Drew looked down, wincing at the pain from his bloodied bandage. “I’m sorry.” Noah let go of Theo, and he took Drew’s face into his hands before kissing him hard. I’d never seen this part of them. I’d seen them with Annika, but I’d never seen the love and devotion they had for each other.
“We can’t lose you, baby. You are one third of my heart.”
Annika hiccupped, looking at her men. When Drew tried to step closer, she diverted her face back to me, which was odd. His face dropped, but he backed away, accepting her denial of consent to be touched by him.
“Let’s go take a shower,mariposa,” Theo said as he rubbed Annika’s shoulder. She nodded, lifting her arms so he couldcarry her. Noah followed behind them, leaving me and Drew alone.
“Let me help patch you up. and you can tell me what the hell you did that got you hurt and made my best friend cry.”
Thirty minutes later, Drew was patched up and spilling his guts about everything he’s been doing. I had to confess that Hunter told me what happened to them during their childhood and her assault before he would say anything. Once he knew he was safe, he broke. I had never experienced seeing a man break like that before, not even when he stumbled in here that one time. This time, it was different. Intense and gut wrenching.
The church knew what he was doing, and by the sounds of it, they knew who he was. So if they knew who he was, would they know who Hunter was and come for her?
I’d never been that great at comforting people. I didn’t know how the hell I thought I could be a nurse and work in a field that dealt with death and life-altering diagnosis. It would have been a horrible combination, but the little bit of medical knowledge that I had helped in the long run.
Annika and the other two came out of the shower, and she made a beeline for her third hunk. I moved out of the way so she could wrap her arms around his huge frame. If I didn’t bear witness to it, I’d never believe that she was fucking all three of them with how small she was, but God and everyone saw them just like I did.
“Don’t ever come back here bleeding again.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs curled around his waist. “I never want to lose you, Drew. I want you to stop. Please. Hunter would want you to stop, too. She can’t lose her brother, and I can’t lose one of the men I love.”
“I know, I’m sorry, my aphrodite.”
I felt like I was imposing on a moment between them, and knowing them, they were minutes away from ripping fabric and having makeup sex on the couch. “Do I need to leave?”
“No. I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here.” Shadows danced in Annika’s eyes as she smiled weakly at me. “I’m glad you showed up, though.”
“Blaize stayed over at the clubhouse doing Reaper business, and she had to go to Bellevue in the morning. I didn’t want to be home alone. So movie night and then shopping tomorrow?”
“Sounds like my cup of tea.”
CHAPTER 38
BLAIZE
The next morning, I informed Damon I would be coming to his territory. It was a common courtesy even if I was in charge of all of them. Damon had been in charge of this territory for a little over ten years now. He had just taken over for his father a few months prior to my arrival in West Haven. He never dealt with Elijah or cooperated in his business dealings. He paid his dues and minded his own territory. Elijah’s reign was tighter here, but he had power beyond.
Kadence messaged me, telling me she loved me and how she was excited to see me tonight. I made someone very happy in a past life for her to still want me after everything I’d done to her, but fuck, was I grateful. I needed to stop letting this life take control of my future. If I wanted to make Kadence happy, I needed to show her how much I appreciated her.
This relationship stuff was more difficult than I remembered, but with me and Olivia, we went headfirst before knowing anything about each other. Eventually, I knew everything, but we also got married two months in. With Kadence, I wanted to date, to learn what made her tick, her fears and aspirations. Fuck, I was asking a lot when I couldn’t communicate my feelings. Hunter was ready to wring my neck because of it, too.The two of them had a trauma dump after the funeral, and now Kadence knew everything there was to know about Hunter and Drew.
Damon met me outside the pub and gave me a stern nod. He held the door open, and instantly, eyes found me as I walked in. My name was something people feared, but no one really knew the face of Blaize Matthews. Everyone expected Blaize to be a six-five, burly biker covered in dark tattoos with blood on his hands. Not a 5’9 woman dressed in leather with long, dark hair with an undercut. I had tattoos and blood on my hands, but a woman was never what someone expected when they heard the shit I’ve done.
I chose the name Blaize because when I met Olivia, I burned her mother’s house to the ground for what she allowed that man to do to her daughter. The fire was fierce, a rampage of red and orange reflecting into the night sky, and that’s what I wanted people to think about when they saw me. Bethany Matthews sounded like a Sunday school teacher. Olivia was the only person who knew my name, but Bethany Matthews doesn’t exist. She never did.
“Hey, boss,” a stout man behind the bar called out, looking at Damon.
“Roger's been a bartender here for years. If anyone knows things about Eli, he will.”
I nodded, walking up to the bar. The man was short with a beer belly and a badly receding hairline. He looked at me with a neutral face as his hand cleaned a glass. “Whatcha looking for?”
“Elijah West. He used to hang around here?”
“Ole Eli sat in that corner booth with a hot little redhead, Ava. Thought it was his ole lady, but they never touched, only talked.”
“Has she been here since he died?”
“She came in here recently, yeah. I didn’t think it was her, because she had on an awful blue wig.” I reached into my bag, pulling out the folder Damon gave me. The one photo I knew was Kadence, but I laid out the other handful of photos for him to see. “That girl is a cutie, but she’s not Ava. Ava’s a bitch, looks like one, too.”
“All she gave you was Ava?”
