Page 104 of Hate Game

I reach out and touch his head. “Malice?”

He looks up, but it’s not Malice.

“Midnight, what are you doing here?”

An IV is in my hand. In my peripheral vision is a monitor that shows my heart rhythm, respiratory rate, and oxygenation. I wriggle my nose. Nose prongs.Oxygen.

“Where is Malice? Is he okay?” Panic rises in my voice. “I remember him picking me up in his arms and running toward the gas station before I blacked out.” Malice is strong but can be stubborn. “Is he injured? Is that why he’s not here?”

“He’s good, Rue.” Midnight smooths his hand over my hair. “He has business to take care of and should be back soon.”

“If you’re here, where’s Riley?”

“With Dare. He’s going through something and won’t talk to Syn or me. He only wants Riley.”

“You’re okay with that?”

“I have to be.” He tents his hands in front of his mouth. “It’s complicated, Rue. Someday, you’ll go through the same with you, Malice, and Red. One day, it’ll only be you who can be enough for Red, and Malice will have to be fine with that. Other days, it’s you and Malice against the world, and Red will have to hang back. You get me?”

He skims his finger over my promise ring.

“He came through for you. Risked his life for you. Put his precious GT-R in the path of a jacked-up truck. Stood firm with his belief that you wouldn’t steal the purse money for destruction. He aimed for doing good with the money, so why take away his ‘good,’ right?”

I turn my face away from him. He puts his palm on the side of my face, bringing me back to looking at him again. “You and Riley are alike, committing wrong to do right.”

Midnight relaxes in the chair and crosses his muscular, tatted arms across his chest.

“Olivia’s at the county jail. She confessed to sabotaging your jobs by stealing so you’d get the blame and be fired, or worse, have a restraining order placed.” Midnight shakes his head. His expression darkens.

Rue would not want to be on the receiving end of his anger.

“She put that little dog in danger and set fire to my uncle’s place,” he continues. “Olivia shot out the cameras using a BB gun, believing the blame would make it back to you. She knew of you and Mason’s patrols from Johnny.”

“But why? She was in love with Red. Red and I are friends. Malice and his parents are your families. Why would she want to hurt the people that Red cares for?”

“She was jealous of you for what you have with Red and Malice.”

“Where is Red? What about my friends, Isaac, and the guys?”

“You want to see them?”

I nod. My mouth is dry. I lick my lips. “How long have I been here? What happened?” My head hurts and there’s a bulky dressing on my hip.

“Three days. Olivia shot you.”

“What?!”

“She followed Malice but lagged behind. My cousin drives too recklessly when your life is at stake, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. He was so into you, having you in his arms, that he didn’t realize you two were in danger.”

Midnight uncrosses his arms and swipes at strands of my hair stuck to my forehead.

“Sawyer saw Olivia with the gun. She aimed for your head. He pushed you and Malice out of the way, and the bullet grazed your scalp. She got in a second shot and hit you in the hip before Sawyer’s brother, Gunner, tackled her. He followed behind her. Gunner told Isaac she didn’t look right in the head. The ambulance came, and the surgeons took you into surgery and removed the bullet. You lucked out that the bullet missed major arteries, Rue.”

I close my eyes. “She wasn’t over Red.”

“She wasn’t over Malice,” Midnight corrects me. “She’s been hung up on him since she lived with my aunt and uncle.”

Would I have become obsessed and crazy out of my mind like Olivia were I not to get over Malice? I blow out a breath and open my eyes. I doubt it. I thought about him a lot in the two years between when things went bad between us and us being good with one another again, and never once did I think of hurting him or the people he cares about.

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