Page 34 of Gunner

Chapter 16

Gunner hadno clue why Roz had sent him a text to ask him to come to the hospital and see her after she’d just given birth to her son, but he predicted it had something to do with Pax. Roz was ridiculously protective of her girls, considered them family, with her acting as the terrifying patriarch.

Walking around the corner and seeing Lacey holding a newborn had been like a punch to the gut. The look of wonder on her face as she cradled the infant in her arms made him want things he knew were lost to him. He’d do anything to go back and make things right with her. He knew in his heart that she was his one chance at something special, something that only came once in a lifetime if you were lucky.

She was it for him, the love of his life and he’d screwed that up too. Looking for the answers in the bottom of a bottle for three days hadn’t helped either, so he’d gone hunting. Looking for Carmine Russo who he’d just learned had been given bail, a power-play by Osbourne no doubt to control him. A reminder of who was in charge, but Gunner was done being a puppet he was going on the offensive. If he found Carmine first, there’d be no question of him walking away and having a second chance at hurting Lacey, not while he still breathed.

Lacey looked up, and he saw the joy on her face at seeing him and then it was quickly doused with confusion.

Roz followed Lacey’s gaze. “Ah, Gunner, thanks for coming.”

Gunner pulled his eyes away from the woman who held his heart and looked at Roz, the leader of the Zenobi group. “Why am I here, Roz?”

Roz crossed her arms and glared at him, no less deadly after giving birth hours earlier than she was before her pregnancy.

“Tell her.”

Gunner shook his head, confused. “What?”

“Tell Lacey why you let those men hurt Pax.”

Gunner could feel the anger surging through him to have been put on the spot once again.

Lacey sat up and moved to hand the baby back to his mother. “Roz, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“It’s a perfect idea. Gunner seems hell-bent on sabotaging whatever you two have.”

Gunner crossed his arms to keep from reaching for Lacey. “I think you’ll find Blake did that.”

“Blake was a dick, and he knows it, but you’re no better. Not fighting for Lacey when you appear to care about her.”

“I do care.” He could feel his jaw flex so hard he thought it might crack.

“Prove it, tell her.”

Gunner saw Lacey fighting to hold on to her emotions and cursed Roz for interfering.

“Excuse me. I need to use the ladies room.” Lacey rushed past him, her scent leaving a hole in his heart as she swept past without even looking at him, Skye rushing after her. He itched to go after her, to hold her and tell her it would be okay, that he would fight her demons, but he was her demon in that minute, and that was like a stake through his chest.

“That was out of line, Roz.”

“Was it? Because to me, it seemed like the perfect time for you to tell her that the only reason you let those men hurt Pax was because they had a gun to your sisters head.”

He’d no intention of reliving those brutal minutes watching Pax get hurt knowing physically he could stop it, but it would end up with Milla getting hurt in ways he couldn’t allow.

“It still happened, Roz, and I can’t expect Lacey to accept that.”

Roz softened her face as much as she could, and for a second, he could see what Kanan saw in the force of nature that was Roz.

“Lacey needs to realise that life isn’t black and white, it has shades of grey with shadows, and that’s where men like you live. Pax doesn’t blame you now she knows the truth, and Lacey needs to understand that.”

“Lacey needs to get on with her life and forget me.”

Roz threw up her hand in frustration. “Honestly, you can’t educate stupid. Fine, go. Leave and let the best thing that ever happened to you walk away without a fight. Show her that she isn’t even worth that.”

Roz turned from him, dismissing him as her son began to fuss. Gunner didn’t hang around, instead of heading out into the hallway and looking for where Lacey might have gone. Seeing the ladies room door, he headed that way and without thinking walked inside, glad it was empty except for Lacey and Skye.

Lacey’s tear-filled eyes met his in the mirror, and he saw her lip wobble and could no more hold back from taking her in his arms than he could stop breathing. Striding forward he pulled Lacey from Skye and wrapped his arms around her. Her body moulded to his, the soft curves made to fit him as she grasped his shirt at the chest and buried her head in his neck just under his chin.