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The nurse standing next to the doctor tears open a package of gauze and wraps me up again, quickly and efficiently.
“Why not? Looks like someone tried to carve you open.”
I wait until the doctor and the nurse leave before I reply. “Someone tried to kill me, that’s what it looks like.”
“Because of the fighting in the club?”
“You know about the club?” I settle back on the bed. It’s scary how tired I get just from shifting on the bed. The doctor assured me I’ll be fine in no time but it’s unnerving.
“You told Audrey the name of the club and she gave it to me when the cops came looking for you.”
I freeze in the act of shifting onto my side. “Come again?”
“The Bulldog. You told Audrey and she told—”
“You told them? Goddammit, Z-man.” I stretch on my back and close my eyes. “That’s the reason I got sliced up. The cops went looking for me at the club and the owner didn’t appreciate the police sniffing up his doorstep. So when I showed up, he had his men finish me off. I barely escaped.”
Silence greets my words. I glance sideways at Zane. His face is white.
“Jesus Christ, Ash. I’m sorry, I never thought...”
Yeah. Me neither. “You don’t fuck with the mafia,” I say. “Lesson learned. Fighting there... It wasn’t my brightest of ideas, but I’d run out of options.” I need Zane to understand why I did it. “The shelters were full, and I had no money. I couldn’t stay with you forever, and I thought...” I sigh, my head heavy as lead. “I thought it was a solution for now, at least. Until I got my feet under me.”
He nods; rubs a hand over his face. “Now listen to me, bud. I get it, okay? But you’re acting like you have no-one in the world, and that ain’t true. You got me. You got Rafe, and Tessa and Audrey. Even Dylan. That tat I inked on you? The dragon? It means something. It means we stick together, help each other. Don’t you ever run away again, do you hear me?”
Whoa. Zane sounds really pissed this time. Red spots appear on his cheekbones.
“This means,” he continues, “never think I’ll leave you on the streets. You talk to me, we put our heads together, we think of a solution. Together. Got it?”
I nod, my chest tight. Too tight. I just can’t wrap my mind around everything yet. “Dad’s gone,” I say. I never thought I’d mourn him—but he was kind to me when he wasn’t drinking, and he’d been my only real family for so long. “The house’s gone. Job’s gone. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Zane says and sinks in the chair next to me, letting his hands hang between his legs. “We’ll figure something out.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Audrey
It’s now the second night Ash will be spending at the hospital as they decided to keep him one more day for monitoring. They aren’t very pleased with his lingering dizziness and want to keep an eye on his liver, as well, that’s apparently still bleeding a tiny bit.
Enough to make me terrified and restless.
As if that isn’t enough, Zane found me in the hospital cafeteria and dropped the bomb: The reason Ash came close to getting killed by the fight club’s goons is me.
Me! All I ever wanted was to help Ash, protect him, take care of him.
Instead I sent the fight club mafia after him because they thought he betrayed them, and so decided to off him. The fact he survived is a miracle.
Which means I’m the cause of his pain. I never imagined that giving the police the name of the club would result in this.
Stupid, Audrey. Naive. Ash’s world is so much harsher than mine, as if we live on different planets. Where my main concern is my astronomy exam, his is having a roof over his head. Where I get upset with my mom for not trusting me to choose my own friends, his is not to get killed by his crazy drunk father. I can’t even begin to imagine how he’s feeling, what’s going on in his mind.
And now he knows it was me who gave him up, that I’m the reason he was attacked. The thought tears me up inside.
I drink bitter coffee and wait for Zane to come back with news. The nurse asked that not more than two people stay in Ash’s room, and Ash’s brother was there, so I had to leave. I both fear and long to return to Ash’s side. Is he angry with me for telling the police the name of the fight club? Does he blame me?
He should. How could I have been so stupid?
My thoughts are with him every minute of every hour. I want to sit by his side and hold his hand, talk to him. Touch his bruised face. Let him know I’m here for him.
