Pepper reached out and squeezed my hand. “Yeah, you should have. But lucky for us, you get to tell her now.”

  I nodded. “We fought this morning. Or rather, she questioned me about a text that Calista had sent, and I didn’t handle it right. I should have told her the truth. Trusted her with it. I’m just not used to sharing things. I’d never had to before. And Calista went and said something to her. Upset her.” I closed my eyes. “Fuck, Pep. She was hurt. Because of me.”

  Pepper squeezed my hand again. “Then, you fix it. Dolly will listen. She’s the most forgiving person on the planet. She also loves you. I didn’t need her to tell me that either. The way you two look at each other is a like a damn billboard. The obnoxious light-up kind that you can see miles away.”

  A smile tugged at my mouth for the first time all day. Well, except when Dolly had woken up this morning and cried out when I ran my tongue between her pussy lips. That memory had my grin spreading. Her surprised little expression before she moaned my name had been perfect.

  Tex walked up to us and put his hand on my shoulder. “Your girl is gonna be fine. And Liam called. They have Canyon, but Calista is gone. She dumped her phone and purse outside of the city limits. Headed north on 95, it looks like. Canyon will talk, and they’ll know how to find her soon. Keets also called Liam. He wasn’t aware of Canyon’s actions. He’s taking his patch for it and asked that the Crowns not be held accountable for Canyon. That he acted alone.”

  Wolf Keets was the president of the Crowns MC. He didn’t seem like the kind that would be clueless as to what his VP had been doing, but this was Liam’s call. I had to focus on Tink. Getting her better. Other than killing Canyon, I didn’t want to deal with the rest of it right now.

  I just nodded. “Fine. Whatever the board thinks. I just want Canyon.”

  “Yeah, he knows.”

  I didn’t want to be away from the waiting room, but Liam had called twice, so I’d stepped outside the hospital to see what he wanted. Besides, I needed a minute away from Mrs. Dixon and her disapproving scowls. The woman was never going to like me.

  “Canyon started talking as soon as he found out Dolly was hurt. Not sure everything he’s saying is true, but he’s being cooperative. How’s Dolly?” Liam said when he answered my call.

  “Still waiting on them to tell us we can see her, but she’s going to be okay.” I wasn’t going to be okay until I saw her, talked to her, told her all the shit I should have this morning.

  “Canyon said Calista came to him. She wanted Dolly out of the picture, and she did some digging and found out about them and told him if he’d help her get Dolly away from you, she’d handle you herself. Canyon said he told her he didn’t want to get messed up with The Judgment anymore. Seems he did fuck her a few times, and she stayed over at the Crowns of her own choice. Not his. And when Canyon found out about Dolly being hit by the car, he lost it. Went to shouting that he was gonna slice Calista’s throat open and watch the bitch bleed himself. Either the man missed his calling in the theater, or he’s got it bad for Dolly. I don’t think he had anything to do with what happened at the library. The kid who hit her had no connection. He was looking down at his phone, and when he looked up, it was too late. At least, that’s his story. We haven’t questioned him. I think the only thing Canyon is guilty of is fucking Calista and being in love with Dolly.”

  My hand fisted at my side, and I fought the urge to find a cigarette. The fucker wasn’t getting near Dolly. She was mine.

  “You against me killing him for thinking he loves what’s mine?” I asked.

  Liam chuckled. “Go take care of Dolly. Forget about Canyon. He’s not a threat. When we find Calista, we will let you know.”

  “She pays for this. Someone has to,” I told him.

  “I know,” Liam replied before ending the call.

  35

  Dolly

  I blinked against the bright light several times, then closed my eyes again.

  “Dolly? Honey, it’s Momma. I’m here.”

  I heard my mother’s familiar voice and then felt her smooth, cold palm cover my hand.

  “Is it too bright? Here, I’ll turn off the lights,” she said, and her touch was gone. “There,” she said. “That should be better.”

  I opened my eyes again and stared up at her, hovering over me.

