She looks fragile.
Wrong.
Her face is bruised, one eye swollen, a line of stitches running along her hairline. Her left arm is in a cast, resting on a pillow. Bandages wrap around her ribs, visible through the thin fabric of the hospital gown. Monitors beep steadily, tracking her heartbeat, her breathing, her oxygen levels.
My throat closes. I have to grip the doorframe to keep myself upright.
This is my fault.
I suck in air, forcing myself to breathe.
Alive. She’s alive. Focus on that.
I pull a chair close to the bed and sink into it, my hands shaking as I reach for her. I take her hand—the uninjured one—and cradle it between both of mine.
Her fingers are cold. Limp. Nothing like the warm, animated hands that gesture when she argues a point, that grip a pen like a weapon, that reached for me before I ruined everything.
“Josie.” My voice comes out rough, barely recognizable. “I’m here.”
No response. Just the beep of the monitors and the soft hiss of oxygen.
I bring her hand to my lips and press a kiss to her bruised knuckles. My breath hitches, and I don’t bother trying to hide it. There’s no one here to see.
Fuck. This happened on my watch.
“I’m here,” I say quietly. “Can you hear me?”
She doesn’t move.
The room is quiet. It’s a shared room, with two beds but the other is vacant.
I sit here for a while, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest as I consider what’s occurred.
The hot rage that’s been burning inside me flares.
If this was Summit—if someone deliberately put her in this bed—there won’t be enough left of when I’m done with them to bury.
I make the calls from her bedside, one hand still wrapped around hers.
First, the prospect situation. I can’t leave the kid hanging in a cell all night, but I’m not leaving Josie either. I scroll through my contacts until I find the number I need.
Brick’s a member of the Ridgeline Chapter, about forty minutes east. He’s Ginger’s baby brother—fifteen years younger and twice as stubborn. When the club expanded and needed someone to lead the new chapter, he was the obvious choice. Young, hungry, and sharp as a tack. The fact that he’s practically family through Hawk and Ginger doesn’t hurt either.
Stone
Got a prospect in lockup at Ole Killa. Aggravated assault, self-defense situation. Need someone to get him a decent lawyer and sit with him until morning. Can you handle it? I got another situation otherwise I’d be there.
His reply comes fast, even at this hour.
Brick
Consider it done. Everything okay on your end?
I glance through the open door at Josie, still and pale in her hospital bed.
Stone
No. But it will be.
