Blake and Blue must have known something was up because they’d been even nicer to me than usual. They gave me space by not asking a million questions I couldn’t answer but came by to sit with me silently each opportunity they had. I'd tried calling Dex a few times but he'd only answered the first time, sounding annoyed beyond belief but promising to call me if he found out anything. I never got such a call, so I called him again and got no answer.
Fucking Sonny.
The more I thought about what happened, the more pissed off I got. He’d known they were out there. The men hadn’t broken into the house and taken him. Sonny had to have walked out of the friggin’ house and gone to them. What the hell had he been thinking? Obviously, I wasn’t the only one who was an idiot.
So I stewed all day. Thinking about friggin’ Sonny andhow much of a dumbass he was. Thinking about what reasons those men couldwanthim for.
Sonny didn’t tell me enough about what he did when I wasn't around or when he magically disappeared at night, so I had no idea the kind of crap he got into.Mainly, it was blind trust between us. Neither one of us was used to having someone to answer to.
As soon as we closed down the shop that night, Blue had asked me if I needed anything—which was extra sweet because she rarely spoke to anyone, much less me—and then we’d all gone our separate ways. The thought of not going to Sonny’s hadn’t even entered my mind, so I drove straight there, showered again, forced myself to eat two-day-old leftovers, double-checked to make sure all the locks were secure, and went to bed. The bed where I tossed and turned for more than an hour before I somehow managed to fall asleep, pushing away that little voice that warned me here was someone else that I cared about that I could lose.
And now, I was quickly losing that sweet reprieve from reality.
“Honey, wake up,” someone whispered in the dark.
Someone?
Shit!
I knifed up in bed, my heart jack-hammering against its house of bones. I blinked away sleep, expecting to see one of the bikers, or I don’t know, a serial killer sitting on the bed next to me with his hands on my arm, thumbs making lazy circles on my skin.
“What the—!” I panted, blinking in the dark to see that strikingly familiar facial structure inches away.
“Chill, Ritz,” Dex murmured gently, thumbs still circling.
My hand flew up to press against the skin over my heart, willing it to slow down. “Jesus, you scared me,” I panted.
In true, normal Dex fashion he didn’t smile in amusement or apologize. "What are you doin' here?"
"Sleeping?"
He sighed. "Blake didn't get my text?"
What was he talking about? I shook my head.
“Get up,” he ordered. “You need to go talk to your bro before we get outta here.”
I blinked again slowly as his words settled in. Talk to my bro? "Sonny's here?" My voice hitched up.
Dex nodded. "He's packin' some shit up. Pack a bag so you don't have to come back here for a while, then go talk to him."
Confusion swamped me in a million different ways. Where was Sonny going? Where the hell was I going? But mainly, I was wondering what was going on, period. There was too much secrecytomake me feel good.
Like a good girl, I tried to focus on what to pack so I couldfigure things outas soon as possible. Luckily, I had enough good sense before falling asleep to keep a pair of sleep shorts on because I usually slept in just my underwear and a bra. Dex flicked the lamp on while I grabbed a bunch of random clothes from the dresser.
“Where was he?” I asked him while stuffing my duffel with what I’d absently picked. I couldn’t even look at Dex as I asked him the question, it made me too nervous. I'd ask ifSonnywas fine but he wouldn't be home packing if he wasn't.
“County hospital.”
My spine snapped up to standing, the muscles along my back tensing. "What?" I'm pretty positive I screeched out the words.
"The county hospital, babe. Some lady found him by the park unconscious this mornin' and called in an ambulance for him," he explained.
Without even thinking about it, my legs became unglued and started leading me around the bed to skip the whole packing thing and find Sonny instead. But Dex held up his arm, blocking me from going around him. "Calm down, Ritz. He just had a little concussion, a few bruises. He'sall right," he said softly. "Finish packin'."
What the ef constituted a little concussion?
I was going to be sick. Breathing in and out of my nose a few times, I looked up at Dex's eyes to see if I could catch a hint as to whether he was being honest with me or not. Those fathomless dark blue eyes were intent and clear in a challenge of the wills, like he could tell I was trying to catch him in a lie.
