I can still feel the jolts shooting up my legs as I ran as fast as I fucking could through the crowd and then down the hallway. When I finally got to her, seeing that motherfucker she used to date standing over her with a knife, I saw red. I was ready to kill him with my bare hands.
But when he took off running, I had to pick between him and my sweet girl and that had been an easy pick.
And now, I’m left with the need for vengeance that rivals the hunger of a starved man. Now that I know she’s going to be okay, all I’ve been able to do is plan for that vengeance and thank God she wasn’t taken from me.
“Son? Why don’t you go get something to eat?”
I don’t look at my mom.
“Nate, we won’t leave her side.”
I blink at my father’s tone but keep my eyes on Ember’s face.
“Leave him be.”
That voice gets my attention, and I look up to see Ember’s father standing on the other side of her bed. Emmy’s in Maddox’s arms as she cries silently, but what I see in his eyes lets me breathe for the first time since I picked her up and rushed her to the hospital. Some of the fear made tension easing off my chest when I realize he isn’t trying to get me to leave or to calm down. He’s accepting my need for blood, and if anything, giving me his silent support. I give him a nod but look back at Ember.
Our sisters are sitting behind me on the bench by the window, but they’ve been silent since they arrived.
Meanwhile, I wait.
It isn’t for another hour that I know it’s time. My parents had stepped out to get me some food since I refused to leave, and Dani had left to call her husband and check on her kids.
I waited for the nurse to check her and give us a small nod. I heard her tell me that she still had stable vitals and was just sleeping. I stayed put with my eyes on her until the doctor came in to say that as long as everything was clear on her scans later, she would be released in the morning.
Then I made my move.
I stood, silently, and bent to kiss her slack lips. Without a word or a glance to the people around me, I started to stalk down the hallway. I had one thing on my mind, and I wasn’t going to rest until I had retribution for every scrape and bump on her body.
I knew from the background check I had run on him after the fire that the sorry fuck only spent time in three places—the station, the gym, or his house—and seeing that it was three in the goddamn morning, I was going with the last option.
Lucky for me, his house butted up to a road so I parked my truck on the shoulder and moved through the woods separating me from my prey. I tagged his SUV in the driveway first. Walking around the side, I felt nothing but hatred as I moved to the back of his house. His back door was older, and with a solid kick at the knob, it gave and crashed open.
I hunted inside. My eyes searched through the darkness as I moved. When I rounded the corner, entering what looked like his living room, I found him jacking off. The porn was turned up so loud that it’s no wonder the motherfucker didn’t hear me enter.
“Get up!” I thunder and watch him jump.
The lube he had been about to squirt on his small ass dick came out with a rush when his startled movements made his fist tighten.
He moves to stand, getting hung up on the pants around his ankles, and I wait for him to stand completely, pulling his pants up roughly as he goes.
“I’m going to kill you,” I fume through clenched teeth. When he doesn’t move, I feel my rage spike even higher. “Can’t hold your own against a man?”
“What the fuck are you doing in my house?” he screams, but I see the fear in his eyes, and I let it fuel me.
“I’m here to show you what it feels like when you mess with the wrong man’s woman. I’m here to make sure that you feel the pain she did, but the difference is, I’m going to fucking kill you.”
I stomp toward him, and he finally gets with the program and tries to rush me. But I have the power of a man set to avenge his love right now because as I crack my fist against his nose, he tries to fight back, but I keep pounding into him with an inhuman speed. Each blow to his body makes him stumble until I have him flat against the wall, holding him up for me as I use him as a punching bag for every second of panic, fear, and pain that Ember felt.
“Stop.”
At the voice behind me, I halt and let this sorry fuck slide to the ground.
“Why are you here?” I ask, my chest heaving with exertion.
He ignores me. “You do my daughter no good if you end up in prison for murder. Get the fuck out of here, clean yourself up, and get back to her.”
When I hesitate, he moves forward, and with a meaty hand to my neck, he shoves me toward the back of the house.
“You got what you needed; now, get the fuck back to your girl before she wakes up needing the one person not there!”