Force: Blacktop Sinners MC (25 page)

Chapter Forty

Derek woke up coughing loudly and feeling his head spinning. “Did anyone get the number of that truck?”

Familiar hazel eyes---more gold than green---sparkled back at him. He was beyond relieved to see Nurse Tess at his side. She was in rumpled blue scrubs, her make-up was mussed from crying, and her hair seemed oily from not having washed it in days. It was the most beautiful he’d ever seen her. God, Derek was turning into a softer man than he’d like. Well, maybe not exactly that, but he had definitely let his heart be claimed by one Tess Everhart, and he couldn’t regret that. She was brave and loyal and smart, a million things that he’d never thought he’d have in a woman. He didn’t regret leaving The Black Top Sinners, not if that was the only way to keep her. He’d never regret that.

He reached out his hand and was relieved when she squeezed it. She smiled back at him as he spoke. “After I got shot, I think I kind of blacked out. I was terrified that he’d do the same to you. I…how am I?”

She snickered and pulled up his gown just enough for him to see the gauze and the bandages over his abdomen. “You had a fairly serious gunshot wound there. It missed major organs, but you got an infection and we had to induce a coma for two weeks while the antibiotics worked through you. We just took you off the meds and removed the tube. Your infection looks great, though, and you’ll pull through.” She giggled, and it was the most amazing sound he’d ever heard, like wind chimes on a windy spring day, and far more beautiful to hear. She sat up straighter and pushed her blonde hair back over her shoulders. “As a nurse, between your broken toes and sore ribs and the gunshot wound and various scars, I have to recommend you take some serious bed rest.”

He smirked back at her. “As long as the bed rest includes you naked, darling.”

She nodded and kissed him. “I think we can arrange that, although, as much as I hate to say it, for at least a week, you really should avoid getting your heart rate up.”

“So I’m reduced to being a civilian with nothing but cuddling for a week. Darling, the things you do to me, I swear.”

She nodded. “Well, I like to think that I’m worth it.”

He enjoyed letting her kiss him once more, her tongue playing artfully with his own. “I know you are. So what did happen to Ron?”

She burst into tears, and he opened up his arms as best he could, despite the PICC line and various IVs leading into his arms. She curled up carefully next to him. “You’re going to hate me.”

He snorted. “I know there’s nothing you can do that would make me think that, not ever.”

“I stabbed him. After he shot you, he was aiming to do it again, and he…God, Derek!”

She broke into deeper sobs, and he held her closer, rubbing wide circles over her back with the flat of his palm. Pain lanced through him, white hot and biting into his heart. Ron had been his family, his brother, and then he’d shot right through him. It would sting, thinking of his death, but it still stung more to remember his betrayal, his anger. How had he not noticed how upset Ron was? There was a time when he knew Ron’s every emotion before the expressions even crossed the other man’s face.

“It’s okay, shh. It’s going to be okay, I promise,” he said.

“How? I’m a killer.”

“Sometimes killing isn’t out of cruelty. Sometimes you’re trying to protect your own, and it’s not good but it’s natural. If it’s like law of the jungle, kill or be killed, then that’s something people can understand. It doesn’t make you a serial killer.”

“But I
wanted
him dead. There might have been another way. There might have been a way to injure him,” she said, curling up into him more deeply. “I just don’t understand. It was like I was a different person, a colder and harder person. But he’s the one who cut Jason off too.”

“He what?”

“It was years ago, but I guess he just liked causing mayhem,” she said, her voice low and broken. “I did this in part not because he was going to hurt you, but a lot because I wanted revenge. How bad does that make me?”

“Not that bad, I promise,” he said. “You loved Jason, and he hurt him and hurt me, and he would have turned the gun on you. Trust me. He didn’t get to be an enforcer for no reason at all. I…do you have my things?”

She nodded and picked up a small paper bag on the side. It was by a balloon bouquet. That surprised him. It wasn’t the Sinners’ style, to say the least, to do things like that. Frowning as she handed him the bag, he looked up at Tess. “Was that from Spike or Trixie?”

She laughed and wiped at the tears in her eyes. “No, that was from Lizzy. After she dropped off this paper bag with something she said you’d want badly today, she and Ricardo both went Dutch on the biggest bouquet they could find. I thought it was so weird myself, but it’s a nice gesture.”

