Page 68 of Vicious Cycle
My brows shot up in surprise. “Even after everything that’s happened?”
“If I truly searched myself, the answer would still be yes.”
With a teasing grin, I asked, “You want a little of the outlaw life, White Bred?”
“No, I just want more of you. Regardless of the risks or the obstacles, I want you.”
The seriousness of both her words and expression wiped the grin off my face. We were at a hell of a crossroads right now. Really it was more like standing on the edge of cliff. “You deserve better than me,” I argued softly.
“I know,” she replied, the corners of her lips fluttering as if she was trying not to smile. “As long as you try hard to make yourself worthy of me, I think we’ll be fine.”
I couldn’t help the corners of my lips turning up at her statement. It didn’t stop me from countering, “I ain’t never had to work for a woman.”
“Maybe you never had one worth working for.”
I gazed into her dark eyes—ones that were now battle worn from what she’d been through tonight—and I realized how right she was. I’d never been with a woman who was book smart and educated. I’d never had a woman who cared enough about one of my brothers that she would sacrifice more of her time to help him pass the GED. I hadn’t seen one of my conquests ever talk sweet or be considerate to my mother. Nor had any of them been as kind and compassionate to my daughter.
“Maybe you’re right.”
Her eyes flared at my response. We kept staring at each other until I finally cleared my throat. “Come on, we need to get you out of here.”
Alex gave a quick nod of her head before I stepped out of the shower. Offering her my hand, I helped her out. I grabbed a towel and handed it to her while I went about toweling myself off. Her breath came in tiny gasps and hisses as she tried patting dry her broken skin.
After wrapping the towel around my waist, I headed out into the bedroom. Just like I had asked, Mama Liz had laid some pajamas out for Alex on the bed. I grabbed them and then went back inside the bathroom. Alex held out a tube of Neosporin. “Can you do the ones on my back?”
“Yeah, sure,” I murmured, handing her the pajamas. As gently as I could, I dabbed the cream over her broken skin. I knew we would need to repeat this several times a day so she wouldn’t scar. She had much too beautiful skin for it to be flawed. It would also mean a physical reminder of what she had been through.
When I was finished, Alex slipped on her pajamas. I went about picking a shirt and a pair of jeans I would be willing to throw away as Alex dried her hair. I came out of the closet to find her sitting on the bed with her knees drawn to her chest. Without a word, I went over to the bedroom door and opened it. “Breakneck?” I called.
His footsteps echoed down the hallway from the living room. When he came into the bedroom, Alex eyed him cautiously. “I’m going to give you something to sleep. Your body and your mind needs uninterrupted rest, and often after a trauma, our minds can’t seem to shut down to let the body rest.”
“You’ll stay with me, won’t you?” Alex asked me.
“Of course,” I lied. The truth was the moment she was asleep I had business to take care of—business that wouldn’t wait.
She nodded at Breakneck. After digging a syringe out of his back, he stepped over to her. Alex winced as the needle entered her arm. Once it was over, she eased back to lie down in the bed. Her eyes sought out mine, pleading for me to join her.
After I gave Breakneck a grateful pat on the back, I went over to the bed. As soon as I stretched out, Alex burrowed herself against me, laying her head on my chest. I wrapped one of myarms around her, trying to give her the shelter and safety she so desperately needed. “Talk to me,” she whispered.
“About what?”
“Anything. I just want to hear your voice.”
As I wracked my brain trying to think of something to talk about, I finally settled on a story. “The first day I came to live with Preacher Man and Mama Liz was both scary and happy. While it was weird having parents again, it was an entirely different story having two new brothers…”
When Alex’s labored breaths signaled she had finally fallen asleep, I slowly began to extricate myself from her embrace. Whatever was in the shot that Breakneck had given her had sufficiently knocked her out because she didn’t even stir as I slid off the mattress. Standing over her, it was good to finally see her peaceful. Of course, her face marred with bruises and cuts, along with the rest of her exposed skin, didn’t appear peaceful. It was the badge of someone who had been through terrible trauma.
A trauma that I was going to ensure she got avenged for.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: DEACON
Iopened the door to find Rev and Bishop both standing outside. Just a jerk of my head answered their unasked question. I may have been caring and tender in the last two hours, but now I was ready to go to work. In silence, we walked down the hallway. In the living room, I found Mama Liz and Kim staring expectantly at us. “Can you guys go sit with Alex? I have some things I need to take care of.”
They didn’t bother questioning what kind of business would take me from the bedside of the wounded woman I cared for. They had spent enough time with Raiders men to know what Iwas about to do. Mama Liz reached up to cup my cheek, tears brimming in her eyes. While she couldn’t condone my actions, I knew she grasped my reasoning. Then she trudged down the hall with Kim behind her.
We headed out into the dark night. Silence hung heavy around us. We were all weighed down with the task ahead of us. Even if Rev and Bishop didn’t lay a hand on Alex’s attacker, they would share in his demise just by witnessing it, and in turn, they would have blood on their hands.
When we got to the clubhouse, members still milled around. At the sight of what had to be my grim, yet determined, expression, they moved out of my way. As I pounded down the basement stairs, the familiar rush of adrenaline began to pump through my veins. Blood pounded hard in my ears, drowning out the sound of my boots on the wooden stairs.
