I looked up, meeting my brother’s eyes. “I have plans to do far more than just that,” he murmured through clenched teeth, his dark mask back in place.
“He’s still alive,” Dakota exclaimed, and I whipped my head back toward her, scrambling back onto my knees beside Huntsman’s body.
She was looking up at me, her fingers pressed against his throat and tears streaming down her face. “We need to get him to a hospital. His pulse is weak, really weak, but it’s there.”
Thank fuck.
Romeo and I both rushed to lift and carry him to the SUV.
I wouldn’t let him die. He was Meyah’s father. I had a lot of respect for this man, especially knowing he had taken a beating as intense as this, and he was still breathing.
Stubborn fucking bastard wouldn’t even die.
And not only that, but he was the only one who would be able to tell us what happened. Who took Meyah.
And who I was going to have to kill.
Heavy footsteps thumped down the hallway, and I knew who was going to come around the corner before he even appeared.
Ripley froze, his eyes wide and worried as he focused in on Romeo.
Luckily, Romeo knew the club and how to get in touch with them, and Ripley had already been on his way down from Las Vegas with the intention of seeing his sister again when his father was done with his apologies.
It was around four hours ago we came in. Huntsman was rushed away to surgery after the doctor determined he possibly had some internal bleeding and was the luckiest motherfucker in the world to be still alive.
“Where is he?” Ripley asked urgently, and I stood up, moving Dakota’s head off my lap and placing it gently on the chair, barely stirring her.
Romeo climbed up off his place on the floor and rolled his shoulders. I knew how he felt.
The both of us were itching to get some kind of info on what happened and then make a plan. I’d already had a pretty fucking uncomfortable conversation with Optimus, leaving it up to him to give Leo the news, and hopefully contain him until he could calm down and think rationally.
Leo was going to lose it.
He was going to fucking destroy everything in sight and then probably come after me.
“He’s out of surgery. They think they managed to get everything and stop the bleeding, but he’s still recovering and because we aren’t family…” I pointed to the double doors that lead back to the ICU and recovery unit, “… they won’t let us back to see him or let us know how he’s doing and if he’s awake or anything.”
Ripley stormed past on a mission, heading for the nurse’s station and slamming his palms on the desk.
Dakota almost leaped out of her skin, sitting straight up and looking around like we were under attack.
I placed my hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, it’s just Ripley making a scene.”
She seemed to relax a little and snorted as she rubbed at her eyes. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think Ripley was gay.”
Romeo scoffed, looking at Dakota like she was fucking crazy. “You’re kidding, right?”
She shook her head and pointing at him as he slapped his palm on the desk again, making a small nurse jump and drop the phone she was holding in her hand. “Have you ever met a straight man who liked to always make that much of a scene when he enters a room?”
I shook my head and held back the laughter.
So Dakota had a thing for Ripley.
I could only imagine with her smart mouth and his bad fucking attitude what that relationship would be like.
“Oi!” his voice boomed across the small waiting room, and he waved his hand for us to join him while the double doors buzzed open. He stomped through, not even looking back, leaving us to catch up and run after him before the doors closed again. “Keep up,” he ordered, not looking back. “I’ve got an itchy trigger finger, and the sooner I know who to kill and where to find Meyah, the better because I’m about to rain hell down on some motherfucker.” He looked from one side of the hall to the other, switching each time we passed by a room until he finally stopped on the spot.
Room 666. How fucking convenient.