Chapter Twenty-One
Aurora
I didn’t know what happened once the gunfire started. I started walking towards the window to look outside, but a bullet shattered the glass, so I scurried to the corner and curled up in a ball. It sounded like a war. For a brief moment, I thought perhaps Cole had come for me, but when I heard the sound of violence and carnage, I was certain it wasn’t him—until the door to my room was splintered off the hinges. Cole looked like a beast that had been through hell when he pushed through the broken wood, but the rage in his eyes softened when he saw me. I jumped to my feet and ran to him. Tears streamed down my face as I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Oh my god! You came for me!” I hugged Cole as tight as I could.
“I would have burned Las Vegas to the ground to get you back.” Cole put his arm around me.
“You’re hurt.” My eyes were drawn to the arm that was hanging at his side with a large chunk of tattooed flesh ripped apart.
“They can put me in a bed next to Ryker now that you’re safe.” Cole looked down at me and smiled.
“What? Ryker’s alive?” I felt joy—pure happiness.
“You think a knife would slow down that tough son of a bitch?” Cole chuckled and motioned towards the door. “Come on, let’s go see him and get me a few stitches.”
Cole filled me in on what transpired after I was taken by Thaddeus. Ryker was in bad shape, but he was alive. I was able to go see him while Cole was getting stitched up, but it wasn’t much of a reunion. He was on morphine to dull the pain and barely conscious. After I spent a few minutes with him, I found a phone and called my parents. I decided to simply tell them I missed my flight and lost my phone. That part was true. I just left out the gory details. I called my sister as soon as I was done talking to my parents and gave her the same spiel. I got a lecture about going to Vegas alone, similar to the one she gave me when I first decided to take the trip. By the time I was done talking to my family, Cole had been stitched up and was walking down the hallway towards me.
“Ryker’s probably going to be out all night, but I want to stay with him.” I looked towards his room.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Cole put his hand on my shoulder. “Hopefully they have a comfortable chair to sleep in.”
“I need to call the Bellagio and make sure they didn’t throw my stuff out. I was supposed to check out this morning.” I swallowed hard and sighed. “Did you happen to get my purse after Thaddeus took me? All my credit cards and stuff were in there.”
“Yeah.” Cole nodded quickly. “It’s in my truck at the bar.”
“So, that jacket you were wearing—that’s a permanent thing? You joined the Vegas Scourge MC?” I tilted my head to the side.
“I had to.” Cole took my hand and we walked towards Ryker’s room. “But don’t tell Ryker—not yet. He’ll be pissed.”
“I’m sorry you had to do that to save me. I should have just went to my room like you asked.” I sat down next to Ryker and sighed.
“Don’t worry about it.” Cole shook his head back and forth. “Regardless of how it happened, some good came out of this. Thaddeus is dead, so he won’t be taking control of Las Vegas.”
“He said Vegas has to have a king. Does that mean someone else will try to step up and do what he was trying to do?” I reached out and took Ryker’s hand.
“Probably.” Cole shrugged and sighed. “Or maybe they’ll be a little hesitant when they hear what happened to Thaddeus. It’s a heavy crown when the last one to wear it is in prison and the one that tried to take it ended up with a bullet in his head.”
“This city is a lot more screwed up than I realized.” I shook my head and squeezed Ryker’s hand. “But regardless of what happens—it’ll always have the two of you.”
And as long as it has the two of you, it’s exactly where I want to be.
I called my parents the next day and told them that the Bellagio had decided to comp me a couple of extra days. It was an outright lie instead of a half-truth, but it was the only thing I could think of to buy myself a little time. The real news wouldn’t be easy for them to hear, but they were going to have to hear it soon.
I stayed at the hospital with Ryker until he woke up the next day. After a joyous reunion, I took my stuff to Cole’s apartment and started looking for a job. I wasn’t going to leave Las Vegas. The city was going to become my home. I had something truly special with Ryker and Cole. They fought for me. Cole killed Thaddeus to get me back after I was taken. That was more love than I had ever felt from anyone before, and I was going to sacrifice everything to keep the three of us together. They had, so it was my turn.
One month later
“Tourists fucking suck.” I walked into our apartment and sat down across from Ryker. “Some drunk asshole at the Bellagio asked me to recommend the best street corner for picking up prostitutes today!”
“Did you tell him he can just walk into a brothel and skip the hepatitis?” Cole walked into the room and chuckled as he sat down.
“You would think that if someone is coming to Vegas to get laid, they would know prostitution is legal!” I shook my head back and forth.
“Yeah.” Ryker nodded. “Hard to believe you were one of those naive tourists just a month ago, huh?”
“I did my research.” I folded my arms across my chest. “I wasn’t a typical tourist.”