Road to Passion (20 page)

Mack dragged his hands through
his hair.

“Jax has a point,” Hawk said.

Before Mack could respond, his
phone buzzed in his pocket. It was Train. “She okay?”

“I got them both to the hospital.
Some red-headed nurse took it from there. Fuckin’ hot, man,” Train said.

“That’s Dallas’s wife, dumb
shit,” Mack ground out.

“Fuck, seriously? Damn.”

“How’s Darien?”

“They haven’t come out to tell me
anything yet. Want me to come back?”

“No, I’ll be there soon and then
you can,” Mack said, and hung up. “You’ve got two days. I’m going to the
hospital. Call me if you need me.” Mack walked out of the room, scooped up
Barney, despite the barking, and cradled him as gently as he could while he
headed to his car. His bike had been parked in the front, so he could only
assume it was destroyed, along with the front of the building.

The BMW was intact, so he reached
under the wheel well and grabbed his spare key, setting Barney in the passenger
seat and starting the engine. He tried to take a minute to check Barney for
injuries, but the dog wanted nothing to do with him, so he grabbed his phone,
found the closest emergency vet and took off. He’d sort things out with him
first and then head to the hospital.

I
CAME TO slowly and the lights on the
ceiling whizzed by me. “Where am I?”

“Hold on a second,” a gentle
voice said, and then Macey’s face came into view. “Hi again.”

“I’m in the hospital?”

“Yes,” she said. “We need to get
your injuries checked out.”

“I’m pregnant.”

Macey gave her a surprised smile.
“Okay, honey, I’ll make sure that’s in the chart.”

I nodded and closed my eyes
again, finding the darkness too hard to resist.

I woke to darkness and thankfully
no pain. I blinked, forcing gritty eyes open, and glancing around the room.

“Babe?”

I looked to my right and smiled.
Mack stood from his place in the chair next to the bed and leaned over me. “Hi,
honey. Are you okay?”

He nodded. “Millie took the
majority of the blast. I have a few stitches, but they’re superficial.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s still in surgery.”

“How’s Barney?” I couldn’t stop
the tears as he took my hand. “Is he dead?”

“No, honey. I took him to an
emergency vet. He got a few cuts and bruises as well, so they are getting him
sorted. Pauley’s there with him. Flick must have been holding him because he
was still cradled in his arms.”

“Flick?”

Mack shook his head. “He didn’t
make it.”

“Oh no,” I whispered, and my body
shook as the sobs took over.

“Shhh, baby, I’ve got you,” Mack
whispered as he climbed into the bed with me and pulled me into his arms.

“He died protecting my dog,
Logan. I love him for it, but I’m kind of mad too.”

“I know, honey.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because it was
my
dog,” I
cried.

“You didn’t set off a bomb at the
club, Darien. This is not your fault.”

“Am I okay?”

“Yeah, baby. You had to have a
few stitches and you bumped your head again, but you and the baby are good.”

“Then why am I here?”

“Because I want you here.”

“Shouldn’t you be at the club?” I
pressed.

“I can’t do anything there right
now, so I need to be wherever you are.”

“What do the FBI say?”

“They say fuckin’ nothing,” he
spat out. “But they’ve got thirty-six hours to deal with it, then we take
over.”

I gasped. “They agreed to that?”

“No. But it’s the deal.”

“Don’t, honey.” I slid my arm
over his stomach. “Please don’t do anything that might get yourself hurt. We
need you.”

“I won’t get hurt, Darien.”

“Those people just blew up the
club, Logan.” I looked up at him. “They’re capable of anything.”

His face tightened and he shook
his head.

“Can we go home?” I asked.

“Not yet, baby.”

“When?”

Mack stroked my hair. “Depends on
what Jaxon tells me tomorrow.”

“You don’t think our home is
safe?”

“Not from a fuckin’ bomb, Darien,
no.”

I couldn’t stop the tears from
starting again as I buried my face in his chest. “Why would someone do this?”

“Money and power are enticing,
Darien.”

“Is this the life you’re okay
living?”

Mack shifted so he was
face-to-face with me. “This isn’t a life I’m livin’, Darien, and it’s not a
life
we’ll
live. This is a shit storm created by bad people and made
worse by the actions of Millie. I don’t mean to throw her under the bus, but
this escalated because we were watchin’ out for her. It’ll be dealt with and
then we’ll live our quiet, suburban life. I won’t let you leave me over this.”

