Page 82 of The Devil's Reward
I glare at my son, though he ignores me and continues to stand sentry over me. “Would you go the hell home?” I demand. I’m tired, sore, and pissed as hell. None are a good combination for anyone who gets between me and what I want. And what I want is my son to go home, shower, and stop looking at me like I’m going to die. I’m alive and kicking, and I plan on staying that way. Not that Stone believes me.
“I told you, I’m fine,” he snaps back at me, eyes exactly like mine flashing in irritation. “And until this mole is caught, you’re not being left alone.”
I finally convinced King to go home to shower and get something to eat, which he did reluctantly. Sage briefly woke up earlier, which is a damn good sign, and is now sleeping again. Torque did the same now that Izzy is awake and Hulk is guarding her door. Now to get the hard-headed one to do the same.
Sometimes I think his mother knew how much of a headache he was going to be and chose his name aptly.
Rose still hasn’t woken up, and I try not to worry. The doctors have assured me she’s going to recover, but she needs time to heal. Being an older woman—and just wait until I tell her he said that, she’ll have his balls—she’ll take a bit more time to recover. But until she finally opens her eyes, I won’t be able to relax. It’s pissing me off that I can’t get out of this bed because I’m too weak and strapped to so many damn machines. I want to be beside her, but instead, I have to watch her from a few feet away.
For that alone, I’ll kill the bastard who put her here.
“Your mother is fine, Stone,” I tell him firmly. “I’m here and—”
“You’re in the bed next to her, Dad,” Stone snarls. “If something goes wrong, or if our mole comes in and tries to finish the job, it’s not like you can get up and save her.”
“Are you saying you don’t trust Hulk or Crypt?” I ask him carefully. “That you don’t think they can protect us?”
“We don’t know Crypt well,” Stone reminds me. “He only got here a few days ago.”
“And yet, he’s stepped up, just like Shadow said he would. He’s former Special Forces, son, and he’s deadly. Hulk is too, and anyone who thinks to get past that giant will end up tossed out the window.” I sigh. “Stone, go home, shower, eat, and get some sleep. I’ve been watching over your mother for thirty-plus years, and I’m not going to stop now.”
He opens his mouth to argue, but then the door to the room opens and has him swinging around on full alert. I bite back a smirk when I see who it is. Stone relaxes slightly, but not completely as he looks at the stunning redhead coming into the room. Syn looks at Sage first, her concern for her best friend clear, and then she moves to me, completely ignoring Stone who steps back to let her closer.
She leans down to kiss my cheek, a rare gesture for her. I haven’t known Syn to be outwardly affectionate, but it’s clear by the lines of worry on her face and the dark circles under her eyes that she hasn’t been sleeping much. “I heard you were awake and terrorizing the nurses,” she teases. “I had to come in and see for myself.”
“I hate hospitals,” I gripe.
“How are you feeling?” she asks, eyes assessing.
She’s not a cop, but she has some good instincts. She’d be hell on wheels if she ever decided to join the force. Lucky for us, that’s not something she wants to do. “Like I got hit by a car,” I tell her dryly.
Her lips pull back into a smirk. “Nice to see that your sense of humor is intact,” she drawls. She glances over at Rose, and her lips thin. “Any word on when she’ll wake up?”
“Doctors are hoping tomorrow, but they said it’s hard to tell with these kinds of things. But everything looks normal, and they took out the breathing tube earlier. Now it’s just a waiting game,” I explain.
She nods. “Rose is too stubborn to let this keep her down for long, so I bet she’ll be opening her eyes earlier than that,” she predicts.
“Speaking of stubborn,” I say with a pointed look at my son.
Syn turns and looks at him, mouth pulling down in a frown when she takes him in. He crosses his arms over his chest and glares at her. The tension between these two is off the charts, and I don’t quite understand why my son is fighting it so hard. But, I know better than to stick my nose in or he’ll dig in his heels. He’s a lot like his mother that way. Still, I can give him a little nudge once in a while.
“You want me to take him out of here?” Syn asks me.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Stone says coolly.
“Yes, take him out,” I tell Syn, ignoring him. “He’s stinking up the damn place, and if I have to look at his mug for much longer, I’m going to end up right back in a coma.”
Stone glares at me, and Syn chuckles. “On it. Come on, big guy, let’s get you out of here and back into the real world.”
“Forget it,” he says, not moving.
Syn’s brow arches, gunmetal blue eyes cool and sharp. I settle back into the bed to watch the show. This ought to be good. “You’re going if I have to drag you out of here,” she warns him.
He sneers at her. “I’d like to see you try, woman,” he taunts. “You don’t have your dogs to help you now.”
The smile on her face is slow and holds a dangerous edge, and I see the flash of uncertainty in Stone’s eyes before he hardens his expression. “I don’t need my dogs to make people do what I want, Stone,” she says serenely. “I’m not a cop, but I have a lot of training, and some of that training involves knowing just how to touch you—pardon my pun—and have you dropping like a stone. Then I’ll have one of those big brutes out there carry you out. Won’t your brothers just love to see that? I bet the nurses too. If anyone has a phone, you’ll go viral in ten minutes or less. So what’s it going to be? You can go with me willingly and I take you to the clubhouse so you can clean up and eat, and then I bring you back. Or, I’ll do what I promised, have them dump you in my car and I take you to my place and lock you in the damn barn until you come to your senses.”
I have to bite back a laugh. Damn is she good. She knows Stone won’t want that to happen, even if he fights her the whole way. When these two finally get their heads out of their asses, it’s going to be explosive.
