulder. “He wasn’t working for them. He did it for you.” Annie wasn’t defending Benny, she hated him, but this was her way of comforting Brax. She couldn’t let him think Benny was a monster, that he’d betrayed him and was working for their enemies. “It was a good plan Brax. He exposed the Grims. Now you know it was them behind the setups all along. And if they would have killed me, you would have turned into the hardened leader the Emmo needs you to be.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? How can you say it was a good plan? Have you not been listening to everything I’ve told you? The Emmo would have no leader if you died. I would have died too. Would have killed everyone I possibly could before I shot myself in the fucking head. I’m the exact leader they need right now. With you.”
Annie knew he wasn’t exaggerating. The way he looked at her. His feelings so intense they were almost scary. In psychology, this was the true definition of obsessed. It wasn’t something to value, and yet she did. She’d lost her whole life for this man. If his mania for her were any less, she may have thought she made the wrong choice. “I’m just saying, the plan worked. Yes, Benny went behind your back, but he did it for the greater good of the Emmo. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve to pay, he does, but at least you know he was still loyal. The betrayal doesn’t sting as bad if you think of it that way.”
“Are you playing psychologist with me right now? Trying to talk through my feelings?”
“A little, yeah. Is it working?”
“A little, yeah.”
Annie chastised him with a smack on the arm and a shake of her head. He responded by holding her closer, squeezing until her broken rib objected. “Ouch. Fuck.”
Braxton was quick to loosen his hold and brought a hand to rest on her side. “I hate that he did this to you. And this,” he added, moving his palm to her face, letting his fingers tr
ace over the deep purple bruise gracing her cheek.
“How bad does it look?”
“Not gonna lie, it’s pretty bad, but nothing time won’t heal. A couple weeks and you’ll be as good as new.”
“Does anyone else know what happened?” she asked, pressing her fingers to her cheek, feeling the enflamed tissue.
“Yeah babe, I’d say just about everyone knows.”
“My parents?”
“They’re in the waiting room.”
“Trevor?”
“Waiting too.”
“And Keith?” she asked with caution, unsure how Brax would react.
“He’s not here, but he called.”
“He did? How’d that go? Did you talk to him?”
“It went better than you’d expect. To say he’s still angry with us, with me, would be an understatement, but he called. We didn’t talk long. He told me to kill the people who took you, and I promised I would.”
That didn’t sound like Keith, he was never a fighter. Lived more by the theory kill them with kindness, but then again, he probably wasn’t in his right mind. He’d just lost his wife and friend all in one day. “I wish you would have let me handle Keith my way. You didn’t have to pretend to be friends with him. I can’t imagine how he’s feeling right now.”
“I wasn’t pretending. It was only supposed to be a work thing, just to keep him close, but he made it easy to like him even though my entire being told me to hate him. And then the more we were around each other, the more I learned about you. The more I realized how easy it was to,” he stopped to take a deep breath, “to push him away from you. I kept him out late, encouraged his frustrations when you never showed for dinner that night.”
“The night you made me wait three hours at my office? That’s where you were? Dinner with my husband.”
“Yes. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. I guess it doesn’t make me sound very good, but the joke’s on me because I really did like the guy. I don’t keep friends for company, everyone always has an agenda, but it was different with Keith. He didn’t know who I was and it felt like that’s what normal life would have been like. If my mom hadn’t died, if I was never dragged into the Emmo, never started my own business. I didn’t want to tell him about us. Before everything happened I thought maybe I could get away without telling him.”
“He would have found out eventually.”
“Yeah, I guess he would have.”
Annie was enjoying their time together. Liked that he was opening up to her, liked that they were finally talking things through without fighting. She wanted to know everything. What he said to her parents, why he went to them, what actually happened with Sara. And she wanted to tell him things too. Specifically wanted to tell him that she had chose him before everything happened. That she left Keith for him. That she would have willingly accepted his brand. But there was too much to say. She knew everyone was waiting to see her. It was rude to keep them waiting. She especially wanted to see Trevor. He must have been out of his mind with worry. “Should you tell everyone I’m awake now?”
“I can do that. You should know though, the detectives are going to want to talk to you first. They’ve been waiting around too.”
“What should I tell them?” Annie knew the topic of the Emmo would come up when she spoke with them, and she didn’t want to say anything she wasn’t supposed to. “They’re going to bring you up again, that you marked me, or that Ax did, and it’s not like I can deny it this time. I have the damn mark right here on my arm. I’m sure they already know that’s what this was all about. That it wasn’t just a coincidence I was the one taken.”
“The detectives and I have come to an understanding. I think they finally realize if there’s going to be mobs and gangs, that it’s better for them to be handled by me, and not by someone from a group like the Grims. So you tell them the truth. Tell them exactly what they did to you, or what they were going to do and why. The only thing you will omit is Benny. I can’t have the Emmo involved in your abduction in any way. Can you do that? Tell them the Grims took you from the start.”
