"Kai." She whispers.
"Yes, Princess. I'm here." My throat thickens with emotion.
"Thirsty...."
"We're almost to Wonderland, and I'll get you something soon."
There are only two guys that fit the description Theo gave me. Drew Crews and Winston Baker. They're going to get a visit from us real soon, but my money’s on it being that bugged eyed motherfucker Drew.
Where the hell was AJ when all this shit was going down? I don't like that she left her, Presley is too sweet for her own good. Before all is said and done, I'm going to have a little talk with her little bestie, too.
Gunner meets me at the door, but he doesn't have a gurney. No he needs to hold her close to himself just like I did. Handing her off is one of the hardest things I've ever done, but sharing is what we signed up for. Even when it’s hard to do, like tonight. He loves her, too, it’s only fair.
"Gunner." She whispers.
Her eyelids flutter several times before she goes back into a deep sleep. My brother sits on the hospital bed while she rests on him. We both sneer at the orderly who suggests he get up so that she can lay on the bed properly. He understands the assignment and leaves the room shortly after.
A nurse starts an IV, draws blood, then takes her vitals. We are told that her blood pressure is low, but pulse is steady. They'll have the results of her blood test in an hour. Holding her hand, I wait by her bedside.
Gunner barks at the doctors and nurses, to do their damned jobs. They’re surprised but he'll apologize later, but he's too wound up to be civil. Hell, we both are. "I need everyone out, so that we can undress her. I want you to test her shirt for residue, just in case her bloodwork shows nothing. Knock before you come to collect her clothes. I will fire anyone who doesn't."
They nod, and basically run out of the room. I kiss her palm and each one of her fingers. "Will you really fire someone just for walking in a door unannounced?"
He rolls his eyes. "Fuck yeah. She's ours, nobody else will ever get to see her naked again, and I know what you're doing, but you don't have to try and distract me. As long as I'm here with her I'll be okay."
"I can trust that you're not going to lose your shit again?"
He chuckles. "Not until we have the bastard in Cell Block 666. Then I'll unleash my crazy. I'm assuming you saw my office?"
I sigh. "I did. I can't say that I blame you. How are you going to explain it to the staff?"
He shrugs. "Maybe the Madd Hatter will make his appearance soon, and I can get him to take the blame for it."
"That means you'll owe him a favor if he does."
He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, he's become as bad as Jekyll about trading favors."
Despite what we do for a living, neither of us love to talk about our feelings, but I want him to know that he's not alone. "If I hadn't been in a crowd full of people, then nothing around me would have remained standing. She could have really gotten hurt tonight, Gunner, but don’t worry we'll have our revenge."
"I won't rest until his blood is on the edge of my knife. Are you willing to kill him without there ever being a trial?" He asks quietly.
As a general rule, minus our first victim, all the guilty have been tried then let go by our justice system. Whether that be by money exchanging hands or a mishap with the chain of evidence, either way we couldn't let them be placed back into society. Especially if a child or woman has been hurt.
I don't even have to think about my answer. "Without question. For her, I'd kill thousands if that's what it took to keep her safe."
Cradling her body close to his, he bends down to kiss her again. "Then it's decided. We'll be his jury and executioners. I know we talked about this the other day, but I want to reiterate the fact that I've finally accepted what we are. I've been putting off starting a relationship with her because I knew we didn't deserve her, and I thought maybe we could change or that there’d be some miraculous cure, but they'll never be one. I've put her on the back burner for far too long. She'll need some time after this to heal, so we may have to wait longer than what we decided, but after that nothing can stop me from claiming her. I want us to take it slow so that we don’t break her. We need to ease her into the relationship.”
"Fucking finally, Gunner. I can't wait until that moment when we no longer have to hide our feelings for her." All I want to do is show her how much she means to me.
He nods. "Let's get her undressed before some asshole forgets to knock and they lose their life."
Killing someone would help blow off some steam before we catch our next target, unfortunately, that would break our code of ethics. We can’t do that to ourselves or the Brotherhood.
We remove every piece of her clothing, but there’s no leering,and we try not to stare. Someone already tried to take advantage of her today. We don’t want to add to her hurt.
A knock sounds at the door, and I cover her up with another blanket. "Come in." I command.
Nurse Cheshire smiles as she makes her way over to us. Her smile always creeps me the fuck out. "Dr. Donovan, it has been determined she was given a high dose of ketamine laced with fentanyl. By the look of her shirt, she couldn't have ingested much, which is why she's still alive. Whoever mixed this cocktail didn't know what they were doing."
