Remy’s words suddenly echoed through my head. The worst way to hurt you would be for someone to go after the ones you loved. And it wouldn’t take a lot of investigating for someone to realize I loved her.
I took off running and skidded around the corner in hot pursuit. When I came to another corner and hurried around it, something hit me hard in the face, taking me down to my knees. It fucking hurt too. I tasted blood and immediately saw stars.
“Christ.” I dove at a pair of legs in front of me and heard my dad grunt as I tackled him to the ground. His head banged against the tiled floor, and I took advantage of the moment to leap on top of him and slam my fist into his face.
He cursed and struggled under me.
“Was it you?” I demanded. “Did you give her those chocolates?”
He laughed up at me, flashing a bloody-toothed smile. “Did it get the job done, or is she still alive?”
“You fucking bastard.” I hit him again.
I would’ve broken his nose next, but he swung something at the side of my head, knocking me off him and ringing my bell until I saw stars.
“Too bad your stupid fucking pet wasn’t as easy to get rid of,” he snarled as he rose above me. “What kind of * has a squirrel for a pet anyway? I never could beat any kind of manliness into you, could I?”
I blinked him into focus in time to see him lift his weapon above his head, and what the fuck was that? Looked like a metal clipboard thing he might’ve stolen from a doctor or nurse. Lifting my hands to protect my head, because I wasn’t sure my noggin could stand another wallop, I flinched backward.
The sick malicious relish in his eyes told me how much he loved being in this position, standing over me and making me cower. I gritted my teeth, ready to dive at his legs again, but someone pushed him from behind, making him lose his grip on the clipboard. It went flying past my head as he tripped forward and landed on his knees.
“Now, now, old man. No one’s allowed to play unfair with my little brother.”
I gaped up at Pick, who was toeing my father onto his back on the floor so he could then press his foot to the old man’s windpipe, pinning him by his throat.
“What’re you doing here?” I couldn’t help but gasp in amazement.
“You called. I came.” He shrugged. “It’s what I do.”
Climbing to my knees, I fell back onto my haunches and blew out a relieved breath.
“So you really did do all that stupid shit, like cutting the wire to my bike’s fuel line and the cord to the club’s sound system?”
My dad snarled at me, but couldn’t really answer since my brother was kind of crushing his vocal chords at the moment.
I only shook my head. “And you thought I was lame. You could’ve really gotten to me, old man. Yet you went this stupid route. Now you’re going to lose your parole and go back to prison...without all that work you put into a revenge against me paying off at all. That’s sad...just sad.”
“I should’ve let your mama finish aborting you the day I walked into the bathroom and found her all bloody,” he garbled up at me, his eyes full of hate. “Neither of us had any use for you. You never amounted to anything. Your poor mother died still despising the very sight of you.”
Swallowing, I turned away only to catch Pick watching me with worried eyes. Nodding to him, I rasped, “I’m done here.”
He nodded just as a pair of nurses came around the corner and skidded to a stop when they saw the tattooed, pierced guy pinning an older man to the ground with a boot to his throat.
But my brother...all he did was flash the women a pleasant smile. “Hey there, ladies. Do you think you could do me a favor and call security or maybe the police? This man here just admitted to trying to kill my brother’s girlfriend.”
They nodded and hurried away.
I looked up at Pick. He looked back. And we both grinned. “Thanks for coming,” I finally said.
I was sitting alone in the waiting room when Pick found me again. The doctor had come and gone, letting us know Remy was better, the swelling was down and her airways cleared again. She was resting peacefully.
As her family, and Jodi, and the rest of the band filed back to check on her, I just kept sitting there, staring at the wall, trying not to think about how close I’d come to losing her, just because my own father had hated me that much.
Was there really something so wrong with me that my own blood loathed me to this extreme? Maybe becoming involved with Remy was a bad idea. I’d just nearly gotten her killed. Falling in love wasn’t worth it if I could only put the woman’s life in peril.
“The police just took your dad away.”
I jumped, jerking upright at the sound of my brother’s voice. When he approached slowly and sat beside me, I nodded. “Good. Maybe they won’t release him early this time.”
“That would be nice.” Rubbing his hands together, he gazed around the waiting room before he turned to me. “So what’re you doing in here by yourself? I thought I saw the doctor come with an update and then everyone head down the hall to see Remy.”