I snort at that.
He nods once as if he suspected Wrath might be an ornery dickhead. “He’s in very good shape, a healthy young man, so he should be closer to the four-month end. He’s also a large man, so it’s crucial he keeps his weight off the leg right now. In a few weeks, I’m going to recommend some sort of physical therapy, and he can probably use a cane or crutches in limited amounts of time. The fracture pain usually stops long before the bone is able to handle the stresses of his everyday activities, so it’s going to be important he doesn’t overdo it or it could fail to heal properly. Are there a lot of stairs at his house?”
I think about his room at the clubhouse. Upstairs. Fuck.
“Yeah.” I run through what other options are available. Trinity’s room downstairs. Boy, is she going to be pissed. Maybe I’ll set him up in my house, although I’d feel safer having him at the clubhouse. Double fuck. Hope’s house is a one story. No fucking way.
“We’ll get it sorted out, doc. Thanks.”
He turns his keen eyes on Hope. “Are you Trinity?”
She blushes before answering. “No.”
“Hope?”
An even deeper flush stains her cheeks. “Yes.”
“Good—he’s been asking for you too. If he’s still awake, you both can visit with him for a few minutes.”
Hope swings her questioning gaze in my direction, and I shrug. Poor bastard is probably delirious.
I hesitate and wince when I see my brother in the hospital bed. The nurse told me they had to get him a special, larger-sized bed, but he still dwarfs it. We’ve been through a lot of scrapes and rough times together, but this is definitely the worst I’ve seen my indestructible best friend.
As soon as he holds his hand out to her, Hope rushes to his side.
I’m not sure how I feel about that.
“Oh my gosh, they shaved all your beautiful hair off,” she fusses while gingerly touching his scalp.
Wrath looks her over carefully. “You okay, sweetie?” He frowns at the bandages on her hands.
Sweetie? The letters W, T, and F come to mind.
“Some scrapes. Nothing. How are you?”
“I feel like I got run over.”
I step up. “You kinda did, brother.”
“Where’s Trin? Is she okay?”
“Yeah, I sent her home with one of the guys to get some rest.”
His face settles into hard, angry lines. Whether it’s from pain or something I said, I’m not sure.
“Who’d you send her home with?”
Something I said. “Easy, brother. She’s on her way back now.”
Wrath grunts at me and turns his attention to Hope, taking her hand again.
“You sure you’re okay? That was some bad shit, sweetheart. Thank you for taking care of me like you did.”
Her free hand flutters in the air. “I didn’t do anything useful. I froze. Trinity is the one who went all Tomb Raider on us.”
Wrath huffs out a laugh, then scrunches up in pain.
“Fuck. How long did doc say I’ll be down?”
I don’t dick around and just give it to him straight. “Four to six months.”
I can see he’s already prepared to fight, so I cut him off. “You’re going to follow every damn instruction. If you don’t, your leg will heal all fucked up and you’ll be a gimpy fuck the rest of your life. So six months is nothing to make sure you’re not walking in circles from now on.”
He chuckles and settles back into the bed. “You gotta take my patch, don’t ya?”
“Fuck, man. Why are you worried about that now? It’s not going anywhere. Z and the others will take care of shi—”
“Can’t ride. You gotta take my cut, prez.”
“Knock it off.”
Hope seems to have checked out of the conversation, but for some unknown reason, she’s still holding the fucker’s hand and running her fingers up and down his arm. Mildly disgusted at how jealous I am of my girlfriend comforting my mangled best friend, I wrack my brain for some good news to tell him.
“We know who it was?” he asks before I can come up with a better topic of conversation.
Hope looks at me with the very same question in her eyes.
“Z has a lead on it. We’ll discuss it later.”
“When they gonna let me out?”
“A day or two. We gotta get you set up on the first floor somewhere—”
“He can stay in my room,” Trinity says softly from the doorway.
