Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“I’ll be there shortly. I’ll take Dorman’s vehicle and have Arlo come grab it and get rid of it.”
“Sounds good,” Gunner told him before he ended the call. “Baby boy, talk to me. Please. You’re so pale.”
“Don’t feel good,” I muttered. My words were too slurred. I was going to pass out, and I couldn’t stop it any longer. “Everything hurts. I don’t think I can stay awake, Papa.”
“Ace baby—”
My vision went dark, and peace finally settled over me.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gunner
Jax grunted and shifted around in the driver’s seat. Ace lifted his head from my shoulder enough to look at him before tucking his face back into the curve of my neck. He’d been in the hospital for a few hours—just overnight—before Jax and I snuck him out. They’d managed to stop his rectal bleeding, and Rico had stopped by with pain meds for Ace that he took out of his own supply that apparently, he normally sold.
I didn’t care. Didn’t ask questions. As long as it was safe for Ace to take and it kept him out of pain, I’d turn a blind eye.
When I asked Jax if he could be trusted, Jax had told me yes. And honestly, I trusted Jax’s judgment. He wasn’t one to beat around the bush, and he was so damn blunt, I didn’t think he was capable of lying to anyone. He just, quite frankly, didn’t give enough of a fuck to do so.
Ace had been silent since I got him to the hospital. He refused to verbally answer the doctor, and most of the time, he just slept. He hadn’t even bothered saying, “Papa,” when he needed something. He just reached for me. Thankfully, I was good at reading his nonverbal cues, and Jax knew all of his information, so he was able to fill out the remaining hospital paperwork that I couldn’t.
I gently stroked my hand over my boy’s purple hair, and he snuggled deeper into me. He was dissociating hard—had been for hours. I was antsy to get him home so I could properly take care of him. He needed a shower, food, and cuddles. So many fucking cuddles. I’d hold him for days. No matter how long he needed me to.
Jax’s phone rang, and he grabbed it, swiping his thumb across the screen to answer Blakely’s call. “Hey, sweet girl. What’s up?”
“I’m trying to leave to come up to the cabin with you, but Shaw is being a dick and has us all on lockdown. Can you please talk some sense into him? I’m armed. I’ll be in your truck. I’m safe.”
Jax sighed. “I know you are. Let me call and talk some sense into him. Sit tight for a sec, alright?” He ended the call with Blakely, and a moment later, he called Shaw, the ringing of Shaw’s phone as we waited for him to pick up filling the cab of the truck. Ace groaned and reached up to cover his ears. Thankfully, Shaw picked up quickly.
“Jax?” he grunted.
“Let my woman out of the fucking clubhouse, Shaw. I want her with me. She’s under my orders.”
“It’s not fucking safe, Jax, and you know it,” Shaw told him, sounding exasperated. “Stop being a fucking macho man asshole and open your eyes for two fucking seconds. We almost lost Ace, and we all taught him self-defense—”
“Stop,” I snarled, covering Ace’s ears with my hands. He shivered in my hold, his breath falling across my skin as he sighed before sinking deeper into me. “He can hear you.”
Shaw heaved a tired sigh. “You really want to put Blakely at risk?” Shaw asked Jax. “You and Gunner might have wiped out several players, but some of those were big time politicians, attorneys, and members of law enforcement.” He wasn’t wrong. They’d been getting ready to do an auction when Jax and I had burst in with Rico’s men. Rico had a catastrophic clean-up on his hands. Jax and I had gone in with guns blazing, and we hadn’t given a single fuck about the bodies we dropped. Our only goal was finding Ace and getting him the fuck out of there. “There’s going to be blowback from this. A lot of heat. They could target Blakely.”
“If you’re that fucking worried,” Jax snarled, his patience wearing thin, “then bring my woman up here yourself. But I want her with me, and I can’t leave Gunner and Ace alone. Gunner is going to be too preoccupied with Ace to protect either of them properly.”
I tried not to take offense to that. He glanced at me, taking in my scowl, and shrugged his shoulders, unapologetic.
“You expect me to just leave everyone here and—”
“If you’re gonna bitch about what I decide to have my woman do, then yeah. I expect you to bring her to me, brother. I’m not arguing about this any longer. I’m tired. Ace has a concussion and a headache. Conversation’s over.”