I reached up and stroked his
face. “I didn’t say that because I was thinking about leaving you, Logan. I
just figured we might need to make some adjustments.”

He relaxed. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I mimicked,

“I can’t lose you, Darien.”

I kissed him. “You’re not going
to lose us, honey. I love you. A tiny little bomb isn’t going to make me run
away.”

“Baby, don’t joke.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to
joke.” I smiled. “I just want you to realize that I’m in it for the long haul.
I’m wearing—” I gasped and sat up. “Crap! My ring. I took it off before I went
to bed.”

“We’ll find it,” he promised.

“Well, if we don’t find it, it’s
obvious we should just break up.”

“Fuck me, Darien.”

“I’m kidding!” I said, and
stroked his cheek. “I’m sorry, honey.”

He sighed. “I get it. Humor’s
your defense mechanism.”

I gripped his chin and frowned.
“Do you really think I’d leave you over this? Do you really think I’d leave you
for any reason... outside of cheating, of course?”

“I—”

“Scratch that,” I interrupted.
“Because even if you cheated, I still wouldn’t leave you... technically...
because you’d be dead. Not a fiber, not a hair. No one would find any part of
you. Although, I might bronze your—”

“Darien,” he interrupted with a
chuckle.

“What? It would take me a while
to trust again, but you’ve ruined me for anyone else, so I’d have my own
personalized dildo to tide me over.”

“Stop talking,” he demanded, and
covered my mouth with his.

I smiled against his lips and
slipped my tongue into his mouth. Things were just getting interesting when the
sound of someone clearing their throat had us breaking apart like guilty
teenagers.

“Sorry,” Macey said without
moving further into the room. “I can come back.”

I giggled. “No, it’s fine.”

“I just want to check your
bandages and vitals.”

Mack kissed me one last time and
then slid from the bed. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and walked out of the
room.

“How’s Dallas?” I asked Macey.

She smiled. “He’s fine. They’re
all fine, actually. They were in the back when the bomb went off, so they heard
it, but it didn’t touch the conference room.”

“I’m so glad.”

Macey took my pulse and then
grabbed the blood pressure cuff. “This is all going to be over soon... or so
Dallas assures me.”

I grimaced. “I hope so, because
I’m kind of afraid of Mack doing something really stupid if it’s not.”

“Been there, honey. But I know
Booker, and he won’t let Mack do anything without him, so he’ll keep everything
calm.”

“God, I hope so,” I whispered.
“Is there any news on Millie?”

She shook her head. “But you
didn’t hear that from me. Her parents are here, so I can ask them if you’d like
me to.”

“I would, Macey. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

Mack walked back into the room
and sat on the bench by the window, watching Macey as she worked. “Everything
looks great, Darien. Doc thinks you can go home tomorrow, so we’ll plan for
that.”

“Thank you,” I said at the same
time Mack did.

Macey left the room and I patted
the bed. “Join me?”

He smiled and slid onto the
mattress, pulling me gently against his chest again.

“Can we go home tomorrow?” I
asked.

“I don’t know,” Mack admitted.
“I’ve got a couple recruits watching the house, so far, it’s safe.”

“The alarm would ping anyway,
right?”

“Yeah, but I’m not taking any
chances. If we have to stay at a hotel for a couple days we will.”

“I go where you go, honey.”

He kissed my temple. “Good.”

“Knock knock,” Pauley sang as she
pushed open my door. “I’m smuggling illegal goods into your room... shhh,” she
whispered.

I raised the bed and giggled when
Pauley scooped Barney out of the oversized purse she carried. She settled him
gently on the bed between me and Mack and I forced back the tears. “He’s all
bandaged up! Is he okay?” I stroked his head gently, and he laid his chin on my
leg. He was a lot mellower than normal.

“He had a few lacerations and
bruises, but nothing was broken and nothing needed to be stitched. He’s on some
pain stuff which the vet said will make him sleepy. They’re a little concerned
about his hearing, but I have a sheet on what to look for,” Pauley said, and
leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.” I grabbed her hand.
“Thanks for taking care of him.”

“I just picked him up, sissy. Him
getting to the vet was all Mack.” She smiled at Logan. “As was you getting here
safely was as well. Thank you.”

