Picking at the dried blood on my hands, I closed my eyes and leaned against the wall next to Kane. The girls were clustered together across the room, giving Gin as much comfort as possible as we waited for word on Dale. We were all banged up and covered in blood, some of which wasn’t our own. Dale had gotten the worst of it, though. The gunshot required a surgery that we’d finally got word he made it through.

Kane has barely spoken ten words to anyone since we’d settled into the waiting room. The guilt felt like a noose around my neck, choking me the deeper my brother’s frown got. We were here because of me. Dale would still be standing, not lying in a hospital bed, if it weren’t for my getting involved with Cara again. I rubbed my face, massaging at my temples to get the headache to ease, but it was no use. That guilt filled me and made breathing difficult. We should’ve stayed in New York and let Cara’s family handle things, instead of bringing the trouble to my brother’s doorstep.

“This is some bullshit.” Kane pushed himself off the wall. My eyes followed his path, spinning on his heels before he stalked back toward me. Kit raised her head, giving Kane a sad smile before she tightened her hold on Gin. “It shouldn’t be taking so long,” Kane grumbled, unaffected by Kit’s momentary gaze. I knew my brother. It didn’t matter what assurances the doctors gave us. Kane wouldn’t relax until he saw Dale for himself.

“I’m sorry.” The words came out in a rush, making my brother shoot a look at me. I couldn’t decipher the expression he wore. The apology was sincere and the only words I seemed able to manage. Couldn’t he tell? Couldn’t any of them? “If I could switch places, I’d take it. This is on me.”

I shouldn’t have agitated Vinnie, but I couldn’t stop myself. Cara was mine. No one threatened anyone I loved. Especially not my wife.

“Don’t be a dick.” Kane shook his head as he kept pacing.

“I’m not being a dick, asshole.”

“The last thing I need is you lying in that bed.”

I blew out a breath, knowing he was right, but that didn’t make the sting any easier. “We should’ve stayed in New York.”

At least in New York, we had Cara’s family and all their goons to protect us. Vinnie and his men wouldn’t have gotten within fifty feet of us, but we would’ve been prisoners at her father’s compound. If we’d stayed, I probably would’ve ended up dead, a casualty of the war I’d never wanted or asked for.

Kane stalked toward me and grabbed me by the shoulder. “Stop your nonsense. You’re right where you should be.” He shook me, almost making me bang my head on the wall behind me. “Do you fucking hear me?” His eyes burned, simmering rage and fear clouding their depths. The emotion wasn’t something I often saw in him, but it was unmistakable when I did.

“I hear ya,” I muttered, but I wasn’t convinced. We wouldn’t be at the hospital right now if I’d kept my ass put instead of dragging Cara all the way across the country with me.

“Dale knew what he was getting into. The man is tougher than anyone I know. He’s going to be fine.”

I wondered if he said the words for me or to comfort himself, but I didn’t bother asking. “You look like shit,” I said because I didn’t have anything else worth saying. We all looked like we’d been to hell and back.

“Feel like it too.” He almost cracked a smile. “Listen, I’ll take care of the cops. I know they’re probably on their way.”

“Fuck. We better get our story straight.” I hadn’t even thought about the police or the media who would be on this story once they heard my brother was involved.

“It was a horrible hunting accident gone wrong,” he told me. “You hear me?” He waited a minute, long enough for me to nod before he continued. “I don’t want anyone going up there while we wait for Johnny.”

“Understood. Who shot Dale?” I asked because there was no way I wanted to be the one to fuck up the lie.

“Can’t tell. We both were by each other’s side and shot in the same direction, not knowing he was across the field.”

“You think that shit will fly?”

“It’ll work. Shit like that happens every day.”

“But…” I said, glancing down at our torn clothes covered in blood from the fight with Vinnie’s men.

“Dale’s blood. Tears are from when we carried him through the thick forest.”

I shrugged, figuring his explanation worked, and between the story and his celebrity, the cops wouldn’t dig too deep. We didn’t have to worry about the Seattle police knowing Cara or the trouble her family brought with the name, so at least that point wasn’t a dead giveaway.

The nurse walked into the room, a metal binder clutched in her hands as she scanned the name, calling “the Reynolds family,” with her eyes still on the chart. She moved her gaze around the waiting room, only half filled with impatient families then nodded when Gin shot up, darting toward her.

Kane followed behind Gin, raising his hand. “We’re here.”

She nodded and gave him and Kit a quick smile when they joined Gin. The woman ignored everyone but my brother and his woman, likely recognizing them like most everybody around here did. “He’s settled in his room now and finally coming out of the anesthesia. You can go up. He’s in room 417.”

