Page 5 of Kingston (Angels Halo MC Next Gen #14)

Chapter Five

Kingston

Everything that had been front and center in my mind shifted the instant my eyes landed on Demi.

After finding Sammy’s smashed car earlier that day, leaving nothing behind but bloody airbags, the entire MC had been rushing to find her and Nishia. Finding the women had been our top priority.

Now that we had them back, anyone who wasn’t cleaning up Clint Morgan’s brains that were splattered around the cabin where he and his lackey had been keeping Sammy and Nishia was at the hospital.

I’d followed as soon as Uncle Hawk gave me the order, worried about both girls.

The EMTs had diagnosed them both with concussions back at the crime scene, but Sammy’s had supposedly been worse than Nishia’s.

I adored Sammy on the same level I did my cousins River and Nova, would have walked through hell for all three of them, and I was focused solely on her when I first walked into the emergency department.

My cousin Jack had gone with the women in the ambulance, while Elias and a few other brothers followed right behind.

As I walked toward Reid and Chance, I was about to ask for an update when I heard the screaming baby.

But from the moment I caught sight of that strawberry-blond hair, nothing and no one else mattered but her.

No. That was a lie.

Nothing mattered but them .

Demi and her little girl.

Shifting directions, I ate up the distance that separated us, each step closer to her relieving the pressure that had been building inside my chest from the moment she’d run from me weeks before. She watched me, unblinking, her chin trembling as I drew closer and closer.

Her face was paler than I remembered, dark shadows like bruises beneath her pretty eyes.

Admittedly, she’d been pissed as fuck the last time I’d seen her, but there was no mistaking the exhaustion that seemed to weigh her down as she struggled to hold on to the wiggling, crying little girl in her arms.

With effort, I unlocked my gaze from hers and focused on her daughter.

Tears stained her little pink face. Her hair, a few shades lighter than her mother’s, was pulled into a cute, braided ponytail.

She tried to hide her face against her mom’s chest, but she was obviously scared by all the noise of the emergency department and the strangers running around the place.

I wasn’t a kid person. They didn’t gravitate toward me naturally, and I’d done my best to avoid them for the majority of my life.

Even the ones I was related to. Being a dad hadn’t been high on my list of priorities.

My ex had dropped hints about wanting a baby a few times, but the idea of being a parent with her had given me hives.

Which should have told me that what we had wasn’t going to go anywhere.

If I felt for Avery what my cousins felt for their significant others, I would have wanted to put a baby in her just to lock her down.

Instead, I’d ignored the red flags that were waving at me that she wasn’t for me and wasted both our time.

Avery was the last thing on my mind, however, as I looked down into those tear-filled eyes, brimming with so much fear and pain, my heart melted.

Paternal instincts I didn’t know existed inside me came roaring to life, and I pressed my palm to the little girl’s back as soon as I reached her and her mother.

Demi flinched at my closeness, causing another dormant monster I didn’t know lived inside me to awaken. I grasped her shoulder, begging her with my eyes not to run, before speaking softly to her daughter. “What’s wrong, princess?”

Her brow scrunched up along with her nose, reminding me of her mom in a way that only had me falling harder for both of them. She didn’t answer me, but at least she stopped screaming, which seemed to cause Demi to relax a little. I stroked my hand over the kid’s back. “Are you not feeling well?”

“Hurts,” she said with a little sob-hiccup that killed me. Dropping her head onto her mom’s chest, she tugged on her exposed ear. Lowering my head, I took a look. There was something draining from it, and with a sinking sensation in my stomach, I realized how much pain she was really in.

“I think her eardrum ruptured,” Demi explained in a small voice, heartbreakingly opposite of our first meeting. Seeing her so tired, so mentally and emotionally beaten up, was a kick to the gut. I wanted my fiery hell-raiser back.

Whatever was going on, I’d make it better for her.

Shit. Them . I’d make it better for them.

She lowered her lashes. I started to reach for her chin, wanting to see her eyes again, but I remembered how she’d flinched when I’d first touched her. Knowing that would scare her and not trusting how I’d react to her being afraid of me, I gave her shoulder a squeeze. “It’s going to be?—”

“I’m sorry!” she whispered emotionally, cutting me off.

“Please don’t press charges against me for what I did that day.

I have never acted like that in my life.

