"You don't feel safe at home?" I ask him.
He shakes his head.
"Do you feel safe with Nova?"
He nods at me, then says, "She's the only one I feel safe with. She protects me."
I wrap my arms around him, pulling him to me, then I turn to face Nitro. "Not anymore, buddy. We're going to protect you both. I promise." I don't need my Prez's approval. I already know he'll agree, I know my brothers will agree. "When you're ready, we’re going to need you to tell us what we need to protect you from. I'm going to need you to trust me, Mase. Can you do that?" I ask him.
There is no hesitation from him as he nods. "I trust you, Ice. Thank you."
Chapter Ten
I can hear the faint muffling sounds of voices. They are too quiet for me to work out who they are or what they are saying.
Something feels off. I haven’t opened my eyes, I'm too scared to, but I do know that I'm not in my room. Hell, I don't even think I'm in my house.
The voices grow louder for a few seconds and then quieten down again. I think someone just opened a door. I'm confused, there's shuffling near me, metal clanking, and beeping as though someone is pressing buttons. Someone touches the back of my hand, and I jump, my eyes shoot open, and I try and pull myself away from them, only to cry out in pain.
"It's okay. Just take it easy," a tall, older woman tells me, as she holds out her hands to show me she's non-threatening. "You've got a few injuries there, you don't want to pull any stitches."
"What? Where am I?" I ask, feeling a little confused, but as I look around the room it's clear that I'm in hospital. Suddenly the memories come flooding back to me, the beating, running away, Mason, the car crash. Oh god Mason. I don't know what happened.
My eyes dart around the room. He's not here, nobody is. "Where is he? Where's my brother?" I cry out, my eyes stinging with tears that I'm trying my hardest not to shed.
"Easy, sweetheart, I need you to relax. I need to go get the doctor." As she walks to the door, I throw the covers off me and climb out of bed.
"Miss, stop, you need to stay in bed. Can someone help me?" she shouts through the door as she rushes back over to me, trying her best to keep me on the bed, but I push her away from me and swing my legs off the side.
The door opens as my feet hit the floor, and I go to stand but my legs give out. Before I hit the floor, large, muscled arms grab me, and I look up to see a tall, tattooed guy in scrubs. "You need to get back into bed, Nova," he tells me.
What the fuck? Who is this guy? How does he know my name?
"I'm Doc," he tells me.
"No shit, I can see you're a doctor," I snap at him. "I need to go; I need to find my brother."
"No, my name is Doc. And your brother is here, he's fine. I'll get him for you, but you need to get back into bed." He gives me a reassuring smile as he gently lifts me back onto the bed like I’m made of feathers.
Now that I'm lying down again, I suddenly realise how sore my body is. Every inch of me hurts. Some of it from the crash, but most of it from the beating. I close my eyes as my head begins to pound. "Please can I see my brother?" I ask a little above a whisper, anything louder and I think I might vomit.
"You can, the nurse has gone to get him. Nova, we need to talk about your injuries, how you got them." I open my eyes to find him standing at the side of my bed, watching me. I feel the panic rising inside of me. I can't tell him the truth; nobody can find out.
"Erm, yeah the crash..."
"Did not cause ninety percent of your injuries, please don't pretend that it did." I look away from him, picking a spot on the other side of the room, choosing to stare at that as I talk.
"I remember getting into the car and driving, then not feeling well, but I don't remember anything else. What happened, where is my brother, is he okay?” I plead with him to tell me if Mason is okay.
"You put yourself and your brother in danger, you should have pulled over the minute you started to feel unwell. Fucking hell, you shouldn't have even been driving." I turn toward the door to the angry voice.
One of the men form the diner stands in the doorway of my room, his eyes focussed on mine. He steps into the room and leans against the wall next to the door, folding his arms over his chest. He watches me, not saying anything, and it’s a little intimidating. In fact, having these guys in here is hugely intimidating.
Movement to my left has my eyes slowly moving from the guy near the door to the other newcomer. He's tall, at least six foot, maybe taller. His hair is a light brown, shaved on the sides, but long enough on the top to have tucked into a bun at the back of his head. He has a longer beard that stops just below his chin and large gauges in his ears.
I swallow the huge lump in my throat as I look at his tattooed covered neck and arms. He's gorgeous. But as I look back up to his face, his stormy grey-blue eyes tell me he’s pissed, and at me.
"Where's my brother?" I ask again, the fear in my voice making me sound like a child.
