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My head hurts and my body aches, and for a split second, I forget where I am.
Wicked’s eyes are feral and destructive when they land on me, but he launches forward and tears the chains from whateverwooden bed I’m hooked onto, scooping me up. Blood smears over my cheek from his chest, but I stay curled into him as he carries me out the door. How long have I been here? Days? Months?Oh my God, Wolf.
“Hey!” He kisses my forehead. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” I jolt beneath his hands when he kicks open a door and cold air pinches over my face. Bikes fire up as a door opens and he gently puts us both into a back seat, never letting me go.
“How long—” My body shakes as that same coldness sticks to my bones. I quiver as ice slides through my veins. My head itches for relief. Anything to stop my fucking eyes from burning in the back of my head.
“Four hours.” His voice is low but gentle.
“Four hours?” I repeat, my teeth chattering. “I thought it was weeks.”
“Psh”—Wicked snickers—“like fuck I wouldn’t find you sooner. I’m just sorry it took me four hours.” He rubs circles over my arm as whoever it is driving continues.
“You lied to me,” I whisper, my throat parched and eyes closed. I just want to sleep. “He told me you work with him, not for him.”
“Fuck.”
Sleep takes hold.
Iknow, going forward, that she’s going to self-destruct. That everything I’m about to leave on her lap to decipher isn’t fair. It’s why I haven’t told her for so long. I still don’t think I will, because if there’s any risk at all of losing her, this would guarantee it. Not just from me, but other people too.
“She won’t be ready to wake yet, Wicked,” Jade says, sliding over a glass of whiskey. “You need to let her heal and recover.” I flick my finger against the glass just as Royce pulls out a chair beside me.
“You know, you’re fucking lucky I’m here, huh?”
I shake my head, shooting back the liquid. “Because you won’t get off my tit.”
“Well, shit.” Royce glares at me. “It’s a fucking good thing I haven’t because you need me sucking on them.”
“I’ll always need you, brother.” I clear my throat, and he pats me on the shoulder. “She’s going to fucking lose it when shefinds everything out, Roy.” Shaking my head, I run my fingers through my hair. “She’s not like Jade. She doesn’t forgive me for every stupid thing I do. That bitch holds a grudge tighter than her pussy does my dick.” Jade disappears through the back with an eye roll, passing Khaos as he enters, rolling a cigarette between his fingers. I watch him carefully, needing an answer.
He shakes his head. “He got away.” Swiping up a bottle, he takes the other chair beside mine.
My jaw clenches so tight I can hear my teeth fucking crunch. “Fuck.”
“You know he was smart too. He didn’t fucking leave anything behind. He only used five people, all of which we killed, bar one, and everything that was set up there, was to dump and leave. He used a burner building, per se.” Khaos leans back in his chair. “Should we check out the asylum anyway?”
I knew he wouldn’t still be there. They cleared that shit out years ago when I went back to find him. Not one thing was dropped there. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“So are you going to tell her?” Royce asks from beside me, and I don’t turn to face him. The club here has been lenient with all the bullshit happening around us. All of which is tied to me. I’ve kept them all out for the most part. This is a war about me, not the club, and as much as a brother’s problem is a club problem, I made the choice not to bring them into it all. They’ve got families. Families that the Cosa Nostra will happily take out.
“No. Not yet. I’ll wait.”
“For what?” Royce leans forward, resting his elbows on the bar. “What could you possibly wait for?”
I clench my jaw. “The wedding.”
“And why the fuck would you do that? You know the girls are all wanting to be there.”
I turn in my seat to face him. “They’ll be safe. And why?” I shake my head, staring off into the distance. “Because she won’tbelieve me unless she sees it with her own eyes. It’s my only choice.”
“There’s something I need from you going forward, Wicked. And you may not like it because it is outside of this community.” I watched as he picked up a box of matches and slowly lit every candle on the mantel. “The girl I have in there, I need you to do something for me one day, and you may like it or not. I’m yet to figure that out…” I widened my arms over the edge of the bench. Any time Skully said that he needed me to do something, I knew it was going to be bad. But with him stalling, I was sure I wasn’t going to like his next words.
“I will be putting you and Poppy into a home. One night, when you receive a text message from me, you’re going to kill your foster father. Now this is going to spark an avalanche of events.” He turned to face me, crossing his arms in front of him. “You will be collected by a family. Her family.” I adjusted myself on the wood. His jobs were usually a little less committal than this, and I was still only thirteen. When was he hoping I’d do this? “The rest will be told to you on a need-to-know basis. I don’t want to overload you too much right now.” He waved forward. “Go to your room.”
Pushing up from the bench, I made my way down the aisle. When I hit the doors, I turned as he said, “You’re the only one I can trust to get this done.” I made my way down the hallway, passing the stairs that led up to the rooms. Taking the stairs two at a time, I passed all of the damaged photographs of the old nurses and doctors. It’s not until I was back in my room, that I fell onto the bed, staring up at the white padded walls.
I pulled open my bedside drawer, grabbing the photo that I hadn’t looked at much since Skully gave it to me when I was eight years old. A man and woman stood side-by-side. He wore a dark suit with a gray tie and had a cigar in his mouth.She had long black hair that was pulled up on the top of her head and a cigarette in her mouth. She stood partially in front of him, a possessive hand in front of him. I gathered it was my parents, even though Skully didn’t tell me anything else. I wondered what happened to them. Why they put me here. Why would any parent dump their child at an abandoned psych ward and just leave? I hated them.
