by Addison Jane
I cleared my throat. “I haven’t said thank you yet,” I admitted, my cheeks burning. “It’s because of you that I’m sitting right here.”
Romeo shook his head as if his natural reaction was to deny that kind of shit. Then he stopped. “Nothing that no one else would have done,” he mumbled, refusing to look at me. His knee bounced up and down impatiently.
It was a lie, we both knew it.
“That’s not how I remember it,” I objected, only to have him swing his head toward me with a fierce glare on his face, his eyes a mixture of anger and fear.
“Then you better forget it pretty quick.”
I frowned back at him, sitting a little straighter, not for one moment afraid of this guy who I knew his presence alone was making the entire staff and people in the waiting room feel uncomfortable and on edge.
Romeo was naturally suspicious and scary. I honestly didn’t blame him. Who wouldn’t be when you spent years and years in a world where you couldn’t turn your back on anyone for fear of there being a knife stabbed straight between your shoulder blades? He wasn’t used to relying on anyone. He wasn’t used to having anyone stand up for him. He always had to fight his own battles.
I got it.
Being suspicious kept him from being hurt.
Being scary stopped the people he cared about from being hurt—because there were none.
Being alone meant not having to worry about this shit. It meant not having anything or anyone that could be used against you.
It’s why he’d changed his name so that Ham couldn’t find him.
It’s why he’d sent Phee away.
It’s why he struggled with the club lifestyle and wasn’t making an effort to fit in because the more people he cared about, the more ways he could be manipulated into doing the dirty work that he despised. It was hard for him to see the benefit of having people behind you, there to support you and fight for you if you need them.
I hoped he realized it soon because he couldn’t keep fighting on his own.
This sheriff—he’s made it obvious he isn’t just out to teach Romeo a lesson.
He was out for blood.
And it was going to take more than just one man to stop him.
“Meyah…” I jumped out of the chair, my eyes wide as I stared at my Uncle who was standing just in the doorway to the delivery wing. My heart stopped, a lump formed in my throat. Then he smiled, and I snapped, bursting into tears and running forward. His arms came around me, squeezing me tightly, and it was exactly what I needed right then. “Time to meet your new cousin.” He laughed.
I nodded eagerly, but before we turned and went in search of Hadley and the new baby, Leo’s face grew stern. “You, too, Romeo,” Uncle Leo ordered.
Romeo stood slowly and came forward, his brows knitting together, his eyes looking around. He hated the attention. “I got shit to—”
“You’re part of this damn family now,” Uncle Leo cut in, his voice low but hard. I could tell you, Romeo on a bad day had nothing on my Uncle Leo when it came to his family. “So get your fucking ass in here and meet my son.”
The nurse opened the door, and I rushed inside, not giving two shits about the pain in my hip. Skins said I was lucky. After we’d cleaned away the blood, he said the bullet just skimmed the surface, but I’d managed to tear the wound when I moved around, making it worse. The asshole stitched it up without any anesthetic, and he was lucky I didn’t punch him in the fucking mouth.
Skins was still at the house, there were no fatalities, but we still ended up with our fair share of injuries. We were damn fucking lucky.
I just wanted to get to Meyah.
She was sitting at the edge of a hospital bed—one that had those weird stirrup things which women placed their feet in to have babies—answering questions the nurse was asking. I was confused for a moment, given that Skins had told me she was fine.
It didn’t stop me, though, and she looked up just in time to see me coming. Her face instantly falling, and her arms reaching out for me. She opened her legs, and I slipped in between them, taking her face in my hands and swallowing her emotional sob.
I just needed to taste her, to touch her and know she was in one piece. It wasn’t enough for me to hear it from someone else.
She gripped my club cut in her fingers pulling me as close as humanly possible before she slipped her arms around my waist and linked her fingers at my back as if she wasn’t going to let me go again. I gently pulled my lips back, and she whimpered, squeezing me a little tighter.
