Page 17 of Sully
Tiny made the same U-turn the van had, heading back to the compound.As we pulled away fromThrottle, I noticed Darby sinking deeper into the seat, the adrenaline that had kept her going finally beginning to ebb.Her face had gone from pale to ashen, her breathing becoming more labored.
“Hey,” I said softly, pulling her closer to my side.“Look at me, Darby.”
Her eyes were unfocused, her body trembling slightly under my arm.“Hey.”Her words were slightly slurred, and she was shivering almost uncontrollably.
“How bad is it really?”I asked, keeping my voice low.
She swallowed hard.“Had worse.”Her attempt at a smile faltered.“Just need to rest a bit.”
“We’ll get you looked at when we get to the compound.”
She shook her head slightly.“No doctors.”
“Club’s got someone who can see you,” I assured her.“Trained as an ER doc.No hospitals, no records.”
She had her hand clamped against her side and her breathing was shallow.She was pale but her lips were still pink so she might be hurting, but she wasn’t in immediate danger.
“Almost there,” Tiny called back, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror.The concern in them matched my own.
The compound came into view, a series of connected warehouses surrounded by a high fence topped with razor wire.Guards at the gate recognized Tiny’s vehicle immediately, waving us through without stopping us.The Bronco rolled to a stop in the inner courtyard, and Tiny killed the engine.
“Get her inside,” he said.“I’ll take care of our guest.”
I nodded, then turned to Darby.“Can you walk?”
She started to nod, then stopped, honesty winning out over pride.“Not sure.”
Without hesitation, I slid one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her as gently as I could.She was lighter than I remembered, her body curling instinctively against my chest as I carried her.Something that’d been restless inside me for weeks finally settled.Yes, she was hurt; yes, there were issues.But Darby was here with me.Where I could keep her safe.
Knight held the door open as I carried her down the path toward the warehouse on the perimeter where my apartment was on the second floor.“I’ll get Pain,” he said, his tattooed face creased with worry.“He’ll come to you and Darby.”
I nodded my thanks, then focused on getting Darby inside.Her breathing had grown more ragged, her face pressed against my shoulder.I pushed open my door with my foot and carried her through the darkened apartment to my bedroom, alarmed.If she couldn’t breathe, I needed to take her to Pain now, not wait for him to come to me.
As I started to lay her carefully on the bed, something in her seemed to break.The tough exterior she’d maintained through the fight, through the confrontation with Jenkins, through the ride to safety, all of it crumbled at once.Her shoulders began to shake, silent tears streaming down her face and soaking my shirt.
“Shh,” I murmured, sitting on the edge of the bed holding her carefully against me.“You’re safe now.I’ve got you.”
Her arms went around my neck, holding on with surprising strength as she finally let go.Sobs racked her small frame, each one causing her to wince in pain but seeming impossible to stop now that the dam had broken.
I held her through it all, my hand stroking her hair, murmuring reassurances against the top of her head.And as her tears continued to soak my shirt, I made a silent promise that whoever had hurt her in her life, whether it was Jenkins, her father, or anyone else, would pay dearly for every tear, every bruise, every moment of fear she’d endured.
Because somehow, in the space of one night weeks ago, this wild, broken, beautiful woman had become mine to protect.And I would burn the world down before I let anyone hurt her again.
Chapter Five
Darby
I gripped the edge of Sully’s bathroom sink, forcing myself to look at the stranger in the mirror.My cheek had bloomed into an ugly purple blotch, the split in my lip crusted with dried blood where it oozed for a while.I barely recognized myself with the vulnerability etched across my face, the remnants of tears still visible on my skin.This wasn’t me.I didn’t cry in front of anyone, let alone a man I barely knew in a place of questionable safety.Yet here I stood in Sully’s bathroom, my escapades temporarily shelved as pain radiated through my ribs with each shallow breath.
“Fuck,” I muttered, gingerly prodding the tender area beneath my rib cage.I’d had broken ribs before.This was milder, though still a bitch to deal with.
I lifted the hem of the borrowed T-shirt Sully had given me after his medic friend had examined my ribs.His name was Pain, of all the fucking ironic things.The bruising spread out along my torso, painting it with a nice, pretty, reddish splotch.
The medicine cabinet above the sink hung slightly ajar.Such mundane normality from someone who had fought like a demon to protect me, who had held me while I fell apart.I closed the cabinet, unable to make even a small invasion of Sully’s privacy after he’d seen me at my most vulnerable.I understood what it was like to have yourself stripped bare.I chose to show him my soft spot.He hadn’t given me the same permission.
A knock at the bathroom door made me flinch, sending a jolt of pain through my side.“Darby?”Sully’s voice was low, concerned.“You okay in there?”
“Just admiring my new look,” I called back, aiming for lightness and missing by a mile.“Purple’s really my color, don’t you think?”
