Page 103 of Twice the Rivalry

He wasn’t among the group who were standing up, and panic gripped her. “Code?” she called desperately, moving through the sea of bodies.

“He’s out cold,” Doc told her, pulling her attention to where he was leaning over a prone Code. Fear consumed her when she realized he was the only one not awake. He lifted Code’s eyelids one by one. “He’s unconscious, and he’s definitely got a concussion, but he’ll wake up in a few hours,” Doc assured her when she fell to her knees beside him. “Someone help me get him into the infirmary,” Doc barked. “The rest of you can line your asses up and I’ll get to you as I can.”

“Someone check on the women,” Savage ordered.

“They’re fine,” Tom’s voice suddenly called, making them all look over to see that he was standing at the top of the stairs, looking grim. “But someone needs to get down there and calm them the hell down. The twins were talking about breaking down the door and coming up here to handle shit themselves. The babies are screaming, and Ronin and Gabe are trying to help the girls out.”

“Tell them we’ll let them out shortly, that we’re cleaning up the mess,” Savage ordered him. Tom nodded and turned to head back down the steps. “Get these bodies the hell out of here,” Savage ordered.

“We’ll handle it,” Simba told him. “See to your men and your women and kids, brother. We’ve got the clean up.” Savage gave him a grateful nod. When Karissa and Glitch made a move to stand, he cut them both fierce looks. “You two stay with your men. We’ll talk after.” Too tired to argue, Glitch nodded and turned her attention back to Code.

Rogue lifted Code like he weighed nothing, and hauled him to the infirmary room where Doc got him comfortable and hooked him up to some of the machines there. The steady sound of his heartbeat was comforting, beating strong. She laid her head down on the side of the bed, bone deep exhaustion rolling through her.

It was over. Finally. Now she just needed Code to wake up.

“So he’s the one, huh?” Taz’s voice asked quietly a few hours later when he came to sit with her. The mess in the other room was being handled, and while she felt bad that she wasn’t helping, she didn’t want to leave Code, who was still out cold. Doc was confident he would wake up soon, but with each passing minute, she wasn’t so sure.

She looked over at him tiredly. “Yeah, he’s the one,” she replied softly, before looking back at Code. Doc bandaged his head and cleaned up most of the blood, but his clothes were still stained with it. “I never thought I’d find someone like him,” she admitted.

Taz chuckled softly. “Babe, I always knew you were going to meet someone, and as much as I hate the idea, he’s who you belong with. As long as you’re happy, then I’m happy.”

“I don’t know what I am at the moment,” she admitted. “I need time to process it all, I guess.”

Taz reached out and took her other hand in his, drawing her attention back to him. “You made me so fucking proud, coming in and seeing you standing there, babe,” he told her with a smile. “You handled your shit, and you proved you don’t need someone to help you unless you ask for it. Looks like all those hours in the gym and our sparring sessions paid off,” he teased. “You’re welcome.”

She chuckled. “That ego of yours is going to get you in trouble,” she warned him. “If I can find room for a man in my life, then you can find room for a woman in yours.”

He lost his smile and shook his head. “Nah, I’m not relationship material,” he said easily, but there was something in his eyes that piqued her curiosity. “Besides, like I told the twins, I make a far better Uncle anyway. Now, I’m going to help finish getting things squared away. We’re going to debrief with the Dragons tomorrow, so don’t stay up here too late. Got me?”

“Got you, but I’m not leaving him,” she told him firmly.

He nodded. “Alright, I’ll come back and check on you later.” Then he leaned down to kiss the top of her head before he walked out.

She looked back at Code and murmured, “You need to wake up, caveman. We have some shit to figure out, and we can’t do that if you’re sleeping.” He didn’t wake or stir, and she sighed. She glanced at the bed and saw there was enough space, so she toed off her shoes and crawled up into the bed with him, laying her head on his chest and closing her eyes.

She would be here when he woke up, she vowed, and then they were going to figure some shit out. Because after all of this, she wasn’t going to waste another second. Almost dying was enough to make that abundantly clear.

She just hoped he was ready.

CHAPTERFORTY-SEVEN

CODE

He winced as he lowered himself into his seat in Church. God he was sore, and his head was still pounding. Though, when he looked around the room at the rest of his brothers, a few of them were also a little worse for wear. Savage was sporting some dark bruises on his cheek and around his left eye, though at least it wasn’t swollen shut. Most everyone else had bruises, cuts, and in the case of Rogue and Fury, torn up knuckles.

The only ones who weren’t in some sort of pain were the Predators, but they at least had the good sense to not say a word about it. Though he saw Taz fight back a grin a few times when someone would moan or groan.

He turned and saw Karissa sitting in Razor’s lap, and despite the badass that she was, her head rested in the crook of his neck, holding on to him. Code was knocked out for a short while, but other than a giant bump on the back of his head, he was fine. Still, he knew the terror, especially considering he hadn’t been able to help Glitch before Crisp took him out.

He hoped he never had to feel that again as long as he lived, but he knew with Glitch and her team, that wasn’t realistic. He glanced down at where she was seated in his lap, facing forward as she worked on getting things back to rights with the security system. Considering the bruising on her face and all the cuts and lacerations on her body, he was surprised she was still so sharp. Though, his woman was definitely a different breed.

When he woke up last night to find her wrapped around him in the infirmary bed, relief flooded through him knowing she was okay. It was so overwhelming that despite the pain in his head and body, he hugged her as tight to him as he could, waking her. She woke up instantly, eyes wide with her own relief when they connected with his. She scrambled to call Doc back in and have him checked out, refusing to leave his side the entire time. Though he had to laugh at her bedside manner when she told him to buck up, when he moaned and groaned as Doc poked and prodded at him. Still, she was attentive and careful with him all night, refusing to leave his side even when Doc gave him the all-clear to go to bed, with instructions for her to wake him up every couple of hours.

That interrupted sleep put him in a shit mood this morning, but he’d sleep it off later. It would take more than a few blows to the head to keep him down.

Now, he was grateful that none of their own weren’t dead, and that while they had some major repairs to do, the Ghost team were dead, and thanks to the Predators, there was nothing left of them for anyone to find. The bastards were very thorough.

Savage banged his gavel loudly, and he and a few others winced at the sound. “Damn it, Prez, how about a little sympathy?” Ink groaned, lowering his head into his hands. The Ghost team tied him up and threw him against the bar, making him hit his head pretty hard, and he had been groaning about a headache ever since.

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