Page 76 of The Vow

And only when she couldn’t feel her body anymore, only then did she crawl out of the shower, pull her wet dress off, wrap a towel around her body and climb straight into bed. To immediately fall into a dreamless, numb sleep.

Carmelo

“Fuck, Carmelo, you got to fucking get up, okay? You can’t be late for your own fucking wedding day,” Colt’s voice cut through the pain. The gray fog in his head. He tried to say something. His throat felt sore, like razors.

“Prez, look,” another voice said. He felt hands on his body, his ribs. They hurt.

“Jesus fucking Christ! He’s black and blue!”

“He’s been beaten up. Bad.” That was Jared’s voice, he could place it now.

He cracked open one eye. It felt sore, too. His whole body and his brain felt like he’d been hit by a truck.

He tried to blink and clear the fog. It looked like the whole of the MC was in his room. How did they…

“Look, I completely respect the fact that we broke the door down, as you can see, we are in the middle of a medical emergency here…” It was Ash, at the door, that was hanging off one hinge awkwardly, arguing with the concierge. Ironic, Carmelo thought, as Ash himself used to be a concierge. “Just add it to our tab, of course the MC will pay for it…”

Colt was muttering something, he felt Jared’s large hands roll him over on the bed. “Fuck, all down his back, too, Prez-”

It felt like he was lying on shards of glass, he winced, flinched.

“It would have taken a couple of people to do this, Carmelo’s not a lightweight pushover when it comes to a spar-”

“No, I know-”

“Unless he was impaired,” Nix’s voice cut through his head, too, now.

There was an ugly pause. “What do you mean?” Colt said darkly.

“He was drugged,” Nix’s voice was low and deep. Carmelo felt his heart pounding uncontrollably in his chest. Nix would know, Nix experimented and then some in his past.

“Kavan said he went out drinking, whoring about-”

“Kavan is a piece of shit and I don’t believe a word he says,” Sully’s voice chimed in now, vehemently.

“I did think… it felt out of character-”

“He loves her. No question about it. No way would he fuck around on the evening before their wedding. Unless he was fucking aroundwith her-”

“That’s a good point, what state is Lena in? She might be able to tell us what’s fucking going on here.”

“You won’t be allowed anywhere near her-” Sully pointed out.

Colt grunted. “Ask the girls. April, or Penny… Sophie, whoever is around, get them to go to her room, check on her.”

“Yes Prez.” And Carmelo watched Sully stalk from the room through his crusty, sore eyes.

“Fuck, we are going to have to get him washed and dressed-”

“Yeah, get him in the bath, that will help-”

“He’s groggy as fuck.”

“Carmelo?” That was Colt now. It was a loud, direct voice, grating in his ear.

Carmelo groaned in response. His head felt heavy.

“Can we give him a coffee, would that help?” Someone held a steaming mug of bitter coffee under his nose. Carmelo heaved. Dry heaved. There was nothing in his stomach, nothing in his body. He felt empty. He felt broken. He wanted to just sleep.

---