He eased the leather jacket off Finn’s wounded shoulder and pulled his t-shirt aside, studying the wound.
In the next second, my dad was shedding his cut and pulling his own t-shirt over his head.
“What are you doing?” I asked, as I watched him tear it into pieces.
“Gotta put pressure on it. If he’s gonna run, he can’t be losing no more blood, or he’s gonna pass out before he gets to the goddamn highway.”
Finn gritted his teeth as my dad created a makeshift bandage with the pieces of his shirt.
“Baby, how are you doing?”
“All good,” he answered.
He was lying, for sure. I couldn’t actually believe he wasn’t making a single sound as my dad tugged and wrapped his wound. Was he in shock, or just trying not to upset me? Trust him to go to such lengths to achieve that.
“Gotta get this disinfected ASAP, all right?” my dad warned him.
“Yeah. I know the drill,” Finn said, as me and my dad helped him back onto solid ground. His eyes darted around all of a sudden, searching intensely.
“What, baby? What is it?” I asked, gently.
His gaze went to my dad. “Where’s Knox?”
The three of us scanned our surroundings rapidly, the urgency to locate Knox building as the sirens drew ever closer. They were almost upon us. Finn needed to head out ASAP. But I knew he wouldn’t until the job was done.
Just then I saw the blood trail from Knox’s wound, leading across the courtyard. I followed it all the way to the compound entrance and caught sight of him barreling past Wolf and a handful of other Rogues members staggering from the compound. It was the group of them that’d tried to kidnap me from Ridgefield. They all still looked really beat up. Some of them were barely walking.
Finn and my dad noticed at the same time just before Knox disappeared from view into the depths of the compound.
My dad snatched the rifle from me and stepped forward, bellowing at Wolf, “Get him back here right fucking now before I blow you all to hell! Drag his motherfucking ass if you gotta!”
Despite how psychotic he was, Wolf was able to recognize the significant threat my dad posed and his face paled noticeably.
People weren’t used to him losing it.
I was arguably the closest person to him, yet I’d only seen him snap once in my entire twenty-three years of life. The night my mom had been killed. And the way he’d unleashed then had been horrific, catastrophic and downright frightening. Finn thought he had a monster inside himself, but it was nothing compared to my dad’s. Unlike Finn, my dad didn’t unleash it, no matter what. He kept a tight lid on his emotions, living his life like a soldier of old, the Spartan warriors basically, hence his road name. So, if there ever came a time when he did snap, it was monumentally bad.
“Dad,” I said, snatching his hand and squeezing it tightly.
It worked like I’d intended, his gaze snapping to mine. “Ash?”
“It’s too late,” I pointed out, gesturing to the flashing lights of the dozen or so vehicles tearing into the area. “You do something now and you’ll end up in jail for the rest of your life along with the rest of them. You don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve that. Iron Kings doesn’t deserve that.”
It took him a moment, but he lowered his gun with a low growl.
Just as the Feds blew through the gates.
My pulse jackhammered in my chest and I turned, afraid for Finn for leaving it too late.
There was no one there.
I smiled to myself. He’d made it out. “Oh my God,” I breathed.
My dad joined me, wrapping an arm around me and giving me a comforting squeeze. “It’s all gonna be okay now, princess. I fucking well swear it to you.”
I leaned against him. “I know.”
And as I looked out in the distance, trying to figure out how Finn had pulled that off, which route he’d even taken, I caught sight of a silhouette disappearing over a hill in the distance.
That was when I knew I’d actually meant what I’d said to my dad.
I did know.
Truly.
Everything was going to be okay now.
Epilogue
~Wraith~
“UNBELIEVABLE.”
Ashley rolled her eyes at my grumbling.
I couldn’t help it.
Groaning as I tried to sit up and the pain shooting through my shoulder forced me back down again, I muttered, “I can’t believe we’re right back here again.”
“I told you, you need to rest!” Ashley snapped at me.
She climbed onto the bed and carefully straddled my hips, shaking her head at me with disapproval.
“It doesn’t exactly come easy to me.”
She trailed her fingers down my abs, sending a jolt of heat through me and making my dick sit up and take notice real quick. “I know,” she cooed. “But, the more you manage it, the quicker you’ll heal.”
“Like I said, right back where we were at two years ago,” I muttered.
“No!” she snapped again. “It’s not the same as before. You nearly died then. This is a flesh wound, a through-and-through. You’re not at death’s door. You were beyond depressed then, all the light snuffed out of you. You’re different now. You’re lighter, happier. And we’re together now. We’re in love and so happy with each other. We’re lucky. We’re on the cusp of building a life together, baby.”
I couldn’t help grinning.
She really saw the good in everything, the bright possibility up ahead, even when the road was more than a little fucking winding. She’d proved that I’d met my match in more than just a sexual sense. What she’d pulled up at the Rogue Riders MC compound had impressed me more than I’d been able to admit at first, because my fear of the danger she’d put herself in had been all I’d been able to see, spilling out at her in anger and an argument that had taken days to resolve.
But once I’d calmed down and
