“We only have that reputation because we don’t allow slip-ups like this to go unpunished.”
“We do when they benefit us. Or does that only work for you, Stone?”
Blade narrows his eyes at him, and I know he’s talking about a mistake that Stone must have made in his past. I want to know what it is, but at the same time, I know I’ll never find out.
In a flash, Stone has Blade up against the wall with a hand around his throat. Blade’s own hand comes up and secures a grip around Stone’s throat at the same time. They stare into one another’s eyes, neither man backing down.
“You dare bring that up? Talk to me like that in front of her? You’re going to give her the impression that she can disrespect me, and she can disrespect this Club, and you will be there to protect her from punishment.”
“No, I will make sure she knows how things work around here, but I’m also going to see to it that no one hurts what’s mine. I just needed to remind you that everyone makes mistakes.”
With fury in his stare, Stone speaks again.
“Feel free to keep your little whore around for now. But if Iron doesn’t make it, game over. I’ll fucking kill her myself.”
A feral sound that can only be described as a growl emanates from Blade’s chest. His newfound protection over me is intimidating, but I’m glad for it. Without it, I’m positive I would be dead by now.
The small room grows hot with tension before a petite older woman steps inside. She’s in all black and also has a vest on, which is covered slightly by her long brown hair.
“Stop that now, both of ya,” she orders.
When neither man lets go of the other, she speaks again,
“Iron is awake. Hawk just told us.”
Her words break them from their violent trance, as though she said an incantation to dispel it.
“What?” they both say at the same time, looking at her.
“Yeah, he opened his eyes about half an hour ago. Hawk’s been looking him over since. Says he asked about her,” she nods her head toward me.
Stone takes one look at me, but Blade steps in his path and grabs my hand.
“We’ll all go,” he tells Stone.
The four of us walk back into the house, past the table of the shocked and silent crowd again. I try not to look at them, but I can’t stop myself. Several men are sitting around the table; each one appears as deadly as Stone and Blade. Their stares are too intense, and I look away from them quickly.
“Y’all get back to your food now. I didn’t work hard on that meal to have it go cold before it hits your bellies,” the woman orders.
I don’t know her, but I like her already. She’s no-nonsense, and you can tell her love for these men runs deep.
We go through another door; this one is very thick, as though the room beyond is meant to be secure or soundproof. I take a look around at what appears to be a hospital room. On the bed against the wall is the man that I hit with my car. The moment his eyes lock on mine, a wave of relief washes through me.
He’s alive.
I know this woman just mentioned he was, but I needed to see it with my own eyes. Blade pulls me to the bedside, and I watch as he takes the man’s hand into his own. Holding it to his heart, I can feel the pain and tension that Blade has held inside, worrying about this man, leave him.
“Iron,” Blade says. “Fuck, man, you scared us.”
Stone appears on the other side of the hospital bed; his reaction changed from violent to relieved. A third man joins us from across the room and begins speaking.
“Iron suffered a mild stroke,” he begins but is cut off by Stone.
“Because of the accident?” he inquires, looking at me with hatred all over again.
“No,” the weak man from the bed speaks up. “I was on my way to the clubhouse when I started feeling weird. My vision blurred, and my left arm went numb. My bike began pulling to the right, just as she was coming off the exit onto 468. I tried to correct myself, but I couldn’t. The front of my bike hit the rear driver’s side of her car.”
I try to put together what he’s saying, but the shock has me unable to think straight.
“I bounced off the car and dropped my bike. Both it and I skidded across the road and ended up down that hill.”
“The accident wasn’t my fault...” I say out loud more to myself than anyone else.
“It doesn’t look that way,” the man they called Hawk confirms.
Relief causes tears to prick my eyes as my legs give out beneath me. Blade catches me before I hit the ground as Hawk brings me a chair to sit in. Does that mean this ordeal is over? Can I finally breathe easy and go home? When Blade crouches down in front of me, he fixes his eyes on mine. He answers my silent question with his intense stare.
This new information changes nothing. I still belong to him.
Chapter Thirteen
Blade
I see the question in her stare. She thinks this news nullifies what I told her downstairs. But she’s wrong. No matter how our paths came to cross, what’s done is done. I’ve marked Sasha as my own, and there is nothing that can change that now.
I see Stone looking at her from the other side of Iron’s hospital bed. His reaction is conflicted. He was so ready to punish Sasha for this that it never occurred to him the accident could have had nothing to do with her.
It didn’t occur to any of us.
I stand up, locking my eyes on Stone. Before I can speak, Iron begins talking again.
“After I rolled down the embankment and hit my head, I heard her voice call out to me. She told me that everything was going to be alright. I couldn’t react; I couldn’t even open my eyes. I remember feeling calmed by her words, but that’s where my memory ends.”
He turns his head and looks at her.
“Thank you for stopping and comforting me.”
I’ve never seen Iron so open before; so raw. Sasha looks at him with an expression of disbelief. As though she can’t wrap her head around how quickly and drastically her situation has changed. From being on the run to becoming a hostage. Getting claimed by the poor, son-of-a-bitch that I am, to realizing she didn’t have anything to do with Iron’s injuries, to begin with. I’m sure several emotions are running through her mind right now.
I look back at Stone, who appears as though he’s going to be sick. We speak a silent truce from across Iron’s hospital bed. But my gaze reminds him that she’s mine, and I’ll fiercely protect her with everything I have.
Squeezing the bar that helps to keep Iron from falling out of bed, I know he’s battling regret that he feels over how he’s treated her since she got here. We may not be the most wholesome group of bastards, but we don’t like to hurt people who don’t deserve it.
Especially women.
This whole situation has spun each of us out of control. Stone walks around the bed and stops when he’s directly in front of Sasha. I can sense her tensing up the closer he gets. I place a hand on her shoulder and squeeze slightly, trying to comfort her. Stone clears his throat before he begins talking.
“When someone fucks with one of us, we’ve been known to go a little crazy. I let my emotions get the best of me, and I’m sorry for what happened downstairs earlier.”