Page 66 of Wicked Oath

“How can you be so confident? We are in the middle of nowhere,” I snap. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, baby. I just need you to trust me. Can you do that?”

“I can try,” I say. We are quiet for a while before he gently kisses the tip of my nose, making me smile. “I don’t know how you do that.”

“Do what?” he asks softly.

“Make me smile when all I want to do is cry or commit murder,” I say. “I think I have anger problems.”

“You definitely have anger problems, but that’s okay,” he says.

“That first night… When you got defensive over me looking at you… Was that because you thought I was judging you like they do?”

“Yeah,” he says. “They constantly called me fat and it got into my head. When I left home and met Jude, I lost some weight, but I can’t seem to lose anything else.”

“I love the way you look. All of you,” I say honestly. “And I’m not just saying that because I am tied to a table with you or because you are my husband. I really do thoroughly enjoy all of you.”

“I just wish I was more… toned,” he says.

“Mmmm. Yeah, I wish I didn’t have such a fat stomach,” I say.

“Delaney Maddox,” he growls.

“What?” I ask. “You degrade yourself; I degrade myself. Fair is fair, baby.”

“It’s not the same,” he says.

“It is,” I remark. “I love you inside and out. You are beautiful, handsome, and sexy. There is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing you need to change. If you think there is something that needs to change or you are worried about your weight, we can go to the gym together. Dipshit used to make me run for hours every day. We could go running together.”

“I don’t deserve you,” he sighs.

“You’re exactly right,” I say. “You deserve better.”

The door swings open, and they are in a rush. “Just get her and leave him,” Vince says as they untie me.

“No!” I scream when they pull me away. I have use of my hands now, so I fight. Neither of them expects it so when I bring my knee up and hit Logan in the groin, I am able to slip away and go to Talon. Logan hits his knees but Vince lunges at me. The door to the cabin is slammed open and chaos breaks out as shots are fired around the room. Vince hits the ground, but it doesn’t slow me down when I start trying to untie Talon’s wrists. Once he is free, I notice the blood.

“Talon!” I scream When his body slides off the table and slumps to the ground, I run around the table and drop down to my knees. “No. No. No. Please don’t die. Please.”

“Back. Put him on his back,” Jude yells at me as he runs to my side. We flip him to his back and Jude places my hand on Talon’s side. “Press hard. As hard as you can.”

I am sobbing, but I do what he says and put as much pressure on the wound as I can. “Fuck,” Talon groans.

“I know, baby. I know. You’re going to be okay. You hear me?”

“I love you, Delaney,” he mutters.

“Stop it,” I yell at him. “You can’t die. Okay? It would be all for nothing. You have to be okay, so you just keep talking to me.”

“Alright. Move your hands,” Jude says. I do and Jude places a towel on the wound and presses down hard. Talon yells out in pain and I scream when someone pulls me away from them.

“Stop it. Let me…”

“Stop. Stop. Stop,” Chris says. “Clothing, baby. Let me put something on you.” He quickly pulls a shirt over my head that comes down almost to my knees before letting go of me. He has on just an undershirt now, so I go back to Talon and take his face between my hands.

“You’re going to be okay, baby,” I say softly.

“Are they dead?” he asks, groaning again in pain.

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