“Me too.” I move closer to him, pressing my face against his neck.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.”

“You were kind of busy not dying.” I swallow down a new wave of tears, bringing my head out of his neck to look at him, noticing his face is pinched in pain. “How much are you hurting? Do you need the doctor?” I ask softly trying to move off the bed.

“Stay.” He pulls me back to him, wincing when he does. “I’m worried about you. It kills me that you woke up and I wasn’t here.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine baby. I’m down for about three weeks, but I’m fine. The doctor even said I was lucky.”

“I thought you…”

“Shhhh, I’m okay. A week, and then we go home.”

Fighting myself to keep quiet, to not bring it up—not yet—I still ask, “Who shot at us?” Yes, there were other people outside the club, but those bullets were all aimed in our direction. No one was hurt besides Sven, not one person.

“You don’t worry about that right now. The club’s closed down for now. Zack, Lane, and Teo are going to be doing security for us while we’re home.”

“They’re bouncers. No offense, but what do—”

“They we’re special ops. I trust them,” he cuts me off. “I know them. I know they care about you, and they’re the only people here right now that I know would lay down their lives for you.”

“Don’t say that.” I squeeze my eyes closed. I don’t want to see anyone else I care about hurt. “You were on top of me when you were shot. I know that bullet could have hit me, and knowing that doesn’t make me feel any better. I don’t want any of them hurt.”

“Baby.” He pulls me gently until I’m pressed tighter against him. “Don’t think about that right now. You need to rest.”

“You need rest,” I mutter, and I hear a smile in his voice when he mutters back, “Let’s both rest.”

“You’re still very bossy.”

“Rest, Mags.”

“Fine.” I let out a breath, carefully resting my hand over his abs, thinking I would get bored if he wasn’t exactly who he is. And with that, I fall asleep in his arms, which I know now more then ever will always keep me safe.

Chapter 10

Sven

Missing pieces

FEELING MAGGIE BEHIND me, her tits are pressed tightly to my back. Her arm is over my abs, and her leg is shoved between mine. I roll to face her, noticing the dark circles under her eyes are slowly disappearing. When I was in the hospital, she stayed with me every night, even after I told her she needed to go home and get some rest—the kind of rest you can’t get in a hospital because there is someone coming into the room every fucking hour, disturbing you. She didn’t agree to this and insisted she stay with me.

Knowing I wasn’t going to win the battle, I had the nurses push her bed close to mine so she could sleep close by but not be disturbed. Yet she always woke anytime someone even opened the door, and she didn’t sleep again until after they finished checking me over and told her I was okay. Even now, two weeks after they released me to come home, she was still waking up almost as often as when the nurses had come in to check on me. Every night I wake to find her with her hand on my chest or her fingers at my wrist, taking my pulse—literally. I knew she would be shook up for a while over what went down, but I didn’t want her to dwell on it, especially when she had lost our baby the same night and hadn’t really had a chance to process that.

I hadn’t even had a real moment to process it either. I just know there is now a pain in my chest that wasn’t there before, a pain I knew I would have for the rest of my life, because whether or not Maggie and I knew about the baby, he or she was still ours, still something we had created together, a part of us that was now lost.

Wrapping my hand over the curve of her waist, I carefully pull her closer so I don’t wake her then rest my chin on the top of her head and close my eyes. Kenton and Kai are hitting town tomorrow night, and then we’re moving to Kai’s place until shit gets sorted and we figure out exactly what our next move needs to be. They were going to show up after I got shot, but I told them to stay put. I didn’t want to send Paulie the signal and knew I needed time to recover.

I know Paulie put a hit out on me, because I got the message from Justin after I got out of surgery and got my phone back. Only I got that message way too fucking late, and by the time I got it, I had already been shot and had a six-hour surgery to repair my lung and make sure there was no other internal damage.

I didn’t give a fuck about me getting shot. Yes, that shit hurt more than any pain I’ve experienced in my life, but nothing compared to the fear I felt knowing it could have been Maggie. That bullet could have hit her, and the way I was laying on top of her, I’m still surprised it didn’t. The bullet hit under my armpit, inches away from her, so fucking close that had she moved, had I not wrapped my arms up and over her, it would have.

I’m done with this shit with Paulie. His rein of terror is coming to an end, and I don’t give a fuck if I’m the one who has to put a bullet in his head to do it. Over the years, he and his son have fucked me over on a variety of occasions, but this time, he went too far. This wasn’t drugs in my club or dead bodies at the door; this was him taking a shot at me and my woman. A woman who was carrying my child when he had his men do it. Yes, this shit is coming to an end, and then I’m moving Maggie to Tennessee to start over. I can’t say I haven’t enjoyed Vegas, but the life I was leading was a life I was never really living at all. I moved through the motions, not really connecting with anyone. I have no roots here, no family, and only a handful of people I would consider friends. I want more than that for Maggie and me. I want her to have people, family around, bonfires, dinner with friends, and a house eventually full of kids. Vegas isn’t the place I see myself building that dream for us.

I wasn’t lying when I told Maggie I’ve been thinking about moving for a while. The day I took Mags skydiving, I set up that meeting with Ace, needing to get a feel from him about his interest in buying me out of the club. He mentioned wanting to be partners in the past, but if I left town, I was going to be out completely. There would be no looking back.

“I know you’re awake,” I whisper, running my hand down her back when I hear her breathing change.

“Do we really have to leave?” Her head comes out from under my chin and my eyes dip forward to meet hers. I told her last night about moving to Kai’s place out in the desert. She doesn’t want to go. I know this, but I also know it’s the safest place for her to be while Kai, Kenton, Justin and I take care of what needs to be taken care of.

“It won’t be but a few days, baby, then this shit will be done and we can move on with our lives,” I tell her, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

“I’ll follow you anywhere,” she whispers after a long moment, and I hear the truth in her tone. I never knew love could be like this, never understood the depth of my dad’s devotion to my mother, but having Maggie, I now understand why he stood by my mother for years, even after she tried to take his life.