Page 144 of Roses Are Dead
“I’ll get the doctors to?—”
“No. I’ll do it.” His tongue darted out to lick his lips. “No one sees you but me.”
Was that jealousy in his growl?
But he vowed to be my enemy. If… “I didn’t help Carl.”
So much swam on the surface of his expression. Horror, pain, relief, guilt… it was hard to keep up. “I can see that.” His palm hovered over one of the bruises on my arm. I didn’t need to be reminded of the blows that landed there and elsewhere. They throbbed in time with the bloody mess of my wrists, foot and back.
Electricity traveled from the clouds to the flagpole top. It exploded in a flash of white and seared down the wooden pole and the wet rope that looped around my wrist bindings before wrapping around the metal cleat buried under the stacked wood. In under a second, I’d been freed but at a terrible cost. I might not walk again. I might be blind in one eye. My skin had these pretty, but terrible burns called Lichtenberg figures etched into it. The lightning traveled through me, back to the pole, and into the ground. I was damn lucky to be alive.
In that brief flash, I’d seen what mortals shouldn’t.
Pain was such a small price in hindsight. “You saved me,” I told Bear.
He scoffed. “Hardly. I got my ass kicked. And I was too slow.”
No, he’d saved me. His belief, his forgiveness… he found me. Which was a miracle of its own. “I asked Thor to fuck Carl up. Please tell me he’s dead.”
Bear frowned. “Hopefully soon. He’s on life support.”
I wanted to curse. But then remembered Beth. “The bone marrow?”
A slow nod answered. “John’s here. He’s quite bloodthirsty right now. And he’s notified the staff that Carl is his wife’s donor.”
Good.
A wash of peace swept through me as I closed my eyes to send a silent thank you to the universe for watching out for Beth.
“Hey, don’t pass out on me. I need you.”
I opened my semi-good eye. “You need me?”
His face was pale. “More than you fucking know.”
The knowledge that he’d openly admitted such a weakness felt… amazing. Yet there was so much anguish in his voice. Was it because of my condition, or because of Carl? Or…
“Wait a minute, did you go to the meeting tonight?”
Bear shook his head. “I came after you.”
He gave up his shot to be vice president. For me. “I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged. “Nothing to be sorry for. They voted me in despite that. Something about keeping KC in line and looking out for the club’s interests or some shit.”
I tried and failed to snag a braid. He leaned closer so I could tangle my fingers in his beard. The pain lessened, and I couldn’t remember what we were talking about for a moment.
“You with me?” Bear asked.
“I’m yours.” It came out so easily. As naturally as breathing. Maybe even more so because breathing was a fragile thing right now.
He cupped his hands around the elbow I propped against the sidewall of the bed. “And I’m yours.”
And the club’s.
I smiled despite that reminder. “I love you. But…”
“No buts. I love you, too. When you’re sprung from this place, we’re going to figure out all the rest.”
