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Chapter Twenty-Two

M ac

The darkness felt like a heavy blanket enveloping me in its nothingness. Occasionally, I would hear voices—clinical, professional voices discussing things like blood pressure and oxygen levels. Then they’d fade, and I’d slip back into the void.

But this time was different.

This time, I heard him .

“Come back to me, baby. Please.” His voice was rough, broken in a way I’d never heard it before. “I can’t do this without you. I don’t know how.”

Something inside me struggled toward his voice, fighting against the darkness that wanted to keep me.

“The doctors say to keep talking. That there’s a chance you might hear me.” There was a pause, followed by something that sounded a lot like a sob. “So I’m gonna keep talking until you open those beautiful eyes. Until you come back to me.”“

I felt pressure on my hand—warm, familiar, strong.

“Remember when we found Diesel? How you were ready to kick my ass because you thought I was hurting him?” A choked laugh. “That’s when I knew you were something special. This fierce little blonde was ready to take on a man twice her size to protect a dog she’d never even met.”

Rage.

“I never told you this, but I knew that night. I fucking knew you were it for me. And I fought it because I knew I didn’t deserve you. Hell, I still don’t, but I’m too selfish to let you go.”

The pressure on my hand tightened.

“Mac, baby, I need you. There’s still so much we haven’t done. I want to wake up every morning with your hair in my face. I want to fight about stupid shit like where the cereal goes and whose turn it is to pick what’s for dinner. I want to make you laugh, make you come, make you happy. Every. Damn. Day.” When his voice cracked, I felt something wet hit my hand.

“I was supposed to protect you. What good am I, if I can’t even keep you safe?”

His voice dropped to a broken whisper. “I won’t survive without you. So you have to fight. Come back to me. You promised, baby.”

With every ounce of strength I possessed, I forced my fingers to move, to squeeze his hand. The effort was monumental, but I had to let him know I heard him. That I was still here. That I was his, and I wasn’t going anywhere.

My eyelids felt like they were made of lead, but somehow, I managed to pry them open.

The light was blinding at first, everything a painful blur. Blinking rapidly, I struggled to focus on the man beside my bed. He was slumped forward in a chair, his head bowed, clutching my hand like it was a lifeline. His dark hair was disheveled, as though he’d been running his fingers through it repeatedly, and his t-shirt was wrinkled, like he’d been wearing it for days.

My fingers flexed again, more deliberately this time.

His head shot up, bloodshot eyes locking with mine.

For a moment, he just stared, like he was afraid I might vanish if he looked away.

“Thank fuck,” he breathed, surging forward to cup my face in his trembling hands. “Oh, god. Thank fuck.”

I opened my mouth to tell him that I was okay, but nothing came out but a pain filled groan as my body registered the discomfort being unconscious had hidden.

A deep, burning ache shot through my side and chest and intensified with every breath I took.

Rage’s eyes went wide when he realized what was happening. He reached for the call button at my hip and pressed the big red button in the middle.

“Hurts,” I rasped, each syllable like broken glass in my throat.

“I know, baby,” he murmured, smoothing my hair back from my forehead. “Someone will come. Just hold on.”

The door swung open, and a nurse in blue scrubs rushed in. Her eyes lit up when she saw me awake. “Well, hello there,” she said, moving to check the machines beside my bed. “You’ve had quite a lot of people worried about you.”

She pressed some buttons on the machine, and almost immediately, the sharp edges of the pain softened.

“That should help,” she said, making some notes on a tablet before looking up and smiling softly. “I’ll let your doctor know that you’re awake.”

After she left, I turned my head toward Rage, taking in the dark circles under his eyes, the stubble that had grown well past his usual neat beard.

“What happened?” My voice was barely audible. “Why am I here?”

A shadow passed over his face, something dark and pained flickering in his eyes. He hesitated, his thumb stroking over the back of my hand.

“You don’t remember?”

I tried to think back, but my memories felt fragmented. I remembered finishing my shift, being tired, walking to the parking garage... then nothing but disjointed flashes. “Not really. I remember leaving work…”

Rage took a deep breath, his jaw tightening. “You were in the parking garage. Your tire was flat.”

As he spoke, hazy images coalesced. The flat tire. The tire iron in my hand. Then...

“Chad,” I whispered, cold fear washing over me as the missing pieces of memory clicked into place. His wild eyes. The smell of alcohol clinging to him. The gun he’d pulled and aimed right at me.

