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I thought that the last time too, only to come back and find two officers standing guard outside her room because her ex had attacked her—strangled her. And according to his drunk ass report, he’d been waiting for me to leave, biding his time until he could get her alone and punish her for leaving and jumping into bed with me.
How did she and Ibothend up choosing psychos to be with? Were we cursed or some shit? Or were we just the ones making them fucking crazy?
That thought made me smirk. If we were the ones making them crazy, then the two of us together would be beautifully catastrophic. I couldn’t fucking wait.
But how did she end up with the shit end of the deal for both parties? If Wendy had a problem, she should have taken it up with me—not Red. And her goddamn ex—too much of a pussy to take shit up with me like a real man. How did he think strangling Aaliyah in a hospital room was going to end?
“Come on, Prez,” Trigger tried again. “I’ll even sit here with her. YouknowI won’t let anything happen to her.”
I sighed and scratched at the beard on my jaw before standing to my feet, deciding to take a break while I had the opportunity. And I knew Trigger was right; he’d protect her, and I trusted him to do that. Besides, I wasn’t good at being cooped up anywhere, and even though I was here because I felt like I couldn’t goddamn breathe without Aaliyah, I knew I needed a bit of time to get myself back together.
And shave this God awful fucking beard while I was at it. I scratched at it, wishing I could just peel the shit off.
“You armed?” I asked him, lowering my voice.
He nodded once at me, looking at me like I’d lost my fucking mind for even thinking I needed to ask that question. I snorted and shook my head before leaning over the bed, pressing a soft kiss to Aaliyah’s lips. Sighing, I ran my hand over her wild, red curls. “I’ll be back, Red,” I whispered.
Trigger clapped a hand to my shoulder. “She’s in safe hands, Prez. I’ll protect her with my life.”
I pointed at her and narrowed my eyes at him. “You protect her like you protect me when someone has a gun pointed at my fucking head, you hear me?”
He nodded, his face completely serious. “Crystal, Prez. I’ll protect her. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
I may not—not with him standing guard over her—but it wouldn’t stop me from worrying about her. If Aaliyah wasn’t by my side, my mind was with her. That just seemed to be how my life would go from here on out. I’d come to terms with it. My life had to adjust to accommodate her.
I clapped a hand to Trigger’s back. Then, I strode from her hospital room, feeling like I was leaving my soul in that damned room with her.
Maybe I was. She was the only thing capable of making me feel like I had one.
Blayke was sitting in the chapel when I walked in, so I headed straight for him, wanting to find out if he had any new information on Dirk—ifthere was anything new. So far, the feds were trying to press him, but he didn’t know shit. He was never allowed on the clubhouse grounds.
He was just a fucking weasel that tried to murder my old lady.
“Nothing new,” he told me as soon as I stepped into the room, obviously already having a feeling what I was coming in for. “But I’m thinking they’re going to be moving him to jail until his trial. You ready to discuss a hit? Once he’s in jail, shit should have died down by then—feds aren’t going to want anything to do with him. Got enough people in our pockets there to make it look like he started shit with someone. Or if you want to wait until he goes to prison, we can do it then.”
I shook my head. “Make the hit happen in jail.”
He nodded. “Got it.” He stood to his feet before jerking his head in the direction of the gym. “Come on. You look like you’ve got some shit to get off your shoulders and out of your head.”
Did I fucking ever. So glad these guys new me so damn well.
I stripped my shirt off as soon as we entered the room, tossing it over one of the ropes before I climbed into the boxing ring. Law passed me a pair of gloves. Dom, Geek, and Drew moved to stand around the ring, wanting to watch. Sometimes, we fought as a fun way to bet on each other. Other times, like this time, we did this shit to let the storm raging inside of us die down some.
Blayke didn’t waste a beat. He never did. He swung out. I ducked and sent an uppercut into his abdomen. He grunted but then swung, taking a jab at my side that almost knocked me off balance. I grinned and swung again, hitting him twice in the abdomen before jabbing into his side.
We always did our best to avoid faces unless we were pissed at each other. Then, it was free reign and no gloves. And you walked out of here with whatever broken bones you’d received. But we never let shit simmer between us. We got that shit out of our systems. Tension between brothers never ended well if you let it simmer.
“Fuck you,” Blayke wheezed, hitting me in the same spot again. I grunted, adjusting myself to block that part of me. He danced back on the balls of his feet, cracking his neck. “That all you fucking got, Prez?”
I barked out a laugh and knocked him on his ass.
A small groan jerked me out of my sleep, my hand immediately reaching for the gun hidden by my cut. I snapped my eyes open, but nothing was out of place and no one was in the room. The door was still shut, and the light over by the bathroom was still on, casting the room in a soft, yellow glow that barely permeated the space.
Another small groan had me jerking my head toward Aaliyah’s hospital bed. Her eyes were slowly fluttering open, her fingers twitching, no doubt stiff. I quickly lurched from my chair, my heart thumping wildly in my chest.
She was waking up.
Holy fucking shit.
