Page 28 of Ruthless Angel

Blaze’s head fell back against the pillow in defeat. “Fuck. I owe that cocksucker some serious pain.”

“And you’ll get your chance to make him suffer. I won’t settle for less.” A muscle in Daire’s jaw twitched as he stared down at Blaze. Seeing his friend like this was harder for him than he’d ever put into words.

Holding a weak hand out to me, Blaze said, “Come here, Rainbow. God, I need to feel your touch right now. For a while there, I thought I’d never see you again.”

Forcing my feet to move, I went to his bedside, carefully putting my hand in his. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Blaze. I was so worried.”

With a pained groan, he folded me in against him, wrapping an arm around my back as he pulled me close. “I’m just glad you’re okay. All that matters is that Brady didn’t get his hands on you.”

Hyperaware of hurting him, I did my best to hug him without exerting any pressure. He groaned a little but didn’t release me. When he stroked a hand through my hair, I rested my head on his shoulder.

My body shook as I fought against the tears that filled my eyes. Losing the battle, they slipped down my face to drip from my chin. I’d thought surely Brady would kill him. That we’d never discover what we might have together if we were parted so soon. Relief left me breathless.

“Don’t cry, Clover. I’m all right. Really. It will take a lot more than a few days of torture to kill me.” Blaze pressed a pained kiss to the top of my head. “Needing to get back to you kept me going. You helped pull me through.”

I swiped a hand through my tears, wiping them away as I straightened up. “It’s been a long few days. I can’t imagine how hard it was for you.”

“No worries, Dollface. I feel better just seeing your pretty face.” Blaze dragged a thumb through my tears. The man had his ass beat for days and he was trying to make me feel better. Maybe there was more to Blaze than I’d realized.

A nurse poked her head through the gap in the curtain. “Sorry, folks. Time to leave. Our patient needs his rest. You can come back in the morning.”

I didn’t want to leave Blaze. That hadn’t been nearly enough time. His touch was weak, his eyes heavy with exhaustion. He needed some quality sleep.

“We’ll be back soon,” I promised, kissing his bruised cheek. “Try to rest.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Cash said, patting Blaze’s shoulder. “I’ll be down the hall in the waiting area. These two can go home and sleep. I’ll switch out with them in the morning.”

Blaze tried to shake his head, wincing from the pain. “It’s cool, dude. You should go too. I’ll be fine.”

“Not happening. Someone needs to stay.” Cash wouldn’t be convinced otherwise. “We’re family. It’s what we do.”

“Are you sure you want to hang around here?” Daire asked when we were back in the waiting area. “We should all go and get some sleep. We’ll come back as soon as visiting hours start.”

Cash shook his head, running a hand through his mohawk. “You two go ahead. I’ll stay. I don’t feel right leaving him here alone.”

His dedication to Blaze melted my heart. A lot could be said about the Angels, but nobody could ever say they weren’t loyal to each other. Their bond was beautiful.

“It’s your call. Let me know if anything changes or you need us to come back.” Patting Cash on the back, Daire took my hand and together we left the building.

His free hand went to the gun tucked into his waistband beneath his t-shirt. Daire scanned the parking lot as we went to the car. He then also checked in, around, and under the car. Satisfied that everything was safe, he opened my door for me before going around to his side.

A long, heavy breath left Daire once he sat behind the wheel. He froze there for a minute, staring straight ahead at the lot filled with cars. A strange energy came over him. Like he was ready to kill.

“Daire?” I asked softly. “Are you okay?”

He glanced over at me, the parking lot light reflecting off his green eyes. “Peachy, Little Unicorn. Just struggling with some pent up rage. I’ve never wanted to kill someone as bad as I want to kill Brady Rollins.”

I nodded, not knowing what to say or do to help. Daire’s feelings were understandable. I wanted Brady to die too. As long as he was running free, he may become a threat again. After what he’d done to Blaze, we couldn’t give him another chance to hurt us.

We drove through the near empty city streets on our way back to the house. I expected it would feel so empty without both Blaze and Cash. Daire’s strong silence created a heaviness in the car that weighed me down. He watched the road, but his actions were automatic, like he ran on autopilot.

When he suddenly pulled over outside one of the city’s large cemeteries, I glanced over at him with a brow raised. “Why are we stopping?”

Daire gripped the wheel, his knuckles tense and white. “I need you to do something for me, Clover.”

Wary of the strange lilt to his voice, I asked, “What?”

He nodded toward the cemetery. His tone dropped lower when he said, “I need you to run.”

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