“Yeah,” Rage confirmed, his voice hardening. “He was there. Waiting for you.”

“He shot me.” The words came out flat, almost disbelieving.

I glanced down at my body, seeing the hospital gown, the IV lines, the evidence of what had been done to me. “I—I can’t believe he actually shot me.”

“Twice,” Rage said, the word coming out like it physically hurt him to say it. “Once in your side, once in your chest. The first bullet missed anything vital. The second…” His voice faltered. “The second nicked your lung. You lost a lot of blood.”

My hand instinctively moved to my chest, feeling the thick bandages beneath the hospital gown.

“If your co-worker hadn’t found you when she did…” Rage trailed off, unable to finish. “She used your phone to call me. I’ve never been so fucking scared in my life.”

The raw emotion in his voice made my heart ache. I squeezed his hand, needing him to know I was here, that I was still alive.

“How long have I been here?” I asked.

“Five days,” he replied, looking like he’d aged as many years in that time. “Doc had you in a medically induced coma. They just started weaning you off yesterday.”

“You’ve been here the whole time?” I took in his haggard appearance.

“Wild horses couldn’t have pulled me away,” he said simply, bringing my hand to his lips.

Before I could tell him he should go home and rest, the door opened again. My heart swelled at the sight of my mother, followed by Jack, Chelsea, and my nieces. Mom’s hand flew to her mouth when she saw I was awake, tears immediately spilling down her cheeks.

“You’re awake,” she cried, rushing to the opposite side of the bed from Rage. Her cool hand pressed against my forehead like she used to do when I was sick as a child. “Thank God.”

Chelsea wasn’t far behind, tears now streaming freely down her face as she stood at the foot of the bed. “We’ve been so worried about you.”

“We made you pictures, Auntie Mac,“ Brooklyn announced, holding up colorful drawings in both hands. “They’re to make you feel better.”

“Daddy said we have to be gentle with you,” Emma added solemnly, her young face creased with worry beyond her years.

I felt tears well in my eyes at their sweet gestures.

Jack hung back, hovering near the doorway. When our eyes met, I saw something I’d never seen in my big brother’s expression before—raw guilt. He took a hesitant step forward, then another, until he stood beside Chelsea.

“Hey, sis,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Good to see your eyes open again.”

I gave him a weak smile, understanding everything he wasn’t saying. This wasn’t the time for the conversation we needed to have, but he was happy that I was awake. “Thanks for being here, Jack.”

He nodded, blinking rapidly, and I knew he was fighting back tears of his own. Whatever had happened between us before, whatever harsh words had been exchanged, none of it mattered now. He was my brother, and he loved me. That was enough.

“Knock, knock.” The nurse who’d been in a few moments before my family arrived poked her head around the door. “I hate to run everyone off, but the doctor will be in shortly to check on Ms. Davis and he’s sent specific instructions for her to rest until he arrives.”

“Of course.” Mom smiles but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ll be back later, baby.” She kissed my forehead.

“We’ll give you a couple of days to get your strength.” Chelsea promised, herding her girls towards the door.

Jack opened his mouth then snapped it shut before casting a glance back at Rage.

My shoulders tensed waiting for him to start a drama.

But to my relief, my brother nodded curly at Rage and my man returned it.

Holy shit.

“Did I miss something?” I asked once the door closed behind Jack.

Rage’s shoulders went up. “We realized we have something in common.”

“Oh?” I was genuinely curious.

Dark stormy eyes lifted to meet mine. “We’d both kill to keep you safe.”

Questions were on the tip of my tongue. What happened to Chad? Did my brother know?

Rage’s thumb traced circles on the back of my hand, his eyes never leaving my face.

“Sarah?“ I asked, deciding that was a safer topic of conversation for now. “Is she okay? Does she know what happened?”

Rage blew out a breath. “She’s been staying at the clubhouse. Foxy’s keeping an eye on her.”

The door swung open again before I could ask more questions. This time, it was Reign, Killer, Zero, and Dread who filed in, with Sarah hovering uncertainly behind them.

“‘Bout time ya’ woke, lass. Yer’ man was losin’ the plot.” Reign grinned, his Irish brogue the thickest I’d ever heard it.

“Seriously,” Zero agreed, his usually impassive face showing genuine relief.

