Page 111 of Grumpy Sunshine

Quite badly.

She’d need reconstructive surgery, but she’d always carry that scar.

Val caught my hand in hers and said, “Walk with me.Let me tell you what’s going on.”

Dru, who’d been a silent sentinel at my side, stepped back and let Val take her place.

Val caught my arm and guided me to the side of the ER, nearest the lounge, and started to speak.

“She suffered a gunshot wound to the face,” she started with, causing me to inwardly flinch.“The angle in which she was shot caused the bullet to go in just under her eye, shattering her cheekbone.Her jaw, luckily, is not broken.Unluckily, the bullet is lodged in her neck, just short of her spine.”

I swallowed hard.

“Other than her cheekbone, it missed miraculously everything vital.She’s going to be in pain.She’s going to look like Frankenstein for a minute, but she’s going to make it.I have every reason to believe she’ll make a full recovery,” she expounded.

I nodded once.

“Do you want to inform the sister?”she asked.

I shook my head.“No.”

I needed to get the fuck out of here.

I needed to break something.

And that something would be the man responsible for what had just happened to the love of my life.

“If you need anything, come find me.”She left, leaving me standing there, heartbroken and angry.Sofuckingangry.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I gave Aella’s phone a call.

I knew that she wouldn’t answer it.

It was still sitting on the counter at the bank where she’d left it.

Fuck, all she’d done was go get a bank account with her sister.

Something so stupidly simple that made her so fucking happy.

God.

Her voicemail answered, and I heard her voice say, ‘I’m not here right now, leave me a message.Or, better yet, text me.Because I never answer the phone.’

At the beep I said, “I love you.And I accept.When do you want to get married?”

The men of the Truth Tellers Motorcycle Club gathered around me.

We were in a parking lot in the middle of Downtown Dallas, and we were listening to Apollo explain what he’d found on the hit that’d been put out on Aella and the others.

“…Arriel Jimenez thinks he’s smart and savvy, but he’s not.I was able to track his IP address, which in turn gave me his location because he was stupid enough to think that his shit was unhackable.It wasn’t.He’s currently in that hotel right there with his team.”Apollo jerked his head toward the hotel in question.“He’s set to leave in fifteen minutes via limo.”

“Who’ll be with him?”Webber asked.

My pocket pinged, and I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see I had a text message from Val.

Val:

They’re changing doctors now.A plastic surgeon has come in to make the final repairs, as per your request.

---