“Yeah,” she scoffs. “I can see why. Do all the guys look like him or are you just special?”
I grin wide, thinking of Damian. “Both. I’m special as all hell and they all look like him, but mine is the best by far, like so far. He’s…he’s amazing.”
Luce’s eyes go wide. “Oh, no. You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
I laugh. “Yeah, I am.”
“You realize he looks like a criminal, right? I mean, he showed up on my doorstep and I nearly died. I-”
“Wait,” I cut her off. “What do you mean he showed up on your doorstep?”
Luce cringes. “Sorry, I just sort of jumped ahead, didn’t I?” I nod and she thankfully continues. “After he was shot, he came to my place. I think he must have called Blake and asked him where he could go. He was trying to avoid hospitals so he could go back and get you sooner and assuming I’m probably one of the only people who would have helped him, Blake gave him my address. He showed up with blood everywhere and just barged into my home, not giving a shit about getting all his blood on it. I swear, it’s been nearly two weeks and I keep finding drops everywhere. I had to rearrange the cushions on the sofa to hide a blood-stain until a replacement could come. Mom nearly killed me.”
I can’t help the grin on my face, able to picture the moment with 100% clarity. Slade would have busted down the doors, demanded she stitched him back up and then left with his head held high while leaving a big mess behind.
God, I love him so damn much.
“How was he when he first showed up?”
She shakes her head. “I’m not going to lie,” she warns. “It wasn’t good. He’d lost a lot of blood. I’m no medical expert or anything, but I’m pretty sure he was close to passing out, but that could have been from either the pain or blood loss. He looked really dizzy and just getting him to sit his stubborn ass down so I could take care of him was a whole new challenge. I had to sit on his back and fish the bullet out of him. It was disgusting.”
My heart breaks. I hate hearing about his pain, but it’s a hell of a better option than hearing about his death. If he felt pain, that means he’s still alive, so I’ll welcome it with open arms.
“In other news,” she says with a soft laugh. “He’s fucking hilarious when he’s drunk on vodka.”
“What?” I laugh as confusion begins to baffle me. “You got him drunk? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him drunk.”
“Hey, I didn’t get him drunk,” she defends, throwing her hands up in innocence. “I had the vodka there to clean out the gunshot wound and the stupid fucker kept drinking it to numb the pain. I don’t think it worked though. Pulling that bullet out of his back wasn’t pretty.”
I lean in and pull her into a tight hug. “Thank you,” I whisper, thinking of her softer side; the one that doesn’t handle gruesome very well. “I know that couldn’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t,” she agrees. “It’s not every day some gangster looking dude shows up on your doorstep with a bullet hole in his back.”
“You realize he’s not a criminal, right?”
“Whatever you say,” she says with a grin, pulling back and looking at me. Her expression softens and it’s quickly replaced with a heaviness that I’m not prepared for. “We tried,” she whispers. “Every day we’ve been trying to get in there to get you out, but we got nowhere. I’ve been trying to smuggle you a phone as well, but it’s impossible. It’s like Fort Knox. Slade and Damian have practically been living in my pool house just so they can be close if you need them. I’ve even met Shaylee and Nessa a few times too. I swear, between the two boys, they’ve been shot at three times. They’re fucking lucky that they’re not dead. That’s why there’s been so much security during this whole joke of a wedding. They were expecting them.”
My mouth drops as I listen to her recap of the past twelve days. They’ve been shot at three times? This is fucking ridiculous, but despite the shock coursing through my body, I find something settling within me. Ever since seeing Slade’s face in the church, I’ve been wondering why he never came back. Don’t get me wrong, him coming back time and time again with Damian is simply moronic, but it’s a sign that he’s not giving up and that’s all I need to keep me going.
I was a fool to assume I’d lost him. I should have known that not even a bullet would be able to stop Slade Cruz.