If I caused any permanent damage to the kitchen at Aggie’s, I can pay for it.

It might take a little time, but maybe… I don’t know.

Maybe you’ll allow me to work there to cover everything? ”

She spoke so quickly, her words were jumbled together, her anxiety heightening as she glanced at something over my shoulder.

Turning my head, I saw that Ben had entered the ER with several local police officers.

Even without his sheriff’s uniform on, he could be an intimidating motherfucker.

When he’d started dating my cousin Lexa, it had caused some tension in the MC, but that was before I’d patched in.

Having the law in the family offered a lot of benefits.

It sure as fuck made dealing with other cops easier.

Clint Morgan had been keeping Sammy and Nishia in a cabin several counties away from Creswell Springs. Cleanup would have been a lot rougher if Ben hadn’t been there to smooth the way with the local law. Not impossible, but sure as fuck not as simple as it had been.

Realizing that Ben and the local cops were making Demi nervous, I shifted so they were blocked from seeing her. “Hey, what happened that day, that was nothing, okay? I tried to follow you afterward.”

She tensed even more, and I rushed to continue. “To apologize, Demi. To say I was sorry for saying what I did. I was a di—” Cutting myself off before I could say the bad word, I grimaced. I needed to watch my language. “I was a jerk, and I hope you won’t hold that against me. Please forgive me.”

“This is kind of surreal. Maybe I’m the one with a fever,” she muttered to herself.

“She has a fever too?” I touched the back of my hand to the kid’s forehead. Blinking her dark-blond lashes at me, she looked up at me curiously.

When she didn’t shy away from my touch, I stroked my thumb over her cheek.

Her skin was flower-petal soft, even with the tear tracks.

She did feel warm to me, but it wasn’t like I had a lot of experience with what a kid’s body temperature was supposed to be.

For all I knew, they ran hotter or colder than an adult my size, but there was no mistaking how uncomfortable she was.

And I couldn’t stop glancing at the blood trickling out of her tiny ear. “We’re going to get you feeling better soon, princess.”

A male nurse entered the small triage bay, adjusting the curtain with one hand, a small oral syringe in his other hand.

“Ibuprofen for the discomfort and fever. Doc shouldn’t be much longer.

I put you at the top of the board.” He wasn’t fazed when he saw me, but the kid instantly started screaming again as he approached.

“No, Mommy. No. No. No,” she cried, hiding her face again, wiggling around so much that Demi struggled to hold on to her.

“Iris,” Demi pleaded in a voice hoarse with emotion.

“Just a little medication, kiddo. Not a shot,” the nurse explained.

Which was definitely not the right thing to say to ease her fear.

“No shot!” Iris screamed at the top of her lungs.

Moving fast, I put myself between the other man and my two girls.

Keeping my back to him, I wrapped my arms around Demi and held them both to my chest, hoping the pressure of my hold would somehow soothe them both.

“Shh, shh. It’s okay, princess. No one is going to hurt you. I’m here now. You’re going to be okay.”

Demi shuddered but slowly started to relax, which helped us both to comfort Iris.

It took a minute before the kid finally stopped screaming, and then she lifted her head, unwrapping her death grip on her mother.

Grabbing hold of my cut, she kicked her legs, causing Demi to take a stumbling step back.

I tightened one arm on her, lifting Iris with the other.

Laying her head on my shoulder, she went limp almost instantly. Eyes wide in alarm, I gulped. “Is she okay? Did I hurt her?”

“She’s asleep,” the nurse told me. “Between the pain, fever, and sudden drop of adrenaline, she crashed. Which could be a good thing. I can get an IV started while she’s out. If that’s okay with you, Mom?”

“Um, sure,” Demi agreed with a hesitant nod. “I mean, if you think that is what’s best.”

“We can get her hydrated and start some IV antibiotics if Doc thinks that will speed up the recovery time. Plus, we can do labs without having to do a second stick.” Gary—I read his name on his badge—was already pulling items out of a rolling cart beneath the heart monitor.

“Whatever helps Iris,” she whispered, her shoulders drooping.

Adjusting the sleeping toddler on my shoulder, I tucked Demi against me. “It’s going to be okay, babe. I got you.”

And now that I’d found her again, I sure as fuck wasn’t letting her go.

Not her or her little one.

They were mine now.