She barely got the number out before Gin was in the hallway, Kane, with Kit at his side, hot on her heels. I grabbed Cara, placing my hand at the small of her back, and walked behind them, keeping silent because I hadn’t processed everything yet. The hospital wasn’t the place to discuss what happened and how we were going to deal with the situation still at the house.

Kane froze as we stepped off the elevator, and my eyes followed his gaze. Fuck.

“Let me handle everything,” Kane told us, straightening his shoulders and stepping in front of Gin. “Not a word from any of you.”

“I’ll help,” I called out, but he turned around and growled. “Let’s go, ladies,” I said, sweeping my arms out and ushering them away from the officers and inside.

A woman stood over Dale’s bed dressed in scrubs, holding his hand like they were having a moment.

“What the fuck?” Gin whispered as her body tensed, throwing my hand off her shoulder.

The woman turned and glared at Gin. Clearly, they knew each other, but I had no idea from where. “Gin,” the woman said, lifting her chin as her eyes raked down the redhead’s body.

Gin stepped forward, her hands at her sides but balled tight like she was about to go off and clock the nurse right in the face. “You shouldn’t be here, Trudy.”

Trudy crossed her arms, tilting her head with a sneer, acting as though she didn’t give two shits if Gin was going to hit her. “He’s my husband. I have every right to be here.”

I rocked back on my heels, glancing down at Cara, who looked just as shocked as me. I’d heard of Trudy. Dale never had a thing good to say about her, and I understood why. She’d been a lousy wife, and now was a piece of trash Dale couldn’t get loose from. Dale hated her, but he never said much else except for the one time we got him so drunk he spilled the entire dirty story.

“Your ex-husband,” Gin corrected her as she moved to the foot of Dale’s bed.

If the room hadn’t been so crowded with unwanted hospital employees, I’d have thought the expression on Dale’s face was hilarious when he began to stir. There was a lazy, goofy grin pulling up his mouth, and by the way he laughed and waggled his eyebrows at us, it was clear the man was still high as a kite from the anesthesia.

His gaze moved between the two women, but he didn’t speak or try to defuse the situation. There was nothing to do but watch the drama unfold. This would be bad. I could feel it in my gut. Very fucking bad. At times like this, with two women about to throw down, my brother needed to be here.

“Ladies,” I said and stepped forward, ready to give it a shot. “Maybe we should…”

“Who the fuck are you?” Dale’s ex-wife asked, turning her icy glare toward me.

“Get the fuck out,” Gin told Trudy before I had a chance to answer.

“Baby,” Trudy turned toward Dale, grabbing his hand again, “do you want me to go?” she asked, her voice so sugary sweet it gave me a toothache. This bitch was good and knew exactly what she was doing.

Dale blinked slowly and out of sync, pressing his head back into the pillow that looked entirely too small behind his head. “Nah, baby.” He brought Trudy’s hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “You’re my wife.”

Oh fuck.

That one word seemed to do nearly as much damage to Gin as the bullets Vinnie had shot into Dale’s gut. Eyebrows up in surprise, I couldn’t move my head, too shocked and too worried what would happen next. A few seconds later, I glanced around to the shocked faces surrounding me as the air seemed to rush from the room. Dale was going to hate himself once the meds wore off and he realized how badly he fucked up.

“See.” Trudy grinned, reminding me of a girlie, petty Cheshire cat as she kept her hand in his, letting him kiss her repeatedly. “I have every right to be here. Don’t I, baby?” She used a voice that reminded me of the forced sweetness dripping from my little cousin’s preschool teachers back in the day. The sound made bile rise in the back of my throat.

Gin’s expression could only be described as seething. Her pale skin brightened to a pink, and her neck and chest flushed. If that bitch kept fake smiling at the redhead the way she was, someone was gonna get hurt. I’d put money on Gin winning any day of the week.

Needing to do something before security was called, I moved toward Trudy, grabbing her by the arm, forceful but not cruel. “You need to leave.” She struggled against me as I moved her away from Dale.

“You going to make me?” She laughed. “I work here. You’re the one that’s going to leave. Not me.”

“I can’t,” Gin said, covering her mouth as her eyes filled with tears.

“Gin.” Kit reached for her, but Gin batted her hands away and rushed out the door. “Fuck me,” Kit hissed and rubbed her hand down her face, knowing the shitstorm this was going to cause later, just like I did. Kit exhaled as she moved toward Trudy. “You’re a bitch, Trudy. Nothing but a trashy whore. You’d better get the hell out of here before I kick your ass.”

