Cat might still come for me.
No part of me believes that I’m out of the woods just yet.
“I wouldn’t go to the hospital if I were you, not right now,” Grey tells me with a sigh. He points right at my forehead and closes one eye. “There are snipers all over waiting to shoot you in the face.”
“I survived the motorcade,” I say, my palms itching as I think about Grainger, about Sin. If Beast is actually willing to risk taking me to the hospital, then things must be bad. They must be really, really bad. “What makes this any different?”
“You survived the motorcade because I helped you out. I had Reba slip me information about anything she could come up with, much of it relevant and factual. When I gave my father the incorrect start time for the motorcade, he believed me.”
I give Reba a harsh look, and she cringes.
Like … is her loyalty to Grey now? For fuck’s sake.
“It was the only way. I couldn’t see you get hurt,” she whispers, and I grit my teeth, make my head explode with fireworks of pain, and then remind myself to never, ever do that again. Maybe Beast is right? Maybe I do need a doctor?
“Snipers, huh?” Beast asks, musing about that for a minute. “Not unexpected. I can still get her there alright.”
“Your call,” Grey agrees politely, glancing back at me with his dirty blond hair falling over his heather gray eyes. Looking at him now, I’m actually relieved that we didn’t fall in love. It wouldn’t have worked out. He looks as much an outcast here as I did back at the mafia palace. We might be the same person, but we’re dressed in different sins.
Mine are rough and gritty, and sure, a little ratchet; Grey’s are crafted of cobra venom and silk soaked in embalming fluid. Both things will kill you, but it hurts a little different.
He wouldn’t have been able to fit in here, especially not with my men.
Not in a million years.
And since choosing between Grey and the others is a relatively simple choice, I know that I made the right decision that day, when I stayed in the cathedral and wielded an Uzi on the guests of my own wedding.
“All I’m saying is: be careful,” he warns me again, giving me an assessing once-over that ends with a sharp shake of his head. “Go. I’ll stay hidden.”
“If anyone shows up while we’re gone, get in the chimney,” Beast commands, giving Reba a different sort of look. “You sit nice and pretty on the couch. Maybe offer ‘em up some sweet tea or somethin’.”
“Are you being serious right now?” Reba asks, frowning at him as Beast draws me back into the room and closes the door. He moves over to a dresser and extracts a long-sleeved pullover sweatshirt. It’s big enough to be a dress on me, but I think that’s the point.
“You’re going to draw a lot of attention at the hospital,” he tells me, looking me over and sliding a hand down his face. “Young and pretty and …” Beast trails off with a sigh as I cock a brow at him. “All beat-up like that.”
That’s not what he originally intended to say, and we both know it.
“Young and pretty and … what?” I ask, feeling my entire body go ice-cold.
No.
Not today. Please don’t dump this on me today.
Beast realizes his mistake quickly and tosses me the sweater.
“I really hate to ask this on the first day of our marriage,” he starts, his jaw tense as he reaches up and rubs a thumb across the swollen seam of my lips. “But how well can you put on makeup?”
I laugh this time. It’s a hysterical laugh. I can’t help it.
“Right. I’ll just … cover up my bruises with makeup.” I hold the oversized sweater against my chest. I’m wearing clean clothes now; Beast must’ve undressed, washed, and redressed me earlier. I just need a bra, some leggings, and my toiletries. My shirt and panties are fresh. “I need to use Crown’s bathroom.”
Beast nods and opens the door, escorting me out and upstairs.
And then off to the hospital we go.
Me, young and pretty and … married to a much older outlaw, covered in bruises with a swollen face that no amount of concealer can hide. Fuck. I’m a walking, talking liability to the club right now.
But regardless of what it looks like, I know this: the man who hit me is as dead as he deserves, and I am no innocent little girl.
I am, and always will be, a wary predator.
Unsurprisingly, all eyes turn to me as soon as I step foot into that hospital. A nurse agrees to take me back to see Sin if only I’ll head inside a closed exam room for a moment, just to see if that swelling around my eye isn’t something to be worried about.
