Page 17 of Trigger

“I shouldn’t have fucking run off. I always do that shit. And this time… well, it fucking costed me.” Bitterness coated my words. “I should’ve fucking stayed. I knew you wouldn’t have pressured me for anything and neither would Sophia. But I was having a fucking identity crisis, and it felt like my skin was too goddamn tight.”

“Don’t,” Trigger said, his voice low. “We’re not doing this shit, Chase. Because if we are, then there are things I should’ve and could’ve fucking done, too.” He leaned over me again, those impossibly dark eyes boring into mine again with so much intensity, they stole the breath from my lungs. “The past is the past. What we’re going to focus on instead is getting you healed, back on your bike, and tearing these mother fuckers apart for touching you.”

And then, he sealed that vow with a kiss that settled me in a way only Sophia had ever been capable of doing.

“Just promise me something?” he asked, his voice rough and gravely. He smoothed his lips over mine in another kiss, like he just couldn’t help himself. And honestly, I didn’t want him to fucking stop.

“Hm?” I hummed.

“Promise me you won’t fucking run again.”

I opened my eyes. His face was so close, his breaths fanning across my lips. His gaze was so intense that even if I did want to deny him, it wouldn’t be possible to.

I nodded, swallowing thickly. “I promise,” I rasped.

He cupped my cheek. “Just know, if you ever break that promise to me,” there was a low warning in his voice that had my cock hardening despite my pain levels ratcheting up, “I will hunt you down, Chase. Every. Single. Fucking. Time.”

A smirk tilted my lips that made him scowl. Fuck, he was hot when he was agitated.

“I’m holding you to that.”

13

Trigger

Anurse came in a few minutes later, injecting more morphine into Chase’s IV. After asking him a few questions to check his pain levels and make sure he didn’t need anything, she left the room, and the morphine dragged him back under. I wanted more time with him while he was awake, but I knew he needed to rest more. Resting was going to be a vital part of his recovery.

Taking advantage of his slumber, I tugged my phone off the charger one of the nurses let me borrow and called Johnston, pacing to the window to look outside. The sky was beginning to darken, the moon beginning to shine high in the sky. It cast an almost eerie yet beautiful glow over the courtyard Chase’s room looked out over.

Johnston answered on the second ring. “Yeah?” he growled. I heard Aaliyah murmur something in the background, and I winced. I’d definitely called at a bad time. He hated being bothered when he was with his wife. Couldn’t blame him though. I hated being bothered when I was with Chase and Sophia.

“You asked for an update when Chase woke up,” I reminded him.

He blew out a harsh breath. “Yeah. Anything?”

“No,” I told him honestly. “Nothing we didn’t already know. But they’re getting hungrier. Said they took him because they couldn’t get their hands on Aaliyah.”

Johnston audibly ground his teeth. “Fucking hell,” he growled, sounding impatient. “I’m so over this shit. I mind my goddamn business. I don’t step on toes. And now these mother fuckers think they can just roll over me?” he snarled.

I stayed silent because I knew Johnston was just venting. He wasn’t a patient man by any means, and I knew he’d been trying to play this cool. Stay patient and quiet. Make moves only when they did.

But they’d fucked with us way too much. I was thirsty for blood now that they’d touched both Sophia and Chase, and I was hoping Johnston was, too. Because I wanted to get revenge. I wanted them to pay for touching my man and my woman. I wanted tobrutalizethem.

“Let me touch base with Scorpion,” Johnston finally said, sounding much calmer. I was pretty sure Aaliyah had something to do with that, even if she was completely silent in the background. She had a way of settling him that none of us understood, but we didn’t question it, especially since she made him a lot more chill than he’d been before they’d gotten together.

But… I guess I did understand now considering Sophia and Chase had a way of settling me that seemed damn near impossible before I got pulled into our little trio.

“I’ll wait for orders,” I told him before hanging up. Turning, I walked back to Chase’s bed, pushing his hair back from his forehead before leaning down to press a kiss there. Settling back in the chair beside his hospital bed, I sighed and closed my eyes,beyond fucking tired. But I couldn’t truly rest, even if I was used to sleeping in uncomfortable places and positions.

My body and mind wouldn’t shut down enough to truly sleep while Chase was laid up in that hospital bed, vulnerable and unable to defend himself.

I just needed to get Chase home, where he was surrounded by the club and could be better protected.Thenandonly thenwould I rest.

I peeled my eyes open when a light knock sounded on the door. Chase was still sleeping, not even aware of the knocking. I stood and walked to the door, my gun comfortably resting at the small of my back. When I opened the heavy wooden door, Chase’s doctor was standing on the other side, and he kindly smiled at me.

I didn’t return it, but then again, I hadn’t returned a single smile he’d given me. I hadn’t smiled at anyone since we’d been here—no one except the man laid up in that hospital bed.

Stepping back, I allowed the doctor into the room. The night nurse followed him in. Silently, I shut the door back and returned to the chair I’d been occupying before they came in, settling onto the uncomfortable leather again. The nurse checked Chase’s vitals, and the doctor waited until she was done to look at me.

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