Page 51 of Only The Strong

I open my mouth to say something, but Saint walks through the double doors leading back into the ER, wiping blood off of his hands with some sort of disinfectant wipe. The doors swinging closed snags Huntley’s attention and she turns to face him.

“He’s fine, the bullet didn’t hit anything major, just lodged itself into his obnoxious amount of muscle. I guess being a giant fucker finally paid off for him. They’re removing the bullet now and will transfer him to a room so they can continue to replenish some blood.”

Huntley lets out a loud sigh. “He’s okay?”

Saint smirks and shakes his head. “He’s perfectly fine now that he’s gained some strength back. When I left he was carrying on a conversation with the doctor about her ‘65 Stingray.”

“Of course he was.” Huntley laughs.

Saint takes Huntley’s hand and leads her to a chair. “So let’s just sit and wait for a nurse to come back and escort us to his room.” She nods and follows him to sit.

Callum and I sit a few seats away, my hand encased in his strong one. Something Eli said keeps playing in my mind, and I can't make sense of it.

I lean into Callum’s side so I don't have to speak so loudly. “Callum, what are you doing at CM that could get you in trouble with the ATF?”

His head snaps to the side to look at me, and his hold on my hand tightens. “What?” He asks.

“Eli said he was going to turn ATF onto CM to ensure that you let me go.” I hold his eyes, I need these answers. I’m tired of being left in the dark when it comes to him and the club, not anymore.

Callum breaks eye contact briefly, looking down and scratching his eyebrow before speaking. “It’s nothing you need to worry about, Red.”

“Stop.” My voice drops dangerously. “Stop shutting me out. If I'm supposed to be your Old Lady then I want to know everything from here on out.” His eyes widened in surprise. “So what is going on at your roofing company?”

“My Old Lady?” Cale asks with a grin. Of course, that’s the only part of that he heard.

“Yeah.” I smile.

Callum chuckles. “Damn, Red. You didn't even let me ask you.” He sobers and nods slowly, seeming to think about what he wants to say. “Okay. The club makes ammo in a hidden basement under my warehouse.”

“And that would get you in trouble because?” I hedge.

“Because we make them for illegal rifles and sell them to,” he pauses, squinting at the ceiling. “Unsavory characters.”

“Okay,” I say slowly. “It could be a lot worse.” Callum laughs and bites his bottom lip while nodding his head. Things start to click together, the club helping him buy the warehouse, the weird meeting with Sebastian, his immense knowledge of guns, and his seemingly endless amount of money. “Is that what the meeting with Sebastian was about in Seattle?” I ask to confirm.

He nods. “Sebastian is the head of the Segreto Mafia in Italy. Some shit is going down with him and the O’Connell Irish crime family.”

Now it’s my turn to be surprised. “The mafia? And you're involved in it?”Never mind it’s getting worse.

Callum grabs my other hand and leans closer, looking deep into my eyes. “Only as far as the bullets go, we’re not in any danger. You’re not in any danger. I promise, Red. The club and I will always protect you, I think we proved that tonight.”

After checking on Finn, Callum and I walk out of the hospital, his arm draped over my shoulders. “What are we supposed to do now?” I ask. I mean what do you do after you spent months being stalked by your ex's best friend, fell in love with a criminal, found a new family with said criminal’s organization, and then killed your crazy stalker? I mean no one called the cops to report mine and Finn’s kidnapping or Eli’s dead body. The only phone call I overheard was Ronan calling some doctor and giving him the warehouse's address and the area where we left Eli’s body. When I asked Callum about it at the hospital he told me that they know a debarred doctor that buys human bodies and harvests their organs to sell through the Red Market. Just knowing that the club has someone on speed dial to dispose of dead bodies for them, plural, was enough to make me start to spiral so I stopped asking questions after that. I know Callum is good and I know the club is too, I don't need to know all of their dark secrets.

“Live our normal lives, maybe finally have some fun.” Callum laughs, pulling me in closer and placing a kiss on the top of my head.

I look up at him as he guides us to his truck. I don’t think I'll ever get used to his beauty. His blonde hair is always messily tousled, his steel blue eyes that always draw me in, and his strong jaw. Damn, he's handsome. “How are we supposed to do that after all of the excitement over the last few months?”

We reach Cale’s Raptor and he turns me around to face him. His hands fall to my hips and mine wrap around his neck to rest on the place my tattoo sits. “You could start by moving in with me,” he says, looking into my eyes. My eyes widen with surprise, but I already know my answer. Wherever Callum is, that's where I want to be.

I lean up to press a kiss to his lips and when I pull away, his eyes bore into mine, searching out my soul and capturing it. “Yes.” I finally answer him.

EPILOGUE

ONE MONTH LATER

Reese

I walkinto mine and Callum’s townhouse after going into the office for a few hours. Callum is where he usually is now in his free time, sitting in front of the bay window at the keyboard I got him, with his headphones plugged in and lost in his music. He’s started playing almost daily. Recently he won't share what he’s been working on but I know he’s writing something special because when I'm sitting on the couch behind him I see him erasing and scribbling notes onto a sheet of music. He’s composing something special, I can feel it. He seems a lot lighter these days, we both do. When he said we should have fun and live our lives that's exactly what we've been doing. Honestly, you could say it’s been downright boring. We grocery shop together every Sunday, Cale goes to the gym, we go to the movies and spend way too much on their dine-in service, but seriously who could resist that chicken bacon mac and cheese? We go on a lot of bike rides and go to our favorite mountain spot a lot just to talk and enjoy being together.

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