Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 124255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
“We’ll get her through it,” Styx signed.
“Yeah? Through what? What was going through that head of hers to make her mutilate herself, or worse still, why the fuck didn’t I see it?”
“None of us saw it,” a quiet voice said. Lifting my head, I saw Mae standing before us, her arms wrapped over her chest. Styx held out his hand and, taking it, Mae allowed Styx to pull her onto his lap. Cheek on his chest, her eyes never left mine. “Lilah was always the one that took the elders’… schoolings best. She was the perfect obedient woman, and she loathed our title, our segregation, loathed being Cursed… I think… I think she no longer wanted to be beautiful… no longer a temptress.”
“Fuck me, Mae. Do those cult fuckers really have that much of a hold on y’all?” I asked, fucking trying to find some explanation in this shittin’ mess. Before Mae rocked up in our yard, bleeding out, I’d never even known cults still existed, never mind how much they could seriously fuck with folks’ heads.
“Yes,” she answered, fighting tears. “It is all we have ever known. It is hard for us to shed the teachings we hold most sacred.”
Styx wrapped his hand in Mae’s black hair and kissed the top of her head. Tipping my head back, I briefly caught the brothers all staring our way, listening to our conversation, before I closed my eyes and just worked on breathing.
Minutes later, a cough sounded, and I snapped my eyes open. A middle-aged male doctor stood awkwardly at the end of the hallway. “You men brought in a woman and a man?”
We all immediately jumped to our feet. I stepped forward. “The bitch, she okay?”
The doctor’s fucking assessing judgmental eyes looked me up and down, and he said, “If you are referring to the young woman who was brought in cut up and bleeding, then yes, she is out of surgery and is in recovery.”
“Take me to her,” I ordered, and the doctor dropped his clipboard.
“Do we have a name for the woman?” he asked, and I swear it took everything I had not to jam that clipboard up his tight ass.
“Lilah,” Mae spoke from behind me. “Her name is Lilah.”
The doctor began scribbling some shit down, and he asked, “Surname?”
Mae frowned. “She does not have one.”
The doctor’s eyes narrowed. “She doesn’t have one?” He laughed without humor and shook his head. “A young woman, bleeding from knife slashes on her arms and face, fresh, what look like, lash wounds littering her back, and a crucifix burned onto her torso, gets rushed in by… a… a notoriously nefarious motorcycle club, and now you’re telling me she has no full name. No legal name, no medical records, no history on our system. And just prior, one of your men is admitted, a bullet wound to his neck, a man so disturbed he had to be sedated, and that man is named Flame. No full name provided for him either.”
When I edged forward, the doctor’s face paled, and I wrenched the clipboard from his hand and launched it against the wall. The doctor stiffened. “Listen up, doc. We’re gonna overlook everything you just said.” I tore his name badge from his white coat and threw it back at Vike.
“Hey!” the doc called, and I got right in his face, his body freezing.
“Shut your fuckin’ mouth and listen up.” The doc gulped, and I said, “Now you’re gonna take care of my brother and my woman with a motherfuckin’ smile on your ugly face, or I’m gonna let my brother, Vike, here run a background check on your family, then show up in the middle of the night and stab them in their fuckin’ hearts. You getting that, asswipe?”
“Y-yes,” he stuttered, and I put my mouth close to his ear.
“The Hangmen run this city, not the cops or feds or any other authority you might think of calling. You might wanna remember that if you try to get in the way of me seeing my woman. Because nothing short of the damn apocalypse is gonna stop me getting in that room to be with my bitch.”
Vike came next to me, twirling the name badge in his hands. “What’s up, doc?” He paused. Then a huge fuckin’ grin spread on his lips. “I’ve been fuckin’ dying to say that.”
I snapped my head to him and clenched my teeth. Vike quickly lost his smile and said, “You gonna do what you’re told, or am I gonna get a chance to play with your wife’s tits?”
The doctor backed up. “No, I’ll comply. Just don’t hurt my wife.”
“Good choice,” I said tightly, then asked, “Where’s Lilah and Flame?”
“Lilah’s in room eight. Flame is in recovery room B. He’ll be transferred to a private room soon.” The doc turned on his heel and almost ran out of sight.
Mae tried to push past Vike and me to get to Li’s room, but Styx held her arm, only letting go to sign, “Babe, let Ky see her first. Let him be with his woman. We’ll go later.”
“No!” Mae snapped. “She is my sister. She will want me… She will need me.”
Dropping my head, I faced Mae and said, “Mae, please. Just let me be with her on my own for a while. I fuckin’ need this. I need her.”
Tears filled Mae’s eyes, huge tired rings underneath. “Okay,” she whispered. “Just let her know I am here for her if she needs me.”
Curtly jerking my chin, I headed down the hallway toward room eight. I could feel eyes watching me as I did—from staff, from visitors, from patients. I ignored the fucking lotta them and found myself outside a private room.
Turning the doorknob, I pushed through, immediately seeing Lilah sleeping on the bed. My chest tightened like I was inside some iron lung. Her short hair was brushed back and white gauze strips covered her body, the biggest one running down her cheek.
Movement from my left caught my eye, and a male nurse wearing scrubs met my stare, freezing in his step.