“Kiel, why the hell’ve you got your hands on my woman?” Dale asked, and everyone in the room turned toward him.

The guy, as big as he was, looked small somehow on that bed, his beard a scruffy mess. Those eyes seemed brighter somehow, the blue shining against the fluorescent light above. And when he narrowed his eyes, top lip curled as he looked at my hand on Trudy’s arm, despite his stupid grin, I shook my head. No way he knew what he was saying. Not as high as he was. The man hated this woman, but his question still had the faces around the room looking shocked, disbelieving, except for Trudy, who seemed to relish the compliment, soaking it up like the bitch Dale had promised she was.

I dropped my hand from her arm, defusing the situation so he wouldn’t try to climb out of the bed. An agitated Dale wasn’t a good thing, especially right after surgery. He had enough meds in him he probably felt like Superman. “Dude, shut the fuck up.”

He made a face at me, mocking the way I spoke as he latched on to Trudy’s hand again, yanking her toward him. “I’ve missed you,” he said, staring at her with puppy-dog eyes.

I glanced up at the ceiling and scrubbed my hand down my face, cursing under my breath at the stupidity of the entire situation. What the hell was taking my brother so long? He’d know what to do. He’d wrangle everybody in.

“Why did Gin run out of here?” Kane asked, entering the room behind me on heavy footsteps. “Oh hell no. Not happening,” he said, moving quickly. Kane walked right past me and stood toe-to-toe with Trudy, shooting a glare at her that had to make the woman nervous. “Get the fuck out.” He took a step, and the woman walked backward, looking at Dale on the bed, then around to the rest of us as though we might help. “It’s time for you to find some other dick to jump on. Your gravy train ended a long time ago.”

“Kane.” Dale smiled again, his mouth lopsided. “Look who showed up. It’s my wife.” He seemed just as shocked as the rest of us to see her, but happy…and high.

“Shut up, Dale,” Kane growled.

Kit grabbed Trudy by the arm and moved her hand away from Dale. “Honey, there’s no room for you in his life. You either leave, or I’m going to make you.”

This was a side I didn’t often see from Kit, but I liked every damn second of it. She was fiery and a perfect match for my brother. She kind of reminded me of Cara. Neither my brother nor I liked our women weak, and we paid for that shit too.

Trudy tipped her head back, almost cackling. “He wants me here. I can’t leave him when he needs me.”

Cara slid against my side, curling into my ribs and placing her hand on my stomach. “My money’s on Kit,” she whispered, staring up at me as I looked down, kissing her forehead.

Kit twisted Trudy’s arm, ignoring how the woman whined as she shoved her toward the door. “I’m taking out the trash,” she said, smiling as Trudy tried to get away, but Kit’s grip was just too tough.

“Holy shit,” I whispered and reminded myself never to mess with Kit. She hauled that girl outside like she was a tiny kid throwing a temper tantrum.

“She’s small but mighty,” Kane said as I stood there with Cara in my arms and my mouth hanging open. “How bad is the damage?”

“Doctor hasn’t come in yet.”

Kane pressed his fingers against his eyes and shook his head. “No, dumbass. Dale. What’d he say?”

“You don’t want to know, brother.”

“Bad,” Cara said. “Really bad.”

“Fuck.” Kane rubbed the back of his neck, pacing on the side of Dale’s bed. “You dumb fuck. I can’t believe after all this time you…”

Dale blinked a few times before he rubbed his eyes with the sides of his fists. “What’d I do?”

“Trudy.” Kane motioned toward the door. “I never thought you’d go down that road again.”

“Kane, he’s drugged, man. Give him a break,” I said. I’d been there, and you couldn’t control the shit that came out of your mouth after surgery. It was worse than being drunk.

“Tomorrow he’s going to wish that bullet killed him.” I nodded in agreement before Kane turned back toward Dale. “Thank God you’re okay. I can’t imagine if…” He didn’t finish the statement. He didn’t have to. We were all thinking the same thing.

“Where’s Gin?” Dale asked, finally sobering up, but a little too late to avoid causing massive damage. “Gotta see my Gingerbread.”

“Oh boy.” Cara’s hand slipped under my shirt, her fingernails tracing the dip in my spine. “This is going to get interesting.”

Kane looked at Dale with a straight face. “You better get well quick, ‘cause you’re going to be on your knees groveling to fix this shit.”

“Fix what?” Dale asked, jerking his head back and wincing in pain.

“You’ll see.”