Page 44 of Mafie Queen

I step up then, not letting this go on any longer.

“No, Laney. This needs to stop. You need to stop sleeping here. Havoc needs to stop moping around, and he deserves to come visit with Arrow. You might be hurting, and we all understand that, but your family's drama is now affecting mine. I can’t have that when we just got Evie back. You need to find a way to move forward.”

“Move forward?” Laney stands up, a glare leveled on me as she approaches with a very pointed fingernail aimed at my chest. “How can I move forward if everyone I love keeps getting left behind? Havoc was going to leaveusbehind! He doesn’t deserve to be within a hundred yards of this place!”

Her voice gets louder when she moves from me to Havoc. The bags under her eyes stand out on her gaunt face caused by only eating small meals of crappy hospital food as she trembles with anger.

“Things got hard and you panicked. You decided to leave when we both needed you the most. I don’t give a damn what your letter said. That’s not LOVE!”

She shoves him in the chest but he stands firm. He’s letting her have her say, but it’s obvious he wants to smack her ass for the way she’s fighting him.

“I panicked because seeing you in that bed, seeing Arrow how he is now, reminded me of the family I’ve already lost. It reminded me that the people around me always get hurt. They fuckingdie,Laney. I wasn’t leaving to be selfish. I was leaving to try to protect you. Both of you!”

Laney jerks back, not having thought of that possibility, based on the surprised look on her face. Beeping alarms go off in the background but Alexi chimes in then.

“Keeping him away has only made things worse now.”

Evie stands. “Don’t you dare talk to her that way. She was doing what she thought she needed to do to protect herself.”

“Oh yeah? And what about everyone else?” Alexi says, throwing his arms wide.

The beeping grows louder. Just when I’m about to yell for someone to turn off that incessant sound, a familiar nurse enters the room, shocked to see us all there.

Then someone coughs, and a raspy voice speaks.

“Did I miss something?”

All eyes in the room turn to the man in the bed, and simultaneously, our jaws drop. He looks at all of us then smiles at the two people arguing beside his bed.

“Arrow?” Laney says, nearly falling over where she stands. Havoc holds her up while also staring at him. He’s propped up on pillows, so he can see us all here. While his face is pale and full of unkempt facial hair, his cheeks turn pink when Laney reaches for him.

“Kitten.” He nods, and that small gesture is enough for Laney to throw her body on his in an instant. Havoc is equally in shock as he approaches the bed and takes Arrow's hand, dropping to sit beside him.

“I heard you were planning to leave us?” Arrow says with his eyes on Havoc, hardly able to get the words out from how scratchy his voice is.

Havoc winks at him. “So you can have her all to yourself? No way, bro. I’m here to stay.”

Evie and Alexi are both speechless, but I understand it. Arrow just needed to hear how many people needed him back.Not saying I made this happen or anything, but I’m basically a genius.

“I am going to call my father and update him,” Alexi says, walking to the door. “Hey, Arrow?”

Arrow looks up at him. “Yeah?”

“Do me a favor and fix that.” Alexi waves a hand in the direction of a sobbing Laney and a shaken-up Havoc.

He closes the door, not waiting for a response. Arrow rolls his eyes as his trembling weak arm moves to Laney. The nurse works around them, slowly checking him out while being careful of Laney and Havoc.

I look at Evie and she nods as we both dismiss ourselves. They need to have some time alone, and I want to go home and eat breakfast because I’m fucking starving. I haven’t even had my coffee yet.

Nine in the morning and it’s already been a day.

The ride back is awkward. Evie stares out of the window beside me, and Alexi glares straight ahead. I can feel him judging every move I make behind the wheel. By the time we get to the garage and park, I’ve one thousand percent had it with their bullshit.

“The two of you need to fuck this out.”

Evie, who had her hand on the door handle, turns to me so fast I’m shocked she didn’t just give herself whiplash.

“What?” Her tone is clipped as shock registers on her face.Damn why is she so much hotter when she’s pissed?

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