Mack smiled, but didn’t comment.

Pauley pulled a laptop out of her
bag and set it on the table next to the bed. “This is your old laptop until we
can find your other one. At least you can get email and write if you want to.”

“Good thought, Pauley,” I said.
“Thank you.”

“Shorty with you?” Mack asked.

Pauley nodded. “Yeah, he’s on
Pauley watch.”

Mack pulled out his phone and
slid from the bed, grabbing the remote.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Booker texted to turn on the
news.” He flicked on the television and turned to channel six before sliding
back on the bed with me.

Pauley rounded the bed and sat in
the chair and we watched the screen as video of the club came into view, then
switching to the Kozlovs in handcuffs (along with a dozen or so other people)
being loaded into squad cars and police vans.

“A large-scale FBI raid ended
today in the arrest of Nika and Katya Kozlov, the figure heads of the Kozlov
crime family, along with sixteen of their top soldiers, advisors, and
conspirators,” the anchor reported. “They will be held in an undisclosed
location as the FBI sort out who was involved in the bombing of
Big Ernie’s
Body Shop
today. No deaths reported, but several severe injuries. We’ll
keep you updated as we get information.”

“Wait, I thought you said Flick
died,” I challenged.

Mack was already on his phone,
effectively ignoring me. “What the hell happened to Flick? Yeah? You’re
shittin’ me.” He chuckled. “That’s fuckin’ great, brother. Yeah, I’ll see what
I can do. Okay, ’bye.” He slid his cell phone back in his jeans pocket with a
smile. “Flick had a heart attack apparently. Jaxon started CPR on him and got a
pulse. He’s here somewhere, so I’m gonna find him.”

I gasped. “That’s awesome. You
find out where he is and then we’ll smuggle Barney in with him.”

Mack chuckled. “Sounds good. I’ll
be back.”

He left the room and I smiled at
my sister. “I’m so glad you weren’t there today.”

She sighed and I could tell she
was trying not to cry. “If you’d died, Dare, I don’t know what I would have
done.”

I patted the mattress and she
climbed up next to me. “Everyone’s okay, Pauley.”

“I know.” She sobbed against my
shoulder. “I love you, sissy.”

“I love you back.”

“How’s it going with Shorty?”

She giggled with a sniff. “Really
well.”

“How well?”

“Like I can’t imagine life without
him well.”

I smiled. “He’s super hot.”

“I know and he’s super skilled...
well, we’ll leave that there.”

I giggled. “Thank you.”

“He dropped me off and then went
to the club. I hope he’s okay. He hasn’t texted me yet.”

“I’m sure he’s fine, sissy. The place
is crawling with people, so there’s safety in numbers... plus, I’m realizing
they’re hard to kill.”

She sighed. “I hope so.”

We held each other for a while
before Mack walked back in and shook his head. “You stole my spot.”

Pauley giggled. “I sure did.”

He grinned. “Flick’s still in
ICU, but he’s resting comfortably, and Millie’s out of surgery. She’s doing
really well.”

“Oh, thank God,” I breathed out.

“Shorty’s outside, Pauley. I
think he wants to take you home.”

She pushed herself up with a
grin. “Tell him he can wait.”

“No, babe, I’m not a messenger.”

“Chicken,” she retorted, and
climbed off the bed, walking out of the room.

Mack took her place, shifting so
he didn’t crush Barney. He pulled me close and I raised my head for a kiss. “We
keep doing this,” he said between kisses, “I’m gonna fuck you right here, right
now.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“Really?” he challenged. “In
front of Barney.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Um, yeah,
no, that’s just gross.”

He chuckled. “We’ll make up for
lost time when I get you home.”

“Can’t wait.”

I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes
open, so I let myself drift off to sleep. I was safe, I was warm, and my dog
was close. At some point during the night, Barney whimpered, but Mack
whispered, “I’ve got him, go back to sleep,” so I did.

I didn’t wake again until the sun
was rising. I found Mack beside me, the dog hidden under a blanket, and Macey
pulling things quietly from the cabinet.

Mack smiled, raising his finger
to his lips. I bit my lip to keep from giggling, and nodded. Peeking under the
covers, I saw Barney sleeping quietly, which was rare when a stranger was
around. I chalked it up to the pain meds he was on.