“Hey Sky,” Jess said, popping her head in through the door. Her arm was still in a sling from when Abel had rear-ended the car, and she’d dislocated her shoulder. “I’m thinking about going to see Sugar and see if I can get a new outfit for the party tonight. Can you come with me?”
Rolling my eyes, I placed my laptop to the side. I’d practically moved into Eagle’s room, not that he’d thrown up any kind of arguments against the matter. “You want me to go in to work on my one day off?” I teased.
“Don’t act like you don’t want to find something cute to wear for your man later,” she threw back, raising her eyebrows.
Laughing, I quickly climbed off the bed. “Truth.”
Things had been really quiet, I was stressed to the max, and the club was still reeling a week later from the events that had taken place.
My sister, Delilah, was still in the hospital. The bullet that hit her leg caused significant injury including fractures to her tibia and fibula bones and soft tissue injury with some nerve damage. Unfortunately, what we didn’t realize at the time was that she also took another bullet to her left arm in the cross-fire when she was lying on the road. Luckily, that bullet went straight through, and the injury to her arm wasn’t significant. But she’d lost a lot of blood and nearly died—it came very close, too damn close, and I spent the first few nights sleeping in the hospital room with her. She also developed a serious infection and was only now starting to come good. Delilah would have to be taught how to walk again, and her mental state was, at best, fragile. I managed to find a good therapist with Eagle’s help, and we were going to make damn sure she came out the other side of this with stability and love in her life.
Being so young, she’d been temporarily placed in my care, until we decided on the best approach. Right now, the only plan as far as I was concerned, was that she lived with me and Emerald, and I would fight for that to happen.
Of course, I had many brothers and sisters that lived in the Colony, and I was going to ensure that each and every one of them was taken care of. I had no idea how I was going to achieve this, but it was my promise, and I was going to keep it.
So for tonight we’d decided we were done, we needed to start living again. Jake was heading out tomorrow to go to Washington to stay at a military physical therapy center and hopefully get his leg back into working order.
There was no way the club was going to let him get away without showing how thankful they were that he was here. His skills had gotten him to us without detection, and there was no doubting that the speed in which he’d taken down the men in that room were second to none.
He deserved a proper goodbye, and a real thank you.
I was still struggling to deal with my own emotions, but I wasn’t struggling alone. Eagle was with me every possible moment, and when he wasn’t, there were brothers and club girls and old ladies by my side helping me make it through another day.
I did exactly as I said I would.
I wrote a list of things that the Colony believed were the ultimate sins, things that would send you on a one-way ticket to hell, do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred dollars. Then I handed it to Leo, and I walked away.
After that was said and done, I didn’t ask what happened to Abel.
I put faith in the people I loved, my family, and allowed them to do whatever they felt was appropriate to ensure that he would never control the people of the Colony again. And that he wasn’t allowed to welcome death without wondering whether he was going to spend the rest of eternity in the fire pits of hell.
Thankfully, we’d had injuries, but we hadn’t lost any lives.
Levi was still in the hospital recovering, but the boys were already talking about him having earned his patch. I put my hand up in agreeance even though I knew my vote didn’t really matter. But I’d seen him stand there, the determination on his face to protect all of the women and children in that room, and he’d almost paid the ultimate price for it.
“Where are you two running off to?” Eagle asked as Jess, and I bounced down the stairs. He and Jake were sitting at the bar where I’d left them two hours ago so they could have some time together before Jake left tomorrow.
“We’re going to Sugar’s to find something to wear for tonight,” Jess explained with a grin. It was funny to see her so bright and energetic around people. I’d always known that Jess was in there, but when she was in public, she constantly put up this force field around her that consisted of a bad attitude and a sharp tongue. Since the chaos blew over, it’s like she’d found a confidence in her to show a little more of who she really was. I had to admit it was kind of strange, but I also kind of loved it.
She caught me staring at her, and her beaming smile instantly turned to a suspicious frown. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she questioned slowly.
I shrugged, pressing a kiss to Eagle’s cheek. “No reason!”
She huffed out an annoyed breath and headed for the door, twirling her car keys around her finger. I went to follow her, but an arm snaked around my waist and pulled me back. Eagle settled me between his legs as he sat on the bar stool, his hands moving to my hips as I turned to face him.
“I wanna show you something tomorrow, so don’t make plans,” he said sternly.
“What is it?” I asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile tugging at my mouth.
He chuckled. “You gotta wait.”
“You’re annoying.”
“Look who’s talking,” he threw back with a wicked grin.
“Come on, damn it!” Jess called from the doorway. “Your cuteness makes me want to vom,” she yelled, scrunching her nose up like she’d smelt something bad.
And there was the Jess we all knew and loved.