Page 466 of The Tempted

“We should’ve taken them out before they had a chance to ever touch my family,” I said, knowing my voice sounded bitter but I wouldn’t apologize for it either. “You and the club can go buck-fucking-wild on the Dragons, but Wu—he’s mine, not the clubs. This shit is personal,” I said, glancing over my shoulder at Kitten, driving my point home before turning back to Jack. “You understand personal don’t you?”

“I do,” he agreed.

I took the duffel bag from him.

“Then I have your word that you don’t strike until I can leave here and do what I gotta do,” I clarified.

“If that’s what you want, man, but I’m telling you I’ve got this,” he protested.

“No, Jack, you don’t,” I cut him off, turning around and leaving no room for him to argue with me as I walked back into Kitten’s room.

I dropped the bag onto the chair, unzipping it and digging around until I pulled out the black plastic bag I had asked Pipe to get. I took what I wanted, walking to the foot of the bed and lifted the sheet, exposing Lauren’s toes that were painted bright pink. I wrapped one hand around each foot and shook my head.

“Your feet are always so cold,” I said, taking the socks I had removed from the bag, the ones that had kittens all over them, and pulled them onto her feet.

“There,” I said, bringing the sheet down over her feet before walking back around to her side. “Those should help keep you warm,” I whispered, sitting down in the chair before I laid my head on her bed and clutched her hand with both of mine.

“Please wake up, Lauren,” I murmured as I closed my eyes and brought her hand to my lips. “I need you.”

I must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing I remember is a nurse waking me up and telling me they needed to check Lauren’s vitals and change her dressings. There was still no change, no sign of improvement and so I left her room and let the doctors do their jobs while I checked on the baby.

I stopped in my tracks when I spotted Maria standing in front of the glass, her hands covering her mouth as she sobbed. My heart dropped, immediately looking for my son and spotting him in the same position I had left him. I breathed a sigh of relief and glanced around the empty corridor in search for Anthony or Adrianna but they were nowhere to be found.

“Maria?”

She turned to me, wiping her face as she did. “Is she okay?”

“She’s the same,” I confirmed. “They asked me to leave so they can change her dressings and check her out, so…I figured I’d check on this little guy,” I said, turning my attention toward my boy. “I feel like I’m failing them. When I’m not with her it feels wrong and when I’m not with him it feels the same but how do I choose?”

“You’re doing a good job,” she said, taking me by surprise.

I turned to meet her sincere eyes.

“I never expected to like you,” she said deliberately, blowing her nose into a tissue.

“Yeah, neither did I,” I retorted.

“But you surprised me Rabbit,” she teased.

“Riggs,” I corrected, earning a wink from her as she laced her arm around mine.

“Come with me,” she coaxed, leading me down the corridor. It was almost a year ago that I first met Maria and she knocked me in the head with a frying pan. Up until a couple of hours ago, or maybe days, I don’t even know how long this shit show had been going on, I wouldn’t have followed her anywhere too afraid she’d whack me.

We rounded the corner and she brought me inside the hospital chapel. I didn’t tell her the only chapel I was familiar with was the kind where Jack was the reverend and instead of saying prayers we voted on who dies.

She slid into the first pew and I followed behind her, staring at the altar and the candles that were displayed, some of them lit some of them not.

“Do you pray?” She asked, making the sign of the cross before she folded her hands.

“No,” I admitted. “Do you think it will help?” I asked, sounding half like a moron, half like a man running out of options but desperate to do whatever it takes to fix this situation.

“Yes, now pray with me,” she ordered.

“I don’t know how to pray,” I whispered, scratching the back of my head, waiting for nice Maria to morph into bat shit crazy Maria.

She shook her head, grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together.

“Heavenly Father, please hear our prayer,” she began. I thought she’d go on to recite a bunch of prayers, a few Hail Mary’s and whatever else there was but she prayed to God by talking to him. She explained Lauren’s situation, the baby’s and how they both needed his help to fight their way back to us. She promised she’d be a good servant of the Lord and drag my ass to church every Sunday if need be. Yeah, she told God she was going to drag my ass. When she was finished she taught me the Our Father, and then we both made the sign of the cross before walking over to the candles and lighting one for Lauren and one for Pea.

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