Page 35 of Only The Strong

He scoffs behind me. “The fuck you are. Sit your ass in bed and I’ll call her.”

Angry at my body and how much pain I'm in but also at the bossy asshole behind me I growl. “Fuck off.”

Finn stomps to my side of the bed and stands beside me. “Motherfucker, I will goddamn sedate you. Sit your ass back and I will call her.” I give up and sit back in bed because fucking ouch and I know he really will sedate me; I’m choosing my battles. He walks back over to the chair he has claimed as his and he pulls his phone out, dialing Reese on speaker phone.

The call rings for what feels like forever and then goes to voicemail. Feeling my heartbeat quickly fucking rising. “Call her again.” Panic evident in my voice. He calls her again but the call rings through with no answer.

Before I can try getting up again he halts me. “Before your fucking heart explodes and the nurses rush in, let me call Mason.” Mason picks up instantly.

“What’s up, boss?” I can hear faint typing on his end of the line.

Finn sets the phone on the bed next to my legs and leans forward resting his elbows on his knees. “Where’s Reese, she’s not answering her phone.”

The typing stops and I can hear my heart in my goddamn ears during the small pause he gives. “I’m outside in my truck and she went in a little bit ago. All of the lights are off, so I assumed she went to sleep. I can go knock though.” I hear a car door open through the phone.

“No. It’s fine. She had a crazy day, let her sleep.” I rush before he gets to her door. He’s right, she’s sleeping. Her body always crashes after some crazy shit like today. “Why did she want to go home instead of stay at my house?” I ask the question that keeps nagging at the back of my mind. Call me insecure, but it feels like she’s pushing me away.

Mason closes the car door on his side and then is quiet for another moment, a long moment. “She didn't say.”What the fuck?

Before I can think about it any more Finn pipes in. “Miles finished replacing everything right?”

My head turns to face him again and I nod. “Yeah, locks have been replaced, code has been changed and the system has been upgraded, and the cameras are even more sensitive and alert when there is any type of movement now.”

More typing on Mase’s end. The guy is always messing with his tablet or his laptop, but he really is learning a lot from Miles. “I’m almost done with the block for Reese’s phone so it can’t be copied again, and so far it hasn’t been.”

I sigh, deciding that she’s safe at her apartment tonight with Mason since I can't really do anything else from where I am. “Fine, I’ll be over in the morning.”

“Got it, brother. See you then.” Mason hangs up and Finn takes his phone back, and the gaming controller with it.

“Chill the fuck out, she’s fine. Now, what do you want to watch since you can’t game with one arm, gimpy?” We both laugh and I flip him off with my good arm.

33

CALLUM

I’m carefully pullingmy black t-shirt over my head when Nurse Kelli pushes a wheelchair into my room. Finn trailing behind her with his shit-eating grin. “Kelli, you better turn that shit around. I'm walking out of here.” I grab my bag of belongings off of the table next to my bed, luckily the paramedics were able to preserve my patches but not so much my cut. The scrapes of it are in the giant ziplock along with my wallet, beat-to-hell phone, and useless Raptor keys.

Nurse Kelli rolls her eyes, completely used to Finn and I’s attitudes. Finn and I convinced her to join us in my room last night for pizza and a round of COD. She kicked Finn’s ass and I will never let him live that down. She said she has three boys at home and she sometimes plays with them. “You’re no fun, grumpy gills.” She parks the wheelchair outside of the door and steps aside to let Finn through.

“Look what I got!” Finn sings while dangling car keys from his finger.

“Already?” I ask while slipping on my tennis shoes.

Finn hands me the keys to my new Raptor since the previous one will definitely be totaled. “Saint and Wyatt went to pick it up last night in Seattle. Brand new, white just like the last one, but with red stitching inside.”

“Why did Saint go?” I ask while slipping the keys into the pockets of my gray sweats.

Finn shrugs and grabs my bag of stuff. “He said he couldn’t just sit in the waiting room all night, he needed to do something.” He stares at the cut up leather with a sad expression. “The new one’s already on its way, brother. We’re glad you’re in one piece though.” He looks at me with a sad smile.

Nurse Kelli hugs us both as we exit the hallway and round into the waiting room. Cheers and whoops ring out loudly, all of my brothers, plus Wyatt, Leo, and Jack all stand in the waiting room, Ronan’s old ass holding a small teddy bear and an “It’s A Girl!” balloon. He makes his way to us first. “I’m glad you're okay, kid. I don’t know what we would have done without our three muskerfucks.” We both laugh at his name for me, Finn, and Saint.

“Thanks for the balloon.” I point up to the pink balloon floating above us.

“Anytime.” He smirks at me. Old motherfucker, not really all that old but we like to tease him, is always joking around; even though most people see him as the hardass president. He says we deal with too much shit on the daily and he likes to bring light into serious situations, needless to say, he and Finn get along fucking great!

Saint steps around Ronan and claps me on the back. “Good to have you back, brother.” Aw that was nice. “But next time you scare us like that I’ll put you in the hospital myself.” And there’s our grumpy VP. The complete opposite of Ronan, yet they make the perfect pair. Grumpy or not, Saint is a goddamn great friend and with me and Finn, we make the perfect threesome. I love every single one of the men in this club, including the prospects, this is my family and they've treated me better than anyone ever has, even my own blood.

I look around, the only people missing are Reese and Mason. As if reading my mind, Finn nudges me. “Go get your girl.”

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