"You're too fucking stubborn to be trusted to stay in the tub by yourself," he said, sounding amused as his arms lessened up their pressure.
I took as deep a breath as my stuffy nose would allow, closing my eyes and trying to force myself to relax. "I feel awful," I admitted and Repo's hand moved up and down my side gently, soothingly.
"I know, honey."
"You shouldn't call me that," I said, feeling sleep start to tug at my brain again.
"I know that too," he said, exhaling slowly as his hand settled high on the side of my thigh, his fingers grazing the material of my panties that covered my ass.
The last thing I was conscious of thinking before I fell asleep again was that it felt nice to be close to him.FiveRepoShe wasn't just sick. When Duke and Renny said she wasn't feeling well, I figured she just had a cold or something. But finding her passed out in the yard, then dealing with her fever dreams for fifteen troubling hours afterward, I realized she wasn't just under the weather, she was seriously fucking sick.
I was trying to hold her down in bed when the door to my room opened and Reign walked in, his dark brows furrowed as he took in the scene. "Heard she was sick," he explained, shutting the door. "Should we call someone?" he asked as he moved closer to the bed as Maze cried out in her sleep.
"If it doesn't break soon, yeah. This is fucking insane," I said, my stomach tied in a knot as I felt the skin of her arms underneath my palms. It was hot, almost to the point where it felt uncomfortable to touch.
"Any of the others sick?" he asked, meaning the probates.
"No, but none of the others have had their schedules fucked with as much as she has. She had to have been bone tired. Her immune system didn't stand a chance after being stuck out in that thunderstorm the night before last."
"It's not your fault, Repo," Reign said, drawing my attention. He was right, but he was also wrong. Technically, it was his fucking fault. But I couldn't say that. Hell, I felt guilty for even thinking it. But it was also my fault because I had been the one to change up her schedule, to deprive her of sleep, to send her out in a torrential, freezing cold downpour that lasted almost the whole duration of her shift. As if something in my gaze gave me away, Reign's lips twisted up slightly. "Yeah, I know it's my fault," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"She's not quitting," I said, looking down at her as she writhed against my hold. "Can't have gotten more than six or seven hours of sleep all week and she's shown no signs of giving in."
Reign sighed. "Yeah, I know."
"Is it really that important that she fails out?" I asked, my voice a little quiet at questioning him at all.
"Have you seen the way Fox corners her when he catches her alone?" Reign asked, knowing I had, knowing very little slipped past me. "And the way Moose is constantly on her case? You see the way the old timers ogle her?" He paused, shaking his head as he looked at his feet. "I'm not saying that I can guarantee the safety of my brothers, Repo. That's not the life we live. Some of us get hurt. Some of us get killed. That's the choice we make when we join. But I can give my men some comfort that they are safe from one another under this roof. I can't give that to Maze. Much as I'd like to think that all my men are good and have a moral compass and would never cross that line, I can't fuckin' promise that. We all have darkness and fuck if I know if some of the old timers hadn't done some awful shit under my father's leadership. Especially to women who, we all know, those men didn't exactly place a high value on. I know for a fact that more than one or two of the club bitches got roughed up back in the day. I know she's not a clubwhore and I know that she seems at least somewhat capable of taking care of her shit, Repo, but fact of the matter is... she's smaller, she's not as strong, and she is out numbered. I could try to lay down the law and threaten the men, but that would be problematic..."
"Because you're choosing a probate over patched members," I guessed.
"That, yeah, and because even that isn't a guarantee. They get drunk, they get mean and stupid. Something could happen. And while there would be fuckin' repercussions, swift and fuckin' permanent, it wouldn't take away the damage. I can't have that shit on my conscience, Repo. Neither can you. She doesn't belong here. The sooner she sees that, sees that we aren't doing it to be assholes, but for her best interest, the better."