Page 99 of Devil’s Promise

I draw in a shuddering breath and then slowly lower my forehead to his. I can feel that he’s telling the truth and that my anger is because…I believed the fiction.

It hit me exactly where I hurt. Afraid that my father didn’t love me because I’m not loveable, which meant Angel didn’t really care about me either.

I get his shirt unbuttoned even as Knox pulls out, simultaneously pushing several buttons on the console.

“Hello?” A voice comes through the speakers as I pull Angel’s shirt away to find a perfect hole in his shoulder.

Nausea rises up my throat, but I push it back down as I start to unwrap the blanket. I need something to stop the bleeding.

“Don’t you dare,” Angel growls. “Keep that blanket on.”

“Hank?” Knox’s gaze flits into the mirror. “Angel’s been shot.”

“Club?” Hank asks.

“Fifteen,” Knox replies, hanging up.

Gunner shrugs off his shirt, handing to me. I twist it up, wrapping it around Angel’s shoulder. He’s got a second hole in his back, which I think is a good sign. “The bullet went through.”

“You got any medical training?” Knox asks.

“Not really,” I say. “Just CPR training.”

Knox presses the accelerator. “Just keep pressure on it. Both sides.”

Gunner reaches for Angel, pressing on the front and back of Angel’s shoulder with his palms as I murmur words of comfort into his ear. I’m barely listening as Knox makes several more calls. Placing my left hand over Gunners to try to stop the bleeding, my breath coming out in trembling puffs. I know I’m not helping. I just need to do something.

“Settle, love, it’s going to be all right,” Angel whispers.

“Are you sure? Because I’m not.”

“Will you be able to forgive me?” he asks.

My brow furrows. “For what?”

“Killing your father, for one.”

“Forgiven,” I say, shaking my head. He can’t be serious. If I ever loved my father, all I can feel is relief at his death.

“For pretending I was going to kill you?”

I let out the smallest sigh. “I should have trusted you. It’s just so easy to believe that you wouldn’t love me. My own father didn’t.”

He leans his head close to me. “I know. I’ve had this thing my whole life about keeping my word, like that would make me a better man than my father. But that’s just one symptom of the disease.”

Gunner looks over at us, Knox’s gaze landing on us in the rearview.

Angel doesn’t notice either of them, his eyes are closed.

“What’s the disease?”

“Selfishness,” he answers quietly. “Making decisions for yourself instead of the people who rely on you.”

I kiss his cheek, wishing I could hold him in my arms.

“But I’ll never be that man again. I made a vow to you, Promise. Deeper than any word I’ve ever given. And for my brothers…” His eyes open again. “What I do, I do for us.”

Knox pulls into the club.