“Thank you.” I breathe easier knowing it’s covered up. “Thank you,” I say in relief. “Thank you so much.”
“Don’t worry about it. It isn’t even my favorite shirt.”
I chuckle, then growl when I don’t get a warning about rubbing alcohol being poured into the wound on my leg. “I’ve killed men for less.”
“Me too,” he grins a bit too cheekily. “Hurts less when you don’t expect it.”
“I don’t believe you at all. Not even a little.”
He tosses his head back and laughs as the boat stops. A guy jumps to the dock to tie us off and when I look up, I see paramedics there waiting with a fucking gurney.
“I don’t need a damn gurney. I can walk.”
“Sorry. No can do. Not with that cut on your leg. You’ve lost a good amount of blood. You’re getting strapped, my dude. Sorry.”
“You don’t sound sorry.”
The paramedics give him the backboard and he straps me to it before his team lifts me and the paramedics take me from there, placing me on the gurney.
It’s on the dock, so I’m thankful I’m here and not in the water.
The teasing between me and my savior ends when he starts to spew medical crap. “Male, thirties to forties. Head wound and a deep cut on his leg. He’s lost some blood and his blood pressure is a little low, but it isn’t cause for alarm, yet. The bandage on his eye is to cover a previous medical issue. Do not take it off,” he tells them. “And say that to the doctors too.”
The paramedics nod and begin to roll me away, but I dart my hand out to catch his wrist. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” His eyes drop to my cut, and he swallows when he sees the name of the club.
“I’m in your debt. Come see us when you want to cash in,” I tell him, holding out my hand.
He meets it with a shake so we can make a deal.
“We need to go. The bandage isn’t holding,” the paramedic warns.
“Quin! Quin!”
I hear my name being called from Kimmy and I sit up, regardless of the medics trying to make me lie down with their hands on my chest.
“Get the hell off me,” I grunt. “Give me my damn daughter!” I scream at them when I continue to hear her cries for me, and their hands immediately disappear. “Kimmy? Kimmy!” I sit up, my ribs aching and my ankle throbbing.
“Daddy.” She hits my side and it fucking hurts, but I bear it because I was so fucking scared for us. I thought I was going to lose her.
“You’re okay.” I kiss her forehead. “You’re okay, right? Are you hurt?”
She shakes her head and one of the cops begins to peel her away from me.
“What do you think you’re doing? Give her back to me.”
“She has to ride in a different ambulance. She has to get checked out by the doctors. Her mother is here, but we can’t allow her back here just yet. Your gang will meet you at the hospital,” he informs me.
“They aren’t a gang. We aren’t a gang. We are brothers. A club.”
“Whatever. Criminals, in my opinion,” he mutters, taking Kimmy away.
“Daddy!” she shouts, fighting the hold the cop has on her.
“It’s okay. We’re okay, Squirt. I’ll see you soon. I love you,” I manage to yell before they shut the ambulance doors, silencing the chaos outside.
My heart is beating so hard I’m afraid it’s going to beat out of my chest. There’s one thing I’m making a mental note of. That cop? He shouldn’t have called me a criminal in front of my daughter.
I’m going to fucking kill him.
No one yanks what is mine from my arms without good fucking reason.
No one.
Badge or no badge.
He just signed his death warrant.
I pace up and down the waiting room hall waiting to hear about Quin. Kimmy is sitting down next to Arrow, sniffling quietly. She keeps asking for her Daddy. There’s no way in hell I’ll ever keep her away from him now since that is how she feels.
I’m many things, but a woman who keeps her daughter away from her father? I’m not that type of woman.
“God, how long does this take?” I run my fingers through my hair and pull on the strands, then lace my fingers behind my neck. “He wasn’t dead or in bad shape, right?”
Kimmy shakes her head. “He seemed okay.”
Which is unbelievable because I saw how far he fell. I saw his body, lifeless, weightless, as he fell into the water.
I swear, I’ve never screamed so loud in my life. I’ve never felt so much fear. I died on the inside when he hit the water. I didn’t know he was alive until they brought him to the dock. I’ve been lightheaded ever since.
“He’s okay,” Arrow tries to reassure me. “He’s been through a lot worse.”
“What can be worse than falling more than a hundred feet with a damn Ferris wheel coming down on top of you?”
“Maybe getting your eye burned and then having a sharp blade carve it out? I don’t know, just throwing out suggestions,” he sneers, his tone on the verge of hate.
So there are guys who do hate me.
Good.
That’s what’s best.
They know I’m not good enough for Quin and they would be right.
Even if he is the first thing I think about when I wake up and what I dream about at night.
I’m at constant war with myself. Heart versus mind. How can I fix myself when the biggest part of who I am, what makes me who I am, is someone I don’t deserve?
“I know it’s a stressful time but being at each other’s throats isn’t going to help the situation. We’ve all had a bad day. It’s been long, stressful, and intense. What happened today was horrible, but no one died, which is a damn miracle. One-Eye is a tough son of a bitch, and I swear, when he is well, we are going to throw one big party to celebrate,” Boomer interjects.
“Just make sure she isn’t there and we won’t have a problem.” Arrow gets up and grabs a cigarette pack out of the pocket of his cut, places one between his lips. “Update me if you hear anything,” he says to Boomer, giving me a dirty look on his way out the automatic doors.
It’s a cold stare too. A chill lingers in the room after he leaves.
“Don’t mind him. He’s always pretty protective of us since we were the ones left hanging in the barn,” Kansas informs me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We’ve been through a lot together.”
“No, he’s right. I shouldn’t be there. Quin deserves better than what I can give him right now. I’m not the best for him.”
“I think you’re wrong. I think maybe the timing is off, and I also think, not that you asked, but you should leave that decision up to One-Eye. Nobody else matters. None of them should have a say in your relationship, especially Arrow.”
“Everyone here matters to Quin, so that means they matter to—” the double doors swing open, and Quin comes through on crutches, his leg bent behind him on a crutch, and a hospital gown on. He has a pissed-off curl twisting his lips and doctors and nurses are running after him.
“Sir, you can’t leave yet. It’s recommended that you stay overnight for your concussion.”