“Sorry,” the nurse apologized softly, stepping up beside us. “I just need to check Meyah’s leg. If it’s okay, I can get her out of here, and you can take her home.”
“You gotta let me go, fury fists,” I muttered, pressing my lips to her forehead and stepping back. She slowly and reluctantly released me. “How bad is it?”
“They’re making sure she hasn’t lost too much blood.”
I turned to find Romeo sitting in the corner of the room, his arms folded across his chest, sunken back into the most uncomfortable looking hospital chair. His eyes were narrowed on Meyah.
“I’m fine,” Meyah snapped, and when I turned to look at her, she was glaring back at Romeo with just as much intensity. “It was just a scratch. I must have caught it on the corner of something.” The Nurse cut what looked like a torn piece of Romeo’s shirt from her leg, dropping the now blood-soaked and stained sky blue material into the wastebasket beside her.
“Looks like it’s finally clotted. It’s not very big,” the nurse noted, checking the size before moving toward the cabinet that held the bandages and disinfectants. “What happened exactly?” The tone she used, even though she fought to make it sound casual, was suspicious of the situation.
Meyah licked her lips. She was nervous, her eyes scooting between Romeo and me. “I think I caught it on a nail or something sticking out of the side of the house,” she rambled. “My aunt, she went into labor, and my uncle was yelling, and we were panicking, and I just wasn’t watching where I was going.”
The story was plausible.
“And the grass stains and grazes on your back?” the nurse continued to question, and I could see by the look in her eyes she’d have no problem taking this shit further if we didn’t—
“Look, lady,” Romeo growled. “This isn’t exactly the way I wanted my brother to find out I was fucking his girlfriend out in the backyard while he was helping out with the wedding, okay? So if you could just mind your own fucking business next time that would be fucking fine and dandy.”
The nurse’s cheeks instantly flushed, her mouth moving, but no sound coming out.
“Romeo!” Meyah gasped, looking absolutely horrified, but soon clicking on to what was happening. If the nurse called the cops crying abuse, there would be a lot more questions to answer, and right now, our asses were hanging out a little further than we’d like them to be. “Ham, I’m really sorry. I… um… I just…”
Meyah was a horrible actress which was probably one of the things I loved about her the most. Her inability to lie or make out like she’s feeling any emotion other than what she’s feeling.
I held up my hand to stop her blubbering. “We’ll talk later,” I scolded before turning to face Romeo and pointing at the door. “A word… oh, young brother of mine.”
“I’m very sorry,” the nurse continued to apologize as we made our way out the door, the sentiments continuing toward Meyah as I pulled it closed behind me.
Romeo was instantly hit with the force of a small rocket in the shape of our little sister. She wrapped her arms around him, and buried her face in his chest, clutching his dirty torn shirt in her hands. Op, Chelsea, and Blizzard weren’t far behind her, making their way up the hallway, no doubt in search of the newest member of our family.
Romeo detangled himself and pushed Phee gently back. “I need to get out of here. I’ve watched Meyah, now y’all are here, I have shit I need to handle.”
I reache
d out and grabbed a handful of his shirt, not letting him get away that easily. “You’re not leaving this place on your own,” I argued, my body tense and poised, waiting for him to take a swing at me.
“Let me fucking go, Hamlet.”
“Like hell.”
He turned the tables quickly just walking toward me, forcing me backward until my back hit a wall. “Don’t you get it,” he barked, keeping his voice low and his eyes focused on me. “That was all him. He gave me a week according to Meyah, and that week’s up tomorrow. He got sick of waiting. Got scared I wasn’t going to hand myself in. Took an opportunity to make a fucking point.”
Optimus and Blizzard stood to the side, but Chelsea grabbed Phee’s hand and pulled her behind them letting me know they were prepared for the two of us to explode.
“Stop it!” Phee cried, holding tight to Chelsea, her eyes a mixture of pain at seeing us fight, and annoyance where she wanted to smash our heads together.
My eyes moved back to my not so little brother. Fury and guilt stared back at me.