“I think the big one shaped like a bright pink bow is a nice touch.”

“They said they got the biggest, not necessarily the most manly. Why?”

“It was just unexpected. I never had friends who sent me things like that before. Hell, I thought Lizzy and Ricardo hated me.”

“I don’t think that they do. Hell, Lizzy has been so excited lately. She wants to know when you wake up, and I should probably buzz her right now.”

“No, Tess, wait,” he said, digging out the velvet box from the bag.

Her gorgeous hazel eyes went wide, and he hoped to God that even with their whirlwind week, she’d take him seriously and wouldn’t reject him. “What?”

He popped open the box to reveal the plain platinum solitaire, cut in a pear shape before her. “I would get down on one knee, darling, but I’m basically a mess right now.”

She laughed, her eyes shiny with tears. “As part of your medical team, I really think you shouldn’t.”

Derek nodded, and when he spoke, he spoke with a certainty he’d rarely felt in his life. “Tess, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You trusted me even when logic said you shouldn’t have. You saved my life, even though it was such a risk to your own. Hell, the worst of the Death’s Head Sinners had you at their mercy, and you still took me back even after Trent and his minion were so rough. Even if it’s been a hell of a month for you, I don’t think we can be tested more than we already have. Would you marry me? It doesn’t have to be now, but it can be a couple years. I just need you to know that I’m serious, and there’s nothing else I can do that I think would get that impression across to you more.”

She nodded but hesitated. “I still killed Ron. Maybe I’m the one not good enough for you. Maybe you could do better and should go back to the Sinners.”

“Or,” he said, his voice honest and generous. “You’re a hell of a brave woman, and I want you with me, now or twenty years from now. I love you.”

She nodded and held out her hand. He slipped the ring on easily as if the metal had been made for her; maybe it had in some way. “Yes, then, Derek Allanson, I’ll marry you. Although, you have one thing left to do.”

“What’s that?”

She laughed. “It’s time for your neurological exam all over again. So, who’s president…”

THE END

A little ink goes a long way, but Robin Latrell is about to meet a tattoo artist with multiple skills...

Rick Slade enjoys his side gig as a tattoo artist, especially when Robin strolls in for some ink and asks Rick where she should put it. 
Broad shoulders stretched back and tattooed arms crossed behind his head, Rick is relaxing in his chair when Robin walks in. One gaze from the handsome tattoo artist and she is instantly flustered. 
Having a hard outer shell keeps people at bay, and Robin knows how to keep her guard up. But with the way Rick is eyeing her, Robin soon finds herself off balance and ready to give him a chance. 

Get this exclusive short for free by clicking the banner above to sign up to my mailing list! I appreciate every single fan I get, and I always send exclusive deals and promotions to everyone that signs up! Thanks for the support!

Evelyn

OTHER BOOKS BY EVELYN GLASS

I knew I couldn’t run from him forever
.
Eight years ago, I thought I left it all behind. I thought I left him behind. Nicholas Stone. A dangerously delicious mix of tattoos, testosterone, and devilish charm. He had nearly ruined my life, my future, if I hadn’t cut him out of my life. 
I hate how I can’t chase him out of my mind. I hate how I can’t forget the way he used to hold me. The way he used to please me. The way he used to make me feel so 
alive
 when I was in his arms. 
And now he’s back in my life. 
And I know this time, he won’t let me go. 
Warning: this is a dark novel that deals with very disturbing topics. Not for the faint of heart readers. Caution is advised.

***

He’d been the last memory I had of Cascade Falls--the last mistake I made. But I’d be a liar to claim that he wasn’t the best damn mistake of my life.
For as long as I could remember, Van Palmer had been the guy I was taught to stay away from. He was a jerk. A cocky, arrogant, womanizing jerk, who spent most of his time cutting classes, skirting the law, and tearing up the road with his Harley.
Yep. A jerk.

A jerk with a killer body, an irresistible face, and a smile that could charm the panties off Mother Theresa.
A jerk whose arms and bed I fell into on my last night in Cascade Falls.
A jerk whose father is about to marry my mom.
A jerk that I can’t ever get out of my life…
... and a jerk that I’m not entirely sure if I want gone.
Full length standalone novel. No cliffhangers. FREE for Kindle Unlimited

***