Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
I knew exactly what was good for me, which was why I grabbed the phone on my bedside table and dialed his home number.
No one answered.
And later, one of the times Miss Dorothea or one of Darius’s sisters answered the phone, they were sweet, they sounded sad, but every single time, Darius refused to take my calls.
* * * *
Fast Forward – Hit Play
Now…
We stood in the hospital waiting room with Duke and the gang was all there.
All of the gang was there.
The place was crowded, standing room only.
But I didn’t have it in me to take them in, to look for familiar faces.
All I could think about was Darius.
And Ally, who was in front of us, her gaze on my son.
“That’s your father’s,” she announced.
I moved close to my boy as Liam’s eyes got huge and they were fixed to Ally’s bloody hand.
I heard a gasp.
Dorothea.
Damn.
She didn’t know about Liam…
Yet.
Well, now she knew.
“Don’t, Ally,” Eddie bit out.
“Lay down the truth, darlin’.” Duke’s rough voice encouraged. Ally looked to him. So did I. He nodded to Ally. “Now’s the time.”
“It’s not the fuckin’ time,” Lee bit out.
Ally’s attention returned to my son.
“A bad guy was touching me,” she declared. “Your father had already been shot in both legs and slammed in the head with a tire iron, but he still got him off me. He barely got a hand on me, and your father dragged himself to me and pulled him off. I was drugged. I couldn’t defend myself or help him. But he kept him off me even when that asshole stabbed him. He kept him off me until help came. Blood pouring out of him, and he kept him off me.”
“Ally—” I whispered, my voice pained, because I was pained.
I got her need to do this, I hated what had happened to her, but my need was finding out if the love of my life was going to survive all of that.
Ally spoke over me.
“Look around you,” Ally ordered Liam. “All these people, this,” she jerked her bloody hand in the air, “that’s your father.” She turned to me. “I don’t know what went down with Eddie and Lee. What I know is if Darius makes it through this, he’s gonna stay away. From you. From his son.” She swung an arm out behind her. “From everybody.”
She took a step toward us. Liam put an arm around my waist and pulled me back just as Lee put an arm around Ally to stop her.
“Don’t let him, please,” she pleaded in a whisper.
“Zano, a little help,” Lee said about two seconds before he released Ally.
He did this because a dark-haired, fine-looking man clamped down on her with both arms.
His lips at her ear, he said, “All right, baby, that’s out. Now come sit with me.”
“Don’t let him,” she repeated to me.
Okay, she was flipping out.
I had other things on my mind, but this was something I could sort pretty easily.
So, before she could turn away (or be pulled away by her fine-looking man, trust Ally to score that long drink of hot water), I moved forward and caught her hands.
“I talked with Liam this morning and he wants to meet his dad,” I whispered.
Ally looked uncomfortable.
Yeah, her big speech was effective, but unnecessary.
“Well, uh…that’s good,” she muttered.
I tipped my head to the side, and even though I still had other, more pressing things to think about, I felt a small smile play at my mouth, because this was pure Ally, and boy…
I’d missed her.
I squeezed her hands. “I see you haven’t changed.”
“Nope,” she agreed, and her gaze strayed to Liam. “Though I’m not usually this crazy.”
My kid was smart. In this instance, his intelligence showed in the fact that he looked like he didn’t believe her.
“Yes, she is,” Eddie said.
Ally glared at Eddie.
Then her man pulled her away, but she squeezed my hands back before she let me go.
I looked to Dorothea.
She was staring at Liam with a face full of wonder mingled with nuances of hurt.
I’d have to tackle that later.
But for now, I turned to Eddie.
“News?” I asked.
He shook his head, his expression grim.
My heart slid back up into my throat, a place it had taken residence in since Duke told us what was happening in my kitchen.
And my son pulled me closer.
Chapter Two
Thick and Thin
Rock Chick Rewind
Some time ago…
“I wanna go on record as saying this is not a good idea,” my friend Toni proclaimed.
“Yeah, you told me on the phone when I asked you to come with me tonight,” I replied, navigating Colfax in my car on our way to the bar. “And again when I picked you up. And when we turned onto Colfax. And just now.”
“The last one was official,” Toni sniffed.
I glanced her way, thinking I really should have reconnected with Ally and/or Indy for this operation. First, because they wouldn’t go on the record telling me something I already knew: this was a fool idea. They’d be all for it. Second, they’d probably be able to form a better plan as to how to go about doing what I intended to do, considering they had a lot of experience with implementing fool ideas.