  “Thank you, Jesus,” she breathed, grabbing my hand in hers. “You scared me good.”

  I tried to talk, but my throat felt too dry.

  “Are you in pain? I can call the nurse.”

  I raised my hand to touch my throat. “Water,” I whispered.

  “Right! Let me go get a nurse. Don’t try and move. They closed up your chest after they took the tube out, and your leg is in a cast.”

  The horn, the impact of the car, and…Tex’s voice. I remembered seeing his face. He had begged me to stay with him. That Micah needed me. I winced at the thought. Micah. Closing my eyes again, I wished I hadn’t woken up. The darkness that had pulled me under had been pain-free. Not just the physical, but the emotional too.

  “The nurse is coming, honey,” Momma assured me. “You did real well in your surgeries. You’re gonna be right as rain again before we know it. The church is getting meals lined up for us, and Mary Margaret and Sue Ellen are already at the house, getting your bedroom fixed up. The prayer chain has been hard at work. Everyone is praying. You’re gonna be just peachy keen.” She patted my arm.

  She had just described hell to me. Funny how all the church folks’ good work was a level of hell I did not wish to visit. But then, did I have another choice? I didn’t know all my injuries, but from the way I felt, it wasn’t good. She had said my leg was messed up, and it didn’t feel like I was going to be getting up to walk anytime soon.

  “Pep,” I choked out.

  I needed Pepper. She’d save me from going back to Momma’s. I didn’t want to burden her, but she could help me come up with a better option.

  “Oh, she’s in the waiting room. Has been since even before I got here. They said only one at a time could be back here for now. You want me to send her back?”

  I nodded.

  “And the nurse is here. She can get you comfortable. Pepper will be here in just a sec,” she assured me, then thankfully left the room.

  A lady with short auburn hair and bright green glasses stepped up to the bed. “I’m going to sit you up enough to drink some water, but I need you to sip it slow through the straw. I got you a cup of ice, too, that I’m going to leave beside your bed. You can let that melt in your mouth, and it’ll ease the raw throat from where the breathing tube was. How is your pain level on a scale of one to ten—one being barely nothing to ten being excruciating?”

  “Six,” I replied barely above a whisper.

  “I’ll add some morphine to the IV and see if we can get it down to a four at least. Sip slow,” she said as she placed the straw between my lips.

  “Dolly,” Pepper said, and I finished taking my sip to look over the cup at her.

  I smiled at her, thankful that she was here. If I’d only had my momma here for this, I might have forced myself to slip into a coma just to escape. Pepper would help buffer Momma and all her good intentions.

  The nurse moved back, and Pepper rushed to my side and grabbed my hand in both of hers.

  “You scared the shit out of me. I’ve never been so terrified in my life,” she said, reaching up and brushing some hair off my forehead. “You’re not allowed to cross a street alone again. Do you understand me?”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, feeling guilty for what I must have put her through. I couldn’t imagine how I would feel if the situation had been reversed.

  “Don’t apologize. You can make it up to me later. I can’t stay in here long. Micah is about to rip the entire hospital apart with his bare hands if he doesn’t get in here to you. He’s already threatened the lives of two nurses and a doctor.”

  My eyes widened. “Micah?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you know, the asshole brother of mine who can’t stay away from you? Remember him?”

  The memory of Calista and what all she had said before I was hit replayed in my head.

  “I don’t want to see him,” I said. “I can’t, Pep.”

  She sighed heavily and tilted her head to the side. Understanding in her eyes was clear, but I knew her well enough to know that she was about to try and talk me into seeing him.

  “Dolly, he needs to explain some things. He’s been real messed up about this. I’ve never seen him this pitiful. Not even when our dad died. Just listen to him, okay? Trust me?”

  “I just can’t,” I croaked. “He feels guilty, and I can’t listen to him. See him. I need time.”

  Pepper leaned down closer to me. “Yes. He is blaming himself, but that is not what he wants to say. I swear, you need to just listen to him.”

