“What the hell does that mean, Roni?”
I clench my jaw. She’s stubborn to a fault. She’s yet to understand I’m always here for her. She doesn’t have to carry everything on her own.
This thing with our daughter needing me more than her, I don’t get it. She’s willing to stick her neck out as long as I’m there for our girl. I’m still trying to make this one make sense.
Insanity.
“What don’t you understand? In order to keep our family safe, I need to know everything. Secrets expose us, they leave us vulnerable. I can’t protect you or anyone else if I don’t know what the fuck is going on.”
I take a glance over at her when I get no reply. Her dark eyes are fixed on me as she glares. Her full lips are pinched, those long lashes lowered as she narrows her eyes.
“What?” I bark.
She points a finger at me. “Johnathan Dillion Black, don’t make me choke your ass. Who the hell are you talking to?”
“You’ll be begging me to choke and spank you after this.” I snort.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The only time you hand over your trust and obedience is when I’m fucking you. Wait, that’s a lie. You even find a way to defy me then.”
“Maybe because I’m not a dog or better yet, I’m a grown ass woman.”
“A grown ass woman who has one of the most dangerous men in the world pissed the fuck off and demanding you come see him,” I bellow, losing my shit all over again.
I’ve been pissed since I got the text from LaSalle asking what the fuck has Roni gotten herself into. Her and Torque are going to send me to an early grave. Fucking hardheaded and stubborn as fuck.
“Misha?” I growl. “You get mixed up with Misha of all people, behind my back,” I say incredulously.
“For the record, I wasn’t trying to get involved with him. He reached out to me and Torque has gotten it in his head that he should be protecting me,” she huffs and rubs her forehead.
She continues more to herself. “He’s in over his head. He’s barely twenty, I shouldn’t have let him get involved in all of this.”
I blow out a breath. “No, that’s me. I shouldn’t have let either of you be dragged into this. I should’ve found another way.”
This time she snorts. “As if you had a choice. You were never the one calling the shots on all of this. You looked out for us, but this has never been your show to run.”
“You underestimate me. I could have and should have found another way.”
“John.”
I turn to glance at her again. Her eyes soften and I can see how tired she looks. She’s a mother now. Everything has changed. Exactly why shit like this shouldn’t be happening.
“I’ll fix it. Whatever it is, I’ll fix it. I always do,” I promise before she can say another word.
“You don’t have to always rescue me.”
“It’s what I do. I come to the rescue, but it would make my life a whole lot easier to know when things are going on, for me to rescue you from them before they get this out of hand.”
I see her shrug out the corner of my eye. She turns away to look out of the window. The weight of the morning’s mission and that text press down on both of us.
“I don’t remember a lot, but I remember the distance between me and my father. I… I don’t think he protected me. Not like you do, not like I see you do for our daughter.
“We made promises to each other in that place. Natasha and Torque, we became family. I understand why he won’t give up on her and why he’s the way he is with me. He’s not right in how he’s going about it, but I understand,” she says.
“I get it, baby. I do. But what I’m asking from you both is for you to let me fix this. It’s what I do. The secrets and the bullshit have to stop. I would have been able to handle things better from the beginning.
“Let that guard down. You and Torque have to give me the trust you say you have in me. Then I can help. I’ll find her.”
“John, I already have a—”
Her words are cut off as Felix’s voice fills our headphones. My blood runs cold as his words sink in. I’m turning the chopper around before he can finish.
“I’m headed your way,” I say.
“Good. Noah, Brax, and Toby have been hit. We’re down a few hands.”
“I’m calling in my crew,” I reply and nod to Roni to make the call.
She’s on it. I push as fast as I can go to get there. However, my panic rises as the next voice comes through the headset.
“I need some help up here. Carmen’s hanging off the side of the building and I’m holding on for dear life. Wyatt, can you get here, bro?”
“My hands are a bit full down here. I’m trying.”
“Fuck,” Ryan bellows.
I find my voice to let my little brother know I’m on my way to him. “Ry, this is John. Roni and I are in the bird. We’re headed your way. You hold on. We’re coming.”
“Shit, if you can speed the fuck up that would be great.”
“We’re coming.”
I work my jaw as I focus on getting there as well as a plan to get Carmen off the side of the building. Shit. This can’t be happening. This is like the day from hell.
I still can’t believe I almost got my head blown off. I have to focus this time. Carmen means too much to Ryan for me to fuck this up.
“We’re going to have to work together on this,” I say to Roni.
“Already ahead of you,” she says as she unfastens her seatbelt. “I’ll get in the harness. You just get me close to the building. I got her.”
I nod as the hospital comes into view. We are so close but so far. My heart is pounding.
“Baby, relax. Be still for me,” Ryan’s voice comes through the headset.
He didn’t close the connection. The emotions in his voice cause my throat to tighten with my own. Carmen’s sob nearly guts me.
“Ryan, I don’t want to die.”
“Who’s dying? How many times do I have to tell you I’ve got you?” Just like my little brother. He’ll keep a cool head for Carmen, although I know him well enough to know he’s freaking the hell out.
Always the joker. I don’t know how Carmen deals with his ass, but I get why he has resorted to jokes. The fear in Carmen’s voice is vibrating through the connection.
Ryan calls me out of my thoughts as I try to tone his crazy out. “John?”
“Almost there,” I reply.
I can see their figures over the side of the building. Fuck, I need to move faster. I don’t know how much longer he’ll be able to hold her at that angle.
Clenching my jaw, I listen to Carmen’s pleas and screams. It’s as if everything has started to move in slow motion. We’re getting closer. The sound of Roni opening the door causes my adrenaline to spike.
We draw nearer still and I hover over the hospital, not yet able to breathe. “Don’t. Let. Go.” Is the last thing I hear Ryan say before Roni jumps out of the helicopter and time seems to still.
Roni
Everything halts around me. The world seems to have taken a pause. My focus is on one thing.