Page 6 of Marx

His brows hit his hairline before a thoughtful look comes over his face, “Is that so? And how big is this incinerator?”

“Big enough to get rid of the half blown up cow carcass the kids were experimenting with,” Mama Debs replies, bustling past.

“Well, remind me never to piss you people off,” Mad Dog mumbles as Mama Debs cackles, carrying my dirty washing with her. “Come on, Son,” Dad’s heavy hand lands on my shoulder and he guides me down the hall to what looks like a living room.

One half of the room is packed with kids’ toys and a pretty couch Blanche, Nat and Mira are perched on, kids surrounding them. Little Bee is sitting on the floor at her aunt’s feet, her dark hair pulled up into two cute pigtails. She looks up, staring directly at me for a moment before a smile blooms across her face, showing off her little teeth. She leans forward, planting her hands on the floor, using them to balance as she gets her feet under her. She pushes up and then she’s running to me. I meet her halfway, swinging her up into my arms. Bee throws her arms around my neck and cuddles in. I’m not sure how I feel, that thefirst time I’ve held this little girl is days after her mother risked her life to save me. Something about that really hits home and I hold her to me, trying to swallow down the lump in my throat.

“Looks good on you, brother,” Rhodie smirks, passing me to perch himself on the arm of a large leather sofa where the wounded seem to be propped up.

I let out a whistle, calling everyone to attention. “I’m calling Church tomorrow,-” I hold my hand up, stopping any comments from my men that we need to act fast. “At the moment, we’re hurting. We have two family members in the hospital and we have injuries. They’ll be bringing Fox out of his induced coma tomorrow morning, and Lovely should wake up any time now. Tonight we rest, lay low, enjoy each other and enjoy the home the Tombs’ have given us. Tomorrow we plan our hit on the fuckers who did this.” I nod once, before looking every person in the room in the eye. I want them to know that we’re all on the same page. We’re in this together and I have their backs as much as they have mine.

Walking over to my men on the couch, I make sure to check in with each of them. As expected Dex and Judge wave away my concern.

“Pres, this shit is for the birds,” Rider whines.

He’s perched on the couch, but he’s not sitting square. Instead he’s leaning on an angle, a donut pillow under one side of his ass. I raise my brows at his positioning. Rider huffs, crossing his arms over his chest, glaring at the men in the room.

“Go on Rider, tell Pres what happened,” Flack goads from his seat in an armchair nearby.

Rider mumbles something but I can’t quite make it out.

“Yeah, Rider,” Mira pipes up. “Tell us where you were hit.” She grins up at Tank, his arm over her shoulders.

“I was hitintheass,” he mumbles.

“What the hell did you say?”

“I said, I was hit in the ASS.” Rider’s voice grows in volume until he yells the ending.

Bee’s head snaps around to look at Rider, she opens her mouth and a loud laugh erupts from her body, shaking her little frame. I can’t help myself, hearing her little girl giggles and knowing the brother who is the biggest pain in the ass got shot in the ass, well, I lose it along with everyone else.

“Yeah, yeah, yuck it up, fuckers,” Rider grumbles.

“Hold up, isn’t this the second time you’ve been shot in the ass?” Savage asks, and an argument breaks out among the brothers.

Before I can wade in, my phone goes off. Checking the screen, Dom Landry’s number flashes. I hesitate, unsure if I want to know. Looking up I’m met with eyes on me. I swipe the screen and bring the phone to my ear.

“Marx? She’s waking -”

I don’t even wait to hear the rest. I yell to the room that I’ll be back, I need to get me and Bee to the hospital. I need to be there to look into her dark eyes when she opens them. I need her to see her little girl and to know that I’m all in. Whatever it takes.

Lovely

Everything feels heavy. Everything. I’ve been trying to move my fingers and toes and I’m not sure if it’s working. There are voices around me but they don’t sound like the one that has beenkeeping me company. Marx. I’m not sure if I dreamed it or if it was really him, but why would he be here? With me?

In my mind I’m stuck in a weird loop of watching the school van leave the compound and then seeing the SUVs with the dark windows speed toward us. The window lowering and the muzzle of a gun pointing directly at Marx. I can’t for the life of me remember what he was saying, but it didn’t matter. He needed to move. I used all my strength to push him out of the way and then…nothing. I don’t know if he was hit. I don’t know if anyone was hurt. I don’t know anything. I want to open my eyes, to move my lips, to ask questions, to find out what happened, but I can’t. My eyelids are stuck closed, my lips feel like they’ve been glued shut.

I take a deep breath. I can’t give up. I focus on my eyelids. They’re light, thin pieces of skin, they should be easy to move. I will my eye muscles to lift or raise or something. Frustration tugs low in my stomach, making the muscles in my legs feel tense.“One more minute, Lovely. Just one more minute,”I tell myself. I count down sixty seconds in my mind. If I can do something for sixty seconds, I can do it for another and another. I want to snort at my own advice. No one step at a time for me, nope, I like to count down. It’s how I escaped Eden’s Keep. I was scared out of my mind, but every second that I counted down represented another step away from the prison I lived in.

Twenty-seven seconds and light starts to break through. Excitement and triumph starts to bubble up and I feel as if with that one sliver of light my body is coming back online. My time is up and another sixty seconds starts. I count down once more, again and again until my eyelids become unstuck and I’m blinded by pure, white light. I don’t slam my eyes shut. I welcome the light and stare into it. The Keep always taught us that this is what we’d see when we went to Heaven. That we’d bebathed in the light and love of God. I soak it up knowing that I’m not in Heaven, I’m alive, and soon I’ll be with Bee and my family.

“Lovely? Can you hear me?”

I blink at the rough voice, my eyes following the sound until I meet two sets of dark eyes. One belonging to Marx, the Pres, and one belonging to my little girl. My eyes screw shut and I try to sob, but there’s something in my mouth, causing me to hitch my breath, my chest burning.

“Shit! Dom, get the Doctor!”

Rustling and the sounds of bodies moving swiftly fill the room but I can’t concentrate, my chest is heaving and I feel like I’m drowning, both emotionally and physically. I can’t take a breath and I need to internally calm myself.Sixty seconds, Lovely. Count it down.

---