Page 31 of Sinful Secrets

“Talitha, you are of not of sound mind. I am your father and an elder. You must respect me and my authority,” he says, flustered.

“Respect you? I despise you,” I sneer. His gaze turns from shock to anger and he backhands me across my face, causing me to fall to the floor. I don’t feel the pain, its nothing compared to what they did to me.

“Talitha, I shall remind you that you are not of sound mind right now. I expect when I return later that you have come to your senses,” he snaps before leaving.

I crawl onto the thin mattress on the floor. I have nothing to lose. I have lost Khan, the plan won’t matter now, and I will keep fighting them until I take my last breath.

Chapter Nineteen

Khan

“Fuck!” I roar, reaching for my cell, trying my best to ignore the pain searing through my body.

“Did they take her, brother?” Rip answers the phone.

“Fuck, Pres,” I wheeze. I place my hand on my side and blood stains my hand.

“What is it?” Rip asks.

“Been shot. They took her,” I grunt, finding it hard to breathe.

“Fuck, on our way, brother. For fuck’s sake, call a fucking ambulance!” Rip barks down the phone.

“I can’t call a fucking ambulance, I'm bleeding out on the phone to you,” I quip. People surround me, asking questions, but I don’t answer them. I turn to a woman. “Hey, darlin’, you couldn’t do me a favour, could you, and call me an ambulance?” I wink. Her eyes go wide. Clearly, she's never seen someone get shot before. She nods and pulls out her cell. “Thank you, beautiful,” I wheeze, giving her a wink.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, brother, you are fucking bleeding out in a grocery store parking lot and you’re still trying to fucking pick up women.” Rip sighs.

“Hey, I'm not, I'm a taken man now. Well, I am if I make it through this, stupid cult fuckers.” I cough. My vision is becoming blurry, and I do my best to focus, but my eyes are feeling heavy.

“Love ya, Pres,” I slur before giving into the darkness.

* * *

I open my eyes to bright fluorescent light. “Jesus, someone trying to blind me?” I groan.

“Ah, you're awake, Mr Jonson,” a woman’s voice greets. I squint my eyes to look and a young woman in a nurse’s uniform is smiling down at me whilst she fiddles with my drip.

“I am now, darlin’.” I wink, or at least I try to.

“For crying out loud, even after you’ve been shot and have an alarming amount of drugs pumping through your veins, you're still trying to hit on the nurse?” I hear Flo sigh. I turn my head and smile as she walks up to me.

“Would you have me any other way?” I ask. She leans down and kisses my cheek; she affectionately squeezes my hand in hers. “What is it, what’s wrong?” I ask, seeing the worry in her face.

“What's wrong? Seriously? You're asking me that? You’ve been shot! The bullet was lodged in your lung and you nearly fucking died!” she points out.

“Well, I didn’t, and I'm here, it’s all good, darlin’.” I smile. “Where are the brothers?” I ask.

“They are on their way. They had an emergency church meeting once they knew you were okay.”

“What about? Why did they call emergency church?” I ask.

She rolls her eyes at me. “How in the hell would I know? I'm an old lady, I'm not privileged to that kind of information.”

I nod and try sitting up a little but it’s too painful and the drainage tube in my chest is uncomfortable as hell.

The doctor comes in to speak to me, asking for my medical insurance. “Don’t have any, doc, just send me the bill.”

“But, sir, you're looking at a bill of around one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

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