His face softened, his forehead touching mine as a ragged breath released him. "I love you too, my little psycho," he whispered, drawing a smile from me as my shoulder ached with my soft laughter.
34 Enzo
She did a decent job trying to hide the pain from all the others. Sadie would never be willing to let people see her weaknesses, but the pain nagged at the edges of her eyes. The subtle winces at the corners of her mouth any time she moved.
The red bled from my vision with the help of her body against mine and the reassurance that she was alive. A glance around the warehouse confirmed just how many men I'd killed in my desperation to protect Sadie. A massacre, considering I was only one man. My memories of it were a haze, only the faintest trace of navigating the warehouse silently and hiding behind everything left behind in the spaces beneath the lofts before I jumped out and made my kills.
I suspected there would be plenty of rounds left in my magazine, since the sound of a gun would have announced my location better than anything else I could have done.
They were the first kills I felt absolutely no guilt for. Perhaps it was another sign of my humanity slipping away, or maybe it was just a sign of what a man would do for the woman he loved.
Anything to keep her safe and sound. Anything to go home to her at night.
My only regret was that the man who shot her didn't suffer before he died, as Sadie would undoubtedly feel pain from the wound for weeks and then have to spend more time than she'd like easing back into her workout regimen.
A stir-crazy Sadie was not one I looked forward to dealing with under normal circumstances, but in the face of her near death?
I was more than happy to take care of her.
Every day for the rest of our lives.
“Sean’s upstairs,” Sadie said hesitantly. “Very much dead, but I thought that might be important to mention.” She winced as my jaw tightened. Eventually, we’d have to talk about what happened. But first she needed to be treated.
"Let's go," Matteo ordered. "I'll take you back to the house in the SUV. Ryker and Rafe will stay to deal with cleanup," Matteo glanced back at the two men as he guided us out. "I wish I could see what those two maniacs come up with when they work together. I might have to come back just to find out."
Matteo grabbed a towel out of the back of the SUV, bunching it up and pressing it against Sadie's shoulder. "Let's avoid you bleeding all over the seats if we can," he said with a cocky grin that made me want to stab him in the face.
So maybe the red haze hadn't left entirely.
Helping her into the seat would have been easier if the damn woman didn't insist on doing everything herself. Shot. Not shot. It didn't seem to matter much to her as she hauled herself into the backseat, even though her face twisted with pain. Rebel settled on the floor at Sadie’s feet, her trusty companion who I’d never allow to leave her side. Watching her go into beast mode had only increased my kinship for her.
Any other woman and I might have worried more that Sadie thought differently of Rebel or I, having seen what we did and the way we slaughtered nearly a dozen men without batting an eye.
Simon and Matteo climbed into the front as Sadie hummed to herself. Her hands shook a bit as Ryker hurried out to hand me her gun and her tote that he must have found on the floor. “How many bullets are missing?” I asked, unsure if I wanted the answer as Simon drove off.
“Three,” she said instantly.
“And how many did you kill?”
“Two,” she sighed, leaning her head against my shoulder.
"You good?" I asked.
She nodded, her lips thinning as Simon drove down the road at breakneck speed. "I know I teach women to protect themselves. I taught Ivory how to kill Adrian long before we knew he existed. But it's just different doing it myself. I should be more bothered. Shouldn't I be more bothered? I just killed someone," she rambled.
"You shouldn't be bothered. He would have killed you, Carina. You're more needed in this world than he ever could be," I reassured her. "I don't think you should ever be concerned with ridding the world of scum."
"Does that go for you too?" she asked, getting right to the point.
"Right and wrong. Sometimes the lines get blurred, and it's hard to know if you're the one who's right or not. Some of the greatest villains in history thought they were the hero in their story. I never want that to be me. And fighting someone else's war… made it even harder to find that line," I admitted. "But I will never regret killing the bastards that wanted to take you away from me. Away from your family and Ivory and Luna."
"So you won't have any new problems sleeping?" she asked.
"No, Baby Girl. I won't have any problems sleeping tonight as long as you're okay."
Pulling up to the community, the gates were flung wide open with just a glance at the SUV and driver. Simon navigated the streets in silence, Matteo typing frantically on his phone to coordinate a response and probably tell Ivory that Sadie would be fine. The relationship those two had was enviable.
I loved that one day our kids would have the extended family our friendships offered.
Pulling up at my house, relief filled me at the sight of the Doc waiting on the front porch and tapping his foot impatiently. Climbing out quickly, I hurried around the car to help her out despite the roll of her eyes.
