It’s been a fucked-up day. I just got Diesel and his men settled. They’re in sleeping bags in the main entrance to the bunker. Fucker refused my offer of bedrooms, told me I was getting soft. Hell, maybe I am. I’d take a warm bed over that fucking hard floor any day of the week.

A warm bed with Beth in it is even better.

I softly close the door to our room, hoping she’s asleep. I should have known better. She’s sitting up in bed doing something on her phone. She looks up when I come in and shuts her phone off, setting it on the bedside table.

“Everything okay?” she asks, her voice worn out and hoarse. She cried for an hour today after I got home. Even when I finally got her to calm down by showing her that the wound wasn’t that bad, she still cried. This is taking a toll on her. I see the worry and the pain etched on her face and I fucking hate it. I need to end this fucking war; I just don’t know how, short of cutting someone’s head off. Trouble is, I can’t tell whose head I should take. Colin’s or Redmond’s? And where the fuck has Matthew been all this time? I can’t even find the son of a bitch in France where Beth thought he was. I keep thinking I’m missing the big picture here. It’s driving me crazy.

“Yes, querida. Just had to make sure Diesel and his crew were settled for the night.”

“You have his men here and Cade’s. How many more do you think it will have to take? How many more lives will be on the line because of me?” she asks, her voice weak and quiet. I almost have to strain to hear the question.

I sigh deeply. I knew it would come to this. I hope I have the right words to tackle her worries. There’s nothing she can do about it now; I’m never letting her go.

“Querida,” I start, but she waves me off.

“You know I’m right, Skull. If not for me, none of this would be happening.”

I throw my clothes to the floor and join her in the bed. Getting settled under the covers, I pull her body next to mine.

“We didn’t start this, mi cielo. The only person to blame here is Colin and Redmond.” Her body tenses in my arms and I stroke her arm tenderly.

“Redmond?” she asks.

“Si. He’s Edmund’s brother. Word has it that he’s the one pulling the strings, not Colin. There’s a pull for power going on in the Donahues’ camp, querida. I think we’re just getting caught in the crossfire.”

“What will you do?”

“Keep attacking until the main target slips up. He will; they always do.”

She doesn’t say anything else, so I just continue to stroke her skin, letting my touch calm her.

“No matter what happens, Skull, I want you to know that the day you walked into that small coffee shop and sat down at my table was the best day of my life.”

Something in her tone worries me. I pull back and lift her face up to talk to me. “We’re going to be okay, querida. This will pass and things will get better. I need you to believe that. I need you to believe in me.”

Her eyes seem to bore into mine, and I see a million questions, but she asks me none of them. Instead, she buries her head into my chest and places a kiss above my heart.

“I know you’re extending the lockdown and tightening security, but do you think you could let me go to the hospital to spend the day with Beast? They’re removing his bandages tomorrow and checking out the results from the first surgery.”

“Is he talking to anyone yet?” I ask. They brought Beast out slowly, but he’s not talking to anyone. The doctors are starting to worry his voice has been affected.

“No. He ignores everyone. I just don’t want him to be alone. You have the place surrounded. I’d be okay.”

“I don’t know, mi cielo. I don’t like the idea of you being away from the compound.”

“I’ll be fine. I promise to keep at least one of your men with me at all times.”

I smile. She doesn’t know it yet, but she won’t have a choice. I don’t feel right letting her go, but Latch spent the evening telling me how she cleaned the place from top to bottom. If I don’t give her something to do, she’s going to work herself to death.

“Okay, mi cielo. But you will come home early. Tomorrow, I will be busy early on setting up our next attack, but after that, I want you in my arms for the remainder of the day.”

“I’m pretty sure that can be arranged,” she says with a smile, but the smile doesn’t touch her eyes. Gone is that playful front she had before I left. I know it’s because I was shot. I just don’t know how to fix it.

“It better be. I’m practically wasting away from lack of attention here,” I tell her, trying to lighten up the somber mood.

“Is that so?”

“Complete truth,” I sigh.

“I’ll have to see if I can fix that then,” she says, sliding under the covers. My baby does like sucking on my cock. When I feel her hand wrap around it, I groan.

“I like a woman who takes matters into her own… hands,” I whisper, my fingers combing through her hair as she loves on my cock, my shaft disappearing into her mouth. I don’t even mind the sting of pain that comes with using my arm.

It’s more than worth it.