Whistling floated back to us and Toxic’s eyes widened. “No! We’re not whistling that tune right now! Butcher!” He shot me a look that was absolutely a wish that I’d drop dead, then hurried after his friend.
That would keep them busy at least. I could still hear them arguing as they walked away.
“I was supposed to kill someone,” Butcher complained.
“Can you not say that so fucking loud? You’re going to end up in handcuffs, then jail, and I’m going to have to explain to your old lady and our president how that happened.”
I shook my head as Butcher and Toxic disappeared in the direction of their bikes. Looking at Relay, I arched a brow. “That’s exactly what you sound like, you know.”
“Fuck off. It’s your fault I didn’t get to kill Bowers.”
“He was mine to kill,” I replied in a low voice. We didn’t need the damn EMT overhearing us or we’d end up in that jail cell right next to Butcher.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re going to be stuck here giving statements for hours.”
“I know,” I said with a sigh. I slipped him my pistol. Best not to have the murder weapon on me while talking to the cops. “Appreciate you going with Dev. I’m going to call Dr. Natalie. See if I can get her to meet you at the hospital. I want her checking out both Dev and our boy.”
“I’ll text you any updates I get.”
Leaving him, I walked back over to where Devyn was sitting on the back of the ambulance. She started to lift the mask away from her face. “No, leave it,” I told her. I cupped her cheek.“Someone has to stay here and deal with the cops. And you need to go to the hospital.”
She started to shake her head.
“You’re going, Dev. I want you and the baby to get checked out. And your sister is already there.” She probably didn’t realize it, but her entire body was shaking. I hoped to fuck it was just the adrenaline.
The mention of the baby was enough to change her mind, but hearing that her sister was also there had her shoulders sagging. “Is she okay?” she croaked out through the mask.
“She had a pulse and was breathing when I brought her out of the house,” I told her. “She’ll be fine.” Sitting next to her on the tailgate, I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in for a side hug. The shaking was starting to subside. The EMT was still probing at her, so I couldn’t get a proper hug. “You saved my damn life,” I said in a low voice next to her ear.
“You saved mine,” she said, just loudly enough I could hear her through the mask.
“Aren’t we both a couple of damn heroes?” I grinned down at her even though it was eating me up inside that she could have been killed. There was a burn on her left arm and soot everywhere, but she was breathing. She was here with me, talking to me. As long as she and the baby were okay, I was good, too.
As much as I wanted to say fuck it and go with her to the hospital, I knew the cops would blow a gasket. No one needed that right now. And I also knew that Relay would make sure no one even looked at Devyn sideways. The way he was glowering at the EMT was proof that he was going to be hell for anyone who didn’t treat Devyn like a damn princess.
I kissed her on the temple and forced myself to step away. Ignoring the two cops who’d come over and were staring at me, I watched as they loaded my entire world onto an ambulancestretcher and waited for my brother to climb in the back of the vehicle with her. Once they closed the door and the sirens started up, I turned toward the police officers waiting to hear what the hell had happened.
CHAPTER 35
Devyn
The next morning, I found myself looking around the hospital room at my family’s worried expressions. Sighing, I tried to keep a smile on my face. I’d been terrified when they’d brought me in last night. Not for myself, but for my baby and my sister. Thankfully, Dr. Natalie had gotten an ultrasound done almost as soon as they brought me in, plus a bunch of bloodwork. Everything looked good. Well, good for the baby, and no permanent damage to me. Despite all the smoke and some minor burns, we were both okay. Thanks to Bolo.
I’d spoken to him and gotten permission to have this discussion with my family. Ruck and the rest of the club had okay’d it. They knew there was a chance that my family may not keep their secret.
Bolo also knew there was a chance they may not accepthimany longer, or his presence in my or our son’s life. Still, he wasencouraging me to do this so that my family could be protected moving forward.
“I’m so, so sorry about your house,” I told Sophie, my voice catching a little as I had to swallow back a sob. It was still husky from having sucked down so much smoke last night. I was in a hospital room—Dr. Natalie had insisted I stay overnight for monitoring—and my family was surrounding me. Sophie had been discharged about twenty minutes ago, and now they were all waiting with me in my room until I was allowed to leave.
Having them surrounding me made me feel a little safer. Bowers was dead, I’d watched Bolo kill him, but that didn’t mean my body wasn’t still in fight or flight mode. It didn’t mean I wasn’t still jumping at every little sound while I was alone. Thankfully, Bolo had been allowed to stay at the hospital with me, once the police had released him from the crime scene. Which meant I wasn’t alone much.
“Why are you apologizing?” Dad asked, confused.
“It’s only a house,” Sophie said at the same time with a shake of her head. “Bolo saved my life. I can’t thank him enough.” She gave me a determined nod and an encouraging look. None of us had been expecting this. How could we have known that a police detective would set fire to her house and try to kill us? That wasn’t exactly normal. Then again not much about my life was normal anymore. She put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Besides, I hear that you might know a good home builder.” That made me smile.
Thankfully, her house was insured so it wasn’t like she’d lose out on much. Other than all the irreplaceable personal mementos. Still, I guess it really was just stuff when compared to being alive.
Bolo had mentioned that Ruck was securing a place for all of my family to live until they were finished dealing with The Collective. That was another reason they needed to know whatwas going on. They were going to need to go into hiding with me. That was going to be fun to explain. All of this was.
