My lips place kisses wherever I can find her skin, and repeat, “I love you too, Raegan.”
After several minutes her body calms down and she’s caught her breath. I sweep the hair away from her face that gathered there since the nurse removed her head bandages, so that I can get a better look at her.
“It…it…was so scary. I thought…” She’s trembling again, and I know from the beeping monitors that she needs to calm down or else something could happen.
“Take some deep breaths and calm down.”
We both inhale deeply, but because of her stomach she lets out a miserable grunt. She starts to survey her body and gasps each time she finds evidence from the accident.
“Kane! Oh god, Sutton was with me…and Trick too!”
“Sutton is fine. She’ll be here in a couple hours to visit. She only has some bumps and bruises.” I try to leave out Trick because I know she’ll find a way to blame herself.
We’re having Trick’s funeral tomorrow afternoon. He didn’t have any family and so we had him cremated and will bury him in our cemetery with our other fallen brothers.
She’s quiet for a while, and I just stare at her letting everything sink in as her memory comes flashing back. I hold her hand as she gets lost in her thoughts, she need to process everything first and then we can talk.
“Trick didn’t make it, did he?” It’s the first words she speaks after being silent.
I shake my head and know that as hard as I try, she’s going to blame herself. She places her hand over her chest and silently lets tears fall. I hate seeing her like this.
“Babe…”
“It’s all my fault…me…I did this and now Trick is dead.” She covers her face with the hand that’s not in a sling and bows her head.
I know the weight of having someone’s blood on your hands, and it’s a real mind fuck.
“Raegan, Trick was there to protect you and Sutton and he did his job. We all signed up for death when we accepted this cut. We live by the cut and we die by the cut. No Road Back.”
“But if I hadn’t gone to that stupid race, none of this would’ve happened.”
“They would’ve found another time to come after you, babe. The Vipers were looking for any route to come at you. It just happened to be that night. Please, don’t blame yourself. I know Trick wouldn’t want that.”
She gives me a teary grimace but nods. I know it’s going to take a while for her to accept this before she’s able to move on.
There’s a knock on the door and a nurse in black scrubs comes in.
“Oh, you’re awake! Sleeping Beauty has finally awoken.” Raegan gives her a quizzical gaze. “I thought we were going to have to start charging this one over here rent, since he never left your side.”
“What are you talking about?” my woman asks.
“Oh honey, you’ve been out for almost four days.”
“Four days?”
“Mmhmm. Let me buzz your doctor and tell him the good news.” She waltzes out just as quickly as she came.
“Kane, I have to tell you something. I’ve been working on this thing, and I wanted to wait until your club business was done before I said anything, but I think you might have a bitch in the club trying to gather some stuff on you.”
“What are you saying?” I level my eyes at her. What in the world is she about to tell me?
“I’m saying…”
The door opens again and without even looking over to see who it is I yell, “Get the fuck out!”
“The patient comes first, Stone.” Ian fucking Hastings strolls in and interrupts us. He starts shining a light in her eyes and checking her vitals. I swear he’s taking his sweet-ass time just to piss me off. They share some small talk, and he updates her on the procedure that happened and why she’s going to feel achy and uncomfortable for a few weeks.
I’ve just sent a text to Havoc to get Brass and to meet us up here ASAP. When Ian starts to pull the gown down to check Raegan’s wounds, I lose it. The rational part of me knows that he is doing his job and making sure that everything is healing fine. But the irrational side of me, grabs his wrist stopping him as he is about to expose her breast.
