Page 81 of Sully

I expected them to have taken Sully to the bathroom or something to treat him.

But he was right there on the couch in the living room, his shirt off, two men standing over him.

I barely even noticed the basin full of bloody water, the bloodstained gauze.

All I could focus on was Sully.

“Hey, baby,” he called, spotting me. “Where are the tacos?” he asked as we drew closer.

And his characteristic calm seemed to break the dams that had been holding back the tears since the parking lot.

“Hey, none of that,” he said, reaching out with his good arm and pulling me until I climbed up on the couch with him, pressing my face into his chest, smelling that peaches and vanilla scent of him that I loved so much. Only now, it was heavily overwhelmed with the metallic scent of his blood.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be as pretty as ever in just a few weeks,” he told me, his hand gliding up and down my back.

“Don’t joke,” I said, sniffling hard, trying to pull it together. I didn’t want to be crying. First, because this wasn’t aboutme. He was shot. I should be the one comforting him. Second, because, well, I didn’t want to be all weepy in front of his club brothers. “You were shot.”

“And you ran to try to save me,” he said, arm squeezing me. “That was some brave shit, baby girl.”

“Is Valen okay?” I asked, not wanting to talk about me and my one moment of bravery in my whole life.

“Yeah, I talked to him on my way here,” Fallon said. “Aside from getting chewed out by your boss for scaring the dog that was there. We’re gonna have her moved here once the dog gets picked up.”

“You got people there?” Sully asked.

“Yeah, we’re working on it.”

“How’s your shoulder?” I asked. “Perish said it was a through-and-through,” I added. I couldn’t bring myself to look. My stomach roiled at just theideaof looking.

“Just a baby hole,” Sully said. “Like a piercing, really,” he added, dragging a snort out of me.

“Be serious.”

“That’s not really in my wheelhouse,” he countered.

“How is his shoulder really?” I asked, looking at the two men who were treating him: Callow and Dezi.

“Once got a bigger hole in me when a screwdriver went into me.”

“What?” I asked, horrified. “Were you doing a project?”

“If by ‘project’ you mean starting shit with a street gang, then yeah,” Fallon piped in.

“See?” Dezi asked, yanking up his shirt. “Healed up real nice.”

It was a gnarly, puckered pink scar.

But I guess he was alive.

“And his stupid ass only cleaned it with some vodka and slapped a bandage on it,” Fallon explained. “Sully is at least getting actual care.”

“Incoming with the boss lady,” Perish called through the front door.

It was less than a minute before Courtney was led inside with Valen and Voss as escorts.

“Girl, what the hell is going on?” Courtney asked when she zeroed in on me.

“Why don’t you talk to Courtney in my room while we finish up here?” Sully suggested, giving me a little squeeze.

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