“I didn’t sign up for this,” he finally admitted through clenched teeth. “You don’t know him like I do. This is why I shouldn’t be here because you never said nothing about fucking women and kids and… all of this.”
“Why the hell does it matter?” I challenged, shoving at his chest.
“It matters because I’ve spent too fucking long knowing that if I got something wrong, the only one who was going to suffer was me.” He sifted his fingers through the front of his hair, pushing it back from his face, and hanging his head. It was a habit I noticed the both of us did when we were stressed or agitated.
I pointed my finger at his chest. “You can walk out of here, but I’m telling you now… I refuse to lose you again. I almost lost the both of you for good today. Almost watched my family be torn to shreds once again… just when I got them back.” I shoved at his chest and grabbed both sides of his face drawing his angry gaze from the floor. My stomach leapt into my throat as I stared into his bloodshot eyes, seeing the young boy I remembered, the same one who was stolen from me six years ago. “I watched them drag you away kicking and screaming, unable to do a single thing to change what was happening. I’m not letting that asshole, or any fucking asshole for that matter, take you away again. Because I’m not fucking helpless anymore.”
He slapped my hands away backing down the corridor. “Meyah was just about killed today because of me,” he challenged, trying to fight the scratch in his voice that told me this had gotten to him. That just maybe this time I got fucking through. Maybe he was finally hearing me.
I snorted. “But she didn’t. Because of you. Dammit, Romeo, just fucking listen to what you’re saying.”
“I’m getting out of here, I’m fucking done.” He turned, stomping for the double doors.
Optimus shook his head. “My boys won’t let you leave unless it’s to take you back to the clubhouse,” he called after my brother, who stalled as he reached for the doors.
He didn’t look back over his shoulder. “So what? I’m a fucking prisoner now? Isn’t that damn ironic. Guess I should be used to it by now, given that I’ve been a prisoner for the past six years.”
“Actually, it’s for your protection and theirs. No one is to be outside the clubhouse or the hospital,” Optimus corrected, keeping his calm like the fucking professional he was. Which was saying something when he could have just knocked Romeo out, and not had to deal with his smart fucking mouth. “Don’t fight me on this, Romeo. The shit I will do to protect my family is like nothing you’ve ever seen before… that includes when I have to protect them from themselves.”
The corridor was silent for a solid few seconds.
This is why the club was a part of me.
Because when I was weak, when I was struggling, I had them to make me strong.
With those final words, Romeo shoved the double doors open and stormed out. I knew he heard me, and I knew what I’d said to him had hit home. What worried me, was how he still felt like he had to protect us all from his mistakes.
The club didn’t take bullshit, they didn’t do anything or fight for anyone who they felt didn’t deserve it. They weren’t afraid to do what they had to do for the people they cared about, even if that meant turning someone away because the baggage they carried was too much.
I released the breath I was holding just as the door down the hall opened, and Meyah stepped out. “Thanks, I feel fine. Oh, look… my family’s here.”
I could still hear the nurse in the room apologizing profusely until the door shut behind her, and she practically ran toward us, rolling her eyes. I opened my arms, and she slipped right into them, inhaling deeply.
“I hate the both of you for leaving me in there,” she murmured, her face pressed against my chest.
I buried my nose in her hair allowing her scent to calm my racing heart.
“Oh great, the welcome party has finally arrived,” a voice boomed from the end of the hall. I looked up to find Leo walking down to us, a small bundle of blue blankets in his arms with a tuft of almost black hair sticking out the top. A smile grew on my face, my body automatically moving forward meeting him halfway.
“Everyone, meet the newest member of the brothers, Creed Jamison.”
I couldn’t lay on my side, the pain was less excruciating and more just fucking annoying. Like if you’re going to get shot, you should just take a bullet somewhere it’s going to hurt, but then at least you have a reason to grunt and moan or even fucking cry. This wound was barely in the tissue, and every time I felt a sharp stab or ache, I had to bite my lip so my brothers wouldn’t think I was acting like a little bitch.
