Page 26 of Ruthless Angel

CLOVER

Raina and I arrived back at her house less than ten minutes before the Gods showed up. As soon as Havoc walked in the door, he shook a finger in her face.

“Did you really think you could go to the Saints’ party and I wouldn’t know about it? I track your every move, Bad Girl.”

“We weren’t trying to hide anything.” She slapped his finger away. “I needed a way to take Clover’s mind off things. I’d say it worked. She threw a punch at a girl for bad mouthing Daire. It was glorious. You should’ve seen it.”

Havoc glanced at me with a raised brow, like he didn’t believe I’d be capable of such a thing. I sure was. My swollen and throbbing knuckles proved it. When Cash and Daire didn’t appear behind him, I started to worry.

“Where is Daire anyway?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

Knight offered me a sympathetic smile. “At the hospital with Cash and Blaze. Come on. I’ll give you a ride over there.”

“You guys found Blaze? Is he okay?” That was probably a stupid question. If he was okay, they wouldn’t be at the hospital.

“He’s in pretty bad shape,” Knight said, holding the front door open for me. “But he’s alive. We better get going. They asked me to bring you to them.”

Raina pulled me into a hug. “He’ll be okay, Clover. Deep breaths. You look like you’re going to pass out. Call me when you have some news.”

I nodded, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fill my eyes. Following Knight from the house, I robotically got into his Jeep and buckled my seatbelt. I kept telling myself that this was good. We got Blaze back. Everyone made it out alive.

And yet, I couldn’t shake the fear that gripped me. How bad was it if Blaze needed medical care? It had to be bad if Daire and Cash hadn’t come for me themselves.

Knight glanced over at a me a few times as he drove. Finally, he said, “I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s a tough guy. A lot of people would have died from what he went through. Blaze was still holding on. He’ll pull through.”

Knowing that Knight didn’t really give a shit about Blaze or any of the Angels, I appreciated his attempt to make me feel better. “Thanks, Knight. I hope you’re right.”

Most of the drive to the hospital was spent in silence. I felt comfortable with Knight though. He was the least manic of Raina’s men, at least as far as I knew. When we pulled up in the drop off zone, he gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder.

I thanked him for the ride, making sure I had my purse as I got out of the Jeep. Peering up at the large building, a shiver rolled through me. I pulled out my phone to text Cash, asking him to meet me so I didn’t have to wander through the building alone.

I paced in the entryway, trying to focus on my breathing instead of the many clinical sound and smells that assaulted me. Panic threatened to engulf me. Maybe I couldn’t do this. The thought of seeing Blaze broken and fighting for his life made my mouth dry and my palms sweaty.

“Hey, Sunshine.” Cash’s voice came from behind me. He pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my hair. “I’m sofucking happy to see you. We need you right now. Especially Blaze.”

“How bad is it?” I asked as he took my hand and led me over to a bank of elevators.

“We’re not sure yet. Still waiting on the doctors to run some tests and let us know. He was barely conscious when we found him.” Cash tightly gripped my hand so hard it started to hurt.

We went up a few floors and then Cash pulled me out of the elevator. The bright fluorescent lights were harsh, forcing me to stare at the floor as we walked. We passed a nurses’ station and turned a corner where we found Daire pacing the floor next to a handful of chairs. He glanced up as we approached.

Daire’s expression went through several emotions. Worry. Relief. Irritation.

“What the hell were you doing at the Saints’ house?” he asked when we’d joined him. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out about that?”

If circumstances hadn’t been so dire, I’d have laughed. He’d fume if he knew how much he sounded like Havoc.

“Raina thought stopping by their party would help me stop worrying. It didn’t.” I raised my bruised hand, studying the knuckles. They were red and puffy. Hitting someone in the face hurt a lot more than I’d thought it would.

Daire took my hand, eyeing my bruised knuckles. “What happened here?”

“I, uh, I hit someone.” I tried to shrug it off, hoping he wouldn’t press me further. “It was nothing. Tell me about Blaze.”

“We don’t know anything about Blaze yet. Tell me what happened to your hand. Who did you hit?” Daire fixed me with a serious stare.

“I don’t know her name. Some blonde girl at the party. She was talking shit about you. It kind of set me off, I guess.” My cheeks reddened under the intensity of his stare.

“Really?” A small smile tugged at Daire’s lips. “You hit someone because of me? What did she say?”

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