“What the fuck is he doing?” I run toward my bike, all I can think about is getting to her.
Nero grimaces. “Trying to scare us.”
“How did he get that fucking close?” I snarl, throwing a leg over my bike and kick-starting the engine so hard my foot nearly slips off the pedal. “Where the fuck was Atom and Ronin?”
“Questions that can be answered when we get there.” He pulls on his helmet, then rides out. The rest of us follow close behind.
It takes almost half an hour to get back into the city. Nero directs the others to go see what they can find out while Blaze and I go into the hospital with him. I know exactly where Colton is and lead them straight to the ICU. Ronin is standing by the entrance, his jaw tight. He knows he fucked up.
“They don’t know,” he says.
Nero grabs my arm before I barge into the department.
“Let me go,” I snap.
“You think I don’t know what you’re going through? My woman is in there too. She was here at the same time as that fucker.”
“It wasn’t her he sent a picture of.”
“Do you want to go in there and scare her enough that she pushes you away? Is that what you want? Maybe you should and get her far away from you before you fall in any deeper. Or maybe,” he pushes me against the wall before I can fight to get by Ronin again. “You want to calm the fuck down, not let her know the danger she was in. Or how close she came to that psychopath. You need to keep her close to protect her now she’s on his radar.”
My breathing is so heavy I can barely think straight, but his words are breaking through the rage. He’s right. Storm is getting in our heads, he knows what buttons to push.
I should never have done this to her. She should have stayed away, instead, I got her involved in something that could risk her life.
That makes something dark and terrifying twist in my gut. Letting her go, sending her back to LA is what I should do. She’ll be safer there, away from me.
“If you can’t control yourself right now, then pull it together away from here. Do it where my woman and your sister don’t get caught in the crossfire.”
Raven’s here too? Jesus Christ. That bastard was close to everything I love.
Nero doesn’t fight when I push him off me, he knows I’ve calmed enough not to barge in there and scare the three women.
“You make sure she’s okay and Father Eastwood is good, and you either stay with her or you end it. You do not, under any circumstances, tell her about Storm. You make the choice right here, right now.”
“Fuck,” I turn my back on him and Ronin and slam my palm against the wall.
“Taylor is a part of me I won’t let go,” Nero says, quieter now so we don’t make any more of a scene. “It makes me a selfish bastard, but she means everything to me. I would die for her. If you don’t feel the same way about Kinsley, then figure that shit out fast and let her go.”
His words sink in and mingle with my own tumultuous thoughts.
Not ten seconds ago, I included Kinsley when I thought about the people I love being here and being hurt.
“You good?”
My nod is terse, but I turn my glare on Ronin. He takes it without backing away. He knows he fucked up. Nero will deal with him. I have something to do.
Kinsley looks up when I stalk toward her. Raven whispers something to Taylor, and they both laugh, but all I see is her. She gets to her feet, and I have to hold myself back from grabbing her and dragging her out of here.
That could work with some women, not Kinsley. She’d be kicking and screaming and fighting for all she’s worth.
Without warning, she wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me to her. “He’s going to be okay,” she says.
She thinks Colton waking is why we’re here, and I feel like shit for letting her.
The relief is coursing through her as I pull her against me. Over her shoulder Raven sticks out her tongue at me, she’s so damn childish sometimes, but it’s quickly replaced with a smile. I don’t even know why she’s still here, but that doesn’t matter.
None of them are aware of the danger that was standing right beside them.
