Page 51 of Steal

“I held a gun to your head while you were pregnant with our daughter, and now I’m giving you the opportunity to do the same,” he says.

He has got to be kidding, right?

When he doesn’t shout psych, I scoff. “Kind of stupid of you, don’t you think?” I wave the gun about. “I gave birth alone, Colt. I was struggling for nearly seven months, thinking I was going to lose her.” Anger and pain hit me, the past coming forward, and I scream, “You were never there for me, even before I left!”

He nods. “You’re right; I wasn’t there for you. I took you and your love for granted. I thought you’d always be there, even when I never put you first, and I can’t apologize enough. But I know words mean jack shit, Trouble.” He tips his head to my trembling hand, holding the gun at my side. “Hold the gun to my head like I did to you, Cass.”

I grit my teeth, hating that he’s giving me this option, because I know how much trust he’s giving me right now. Anger courses through me, knowing I’m not ready to work on forgiveness, that I don’t want to try and learn to move on with him, and I lift the gun. Steal doesn’t flinch, but his eyes widen when I pull the trigger without remorse.

He grunts, stumbling back a little and, seconds later, his door slams open.

“What the fuck?” Anchor curses as he rushes in, his eyes wide at the scene.

Steal doesn’t look at him or answer him, instead, he holds his arms out, ignoring the blood dripping from his right arm, and asks, “Better?”

I roll my eyes at him, not shocked by his reaction, and walk over to him. I slam the gun against a shocked Anchor, who quickly grabs it, and I grab Steal’s arm, inspecting it. I grab the rag out of his jeans pocket and put pressure on the wound.

“Please tell me that it’s fucking through and through,” Anchor demands.

I snort and confirm, “It is….”

He hums, then states, “Good, now can you both tell me what the fuck is going on?”

Steal answers, “I held a gun to her head, so I allowed her to hold one to mine. I knew she would shoot me because of how I treated her.”

“Fuck’s sake,” Anchor curses, then looks between us and states, “I’m taking this fucking gun with me,” before he leaves Steal's room, shouting, “It’s fine; she shot him as revenge for him holding a gun to her head,”and laughter echoes down the hallway.

Huh, not what I thought would happen.

Steal slams his door shut with his boot before he cups my cheek and forces me to look at him, but I don’t want to. That doesn’t stop him from forcing me to, though.

My eyes tear up as we lock eyes, and he whispers, “I fucking love you, Trouble, I never stopped, and soon, you are going to listen to me; you are going to understand where I was coming from all those years ago, and why I acted the way I did. But hear this now, understand my fucking words,” his eyes race between mine, “I have not touched another woman since you and I met eight years ago.” I suck in a breath at the sincerity shining back at me. “I haven’t fucked anyone other than you. I never touched Faith again, I never touched a clubwhore or even had a one-night stand. You have been my only for eight years, so please think on that while I go collect our daughter from your fucking lover’s apartment.”

He kisses my head, lingering for a moment before he rasps, “Killian will take you to our home, a home you should have moved into the day we met.”

That said, he turns and leaves, locking the door behind him, and all I can do is stand there with his blood on my hands and his words swimming in my head, words I could tell were the truth.

He’s not been with anyone since the day we met….

Crap, here comes the flicker of hope in my chest, hope I’ve always squashed.

Damn him!

21

Steal

“Where’s Medic?” I ask as I storm into the common room, my arm throbbing.

The brothers look at me, some wide-eyed, not actually believing my girl shot me, others with laughter, knowing I deserved it.

Fuckers.

“He’s, uh, still passed out,” Canine mutters, amusement lacing his voice, something I didn’t expect to see after Medic helped Canine’s wife end her life.

Canine left for a little while, needing to get his head straight. It was her wish, but we all know he feels guilty when he shouldn’t. She was struggling with her condition and had lost mobility on her left side, then struggled to even walk.

She felt like a burden to her husband and had lost herself….

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