She had to be put on serious antibiotics because of an almost deadly bladder infection. I guessed lying in your own piss and shit for days after attempting to hold it would do that to someone. Again, doctors said she should be fine, just in pain for a while.
I had been waiting five hours by then for her to wake up. It had been said the drugs were totally out of her system, but her not waking up was a concern.
No fucking shit it was a concern. I couldn’t eat, sleep, or move from her side. My insides were shredded every time I looked at her. I wasn’t a praying man, but I fucking prayed every minute I could. I just wanted her to open her fucking eyes. To come back to me.
I wiped my hand over my face. I was so fucking tired, but nothing I did would allow me to sleep. I didn’t deserve to sleep, anyway. Not until my woman woke up, until we could sleep side by side again. Then I would sleep.
Rex defused the bomb that was big enough to blow the whole block. When I told everyone about Flynn and Ghost being brothers, shit hit the roof. No one believed it, but when Techie really started digging deeper, just focusing on those two, he found it. They were in fact brothers, same father although Ghost’s mother never put it on his birth certificate. No, the confirmation came from Flynn’s mother. Once Techie got an exact location, we sent out guys to investigate. They let themselves in and found an old box with one small letter inside of it. In that letter was the confirmation we were looking for.
We got a hit on Ghost and Flynn’s whereabouts via Rex not even ten hours later. He and his men worked fucking fast. They had better fucking be in the little town in South America as expected since I had talked Vino and Sal into sending Rex, Val, and a few enforcers to take them out. I could have waited. Shit, I wanted to wait so I could pull the fucking trigger, but being in the hospital with Catarina was more important. I only prayed I got the fucking call soon. That this nightmare was over. I wasn’t giving them time to run again.
Mumbling from the bed had my attention turning to it. Catarina’s head moved from side to side, exactly like it had a few times over the past few hours.
I moved up and rested my hand on her forehead. “You’re all right, dolcezza. I’ve got you, baby.” I repeated the words over and over to her, not knowing if they made a bit of difference.
When her eyes fluttered open, my heart stopped, and breath was hard to come by.
“Catarina?” I breathed.
Her hand moved to her throat, no doubt dry as a bone.
“You’re okay. You’re in the hospital. Safe.”
I replayed the moment when the doctor told me she hadn’t been raped in my head. I had never been so fucking relieved to hear something in my life. That stupid son of a bitch had played me, and I was glad the fucker was gone.
Her head shook from side to side. “Blow,” she croaked out, her voice sounding nothing like her own.
“Rex took care of it. Nothing blew.” Questions rose in her eyes, but before she could talk, I answered for her. “He’s dead. Gone.”
“Ghost?” Her eyes closed as exhaustion took over.
After all of this, I realized just how much I loved this woman, and I would do anything and everything to make sure she knew it every day for the rest of our lives. I evaded her question not wanting her to worry. “You have nothing to worry about.”
Chapter 22
One Month Later
NIGHTMARES. EVERY DAMN night, it was the same one. Me, strapped to a bed, being injected with drugs and wanting to scream yet not being able to find a strong enough voice.
Wait.
It wasn’t a nightmare.
It had been reality, one that, when I closed my eyes at night, replayed over and over again, not relenting. Even lying in Jag’s arms, the nightmares came, and I saw that man. I could even hear the smirk in his voice.
When I woke up screaming, Jag was always there, trying to calm me. I would scream, yell, kick, and fight until I finally woke up and saw it was Jag who was holding me. He had taken quite a few hits from me, one catching him off guard and giving him a black eye. I had never felt so horrible about something in my life.
Yet, even after all the dreams and thrashings, he was still there. He refused to leave. I was positive I wouldn’t have made it as far as I had, even in small steps, without him there every day.
I had gone to the doctor the day before and told her all about my dreams. She had prescribed me some medicine that was supposed to help me sleep. We would see how that worked. She had also told me all my infections were healed and had been for a while now.
I sat, waiting for Jag in the living room with Scraper over in the corner. I wasn’t able to move far without him attached to me. Rex had to go somewhere, and Jag wouldn’t tell me where or what he was doing, only that he would be back. I also hadn’t seen Val in that time, either. The rest of my family had hounded me. I loved them, but the first few days were hard. Then Jag finally put his foot down, and I was able to relax more.
“Hey, dolcezza.”
I jumped at the voice behind me, turning quickly. Jag’s smile pulled my heart. After everything we had been through, he was still giving me those smiles.
I stood from the couch. “Hey, where are we going?” I walked in front of Jag and wrapped my arms around him. His lips fell down on mine in a caressing kiss, and I fell into it, loving the sensation of him.
I knew I was very lucky that I wasn’t hurt sexually while I was gone. Thank God.
He pulled slowly away from me, and my eyes fluttered open to stare into his beautiful denim eyes, the ones that, no matter how many times I saw them, melted me.
“Hold that thought.”
Before I could ask, he tugged my arm, pulling me through the house.
“Where are we going?” I giggled as he pulled me out of the room, not answering me.
We walked down the hallway and toward the rush. Jag opened the door, kicking it with his foot before dragging me into the vacant room. He shut the door behind us with a click.
“Why are we here?” If anything, this was odd. We never came down here. Jag had meetings, but I hadn’t stepped foot in here since I’d had to meet with my dad and uncle.
He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me to his body. “You know how many meetings I’ve had in here?”
I shook my head, because recently, there had been many.
“Lots.” His breath tickled my nose, the mint of his toothpaste right there for me to taste. The scruff of his beard sending tingles to my skin. “And every time I sit in this room, I think about how I will lay you out and feast on you, how I will fuck you on every single surface of this room.” His lips dipped to my ear. “And today, I make it happen.”
My insides quivered. “Really? You think I’m that easy, huh?” I sassed.
“Baby, you are in no way easy, but you’re fucking mine, and if I want it, you’ll give it.” He was right. I would, eventually.
I stepped out of his grasp, a smirk playing on my lips. “Gonna have to catch me first.”
I darted off to the other side of the room, only making it a few steps before Jag’s strong arms gripped me from behind.
“Like this?” Jag asked as I pretended to struggle and laughed.
I turned in his arms. “Yeah.”
His lips crashed down on mine, sucking every bit of air from me. His hands moved up and down my body as our lips began fighting each other for dominance. I knew I would lose, but it was fun trying.
He ripped his lips away from mine. “Naked. Now,” he ordered, pulling out one of the chairs from the table and holding out his hand. “Up on the table.” I paused for a moment, needing just a second, then reached out for his hand and climbed up on the table.