Wrath’s whole face lights the fuck up when he sees her. He holds out his empty hand. Still hanging onto my girl with the other hand, though.
Greedy bastard.
Trinity brushes by me. Except for pulling on her bottom lip with her teeth, she seems calm.
“You’re such a big baby. Don’t you know how to drive your bike off a cliff by now?”
His face breaks into a wide grin. Hope lets him go and gives him a pat on his uninjured leg before walking to my side.
I tap Wrath’s hand once. “We’re gonna get going. Trin, you need a ride, call me.”
Our departure barely registers for either of them.
I stop in the waiting room to tell everyone else we’re leaving. Except we need a damn ride. “Who’s got a car?”
Dex jumps up. “Take mine. I’ll catch a ride with Swan.”
I catch his keys, take Hope’s hand, and get the fuck out of there.
Hope is so quiet in the car, I’m worried about how she’s processing everything.
“You okay?”
“Just tired. I want to crawl into bed for like a week.”
It hits me we haven’t discussed where we’re going. By some unspoken agreement, we never spend the night at her house together. My plan is to bring her home with me. I need to have her close.
As if she hears my thoughts, she puts her hand over mine. “I’d like to go home. To my house,” she clarifies.
This is not good. I’m not sure how to frame what I want to say. The thought of having her out of my sight for even a second is unacceptable.
“Do you want to pick up some things and bring them to my house?” I’m not sure why, but I don’t think taking her to the MC is a good idea right now, even though it’s where she’d be safest. Once again, I find myself trying to tread lightly. Probably because I feel so fucking guilty about what happened. I wish I could see inside her head and know what she’s thinking.
After a while, she answers. “No. I’d just like to sleep in my own bed. If you think it’s safe.” Her words have an edge to them that rattles me. She’s implying that I’ve put her life in danger. It infuriates me because it’s true. My temper is not going to help, so I try like hell to simmer down.
“Yeah. It’s safe.” I want her to ask me to stay with her. She needs to be the one to break our unspoken agreement. As much as I don’t relish the idea of sleeping in the bed she shared with her husband, I need to be with her. I need to wrap my body around hers and reassure myself she’s okay.
But she just stares out the window and doesn’t say anything.
By the time we reach her house, I’m halfway to a caveman meltdown. Along the way, we discussed superficial things like Wrath’s recovery. How long he’ll have to wear a cast. If he’s really going to be able to sit still for sixteen weeks. She knows a good physical therapist and is going to get me the name. Shit like that.
Nothing about us.
As soon as I pull into the driveway, my phone goes off. Hope sighs and waits for me to take the call. Z has tracked down the two fuckers from last night. My blood goes from simmer to boil in a second.
“I’ll be there in half an hour.”
I turn and search Hope’s eyes but don’t see what I’m looking for or what I expect. No love. Not even fear. She’s resigned. She’s slipping out of my grasp even though she’s a mere five inches away.
She leans over and puts her palm against my cheek. Her soft lips press against mine, not nearly long enough.
&nb
sp; “Be careful,” she whispers.
She lets herself out and stares at me through the open window. Fuck, it’s killing me to leave her now. But I don’t have a choice.
“Get some rest, I’ll call you later.”
She nods once, turns, and goes in the house.
This is so fucked.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Every part of my body hurts. But nothing compares to the pain in my heart when I go in the house by myself. The horror of last night keeps playing over and over in my head. Taking a hot shower doesn’t make a dent in my aches, especially since I had to put plastic baggies over my hands to keep my stupid bandages dry.
I crawl into bed, and all I can think about is how much worse things could have been. It’s selfish, but I think about what might have happened if I’d broken my leg. What if Rock had broken his back or been killed? So many horrible possibilities. I lost my dad when I was a teenager, and I’m already a thirty-three-year-old widow. I’m well aware of how fragile life is.
Someone deliberately ran us off the road. As a direct result of my involvement with Rock and his club, I’d almost been killed.