  “No.” I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t in the right state of mind. Healing from one thing at a time was all I could handle.

  “Dolly—”

  “No!” I said firmly. “No!”

  Pepper finally nodded. “Okay. Calm down. I’ll talk to him. Maybe he won’t destroy the waiting room and kill any employees who stand in his way.”

  I already knew he wasn’t going to fight that hard to get back here to me. He would probably be thankful for the reprieve. It would give him more time before he told me he was still in love with Calista. That he cared about me, but we were over.

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I said.

  Pepper didn’t look convinced. “Do you want me to send your momma back? I’d come back, but someone is going to have to control Micah. I’m the only one he might not punch.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Momma can come back, but don’t leave me with her long. Please. She’s trying to take me to her house when I’m let out.”

  Pepper raised her eyebrows. “Oh, I can promise you right now, that won’t happen.”

  I wanted to reach out and hug her. “Thank you.”

  She smiled. “Not me you need to thank, but nevertheless, I’ll go deal with the beast outside and send your momma back. If I can. I’m not making any promises. But I will do my damn best.” She turned and left the room without explaining herself.

  I tried to reach the cup of ice, but moving hurt too much. Taking deep breaths was painful as well. In fact, just about everything was throbbing or aching in some way.

  Loud voices caught my attention outside the door, and I listened, but it was muffled. There was some shouting, and the door swung open. Micah entered the room, looking…rough. His eyes were wild, his hair looked like he’d run his fingers through it and pulled it in different directions, and he was breathing hard.

  “I tried!” Pepper called out as Micah closed the door, not taking his eyes off me.

  He took long, determined strides toward me. When he reached me, he grabbed the edge of the bed, and his head fell forward as he let out a weary sigh.

  “Fucking hell, Tink. You took years off my life, baby.” His hand slid under mine, and he held it. “There aren’t words to tell you how sorry I am.”

  “Don’t,” I said, wincing from an agony worse than the injuries to my body. “I can’t. I know. You’re forgiven. Just go, Micah. Please.”

  His blue eyes searched my face, and I realized they were bloodshot.

  “No. I’m not going anywhere. There’s a real good chance I’ll never leave your side again. I can’t go through something like this again.”

  I stared up at him, not real sure what he was saying. Guilt was one thing, but this seemed like more.

  “Calista came to see me,” I told him.

  He nodded, and a darkness settled over his expression. “I know. She’ll pay for it too. I won’t rest until she suffers a hell worse than what she did to you and what I was put through today.”

  His hand tightened over mine, and he pulled the chair my mother had been sitting in up as close as it would get to the bed, then sat in it so he was eye level with me.

  “She loves you,” I told him.

  If he was going to force me to do this now, then I needed to rip myself wide open and get it done.

  “No, Tink. She loves herself. She always has. But even if she did love me, it wouldn’t mean shit.” He leaned forward, his eyes locked on mine. “Because I’m so goddamn in love with you that I can’t see anyone else. I just see you. Everywhere I go, you’re all I think about. When shit gets bad, I want you because I know that when I see you, my world will be set right again. You’re my own little sunshine that I don’t deserve and I sure as shit never expected. But from the moment you looked at me across that bar with those gorgeous eyes, I wanted you. I just didn’t know then that I’d come to need you. You’re mine, Tink, but I’m yours. I can’t be anyone else’s. You own me.”

  He reached over and brushed a tear from my cheek with his thumb. “Now, tell me you love me. I need to hear it. Today has threatened to take my damn soul. Love me, Tink.”

  I sniffled. “I do.”

  A small smile tugged at his lips. “I need to hear the words, baby. Give me that. Please.”

  I turned my hand over in his and squeezed it back. “I love you, Micah Abe.”

  36

  Dolly

  “Your momma hates me,” Micah said, walking into his room at the club, carrying a tray of food.