Killer, towering over everyone as usual, awkwardly thrust a fluffy stuffed bear toward me. “This is from the girls at the clubhouse. Trixie picked it out.”

Rage’s brow went up.

Trixie had made it clear on multiple occasions that she wasn’t my biggest fan, but maybe we were turning a corner. Whatever it was, I’d take it. “Tell her thank you for me.” I was touched by the unexpected gesture.

Sarah moved to the edge of the bed, her eyes red-rimmed “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t?—”

My heart squeezed. “No. This is nobody’s fault, but Chad’s.”

She nodded, though I could see the guilt hadn’t left her eyes. As she stepped back Dread move closer to her, his hand briefly touching the small of her back. I glanced between them. Had something developed between them in the last few days?

“Did they catch him?” I asked, not needing to specify who I meant.

The atmosphere in the room changed instantly, the air becoming charged and cold. Each man looked to his left and then his right, silently communicating something.

“Don’t worry about him, baby,” Rage said carefully. “Just focus on getting better.”

His evasion wasn’t lost on me, but I was too exhausted to push. Whatever had happened, or was going to happen, to Chad was something Rage clearly didn’t want to discuss.

“Time to head out. Mac needs her rest.” Rage said suddenly.

Sarah was the first to move at Rage’s demand. She came over and gently gave me a side hug. “Get some rest. Love you, bestie.”

I used my good arm to pat the side of her head. “Love you back, bestie.”

Once she moved aside, all of Rage’s brothers came over and pressed a kiss to my cheek before filing out with Dread and Sarah leaving together.

“Am I crazy or is something going on there?”

Rage looked to the door then back to me, his shoulders going up. “Who knows.”

I patted the edge of the bed. “Come here.”

Rage hesitated, his eyes dropping to where my hand rested. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re not going to hurt me. Now come here,” I repeated. “Please. I need to feel you close to me.”

He couldn’t deny me, not when I was looking at him with pleading eyes from a hospital bed. “You’re not playing fair, woman.”

I smirked. All was fair in love and all that jazz.

Carefully, he lowered himself onto the mattress beside me, his body barely touching mine like maybe he thought I might break.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he confessed, his voice thick with emotion. “When I saw you on that screen. When I saw him pull that trigger…” He swallowed hard, unable to continue.

I lifted my hand to his face, my fingers brushing against his stubbled cheek. “You didn’t lose me. I’m right here.”

“But you almost weren’t.” His eyes, usually so confident, were haunted. “And that’s on me. I should have protected you better.”

“This isn’t your fault,” I insisted, echoing what I’d told Sarah. “This is Chad’s doing, not yours.”

As he looked away, I saw something dark flicker in his eyes. When he looked back at me, his eyes had changed, determination replacing whatever had been there moments before.

“Baby.” He took my hand in his. “These last three days have been the worst of my life. Sitting here, watching you, not knowing if you’d ever open your eyes again... It made me realize I don’t want to waste another second.”

The monitor attached to my chest started beeping faster as my heart picked up speed.

Rage stood, then lowered himself to one knee beside the bed, still holding my hand in his. I kept glancing from whatever he was doing in his pocket back to the determined look in his eyes, when suddenly out came a small velvet black box.

“I had this in my dresser at home,” he explained, his voice surprisingly calm considering the gravity of the moment. “Been waiting for the right moment.” His thumb flipped the box open, revealing a simple diamond on a white gold band.

It was beautiful.

“I had this whole big thing planned,” he continued, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Was going to take you to the beach, do it right at sunset. But after almost losing you…” His voice caught. “I don’t want to wait another day.”

He took the ring from the box, holding it poised at the tip of my finger. “McKenzie Davis. You make me a better man. You challenge me, you love me despite every reason why you shouldn’t” His eyes were locked with mine, fierce and full of love. “Marry me.”

One by one, tears streamed down my face now. Despite the pain, despite everything that had happened, in that moment, all I felt was love—overwhelming, all-consuming, never-ending love for my complicated, beautiful man who’d stolen my heart.

“Yes,” I whispered, nodding vigorously. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

His face broke into a grin that transformed him, years of worry melting away as he carefully slipped the ring onto my finger.

Then, with infinite gentleness, he leaned forward to press his lips to mine in a soft kiss that sealed the deal.

“I love you. So much.”

“I love you too, baby,“ he breathed against my lips as his forehead rested against mine. “More than anything in this world.”