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“Who the fuck would try to break into Jack’s place?” he asked as he looked out of the open window to the footprints below.

“Could have just been an attempted burglary. Timing could just be coincidence.” I shrugged.

“It could be. It could also be the Owen’s haven’t quite given up their search for Colt yet,” he pointed out and my stomach lurched. He was right. Owen had told me he’d let things lie, but he was a criminal and experience had taught me they weren’t usually trustworthy.

“Fuck! We have to get to the hospital,” I gasped. I moved to go to my room, but I moved too fast and pain shot up from my thigh to the center of my back, taking my breath away in it’s intensity.

“Easy, baby. There’s a security team watching Colt, and Jack. He’s safe,” Mason told me as he wrapped his arms around=d me, holding me against him.

“I still need to go to him. I need to see for myself that he’s safe, and Ky needs to warn the security company he hired,” I told him, all of my bliss well and truly gone as my worries set firmly back in.

“We’ll go. Come on. Let’s get some clothes on,” he said as he scooped me up and carried me to my room. I clung to him and realized not all of my bliss was gone. I still had Mason pressed against me, and that was definitely a piece of heaven.

CHAPTER 20

AVA

Mason left me in my room to shower and get dressed while he went to Jack’s to do the same. When he was done he managed to fix the broken lock on the window temporarily and called the intrusion in so there would be an official report on file.

Just over an hour after the scare of the alarm going off we were back at the hospital. Mason stopped outside to speak with he two security guards Ky had hired to protect my brother. I slipped into the room, once again leaning heavily on my stick. Despite the fact I hadn’t even been awake two hours after my impromptu nap I was tired again, and my pain was setting in at the higher end of the scale, especially in my lower back.

“Ave? Where the hell have you been?” Jack snapped the second I walked in.

“Do not fucking start with me,” I growled as I turned to glare at him hard. He was sitting in the corner of the room, his cel in hand. I knew he’d been texting and calling me since I left, but I had ignored him.

“Is everything okay?” Colt asked as I completely bypassed Jack and headed towards the bed.

Colt was sat up, his cell, or what I knew had to be a replacement cell, in his hand and a coffee on the table in front of him. He hadsome color back in his cheeks and he looked fully awake now. Kylan was sat right beside him in the same clothes he’d been wearing earlier. He looked just as drawn and exhausted as he had when I last saw him, but there was a satisfied, happy smile on his face now.

“Jack’s an ass, but I guess we all knew that already,” I shrugged nonchalantly. “How are you feeling?”

“Good. The pain meds they have me on are good,” Colt laughed. “Where did you disappear to?”

“I went to meet Mason, then we went to Jack’s to sleep for a few hours. I’m sorry I just walked out like that,” I told him.

“You needed to rest. I’m glad you went,” Colt told me. “Now you can help me to convince Kylan he needs to do the same.”

I looked to Ky and smiled softly. “He’s right. You look beat. Why don’t you go home and sleep for a while? I’ll stay until you come back,” I promised.

“Why don’t you all just go home to sleep and shower? I’m a big boy. I’ll be fine here on my own for a while,” Colt cut in, and if I didn’t know him so well I might have missed the slight wobble in his voice that told me he was pushing the easy tone he was using.

“Come on, pal. I’ll drive you home on my way to my place. I really need to shower and change,” Jack spoke up.

“You sure you can stay?” Kylan asked as he looked to me with concern.

“I’m sure. Mason’s here too, and Deacon text to say he’d be back in a few hours. He just had to sort out the security at the club for tonight,” I explained. “I’ll take care of him, Ky. I promise. He’s safe now.”

“Okay. Just for a few hours. I know I look quite a state,” he laughed as he self consciously ran a hand over his rather wild hair.

“You always look amazing, you know that,” Colt said, looking to his finance with a gentle smile. “But you have to get some sleep for me, babe. I’m worried about you.”

“I will. I’ll sleep, sort myself out and come back later, okay? You rest to though. No trying to get out of bed on your own,” Ky insisted as he looked to me. “Damn idiot nearly ripped his stitches open earlier trying to get to the bathroom alone while I nipped out to take a call. He’s unsteady on his feet.”

“Mason will be here to help him. I won’t let Colt do anything else moronic,” I promised.

“Now who’s ganging up on who?” Colt demanded, but I saw the smile on his lips. He was happy to see his sister and his fiancé getting along so well.

As Colt and Ky hugged and said goodbye to each other, Jack approached me where I had sat in a chair beside Colt’s bed. He crouched down beside me and I glared at him.