An entire medical team of doctors and nurses was waiting on the roof when they landed. Becks was taken off the helo on the stretcher, and quickly rolled inside. One of the SARs team put a hand on Ghost’s shoulder when he tried to rush after them.
“They’re not going to allow you in,” the man told Ghost gently. His jacket read Badger. Ghost looked to the other two, noting the captain was Ape and the other medic who had ridden in the back of the helo with Ghost, Becks, and Crow was Dingo. “She’s in the best hands she could be, and now comes the hard part where you wait, where you torture yourself with the unknown.”
“Why don’t we take you down and you can clean up?” Crow suggested, indicating Ghost’s hands. “That way you’ll be ready to see her as soon as she’s able.”
He looked down, feeling disgusted when he saw how dirty his hands were. He’d touched Becks with them. Bloody, filthy, and rough. His eyes landed on her wedding ring that was still on his pinky finger. She deserved so much better, hands that were clean and soft. But he didn’t give a fuck what she deserved. He’d killed her attempted rapist and he would kill her kidnappers too. She was stuck with him.
It also occurred to him that there was evidence on him. He had no idea how much of the blood coating his body belonged to the man he’d killed, Becks, or was his own. He supposed cleaning up wouldn’t be the worst thing.
Tessa was going to kill him when she saw the state of his bandages anyway. Ironically, he wasn’t supposed to get them wet.
His entire body felt too heavy as he journeyed with the SARS team down the stairs. They must be familiar with the hospital, because they led him straight to the employee locker room and pointed out the showers to him.
Ghost didn’t know how long he stayed under the hot, steaming water before it all hit him, and he fell hard on his knees. It was too much. The explosion, Ranger and Becks’ kidnapping, the hunt for them, Frankie’s and Monica’s deaths, finding Ranger and learning he’d been kept high for four daysstraight, riding to Tennessee, finding Becks with a man undoing his pants over her… He didn’t know where Ritchie and Cameron were, but he knew the club would take care of them until he was ready to deal with them.
Money. All this was about fuckingmoney. A long con that would have paid off big if Ritchie had married Becks and if Cameron had gotten Ranger to fall for her too. Greed. It was so predictably the cause, but who could have seen all this coming. So much was still unknown, including discovering who had built the bomb.
Ghost hunched over his knees, one hand braced on the tiled floor and the other wrapped around his middle. He didn’t care who saw or what they thought of him. Tears streamed down his face, mixing with the hot water that cascaded over him and taking the evidence of this past week down the drain with it. If only it could take his pain, take away the knowledge that he’d failed to protect his wife. He hadn’t wanted her money, even before he knew how much she’d truly had to her name. But someone else had. Someone else had nearly killed her for it.
Never again.
He didn’t care what it took or how long it took. When Becks was healed, she was getting trained. Victim or survivor, she would never again be at the mercy of another. He would teach her to fight, teach her to predict her surroundings, and know how to defend those around her. He’d always planned on teaching her some things, but nowsomewasn’t enough. He’d get her the sexiest pair of women’s military boots on the market and then teach her everything he knew.
For the first time in a week, Ghost felt like he was able to breathe. He took a gasping breath in, a hum running through his veins and into his soul. He had a plan.
Ghost stood, and reached for the taps to turn off the water. Steam billowed around him like smoke. Dripping, he emergednaked into the locker room to find a stack of towels and a pair of scrubs waiting for him.
He reached for them, and swayed. “Oh, fuck,” spilled from his lips before his eyes rolled back in his head, and Ghost collapsed on the locker room floor.
Becks blinked her eyes open,and frowned at what she saw. “Ma?”
Her mom smiled down at her. “Hey, baby.” She ran her fingers through Becks’ hair. “It’s so good to see you awake.”
Her body felt heavy and warm, like she had a weighted blanket on over a winter jacket. “What happened? Why are you in my bedroom?”
“You’re in the hospital, Becks,” her mom informed her gently. She looked like she was searching for something on Becks’ arm. Then she found the button that Becks knew would summon a nurse. “You’ve been in a medically induced coma for about three days.”
She had? “I have?” No wonder everything felt so off. When was the last time she’d brushed her teeth? Everything felt fuzzy. Even blinking seemed to take energy she didn’t possess. Memories started to flood back to her. “Liam?”
“He’s,” her mom hesitated, “struggling, but he’s doing much better than he was. He’s down in the cafeteria with Libby right now. She flew in days ago and has been a godsend helping me take care of both you and Liam.”
Take care of her? “Where’s Ghost?” He’d been there, hadn’t he? At the end, in the woods? Or had she imagined that?
At her mom’s frown, Becks thought the worst. Had Ghost abandoned her? Every instinct she possessed screamed that hewouldn’t do that to her, but what if he blamed her for Liam’s injuries and the bombing at the bar? She’d brought so much trouble into his life when he’d married her. Was he regretting that decision now?
Her mom eyed Becks’ chest, and Becks found herself slowly looking down her body to find a tuft of red hair staring back at her. It took a long minute for Becks to register what it was she was feeling. It wasn’t a weighted blanket on her—it was her husband!
Ghost was smushed between her and the guardrail on her hospital bed. His head was just below her right breast with his arm draped over her belly. Like her, he was wearing a hospital gown, though she could see a pair of sweats and those stereotypical yellow hospital socks on him too.
Most surprising, though, was that he was sound asleep.
“The day you were brought into the hospital, Ghost collapsed.” Fear hit Becks, and she looked back up at her mom. “He was injured in the explosion. Do you know about the bar?” Becks nodded slowly, her neck feeling stiff. “Ghost had burns, and cracked three ribs. Well, the day they rescued you, one of those cracks fissured, sending a chunk of bone into his right lung and creating a tear. It didn’t fully collapse, but they had to go in surgically to repair the damage and fixed the rib with a metal plate and some screws. He’s going to be just fine,” she added, patting Becks’ left hand. “You, however, are the one we need to keep an eye on.”
Becks’ brain was not up for this conversation. “I don’t understand. Why is he in my bed?”
“Because the stubborn man won’tleaveyour bed,” her mom said, her voice laced with both amusement and frustration. “Trust me, we tried. When he came out of surgery, they put him here in this room with you. He woke up, and immediately crawled into bed with you. They keep kicking him out, and hekeeps coming back. I think the nurses and doctors have finally come to a truce with him. He can stay so long as he’s not in the way of any of your injuries and isn’t impeding your breathing. Man truly does not give a damn about anything except being with you.”
That explained why he was lying so far down her body. She carefully lifted her right hand to touch his hair. It was smooth, freshly showered.
