I smiled, struggling for breath and thinking only of the oxygen my baby wasn’t getting. “I’m a decoy to give him and his men time to fuck up your men and leave you all alone.”
“Uh, fuck.” He punched me again and let me fall to the ground, pulling his leg back to kick me, this time in the face. I blocked the worst of it but that left the baby unprotected and the next kick that came stole my breath.
“You motherfucker!” I reached for the gun, but it had fallen out of my hand and I scrambled to find it. “Better save your energy to ward off all those dicks you’ll be taking up the ass in prison!”
There it is! I grabbed the handle and pulled it closer, ignoring the throbbing, spasming pain in my stomach.
His foot came up and he laughed, evil and joyful. “You wish. I won’t kill you Rochelle. I’ll kill that fucking bastard of yours instead.” I squeezed the trigger twice, sending two bullets right into his stomach.
“Fucking. Bitch. Shot. Me.” Big gray eyes stared at me, shocked as he dropped to his knees, both hands clutching his bleeding gut. “Rochelle.”
He reached down to his side, but I was too mesmerized by the sight of the life flooding out of him to pay attention and then I heard it.
A loud pop.
But it was weird that I wasn’t looking at Genesis anymore, but the night sky so black and velvety, sparkling with stars as a searing pain shot across the left side of my face, filling it with warmth. Two more shots sounded,
at least I think so, but the ringing in my ears was too strong.
I smiled at the beautiful sky and then there he was, the man I’d been fighting for too long. The man I wanted more than I’d ever let myself admit. The only man since my dad that I ever loved.
“Lasso?” I waited for him to say something, anything. But he didn’t.
Instead, everything went black.
Chapter 24
Lasso
“How long does it take to get some fucking answers?” It felt like I’d been in this goddamn hospital waiting room for days, waiting for someone to come out here and tell me that Rocky was okay. Seeing that bastard kick her in the stomach and then watching her pass out in my arms took about fifteen years off my life. And now they wouldn’t let me back there, wouldn’t let me see her until they ran tests and treated her.
Bullshit.
I could have stayed at the clubhouse, but the guys had it handled and I saw the sheriff headed in as the ambulance took Rocky and me to the hospital. Everything was as clean as we needed it to be for the cops to show up. We’d made sure of it before even calling them.
The last I saw of Genesis, he was writhing in pain and begging for help. The fucking EMTs thought they would work on him first because he was bleeding, but I made them see the error of their ways. And now the universe was punishing me, making me sit here in silence with no information on Rocky.
She couldn’t lose the baby. Not only would it take her from me, but it would break my heart. I’d gotten used to the idea of having a baby and being a dad. She’d been punched, kicked and shot tonight, put through the proverbial fucking ringer.
“Rochelle Izzo’s family?”
I rushed to the doctor’s side. “I’m her husband.” It seemed like forever before he looked up from her chart to give me some news.
“Rochelle is mostly fine. The bullet graced her temple, so she’ll have a scar. The baby is fine, his heartbeat is strong and other than an elevated blood pressure, there are no signs of distress.” I stopped listening after a while, so relieved that she was going to be all right.
“Thanks, Doc. Can I see her?”
“Yes. She’s been in and out of it since you brought her in, but she keeps mumbling Dallas.”
I smiled. “That’s me.” It was damned pathetic to be so happy about something so little, but Rocky had a mile-wide independent streak so the fact that she was calling for me had to mean something.
It had to mean she felt something for me, I just knew it. But she was scared as hell, rightfully so, which meant it was up to me. And when I stepped inside that sterile, too-white fucking hospital room, with all the chirping, beeping and hissing, my eyes went to her. My heart skittered to a stop and kicked up again with a lot less energy.
Nothing had ever felt as good in my whole damn life as sitting in that hard orange plastic chair with her soft hand in mine. I rested my forehead on her thigh, my other hand on her belly, needing to touch her and see for myself that she was all right.
“You were so stupid. So fucking stupid and so incredibly brave. I wish you knew how tough you really are, even though I want to throttle you for going in there alone.”
I pressed my lips to her palm, feeling relief settle over me when she squeezed back. “Now you just have to wake up so we can talk about the rest.” All I wanted in that moment was for her to just open those big green eyes, long lashes framing them beautifully. That sight might get my heart beating normally again.