This was not her lover speaking. The man next to her may have worded his request in a pleasant manor, making it seem like he was pleading with her to lie, but in reality it was an order, and she wasn’t hesitant in the least to comply. “I can do that.”
“There’s actually one more thing B, and this is a personal favor. I wish I wasn’t shady as fuck asking you to lie when you’ve been through so much, but it would really help. Can you throw in something about them killing Cole? Say they admitted it to you?”
“Why are you asking like you think it’s something I wouldn’t want to do?”
“Because I want you to know it’s not something you have to do. I don’t want you to feel like I’m forcing you into this. I would be disappointed if you said no, but you have the option.”
“Maybe I don’t want the option. I kinda like the idea of having to do what you say. I like my man powerful.”
“Then you’ll fucking say what I’m telling you.”
“Yes sir.”
“God woman,” he groaned. “I’m getting fucking hard right now and you’re not in any shape to take care of it.”
“I beg to differ,” she said, sliding her hand low, letting it dip under his sweats to feel the truth of his proclamation.
She may have been in a hospital bed, hadn’t showered in days, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him as much as she always did. It was a shame they were both hurt, neither one of them in a state to make up like they should have been, but they rolled with the punches. Using their hands and words to make up for their lack of action. Telling each other exactly what they would be doing if they could.
Annie’s hospital stay lasted two more days, most of which she spent sleeping, cuddling with Brax and catching up with Trevor. She learned from him that Sara had committed suicide. Slit her wrists in the shower. The story seemed plausible for all those on the outside, but Annie knew the truth, or assumed she did. It was just one more thing she was going to ask Brax about, but she was pretty sure what his answer would be, and she didn’t care one way or the other. The only thing she cared about was Mandy. When she called her she seemed distraught. Of course she was, her sister had just died. Mandy went on and on how Sara had been acting strange since their New York trip and how she wished she would have paid more attention to the signs. Her depression, her lack of taking men home. Mandy’s feelings were the only thing Annie felt bad about.
By the time she was released, she almost felt back to her old self; well besides the rib. That still hurt like a bitch. And while she whined and complained over her injury, Brax took his in stride. Besides his minor limp, you’d think he hadn’t been shot at all.
When they got back to his loft, Annie found herself settling in like it was where she was meant to be from the beginning. Brax hired a nurse, the nice Italian one from the hospital, to come by each day to look after them. At first she declined, using her day job as reasoning, but in usual Brax form, he offered her an amount she couldn’t say no to and that was that.
Over the next few weeks they spent their time together being more honest than ever before; answering any and all questions they had for each other, neither one of them getting mad, knowing it was all how they came together. The good, the bad, the ugly; without it their relationship wouldn’t have been the same.
Recovering in record time, Annie took Brax up on his offer for her to work for the Emmo. She had been going stir crazy and needed something to keep herself busy. The stories the men told her, they only made her revere Brax that much more. He was a great leader. She could see why they all stepped in line to follow. Brax always told her he never cared much for the Emmo, that it was just something he was forced into, but from her new perspective she wasn’t sure if she believed him. It seemed to her everything he did was for the Emmo. She may have been number one in his life, but the Emmo was a close second.
The dirt road wa
s slick with mud as the rain continued to pour. Braxton chose to drive himself that night, didn’t need any witnesses, and turned off down the low frequented path, stopping only to get out of the car and unlatch the small, metal railing, keeping the hood of his jacket over his head as not to get wet.
When he pulled up to the small, brown shack of a house, he killed the engine and sat waiting, collecting his thoughts. This had been a long time coming. He waited as long as he could. Needed it to look believable. He was too weak before, but he’d been working out everyday, his muscles big and thriving. He was back to his old self; his pre-Phoenix self.
Word had spread far and wide of his rescue of Annie. How he walked through the spray of bullets like a god just to get to her. He didn’t plan that, it just happened, but now that’s what men thought he was. A god. Indestructible.
Braxton left Annie at home with Trevor. She knew where he was going, what he was planning and encouraged him to do what he thought best. This was what he loved about her, about their new relationship. She still fought him on things, still said no, was still sarcastic to the point he wanted to smack her, but when it came to the Emmo, she was always in support of his choices. Sometimes she looked at him like she wanted to get on her knees and bow to him. It’s the look everyone always gave him, but coming from her was what he always wanted.
This was a top secret mission, although he’d placed hints in the ears of those he knew would talk. He wanted the word to get out that he assembled a team, that they were going to take out the one person who managed to escape. The person who betrayed them all. Even Annie thought he was going with a team. No one knew he was there alone. Business would get taken care of none the less.
Running through the rain he walked into the house without as much as a knock. The structure was rundown, the wooden boards creaking beneath his feet. There was no electricity, only sporadic lanterns to help him find his way. The place seemed empty, quiet, but Braxton knew better. Knew where he would be.
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