Page 64 of Stolen Salvation

His friend shook his head. “Nah, but this ain’t the time for my story.”

“Fair enough.”

“Now, why don’t you get washed up and come back inside? Andrea is waiting for you with the others.”

“They’re still here?”

“We’re family, man. Where else would we be?”

“Thanks, Warren.”

A grin spread over his friend’s face. “Come now, man, this ain’t the time to break out the first names.”

“Fine, Hurricane. Let’s go and start my apology tour.”

He didn’t have all the answers or even a plan past the next few minutes, but he knew falling out with the people who’d picked him up and shown him what family was when he was lost wasn’t the answer.

Chapter 22

Bishop hated himself after walking into the room and seeing Duchess looking so broken. Her eyes moved over him, and he opened his arms as she jumped up and rushed into them.

“I’m so sorry, Bish.”

Hugging her tight he stroked her hair. “No, I’m sorry. I was a knob and you didn’t deserve that. Thank you for being with Charlie when she found out.”

Pulling back, he saw her blink away the wetness in her eyes, her strong outer core falling into place.

“It wasn’t just me. Lotus and Snow were there, too. Charlie is the best.”

He took in Snow and Lotus who looked worried sick, their expressions pinched with guilt. “Thank you, all of you. I couldn’t get through this without you guys.”

Reaper and Titan were seated by Jack and Mark Decker, who’d appeared as well as Blake, Waggs, Gunner, Zack, Smithy, Zin, Dane, and Daniel. All of them were in the room, which was unheard of because one of their own had been hurt.

Emotion choked his throat as his eyes came to rest on Andrea who was asleep with her head on Titan’s shoulder. He moved to crouch beside her and Lotus. “She okay?”

“Yes, a few bruises and scrapes but she’ll recover. Physically at least.”

“The baby?” He could hardly get the words out without them clogging his throat as he mentally shut that thought down, not allowing any hope into his heart right now.

“She miscarried a few days ago.”

“Poor kid.”

He stroked her hair and Lotus moved over so he could sit beside his sister-in-law. She didn’t look like Charlie, but they had similar traits in the way they’d flick their heads or laugh.

His head leaning back against the couch, he looked at the ceiling as the murmured voices of his family moved around him. He should ask about the case and the others but he didn’t have anything left in him. Just enough to pray and beg for the life of the woman he loved.

When the door opened he almost sprung from the seat like a jack in the box. “Savannah?” She looked exhausted, as she pulled the skull cap off her head. “How is she?”

“She did extremely well. We managed to remove the bullet from the lateral sulcus and it appears as if minimal damage was done to the brain itself. We won’t know for sure until she wakes up if there’s any impairment or lasting damage of any kind. Her hand won’t be winning any TV commercials but she should regain full use after physical therapy. She has a long road to recovery ahead and because of a slight herniation, she’ll be kept in a medically induced coma to allow healing for a few days. All in all, it’s the best outcome we could hope for so far.”

“The baby?”

“We did a transvaginal scan, and the sac is intact but it’s too early for a heartbeat, so we’ll have to wait but from what we can see, it looks like a normal healthy pregnancy of this gestation.”

“Thank you, Savannah. I don’t know how I can thank you.”

Savannah squeezed his hand. “You don’t have to thank me. This is my job.”