I swallowed and winced from the pain. I had somehow ended up back where I started—injured and feeling as if I’d gargled with sharp stones. I was told that I’d been out for two days and, if it hadn’t hurt to talk, I would’ve told her that it felt much longer than that.

It had seemed closer to an eternity.

Guardrail’s phone had gone off not long after and he pressed a quick kiss to my cheek before leaving me with the nurses. They didn’t waste any time in moving me to a regular room. I think they’d probably had enough excitement to last a lifetime thanks to me.

Movement near the cracked door caught my eye and I saw a bouquet of flowers, moving up and down in someone’s hand— the person appeared to be having an animated conversation with the wall.

The door came open suddenly and I jumped, wincing at the pain in my side. Twitch gave me a small smile before holding out a bouquet of yellow daisies.

“Hey, kid.”

My lower lip trembled violently and my eyes filled. He was alive. I tried to speak, but my throat was raw, so I settled for a small wave instead.

His arm was bandaged and in a sling, but he was still breathing. I held out my arms and he placed the flowers on the bedside table before embracing me with his good arm.

“Jesus Christ, kid. I didn’t think you were coming back from that—”

I cleared my throat and whispered, “How? Blade shot you.” Gone was my soft, lilting voice; I now sounded positively demonic.

He dug into his pocket and pulled out a circular disc. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was the medallion I’d given him. “That little token you gave me saved my damn life. The bullet should’ve hit my heart—instead, it hit right in the middle, where it says, ‘Miracles Happen.’ Now, tell me I’m not the luckiest son-of-a-bitch alive because of you.”

I pointed to his shoulder. “But your arm’s all bandaged up.”

He nodded. “Well, the fucker did manage to graze my shoulder with the second shot, but all in all, I’m fine. I was more worried about you.”

He needed to hear the truth—however twisted it was.

I cleared my throat several times and in a brittle voice, I managed to get out, “I have so much to say...”

Twitch brought his free hand up to my mouth. “Shhhh…don’t force it.”

I shook my head. “Please. I need to tell you what happened. I didn’t relapse—this,” I gestured to myself, “was done to me.”

He nodded and then shifted me over in the bed before climbing in next to me. “Okay.”

I looked over at him. “Okay—that’s it?”

He nodded again. “I believe you, kid. You don’t owe me shit. Blade did this and Charm will handle that motherfucker. I showed up here because I wanna hold you—I’ve spent the last forty-eight hours afraid I wouldn’t get to again—scared that my last memory of you would be hearing your screams for help.”

He pulled me in next to his body, his nose nestled in my hair, breathing me in. I’d expected to have to beg and plead for them to believe me. I let out a quiet sob and he tilted my face up to meet his. “What’s wrong, kid?”

I sniffed. “Twitch—what he did to Rae…my parents and the fire. I never got the chance to say goodbye to them. How did Charm and the others know to come back?”

Twitch’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’ve been retracing everything since that day—I heard his voice and it stuck. I was sitting at the clubhouse, talking to Doc, when it came to me. Like it’d been spoken out of thin air—Blade. I called Charm immediately and he told me that he’d just left you alone with him. I thought I was going to have a heart attack waiting to hear if you were okay.

“He said a minute more and you’d have been gone too—just like Rae. Blade already took so much from us—there wasn’t a chance in hell we were giving you up too.” Twitch rubbed at his eyes wearily and focused on the ceiling above my head. It had to have been Axel. His plan of getting into the clubhouse had been successful.

He looked down at me again. “Did you say your parents? Blade was responsible for the fire?”

I nodded. He might not have started the fire himself, but he set everything in motion. If Clint hadn’t had a change of heart at the last second, I would’ve died with them.

He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “I’ll be passing that information along to Charm.”

 “Twitch, where is he?” It was the only question I could ask. The others still lurked silently below the surface.

Does he blame me for all of this?

Is he going to throw me out of the club?

Will he believe me as easily as you did?

He cleared his throat and looked back toward the door. “He’s taking care of some club business, so he sent me.”

I folded the corner of the hospital sheet over in my hand. “I see.”

He stopped me with his hand on mine. “Do you know what he—what we all risked by bringing you here? Do you know the doctors and nurses that have been paid off to keep the club off the radar? We all put our necks on the line, kid. And we’d do it again in a heartbeat to keep you safe.”

My throat tightened and I rubbed at it before replying, “I didn’t look at it that way—”

He laughed easily. “You think it’s common for a hospital to look the other way when a man tries to kill a patient? Charm and the guys hauled Blade’s ass out of here and not one person even batted a fucking eyelash. You showed up beat all to hell and the nurses are trying to get your doctor to release you back to us.”

I nodded along with him. “So, where am I going?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Where the hell do you think you’re going? Home, kid. Where you belong.”

“Back to Boulder?”

Twitch leaned closer to me, studying my eyes. “Do you have a fucking concussion? Did they check you for that? Course you’re not going back to Boulder—you’re going back to the clubhouse. We’re your family, Neve.”

Voices carried in from the hallway— “Just said he was going to the bank…”

“That make any fucking sense to you?”

“Not a damn bit, but I’m following orders.”

Bank? I assumed he was dealing with Blade.

I looked at Twitch. “Who’s out there?”

He whistled and the door opened immediately, revealing Rooster and Doc.

“Sup, Twitch? Our girl giving you problems already?” Rooster drawled as he sat down on the small couch near the window, placing a brown paper bag on the floor beside him.

I shook my head as Doc checked me over. “What are you guys doing here?”

It took Doc a second to respond as he studied the bruises on my face. “Guarding your room and somebody here thought you’d die if you had to eat the food from the cafeteria, so we snuck some in.”

Rooster held up the bag. “Pearl’s famous chicken noodle soup—she said you’d be up and shoppin’ in no time with some of this in ya.”

“Pearl? As in Pearl’s Treasures?”

Twitch nodded. “The very same. She brought a casserole over to the clubhouse as soon as she heard—she and a few others got the place put back together.”

I pressed my lips together in a thin line and Rooster, sensing I was uncomfortable, chimed in. “Wanda had us all come to the café for breakfast and lunch. I’m afraid we were all about to starve to death without you, Darlin’. Now, eat up, because word at the nurse’s station is that they’re kicking your pretty little ass out.”