My brothers’ curses are muffled by the beat of my own heart.
Gently lifting her in my arms, I make my way toward the front door not wasting a moment.
“Grab her keys, we’ll have to come back for our bikes later. We need to get her to the hospital,” I growl.
“No.” I hear the faintest voice.
“Tins?” I ask.
“No hospital,” she whispers so softly, I can barely hear her.
“Baby, you need a hospital.” Whip opens the passenger side door and pushes the front seat up enough for me to lay her on the back seat. There was no way I’d be able to sit back there with her.
“No. Promise me. No hospital.” With that last bit she passed back out.
Fuck. What am I gonna do?
Chapter Seven
Tinsley
“Are you sure she’s okay?” The voice filters through the fog. It barely penetrates, but it does.
What do they mean by are you sure she’s okay?
Who are they talking about anyway?
God I’m so tired and my body hurts all over.
“Yeah she’s fine. Sleep is the best thing for her right now. With her not allowing us to take her to the hospital, I’m not able to say if she had any internal damage done.”
“I should have just taken her in,” the first male voice mutters.
“And every time we’ve said that or started to she’s somehow woken up to stop us, Coyote. It’s as if she has this self-preservation in her,” the other male voice chuckles.
Did he say Coyote? The first guy's name is Coyote. I know that name. It’s the name of the man who haunts my dreams.
“Well when her ass wakes up, she’s going to have to get over that bullshit. I want to know who the fuck did this to my woman,” Coyote snarls.
My woman? Huh, Coyote has a girlfriend?
“You claiming her?”
“Fuck yeah I am, brother. Tinsley is mine.”
What? Trying to fight the fog I want to know what he means. No, I need to know what he means by that. I’m not his, there must be another Tinsley.
Finally, unable to fight anymore, I let the fog swallow me whole again.
The next time I come to, I can hear a baby crying from somewhere close by.
I know that cry.
Cody.
I don’t know how long he’d been crying but he immediately stops.
Is he okay?
Sam and Mason didn’t get him did they?
I fight like hell to open my eyes as my memories flood through me. I’m unable to see anything past the images playing through my mind.
Milley’s death.
Meeting Coyote.
Loving his son.
Mason and Sam’s warnings.
The beating they gave me.
Oh God, no.
Please tell me it was only a nightmare.
Whimpering, I try to raise a hand but before I lift it off the bed someone grabs my wrist stopping me.
“Tinsley?” I know that voice. The sultry baritone of it I found soothing the first time I’d heard it and again when he’d found me.
“Coyote,” I croak.
“Yeah, baby, it’s me,” he says.
“Why can’t I see you?”
“Hang on, I’ll turn the low light on so you can see me.” I inwardly groan at the loss of his hand on my skin. A moment later I have to cover my eyes to the brightness of even the dim lighting.
Tilting my head to the side, I meet Coyote’s gaze. The intensity that seems to radiate from them is almost more than I can stand to look at, yet I can’t turn away.
“How are you feeling?” he asks.
“I’m not sure. Where’s Cody? What am I doing here? For that matter, where is here?” Panic starts to seep in the more my mind keeps playing Sam’s warning in my head.
“Cody is with Momma B. I’d heard you in here through the baby monitor we have set up and she offered to watch him for me. As for why you’re here, you refused to allow us to take you to the hospital. Every time I tried or one of my brothers you somehow woke up in a panic pleading that we don’t take you.”
I did?
I don’t remember any of that.
“Yea, baby, you did that shit,” Coyote says, causing me to furrow my brow.
Did I say that out loud?
“Yep,” Coyote chuckles.
Groaning, I close my eyes. “How long have I been here?” I ask
“Three days,” he says. “Do you remember what happened?”
Remember?
Yeah, I remember every little thing.
Reaching one of my hands up, I touch the top of my head and run it down my hair until I find the end right at the base of my neck. Tears well in my eyes as I move my hand from my hair to my cheek.
“Don’t cry, Tinsley. You're safe here. No one is going to hurt you. Not if I have anything to do with it,” Coyote declares as he moves to sit on the bed and wrap me in his arms gently.
A sob escapes me, and my body is racked with tremors as I cry against Coyote’s chest. The entire time he presses kisses to the top of my head while stroking my back in a calming motion.
When I finally have my emotions under control, I lift my head to meet his gaze. “Why are you being so nice to me? You don’t even like me.”
“Who says I don’t like you?” he asks, lifting a brow in confusion.
“No one. You’ve made it obvious you hate me,” I mutter.
“Baby, you couldn’t be more wrong. I may have been confused by you showing up with my kid and finding out about Milley, but I don’t hate you,” he says, his free hand moving to stroke the side of my face that has a bandage over it.
“I–I–I tried to save her,” murmuring quietly, I lower my eyes to stare at the sheets, not wanting to face him.
“There was no saving Milley. I’ve come to realize that. Well, I started to come to terms with it not too long ago.” Coyote’s hand comes to rest under my chin in order to lift my head back up. Meeting his gaze this time, I become ensnared by his beautiful dark eyes. I wouldn’t say they were brown or even hazel. Maybe a dark gray. I’m not sure, but I know that if given the chance I could stare at them all day.
A knock on the door interrupts the moment. “Yeah,” he calls out rather than getting up to answer the door. Immediately the door is opened and Momma B steps into the room with I’m guessing Cody in her arms.
“I couldn’t wait any longer to come in and check on you myself,” she smiles.
“Hi,” I whisper, not knowing what else to say.
“Do you need anything? Bathroom, perhaps?” Momma B asks.
“Umm,” I blush in embarrassment because I did need to go, but my body hurt so badly that I didn’t think I could make it there on my own.
“I’ll take that as a yes. I called Harlow when Coyote came in here to check on you. She’s here. Do you want me to get her to help you?” She asks.
“I got her,” Coyote mutters as I open my mouth to respond.
“Coyote, I love you, but I highly doubt Tinsley would want you to see her doing whatever she needs to do. Why don’t you let Harlow and I do this, and you can change this little guy?” Momma B suggests, but the tone in her voice held no room for argument.
“Fine,” he grumbles. I want to groan at the loss of his strength around me. Standing next to the bed, he leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be back.”