What’s happened to me? How did I get here?
What am I doing?
It hurts to admit, but I’m not cut out for their life of danger. I couldn’t even figure out how to use a stupid gun. It looks so damn easy on television. Trinity had to take it from me. I couldn’t remember even basic first aid to do a damn thing for Wrath.
I’m useless. My lack of any practical life skills is probably a huge hindrance to Rock. No wonder his club brothers are so wary about letting me into the fold.
What am I going to do? I’ve fallen so deep in love with him, so fast. Losing him will kill me, but I need to start preparing myself for the inevitable.
Rock’s indifference on the drive here hurt like hellfire. He’s probably pissed for getting involved with someone weak like me. I wanted to invite him in, but it was clear he had other places to be.
I roll over and curl into Clay’s pillows. His scent is long gone, but it still comforts me knowing he used to sleep on them. I pray like hell he’s not watching over me. He’d probably be ashamed of me.
“I’m sorry I’m such a fuck-up, baby. I miss you so bad,” I whisper before crying myself to sleep.
The fuckers who ran us off the road are almost too easy to find. Two punk-ass little bitches, too stupid to realize who they had fucked with.
At first they seem to be under the impression it was nothing more than a prank.
Considering how bad my brother is hurt and how badly the people I care about could have been hurt, I don’t share their amusement.
They are not laughing when Z and I leave.
Payback is a bitch indeed.
Whether they make it to the hospital or not doesn’t concern me a whip.
Going to see Hope in this condition seems like a bad idea. I stop at my house to clean up, grab a quick nap, and then head back to the hospital. Teller, Murphy, and Heidi are in the waiting room when I get there.
“That big bastard awake?” I ask as I take a seat next to Teller.
Murphy snorts. “Trin’s in there with him. It looked a little intense, so we left.”
Heidi’s tuned into our conversation, so I don’t voice the questions I want to ask. Instead, I grunt and pick up a magazine.
“Where’s Hope?” Heidi asks.
Goddammit.
“Home.” I’m short so the nosy little snot will take a hint.
“Is she coming here?”
Of course, sixteen-year-old girls don’t take hints.
“I don’t know.”
“She’s kind of family now, isn’t she? Shouldn’t she be here?”
“Dammit, Heidi, would you leave him alone?” Murphy scolds her.
His words send her into a snit, and she takes off.
Christ.
Deciding Wrath and Trinity have had enough time to do whatever the fuck they’re doing, I stomp into his room.
She’s curled up on the bed with him, his arm wrapped around her middle. They’re murmuring to each other, and he’s playing with her hair. I would have been less surprised to find them actually fucking.
I paste on my favorite shit-stirring grin, enjoying the fuck out of this. “Well, hello, kids!”
“Shit, fuck, damn!” Trinity scrambles out of the bed.
“Ow, fuck, Trin,” Wrath growls, leaning down to rub his fucked-up leg.
“Sorry, sorry.” She whips her head in my direction, eyes pleading with me not to tease her.
I don’t have it in me to mess with Trinity.
“Uh, I’m gonna go.” She scurries out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
I just can’t keep this shit-eating grin off my face.
“Knock it off, dick,” Wrath says as he settles back down into the bed.
“Sorry I interrupted cuddle time.”
“Fuck you.”
We glare at each other for a few minutes. Wrath rolls his eyes first. “You come here to tell me anything useful? Maybe bring me something?”
“What the hell do you want, balloons and flowers?”
“A fucking magazine would be nice. I’m bored as fuck.”
I jerk my thumb toward the door. “Didn’t look bored a minute ago.”
Wrath clenches and releases his hands. Is he thinking of hitting me? Wouldn’t be the first time.
“Did Hope come with you?”
Well, fuck, if that isn’t enough to wipe the smile clean off my face.
“No.”
“She okay?”
“I dunno. She’s. . .” Do I want to spill all her baggage to him? “You don’t realize she lost her dad when she was a teenager. Lost her husband young. I think this rattled her.”
