Page 20 of Canvas’ Muse

Thirty-six hours? I've been out for a day and a half?

"Water," I manage, my throat raw.

Phoenix grabs a cup from the nightstand and holds it while I drink. The water is cool, and I drain half the cup before coming up for air.

"How you feeling?" Phoenix asks, setting the cup aside.

"Like I got shot." I close my eyes against the harsh overhead light. Every muscle in my body aches, my head is pounding, and my mouth tastes like I've been licking batteries. "But alive. That's something."

"Saint said you got lucky. Bullet missed the major arteries. Clean through-and-through." Phoenix pulls up a chair, settling into it with the weight of someone who hasn't slept much either. "Could have been a lot worse."

"Could have hit Eden." The words come out before I can stop them, and Phoenix's expression changes.

"The nurse."

"Yeah. The nurse." I force my eyes open again, scanning the medical room. It's empty except for us. No dark-haired woman with bright blue eyes and an eyebrow piercing. No Eden. "Did she—" I stop, not sure how to ask. Did she leave? Go back to her life? Realize this was insane and get as far away from the MC as possible?

Would I blame her if she did?

"Where is she?" I finally ask.

Phoenix's mouth quirks into something that might be a smile if he allowed himself to show that much emotion. "Upstairs. Finally sleeping. Took her more than twenty-four hours of being awake before she crashed."

"She stayed."

"Barely left your side until we forced her to get some rest." Phoenix leans back in the chair. "Saint said she refused to leave the medical room. Ate here, changed into borrowed clothes and came right back, monitored your vitals like her life depended on it. Ivy finally convinced her to go upstairs around four this morning when you were stable and clearly not waking up anytime soon."

Eden stayed. She didn't run. Even after everything, the shooting, the blood, the reality of what the MC life means, she stayed. I try to keep my face neutral, but Phoenix catches the smile I'm fighting.

"Don't even try to hide it," he says, shaking his head. "I know that look. That's the same stupid look I had when I met Ivy."

"It's not—" I start, then stop because what's the point? Phoenix knows.

He's been here. Three weeks ago, he was exactly where I am now: falling for a woman at the worst possible time in the middle of the worst possible circumstances.

"These are dangerous times," Phoenix says, his voice getting serious. "The Vipers aren't backing down. They're escalating. First Judge, now you. They're hitting us where it hurts, targeting the club's resources, making statements."

"I know."

"But I went for Ivy anyway." Phoenix meets my eyes directly. "Despite the danger, despite the timing, despite knowing it made her a target. Because some things are worth the risk."

Phoenix isn't just my president. He's a brother, my best friend, the man who gave me a family when I had nothing. And he's telling me it's okay. That if I want to go for Eden, to pursue whatever this is that's building between us, he understands.

"As long as she understands the risks," Phoenix continues. "That's the key. Ivy knew what she was walking into. She chose it with open eyes. Eden needs the same information, the same choice."

"She knows it's dangerous. I told her in the car."

"Telling her and making sure she truly understands are different things." Phoenix stands, moving to check the IV bag that's still attached to my arm. "She needs to know what it means to be with someone in the MC during wartime. The threats, the violence, the possibility that you might not come home. All of it."

"I will tell her. When she's ready to hear it."

"Good." Phoenix adjusts something on the IV line. "Now, about the Vipers. I've talked with the others. We're done playing defense."

The shift in his voice makes me focus despite the lingering fog from the medication. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we're going on offense." Phoenix's expression hardens into something dangerous. "They think because they outnumber us, we'll just roll over and take it. They're wrong. We’re going to hit them hard, make them regret every shot they fired at us."

"Phoenix—"