Page 43 of Wild Side (Vicious Reapers MC #3)

LIGHTNING

The beeping is fucking annoying. But I feel a warm hand curl around mine, fingers squeeze me, and my eyes open. I’m surprised when I see a familiar head of hair by my hip. Flexing my fingers around her hand, I watch as her head lifts.

Her eyes find mine, and her lips widen. I watch as her eyes water, then the tears fall down her cheeks. Lifting my hand, I cup her cheek.

“What the fuck?” I ask.

She smiles softly. She lifts her hand, cupping my cheek. “Dakota called me.”

“And you came here. Why?”

I feel the pad of her thumb slide across my bottom lip. “Where else would I be, Light?”

“Enjoying whatever adventure you were on.”

She snorts, rolling her eyes to the ceiling, then brings her gaze back to meet mine. “It wasn’t much of an adventure at all,” she whispers. “This is exactly where I need to be.”

I’m not sure how to respond to that. She’s the one who walked away.

I know it was because she needed that, but at the same time, she left me.

My eyes slide closed, and I realize I’m being a gigantic fucking dick by thinking the way that I am right now.

I decide not to voice my thoughts for that reason.

“Is it?” I ask.

“Is it?”

“Where you need to be?”

Briana picks up the hand that she’s still holding, touching her lips to my fingers before she places my hand back on the bed. “More than you could know,” she breathes.

I don’t ask her any details, but I can tell that something is bothering her. Like the pussy I am, I ignore the fact that she’s got something else on her mind. I open my mouth to ask her what the fuck happened to me when the door opens.

A nurse walks through the door, a smile plastered on her face. She moves around, checking my shoulder, then my stomach, and then everything comes flooding back to me. I was shot. Twice.

“Cidney,” I croak after the nurse leaves the room.

“She’s safe. Goose is staying with her as protection.”

Pressing my lips together, I try not to laugh, knowing it’s going to fucking hurt my incisions. Goose protecting Cidney is laughable. No doubt he’s balls deep in his protection of Piggy’s cousin.

brIANA

When Dakota called me and told me that Lightning had been shot, I almost passed out right there in my apartment building hallway. Once the instant shock wore off, I loaded my bag into my car and drove the seven hours to get here, only stopping for gas.

Seeing Lightning in this hospital bed, machines, and bandages, I knew that this was where I needed to be. I’m not sure if it’s where I’ll stay forever, but this is where I should be. There’s no other place for me right now.

There’s a knock on the door, and I turn my head, expecting a doctor or nurse to walk in, but instead, it’s Dakota and Bullet. He jerks his chin toward me, but Dakota closes the distance between us, and as I stand, she throws her arms around me.

“I’m so glad you came home,” she whispers.

I could tell her that I didn’t actually come home, but since everything I own is in my car, that would be a lie. She takes a step backward, her fingers gripping my shoulders as her gaze searches mine. I watch as her lips curve up into a smile.

“Let’s go get something to eat, you look exhausted and hungry,” she says.

Turning my head, I look over to the bed where Lightning is resting. Bullet clears his throat, and I shift my gaze from the bed to meet his.

“You doin’ okay?” he asks. I can hear the concern in his voice.

Blinking, I clear my throat. “I’m okay. I’m not worried about me, though,” I whisper.

Bullet’s lips twitch into a smirk. “I got him. Go get something to eat.”

His words bring me not only comfort but also a sense of safety that I didn’t realize I was looking for. Dakota takes my hand as he guides me out of the hospital room. With every step that I take farther from Lightning, I wonder how I left in the first place all those months ago.

It feels like my heart is being ripped out of my chest. I don’t understand the extreme sensation, but I think that it’s because of what happened to him. He could have died. I don’t know what I would have done or how I would have felt if that happened.

I might have become even more lost than I already am. The fact that I have been through as much as I have in my life, and continue to overcome, I’m not sure that type of grief is something I could have crawled out from beneath.

Lightning is special.

I fell in love with him a long time ago. This world would be a darker place without him, and I would be in the depths of that darkness.