“Oh, fuck. I didn’t know about her dad. That’s rough.”
“Yeah, and her mom went to shit after, so she basically got abandoned there.”
“Okay. Got it.”
I rub the back of my neck. “I’m afraid this brought up bad shit for her.” I’m not sure how much I want to share about my concerns. Although, since the accident, Wrath seems sweet on Hope, he wasn’t exactly her biggest cheerleader before, and I don’t want to dredge that shit back up.
Fuck it.
“I’m worried she’s not dealing with it well.”
“Not surprising. After getting through that other shit, sounds like she lived a pretty normal life ‘til you barged in.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m not trying to be a dick. I just don’t know how you think it’s going to work out between the two of you.”
“This wasn’t exactly normal.”
“You know what I mean. Look, I get it, she’s a total sweetheart. Treats everyone with respect. She’s not stuck up. I like how nice she is to Trinity. Hell, I like her. But I think soon, she’s going to start dividing your focus. You can’t be half in, half out as our President.”
“You want the gavel?”
“Fuck, no, that’s not what I’m trying to say. But she doesn’t get what we’re about—at all. She’s too clean for our life. I’ve tried explaining shit to her, and it goes in one ear and out the other. Don’t drag her into it anymore. It’s not fair to her.”
“What exactly did you try to explain to her?”
“We are outlaws. She acts like it’s a bedtime story that has nothing to do with you two.”
“How many times have I told you to leave that shit to me? I’ll tell her things when I think she’s ready to hear them.”
“Yeah, but by then she’ll be so deep in our shit, she’ll blow the MC to hell trying to escape.”
Fuck.
“Rock. You think she’s going to fall so far in love with you she’s going to overlook the fact that we’re up to our balls in illegal shit?”
Yes. Because I’m so fucking in love with her that I don’t care if she fits into my world or not. I’ll find a way to make this work, because there is no other option.
/> My lack of an answer has Wrath shaking his head.
One day, and no word from Rock.
I’ve been dumped.
I feel it in my gut.
Except maybe something happened to him? We were, after all, run off the road and shot at the other night.
Somehow, I’d conveniently forgotten that.
I miss him so bad, but I refuse to call him first. I’m too embarrassed.
What I do instead is almost worse. I decide to go visit Wrath. I really do want to see him and make sure he’s okay. But I won’t lie—a tiny part of me wants to run into Rock.
I hate the idea of visiting anyone in the hospital empty-handed. What the hell does a big scary biker/fighter who’s probably bored to death want? Besides a piece of ass. Food? Hospital food is awful and probably not enough for a guy his size.
I stop at Five Guys and grab two cheeseburgers and a large order of their fresh-cut fries. Running into the bookstore, I grab the first magazine I see with a motorcycle and a half-naked chick on the cover.
Even though I secretly hope to run into Rock, I avoid the waiting room and go straight to Wrath’s room. After a few taps on the door, I hear him call out for me to enter.
He’s alone.
I’m relieved, yet also disappointed.
His face registers a whole lot of surprise when he sees me.
“Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing here? You just missed Rock.”
“Oh.” I hesitate, feeling a little foolish.
“Whatcha got? You bring me real food?” He holds his hands out, clawing his fists into a gimmie, gimmie gesture that makes me break into a smile.
As I hand him the bag, his eyes widen in delight. “Oh, fuck, yeah.”
He spills all the food out onto the wheely tray next to his bed and moans around a mouthful of French fries. “If things don’t work out with you and Rock, I may have to claim you myself.”
I’m not sure how to respond, so I thrust the magazine at him.
He chuckles at the busty redhead on the cover. “Thank you. I’ve been bored shitless.”
“I figured you might be. Also figured they probably weren’t feeding you enough.”
“Damn right.”
“Shoot, I forgot to grab a drink. You want—”
Corrupting Cinderella Page 15