Page 91 of Through The Woods

Chapter Twenty-Five

I swallowed and winced from the pain. I had somehow ended up back where I started—injured and feeling as if I’d gargled with sharp stones. I was told that I’d been out for two days and, if it hadn’t hurt to talk, I would’ve told her that it felt much longer than that.

It had seemed closer to an eternity.

Guardrail’s phone had gone off not long after and he pressed a quick kiss to my cheek before leaving me with the nurses. They didn’t waste any time in moving me to a regular room. I think they’d probably had enough excitement to last a lifetime thanks to me.

Movement near the cracked door caught my eye and I saw a bouquet of flowers, moving up and down in someone’s hand— the person appeared to be having an animated conversation with the wall.

The door came open suddenly and I jumped, wincing at the pain in my side. Twitch gave me a small smile before holding out a bouquet of yellow daisies.

“Hey, kid.”

My lower lip trembled violently and my eyes filled. He was alive. I tried to speak, but my throat was raw, so I settled for a small wave instead.

His arm was bandaged and in a sling, but he was still breathing. I held out my arms and he placed the flowers on the bedside table before embracing me with his good arm.

“Jesus Christ, kid. I didn’t think you were coming back from that—”

I cleared my throat and whispered, “How? Blade shot you.” Gone was my soft, lilting voice; I now sounded positively demonic.

He dug into his pocket and pulled out a circular disc. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was the medallion I’d given him. “That little token you gave me saved my damn life. The bullet should’ve hit my heart—instead, it hit right in the middle, where it says, ‘Miracles Happen.’ Now, tell me I’m not the luckiest son-of-a-bitch alive because of you.”

I pointed to his shoulder. “But your arm’s all bandaged up.”

He nodded. “Well, the fucker did manage to graze my shoulder with the second shot, but all in all, I’m fine. I was more worried about you.”

He needed to hear the truth—however twisted it was.

I cleared my throat several times and in a brittle voice, I managed to get out, “I have so much to say...”

Twitch brought his free hand up to my mouth. “Shhhh…don’t force it.”

I shook my head. “Please. I need to tell you what happened. I didn’t relapse—this,” I gestured to myself, “was done to me.”

He nodded and then shifted me over in the bed before climbing in next to me. “Okay.”

I looked over at him. “Okay—that’s it?”

He nodded again. “I believe you, kid. You don’t owe me shit. Blade did this and Charm will handle that motherfucker. I showed up here because I wanna hold you—I’ve spent the last forty-eight hours afraid I wouldn’t get to again—scared that my last memory of you would be hearing your screams for help.”

He pulled me in next to his body, his nose nestled in my hair, breathing me in. I’d expected to have to beg and plead for them to believe me. I let out a quiet sob and he tilted my face up to meet his. “What’s wrong, kid?”

I sniffed. “Twitch—what he did to Rae…my parents and the fire. I never got the chance to say goodbye to them. How did Charm and the others know to come back?”

Twitch’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’ve been retracing everything since that day—I heard his voice and it stuck. I was sitting at the clubhouse, talking to Doc, when it came to me. Like it’d been spoken out of thin air—Blade. I called Charm immediately and he told me that he’d just left you alone with him. I thought I was going to have a heart attack waiting to hear if you were okay.

“He said a minute more and you’d have been gone too—just like Rae. Blade already took so much from us—there wasn’t a chance in hell we were giving you up too.” Twitch rubbed at his eyes wearily and focused on the ceiling above my head. It had to have been Axel. His plan of getting into the clubhouse had been successful.

He looked down at me again. “Did you say your parents? Blade was responsible for the fire?”

I nodded. He might not have started the fire himself, but he set everything in motion. If Clint hadn’t had a change of heart at the last second, I would’ve died with them.

He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I’ll be passing that information along to Charm.”

“Twitch, where is he?” It was the only question I could ask. The others still lurked silently below the surface.

Does he blame me for all of this?

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