Meyah had already made some crude remark tonight about hurting my baby bullet hole because of the way I hissed through my teeth when I sat down. If it hadn’t been that I was then already in a seat, I would have gone after her and spanked her supple, round ass so hard she wouldn’t have been able to sit properly for a fucking week.
Gritting my teeth, I moved onto my back trying my best not to jostle the beautiful sleeping woman beside me. Easing back into the comfort of my bed, finally finding a space where the pain was minimal and I could possibly get some reasonable sleep.
Bang.
My bedroom door flung open.
Meyah screamed.
I instantly reached for my gun while trying to cover her, but Wrench was already talking. “Get up asshole,” he demanded, walking straight toward my bed and yanking the covers back.
“Do you ever knock, fucker?” I demanded, fighting the urge to punch him in the fucking face.
Seriously. Did privacy mean nothing to people in this clubhouse?
Meyah and I are getting our own place as soon as fucking possible.
I could already see it. Lots of space, a handful of kids, close to the clubhouse, my brother and sister living on the same piece of land…
“We’ve got a problem with Romeo.”
My dream instantly disappeared in a puff of smoke, and at the same time, I realized the gun that should have been in my hand, under my pillow, wasn’t there.
Of fucking course, we do.
I rolled over and pressed a kiss to Meyah’s cheek suddenly not caring so much about the pain in my hip.
“Be careful,” she whispered, pulling the blankets in around her tightly, her eyes meeting mine. They screamed, ‘you better fucking come back in one piece ‘cause I don’t know how much more I can take.’
“It’ll be okay,” I promised, pulling back and gathering my clothes.
Wrench waited at the door for me, pulling it closed behind me, as I put on my club cut. “Leo know Meyah isn’t sleeping in the room he assigned her?”
I snorted, trying not to stomp down the staircase. “She’s eighteen.”
“She’s family.”
“She’s mine.”
He chuckled, making me want to fucking punch him as we stepped inside church, and he placed his tablet on the table.
; “Where is he?” Optimus asked as he walked in.
It was one in the morning, and the clubhouse was dead. It’d only been a couple of days since the wedding, and we were all keeping our head down, too fucking tired and drained to do much else. Now, though, there were ten brothers gathered in church around Wrench’s tablet, watching a little blinking dot move across town.
“He’s heading for Huntsville. Had a cab pick him up about five minutes ago from the end of the street,” Wrench explained, his eyes holding mine.
I was barely holding my shit together. We offered him protection, put the people we cared about in harm’s way for Romeo. Fuck! Meyah still has nightmares about the sheriff cutting her, and yet, he up and leaves in the middle of the damn night and puts himself in the line of fire.
I threaded my fingers through my hair tugging at it uncomfortably.
“Maybe he’s gone to meet up with some bitch. Lord knows I haven’t seen the guy touch anything with a pussy since he got here, and after how many months in lockup, how has he not lost his shit yet?” Camo ranted on.
The idea was logical, but it wasn’t what was going on here. My brother wasn’t just out on some nightly stroll to find pussy.
“He’s got my gun.”
“Fuck,” Optimus cursed, slamming his palm against the wall. “Your bro always take this long to catch on o things? We were going to sort this. What the hell didn’t he understand about that?” Op was furious, but that wouldn’t stop us going after Romeo tonight. It just meant that Romeo could end up with his ass being kicked if someone got hurt.
“He thinks he’s protecting us,” Blizzard noted, leaning back against the wall, his hair sticking up everywhere. No doubt like the rest of us, he’d been dragged from his bed because of Romeo’s disappearing act.
“Someone is gonna have to protect his ass from me when this is done because instead of fucking my woman and putting another baby inside her, I’m going to be in…” He looked over at the tablet, the blinking dot now moving into some hunt area on the outskirts of the city. Op rolled his eyes. “In the middle of bumfuck nowhere, rescuing him.”