Page 16 of Trigger

12

Chase

The first thing I was aware of was that I was definitely a bit high because the only time I felt like I was floating on a cloud was when I was on something good. I slowly peeled my eyes open, squinting against the dim lighting of the room to stare up at the generic, white ceiling. Where the fuck?—

A beeping noise reached my ears, and when I shifted my arm, I could feel a needle in my elbow.

Trigger fucking didn’t.

Turning my head, I glowered at the machines next to me. He did. He brought me to a fucking hospital. Had I really been that bad off? Trigger was the last person in this world I ever expected to go against club rules. Wealwaystried to fix our shit at home first. A hospital was a last resort and usually only in a life or death situation.

Shifting a little, I winced when stitches pulled my skin tight across numerous parts of my body, but the place that pulled the most was my chest.

My chest…

Fuck.

“Christ,” I rasped. I was a marked man. Closing my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath, forcing myself to remain calm. Freaking out wouldn’t do me any good. I just had to figure out where to go from here. No doubt, if anyone had made it out of that place alive, the Russians knew I was marked. They’d keep coming after me.

And if Scorpion or Johnston found out… well, they had every right to put a bullet through my skull. I made the clubs an even bigger target. I was a liability.

I groaned when I tried shifting again, and then, Trigger was suddenly on his feet, his gun in his hand. I blinked in surprise when he looked down at me, his brows furrowed low over his dark eyes.

“Put the gun away,” I rasped, my throat feeling raw as fuck. “Ain’t no threat here, Trigger.”

Trigger didn’t put his gun away. He just set it beside my hip on the bed, then gripped my chin in a gentle yet firm grip and leaned down, slanting his lips across mine. A soft moan crawled up my throat, and I sank into the hard mattress behind me, my eyelids fluttering closed. Reaching up with the arm that didn’t have an IV needle in it, I wrapped my palm around the back of Trigger’s neck, holding him to me.

Our mouths moved together in sync, our kiss soft and slow. It tugged at every single one of my senses and left me reeling, but this moment with him felt as right as every moment I shared with Sophia.

And now that I had the opportunity to have this with him, I wasn’t pushing it away. I wasn’t going to question my feelings or my identity. I almostlostthis opportunity. To get a second chance at it… I was lucky as fuck. I wouldn’t take it for granted.

“A part of me thought I’d dreamed of you rescuing me,” I croaked when he pulled back, his dark eyes searching mine.

He chuckled, a small smile tilting his lips, making the corners of his eyes crinkle. My fingers twitched with the urge to touch them, so I did. God, it felt so good to touch him again. To know I hadn’t lost this.

He sighed, like my touch had lifted a huge weight from his back, and closed his eyes, leaning his face into my palm. I rubbed my thumb along his skin, my heart tripping in my chest.

I hadn’t fucking lost this.

There had to be some kind of deity out there.Hadto be.

“Nah, babe, it was all real,” he assured me. He took a seat on the edge of my hospital bed, then grabbed my hand in his, holding it on his thigh. Our fingers laced together like it was second nature, his palm warm and calloused against mine.

Trigger was dressed down in a pair of gray sweatpants, and now that I thought about it, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him in anything but jeans. Couldn’t deny I liked the look of him in sweats. That dick print waseverything.

“Do you remember anything?” Trigger asked me. I blinked at him, bringing myself back to the conversation at hand. “Can you tell me what the fuck happened to you?” He closed his eyes for a moment, sucking in a deep breath. “Chase… you were barely fucking alive when I finally found you.”

I sighed, then grimaced because sighing hurt. “I was run off the road. Got pinned beneath my bike and couldn’t fucking move. They took advantage of that. When I woke up, I was chained to that fucking table you found me on, and it was just…” My lips twisted into a grimace, and even though I was high as fuck on whatever drug the doctor had me on, I could still feel the phantom pain of knives slicing through my skin, of being flipped onto my stomach and raped… “It was a lot of pain from there. I was in and out of consciousness a lot.”

Trigger’s fingers tightened around my hand before he forced himself to loosen his grip at my pained grunt. I glanced towardthe IV bag. I was sure I was being administered medication through it. When the hell was I due for more meds again? Because whatever had me on a fluffy cloud when I woke up was quickly fading away, and I wanted that floaty feeling back.

“The Pakhan was there,” I told him quietly. “All I know is they want territory, and it’s ours they want. I’m guessing they wanted Aaliyah, but I’m sure Johnston put her on fucking lockdown.”

Trigger nodded. “The moment he found those pictures and that note on his bike, he kept her close.” He blew out a harsh breath. “Sophia is a fucking mess, Chase. She didn’t handle you going missing well, and when I called to tell her how you were doing…” He swallowed thickly. “I’ll never forget the sound of her screams.”

I flinched, looking away from him. He gently squeezed my hand, reminding me he was there with me. That I wasn’t alone.

I didn’t deserve it. Had I not run, our woman wouldn’t be drowning in her fear of losing me.

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