  I sat up in bed and tried to hide my wince from the pain. I’d told him I didn’t need to take my pain medicine this morning. I hated the way it made me groggy.

  “She’ll grow to love you,” I replied. “Did she call again?”

  He nodded, setting the tray down. I could see Nina’s homemade bread and Goldie’s cheese grits, along with several other things. “She isn’t a fan of you being here. I think her exact words were, ‘You’re keeping her in the devil’s lair, and the Lord can’t heal her darkened soul if you don’t free her from the sinfulness in those walls.’ ”

  A laugh bubbled out of me as he got the lap tray and set it over my legs.

  He grinned. “You think that’s funny, huh?”

  I nodded. “Sorry. I wish Pepper hadn’t given her your number.”

  He pressed a kiss to my mouth, then stood up. “I’ll get her back.”

  I had no doubt he would. “Well, if you could, don’t do it today. She said she was bringing me some more of my things.”

  Micah put a plate of food on the lap tray. “What do you need? I thought you had everything?”

  I looked down at his T-shirt I was wearing. “My nightgowns and panties, for starters.”

  “What’s wrong with my shirts? And why do you need panties?”

  I smiled up at him. “I just want to feel like me, and I need panties because…well, I just do.”

  He sat down on the side of the bed and slid his hand under the covers to caress my good leg. “You can’t feel like you in my shirts?”

  I shrugged.

  “If you have on panties, it makes it harder to do this,” he said, slipping his hand between my thighs. “I like having the easy access to my pussy when I want it.”

  Inhaling sharply, I laid my head back against the headboard.

  “See, you like it too,” he pointed out, pulling my leg open, then thrusting his finger inside of me.

  I grabbed at his arm and moaned.

  “You want me to move this food and put my face down there? Make you feel even better?” He leaned in and nipped at my earlobe. “I like you here, in my bed, wearing my clothes, with this sweet little cunt bare for me.”

  Trembling, I grabbed at the sheet with my other hand and lifted my hips, which hurt my chest and leg, causing me to cry out.

  Micah stopped. “You’re hurting.”

  “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have moved that way.”

  His hand was gone from between my legs immediately, and I watched as he stood up, sticking his finger in his mouth and sucking it as he walked over to my meds sitting on his dresser.

  “Fuck, you taste good,” he said, then picked up the pain pills before turning back to me, still licking the finger he’d had inside of me like a lollipop. “Now, be a good girl for me and take your medicine. If you do, I’ll lick your pussy until you beg me to stop.”

  “You drive a hard bargain,” I replied. “But if I wanted your mouth between my legs, all I’d have to do is ask real nice.”

  He smirked. “You think so?”

  I nodded. “Yep.”

  He chuckled and narrowed his eyes at me. “Fine. That’s true, but don’t use your power against me. Take the pain meds, Tink. I can’t stand the thought of you hurting.” The pleading look in his eyes was the only reason I was going to give in.

  “I’ll take them, but they make me sleepy. I don’t want to sleep.”

  “What if I get in bed and hold you while you sleep?”

  I sighed. “You have things to do.”

  He shook his head. “Nothing more important than you.”

  “Micah.”

  “Tink.”

  We stared at each other for a moment, and then he winked.

  “Come on and play nice. Take the meds. Eat your lunch, and then I’ll eat your pussy. After, we can snuggle.”

  “Well, when you put it that way,” I replied.

  “That’s my girl.”

  Yes, I was in fact his girl. Completely.

  And Micah Abe was also mine.

  Acknowledgments

  Another year. Another insane publishing schedule. Without these people it wouldn’t be possible.

  Britt is always the first I mention because without him, I wouldn’t get any sleep, and I doubt I could finish a book.

  Emerson, for dealing with the fact that I must write some days and she can’t have my full attention. I’ll admit, there were several times she did not understand, and I might have told my seven-year-old “You’re not making it in my acknowledgments this time!” to which she did not care. Although she does believe she is famous after attending some signings with me. But that is not my fault. I blame the readers ;)