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I blink, utterly confused. “But—”
“Because of John,” Priest manages to get out, then exhaustion overtakes him, and he shuts his eyes once more.
I dial Guard’s number quick. He picks up on the first ring.
“Priest?”
“He’s fine. We got bigger problems.”
“Say what?”
“Priest came to for just a minute. He said this is because of John. Fuck, Guard, Crusher has the answers, and we’re handing him over to the mob guys. Camille, Steady, cripes, even Kyrian could be a target. This was never about Charlotte, if I’m understanding Priest’s message.” By this point, I’m pacing in the cramped hospital room.
“I’ll call Steady. Risk and Hanna are staying at the compound with Romeo. Risk will be the go-between when Nero Moretti gets here with his man Luciano. Reno says these guys are solid and vouches for them. Maybe we can work a deal and get some answers before they take him.”
“I wanna be there,” I answer.
“War and Orion need to sleep. Risk is with me. I can send Demon and Thunder, but I want them to get a solid few hours before they head back. I’ll send Hammer to stay with you. Moretti’s not gonna be here for a while. When the others get there, ride back with Hammer. Two riders at all times and two with Priest until we can get him back to the compound. Am I understood?” he asks gruffly.
“Yeah, I got you.”
“Keep your eyes open, brother. Eyes on the door. Stay alert. Hammer will be there in fifteen.” Guard disconnects.
I glance between an unconscious Priest and the door. “Jesus Christ, Priest. What the hell is going on?”
SIXTEEN
With Pleasure
CHARLOTTE
Izzy stayed with me all night. I cried myself to sleep in frustration. All this because my piece-of-shit dead daddy couldn’t control his urge to gamble. It‘s bad enough that he totally screwed up my life. It sucks that he ignored his son and abandoned us all. But to get involved with someone like Crusher and have him wreak vengeance on the only people I consider family is just too much.
Roscoe took Noah aside and explained what happened to Priest. Noah’s feeling it too. I wanted to go after him when he went downstairs to the gym, but Roscoe held me back.
“He needs to be alone. Give him some breathing room. One of us will go down and check on him in a little bit. You’re tired, and we all need to get some sleep.” He convinced me to go up with Izzy, and she held me until I had no tears left and the peaceful darkness of sleep overtook me.
I didn’t expect to find Wildcard by my side, yet here he is. He’s in a deep sleep. I curl into him, slinging an arm around his middle. Instinctively, he covers it with his hand. For three solid months, I’ve been working from home and getting new customers coming my way weekly. In that time, I’ve doubled my revenue and have expanded to creating an online website, courtesy of my handsome boyfriend.
I kept my promise and visit Millie twice a week. Most of the time, one of the other women is with me or join me, but every once in a while, it’s just the two of us, Millie and me having our heart-to-hearts.
Everything was going great until yesterday, when the world came crashing down around us. Again. Until then, there had been no other incidents. No threats or drive-bys. Wildcard and I were thinking that Crusher had decided to move on since no one could find him, and he hadn’t surfaced. We’d gotten into a routine where Noah, Wildcard, and I would have dinners together, and on weekends, Noah would spend time at the compound to give Wildcard and me some privacy. And now it’s all fallen apart.
Wildcard awakens and peers over at me. “Are you okay, dollface?” he murmurs in a husky, sleepy voice.
“I’m not the one they beat up. How’s Priest?” I ask.
He plants a kiss on the top of my head. “Healing. The doctor came by a few times, and they say he’s out of the woods and with proper therapy, he’ll be better than ever.”
Finally, some good news. “I’m so sorry this happened to him. I should have left the minute I saw my father that night.”
That’s the wrong thing to say. Wildcard shuffles into a sitting position, holding me firmly by the shoulders. “Don’t say that. Never say that,” he huffs. “I would have come searching for you and wouldn’t have stopped until I found you.”
“This is all because of him…and me,” I whisper.
“It is, but it isn’t,” he says. I’m thoroughly confused and must be showing it, because he goes on to explain. “Crusher started off coming after you because of your father, but we think he came after Priest for other reasons related to his brother, John.”
“Camille said her brother died in jail.”
