Page 75 of With This Ring

Kai laughs, walking over to Dad. “Just a sprain. Nothing too bad.” He twists his wrists in a circle. He winces but has full range of motion.

His arm around my waist, Kai helps me inside the house, keeping the weight off my leg. One of the men in scrubs comes over to me, his rough hands twisting my leg back and forth.

Kai plants a large hand on his shoulder, squeezing until the man cries out. “Be fucking gentle with him or I’ll kill you next.”

The man bats his hand away, but I can see the fear in his eyes. “I got it.” He goes back to working on my leg, without the man handling.

He numbs me up so he can check to make sure there are no more fragments in my leg, then sews me up. Ten stitches on each side, two antibiotics and some pain pills later, I’m done and allowed to relax.

The other doctor assesses Kai’s wrist, deeming it a sprain and gives him a brace to wear for a few weeks.

“Take him upstairs,” Dad says to Kai. “His old room is ready for him. He needs to rest.”

I’m starting to feel loopy, my head swimming from the effects of the meds. I feel safe being medicated because I know Kai will watch over me, making sure nothing happens to me.

“Come on, babe,” he whispers, helping me to my feet. “You need rest.”

“Stay with me,” I murmur back, leaning my head against his shoulder.

Usually, it’s me that comforts Kai, holding him up when he wants to fall. It’s nice to have him be my rock right now. He’s warm and solid, able to hold my weight with ease.

“Always,” he whispers back, kissing my temple.

Today was a real bitch. I didn’t expect to bring everyone back, but I didn’t expect so little of us to return. Now I see why other families don’t want or can’t handle repeated war. It’s too much. Too many people die and it’s a lot of work and effort to rebuild a family.

Having the St. Clair’s made it easier for us to handle, but I can’t deny that we suffered some heavy losses today. Men in our inner circles, Dad’s right hand man, Declan’s and a few of the younger men are a pile of ash back at the Fenster safe house. None of them will be able to get a proper burial. But I’ll do right by them and take care of their families, whether they belong to the Whitlocks or the St. Clair’s. After today, we’re all family.

Kai pushes into my old room and walks me over to the large canopy bed. “Pretentious,” he murmurs with a smile in his tone.

“Fit for a king,” I joke back, my words slurring.

He strips me of my clothes, pushing me to the center of the bed in just my underwear. After removing his own clothing, he climbs in behind me, wrapping his arm around my middle. “Declan and Dominic are taking care of security shifts. None of us will go unguarded. We’re safe, Carter.” I sigh, pushing back against him to get more of his warmth. “It’s over. We won the war.”

My eyes feel heavy, and it takes effort to open them for even a few seconds. “We did. I’m glad you’re safe, Kai. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”

He presses a kiss to my shoulder. “You won’t have to find out. I’m not going anywhere. I love you, Carter.”

A smile touches my lips as my eyes drift shut. “And I love you, pretty baby,” I manage to reply before sleep claims me.

CHAPTER 25

CARTER

It takes about a month for me and Kai to get back to one hundred percent. I only needed meds that first night, since Kai, then the doctor poked at my leg, and it was burning and throbbing after the local anesthesia wore off. Doc told me to keep my weight off that leg, and I did…for a while. But I didn’t want to be babied or baby myself. After Kai gave me shit, I did what I wanted.

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” he chided, watching me move around the house as if I wasn’t shot. “You need to rest.”

Like he listened himself. The day after shit went down, Kai took the brace off his wrist and tossed it on my nightstand, forgetting about it as if it didn’t exist. He’s such a fucking hypocrite. I told him as much, and he only smiled and replied, “I wasn’t shot in the wrist.”

Since my house was blown to shit, we ended up staying with Dad. Declan offered his place, but there wasn’t enough room for all of us in his two-bedroom condo. I have Gavin with me and Kai has Nico. Neither of them would have settled for sleeping on the couch when Dad has about six spare rooms. Besides, the empty room Declan has was Hendrix’s. Kinda creepy to sleep with a dead man’s shit around me.

His safe house was also out, since it was in the middle of fucking nowhere. It was good in a pinch, but staying out there for weeks on end? Nah.

Kai and I have been drawing up plans to get my house rebuilt. He’s really good at it, offering suggestions that would expand on the house I already had. Like having retractable black out curtains that close automatically when the sun goes down and open at whatever time we set them for. It will solve the problem of me getting irritated when the sun shines in my face from all the damn windows I want.

While we work to get plans drawn up for our new house, as well as get back to business, Kai and I talk. It’s like being in a shoot-out has made us closer and our relationship has grown stronger.

When I feel like I can put weight on my leg without pain, I plan a date with Kai. We have nothing to worry about as far as being attacked and can move freely. The two dates we had before—bringing him lunch at his construction company and our fair date—were great, but if he was anything like me, Kai still felt as if we had to constantly look over our shoulders. Now that the Fensters are dead, we’re as safe as we can be for two mafia bosses.

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