Page 81 of No Apologies
“Take these keys. Unlock the door. Put as many towels as you can find down on his bed. I’ll carry him in.”
Skylar nodded because she knew better than to argue right now. Remy was right. She had to stay strong. Colt needed her. She could do this. She would do this. She was strong, damn it.
Her hands shook as she unlocked and then pushed the door open. She grabbed the supplies she’d collected and rushed toward Colt’s room. She didn’t look back. Not yet. If she looked back and saw him for herself, she wasn’t sure she would be able to function. Just the sight of all of that blood threatened to break her heart and Colt…
No. She focused on doing what Remy had asked. She tore the blankets off the bed and then spread as many towels as she could over the sheets to protect the mattress. There had been so much blood on Remy’s hands she could only assume Colt was bleeding profusely.
She was still dragging the blankets out of the way so nobody tripped on them when she heard heavy footsteps behind her. She turned on instinct and immediately dropped the pillow that was in her hands. Her breath caught and she wasn’t sure if it was a curse or a prayer that she whispered when she saw Remy holding Colt upright in the doorway.
She winced as her eyes darted over him, taking in all of the damage even as her mind rebelled against what it was seeing. Colt’s face was a bruised and bloody mess that barely resembled the handsome man she knew. She had to fight back a scream of denial that anyone could do that to another human being let alone the man she loved.
The skin on Colt’s cheek was split open and blood was oozing down the side of his face. She couldn’t tell if all of the blood was from that gash or not but she didn’t think it could be considering his hair was tinted red as well. His nose didn’t look broken this time but that was no real victory considering his right eye, just above the cut, was so swollen it was glued shut. His lips were busted and he spit blood, showing off red stained teeth when he grimaced in pain.
Skylar covered her mouth, “Oh God…”
“Watch out.” Remy maneuvered Colt on his wobbly legs towards the bed and she leaped out of the way as both men grunted, “Sorry bro. I know it hurts, just lay down and I’ll get you something.”
“Sky. Need Sky.” Colt hissed out a rough breath.
“I’m here.” She moved around to the other side of the bed and started to reach for his hand then thought better of it and pulled back, “I’m here baby.”
Colt groaned as he turned his head to face her and his lips twitched, “Hi angel. My angel.”
“I am. I’m yours. Don’t you leave me okay?” She felt the tears slip down her face when he managed to reach out and brush a hand across her cheek, “I love you.”
“Love you too.” Colt’s hand dropped away, “So much.”
Skylar gasped in a breath as the words she’d waited for hit her like a slap in the face. No. No! She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to shake him. No, he didn’t get to tell her that he loved her now. Not like this. Not because he thought he was dying.
Tears streaked down her face, “Don’t you dare leave me.”
Colt was still and silent except for the heavy, labored breaths of a man in pain and she fought the urge to crawl into the bed with him. She glanced up to find Remy watching them with a look she’d never expected to see on his chiseled face. There was pain and there was despair and then there was this.
She looked him over again and tried to figure out not just what to do next but also what had happened. Remy looked like hell. His clothes were rumpled and covered in blood. His dark hair was disheveled and his five o’clock shadow gave him a wild, unkempt look. But it was his eyes, those darker than sapphire blue eyes, their father’s eyes, that had her pushing to her feet to confront him head on.
“What happened?”
“I told you, he was attacked.”
“Don’t try to bullshit me, Remy. What the hell happened?”
He didn’t look at her. Didn’t even glance at her. He stared at his little brother, lying beaten and bloody, bruised and broken on the bed instead. A look passed his eyes that she couldn’t read, didn’t understand, and then it was gone and with it all trace of emotion disappeared from him as if it had never existed.
If she wasn’t so accustomed to Colt’s mood swings, she might have been shocked by the ease of the change. Remy’s shoulders went back and his chin went up. When he finally looked at her, he was every inch the eldest Bomar brother, dangerous and untouchable.
“Let’s talk in the other room.”
She opened her mouth to tell him she’d prefer to stay with Colt but Remy didn’t wait for her response. He turned on his heel and walked out of the room. She growled and cursed as she shot a glance at her unconscious boyfriend, worried about letting him sleep when he might have a concussion, worried about leaving him alone, but ultimately decided answers were the only way she could help him and followed his brother, gently shutting the door behind her.
“Remy?” She prompted when she found him at the kitchen sink scrubbing his hands clean.
“He was attacked. I don’t know by who. I don’t know by how many. He was like that when I found him.” He paused and shot a sharp look over his shoulder, “You need to decide right here and right now how much you want to know. This is Bomar shit. If I tell you…”
“I’m all in with Colt. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not going to betray him. Talk.”
If she stopped to think about what she was really saying, she still wouldn’t have taken the words back. They were true. She knew Colt. She knew all of him, the good and the bad, and she knew that as much as he hated it, as much as he might try to deny it, this dark and dangerous world the Bomars inhabited was a part of him.
“Okay then… I don’t know how much you know so I’m going to keep this as simple as I can. There are some guys that are mad at Colt right now. He was supposed to end a fight last week and it went on a lot longer than it should have. People lost money. The attack on your shops, this, it’s their way of sending a message.”
