In truth, me being here has already cost Beast everything. Will he be able to survive everyday with me here as a reminder of what I cost him?
I need to see Beast. I dry up my eyes. I’ll go to the hospital with Skull. I’ll stay by Beast’s side and nurse him through, then make my decision. If Beast hates me, I need to leave. If Skull is wrong and this strike doesn’t take Colin down, then I still need to leave. Skull says he loves me and I know I love him. I can’t turn my back on that if there’s any other way around it.
I’m going to hold out for a miracle.
“Mi cielo? Are you okay?”
I look up to see Skull standing there. I ignore his question. He knows the answer to it, even if he doesn’t know that I heard him upstairs. “Were you successful?” I ask him instead.
“I think so, si. We’ll find out more in the light of day. We’ll begin phase two then, too.”
I give him a tight smile. “Are you ready to go see Beast?”
“Are you sure you’re up to it, querida?”
“I want to see him. Do you think he will care if I’m there, though?” I ask him, worried.
“They have him drugged right now because of the pain and other things. I doubt he’ll know you’re there, sweetheart. We can go tomorrow if you’d rather.”
“Can we do both?”
He looks at me for a few minutes. I’m afraid he can read my thoughts.
“You do know this is not your fault, right? No one’s to blame for what happened to Beast’s daughter—except Colin. He did this, not you.”
“He did it because of me.”
“Bullshit. If anything, he did it because of me and my mouth. You hold no blame in this, sweetheart.”
His words hurt me because I just keep replaying what he told his men. I swallow down the pain and try to give him a smile. I don’t exactly succeed, but I try. “Let’s go,” I urge him, walking over to him.
Skull takes both of his hands and places them on each side of my face. He pulls me closer to him and I breathe in the scent of oil, leather, and man that I’ve come to associate with Skull. He kisses my forehead gently and holds me like that for a few minutes. Then he pulls away, takes my hand, and leads me out of the room.
This is the third day straight that Beth insists on staying at the hospital. I would say absolutely not, but she’s probably safer there than at my club right now. I’m having Briar and K-Rex stay with her, and we have no less than ten men from Cade’s crew monitoring every exit of the hospital.
The fight with Colin has gone quiet since our attacks. We have confirmation that we didn’t manage to take out Colin, and that fucking sucks. There are rumblings though that our strikes have caught attention of the higher powers in the faction. We’ve been unable to get a name, but eventually I will. In the meantime, we’re planning attacks on the personal holdings of the Donahues. We’ll hit the apartment downtown, the country home that Matthew has claimed as his own, the private planes at the small airport they own, and finally the yacht. These strikes won’t do so much about hitting their bank accounts, but it will hurt them personally, especially Colin, and that’s my goal right now. I want the fucker to hurt, bleed, and go to hell. I’m making it my life’s goal to achieve that.
I call Beast’s room and stare off into space as it rings. Eventually Beth picks up, and when her sweet voice quietly whispers, “Hello,” I feel the tension inside of me ease. She has that effect on me. She calms me like nothing ever has or ever will.
“Hey, mi cielo. How are things?”
“They’ve just taken Beast down for surgery.”
They’re going to check out his healing tissue as well as begin their first repair on his face. The surgeon warned us not to get excited, that it would take several surgeries, but in truth, not one of us gave a flying fuck. We just wanted our brother alert and talking to us again. We’re all worried about how he’s going to react when he comes back through and has to face the fact that Annabelle is gone. My men got some ashes in an urn for him. There’s no way of telling if the ashes contain any of Annabelle, but we hoped that at least having something physical to grieve over would make it all easier.
“That’s good. Any word on how long it’s going to last?”
“No. The doctor said the surgery could last anywhere from an hour to several hours. It just depends on how he heals and what they find once they start exploring.”
“You’ll keep me updated?”
“Of course. Are you doing okay? Anything going on?”
“I’m fine, querida. I told you to stop worrying. Colin will need to regroup before he even thinks of striking back.”
“I know, I’m just worried.”
“I got this. Have some faith.”
Beth grows quiet and I get the sense that once again she’s planning something. I’ve had this suspicion for a few days now. The only problem is, I don’t have any idea what it is. I’ve done the only thing I know to do: I’m having her watched and guarded heavily.