Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Hayes turned to the rest of them. “I’m going in. You should all go home.”
Mac shook his head and sat. Michelle sat next to him. Silla ran her fingers through her hair. “I’ll get us coffee and food and put Basket in my car.”
Basket was the name of the ball? He could ask . . . but he didn’t really want to know.
“Well, I’m going to go and get Kent and Liam from the airport,” Honey said.
Shit. He hadn’t even noticed her entering the waiting room. “Why he needed to fly out here, I have no idea. We have this covered.”
Hayes didn’t care who was here or what they were doing. All he cared about was making sure that Devi was all right.
23
Devi opened her eyes slowly, wincing. “Ouch.”
Why was it so light in here?
“Oh God! Have I overslept?” she cried. She tried to move, but barely managed to shift her legs.
She felt so weighed down. Exhausted. And her left arm just wouldn’t budge.
“Careful!” a voice barked. “Stay still. You’re in bed.”
“I know I’m in bed,” she grumbled. “It’s getting out of bed that’s the problem.”
Then her mouth caught up with her brain and she gaped up in shock at the man standing over her bed. She blinked. Nope. He was still there.
“Why are you in my bedroom?”
A pained look filled Mac’s face. “This isn’t your bedroom, Devi.”
Slowly, she turned her head. It thumped as though protesting even that small movement.
“What’s wrong with me? Why does my head hurt so much? Why are you in . . . my . . . not my . . . bedroom?”
This wasn’t her bedroom. Nope.
This was a hospital room.
Suddenly, it all rushed back. Her breathing grew faster, panic flooding her. Images shot through her head.
“Devi! Hey, Devi, it’s all right, darlin’. I’m here. Fuck.”
Mac’s words barely penetrated the panic.
Satan’s Sons. Fury. Her father. Vega.
Then . . . then Zander. Honey. Hayes.
“Hayes. Hayes. Hayes.”
“I’ll get him for you, darlin’. Just hold on, I’m gonna get him.”
She didn’t even realize she’d been saying that out loud until Mac replied.
“What the fuck happened?” Hayes demanded, rushing into the room. “Why is she breathing like that?”
An alarm went off.
“Fuck, her heartbeat is racing,” Hayes snapped.
There were a lot of voices and then someone else was looming over her. She couldn’t see them properly through her fear-fueled panic.
Threat. Threat. Threat.
Devi needed to defend herself. She couldn’t be hurt again.
She couldn’t let them hurt her.
But as she attempted to move her arms, pain rippled through her and she screamed.
“Let me near her. Get out of the way. I can get her to calm down. You’re fucking scaring her.”
That was Hayes. She could hear his voice. Where was he?
“Listen to him. He just wants what’s best for her.” She didn’t know who was talking.
“He’s her fiancé. He can help her. She was calling for him.”
That was Mac. He sounded so distraught. She needed to do something to help him.
But what?
Sobs filled the room. They sounded terrible. As though that person was in a lot of pain.
Poor girl.
“Devi, hey baby, you’re all right. I’m here. I’m here.” Hayes appeared in front of her.
“H-hayes.” Thank God.
“That’s right. Shh. You need to calm down, baby.”
“C-can’t. Want you. Want you p-protect me.” But it wasn’t up to Hayes to protect her. “Need Coco.”
“Who’s that?” he asked.
“Squirrel. Toy. Need her.”
“I’ll get her for you, baby. Is she in your bedroom in the trailer?”
“Yes. Hidden. So Derick doesn’t find her. Where is he?”
“Who? Derick?”
Another sob filled the room and his warm hands cupped her face. Then his hand slid around to the back of her neck and he squeezed firmly.
It was a dominant hold and if anyone else had done it, she figured she would be terrified.
But she trusted him. Devi knew that Hayes would protect her.
So that gesture felt comforting. But it also felt like he was in charge and he was letting her know that.
Devi really needed him to take control. Everything was just too overwhelming.
Things could be worse.
Could they, though? Devi liked to be positive, to think the best about everything.
But could things be any worse?
“Don’t want to think. Don’t want to remember. Want Coco. Need her.”
“Your toy?”
“Need her. Need her.”
“It’s all right, baby girl.”
Baby girl?
Did he know what she was? He did give off Daddy vibes. But she thought she might have imagined them.
“I’m here. Do you need me to take control?”
Another smaller sob. His words had been so quiet that she’d barely heard them. Had she imagined them in her desperation for some help?
“If you need me to take over, just say the word. Kent and Mac are here. They’re at the other end of the room, though. They can’t hear us. And there’s a nurse. But he’s by the doorway.”
She shuddered. “Don’t want him near me.” Devi knew that she was being silly. He was a nurse. And he was only trying to help her. She was in the hospital and she had to let nurses near her.