But the woman I know lurks beneath the surface is the one who opened her eye and glared at me despite the danger she must have felt coming off me in waves, and I fucking love it.
She’s not afraid. Well, not terrified, at least, of showing me some of those claws she’s been honing and it’s such a turn-on that I know I’ll have to stay away from her for a while or risk harming her if I can’t control myself.
“Hey, man, you’re leaving Paulie alone?”
I whip around to see Wyatt and Ellie coming my way as I step out of the hospital and breathe in the muggy air of late afternoon.
“She’s eating and the nurse is gonna give her a sponge bath,” I say, leaning down to peck Ellie on the cheek as Wyatt lets out a low growl and frowns darkly.
Christ, the man is a possessive ape when it comes to his wife, and just the thought of me having that with my cupcake makes my dick cry out in distress.
“Calm down, Tarzan. Can’t a man say hello to his little sister without your beast coming out?”
“No. Keep your lips to yourself. Or better yet, kiss your own mate and leave mine alone,” Wyatt says, wincing at the elbow Ellie drives into his gut.
“Hush, Wyatt, your brother is going through a difficult time and needs all the love we can give him. Come here, you big softy!” she coos, grabbing me into a hug that makes my bones creak with the strength of her arms enfolding me.
“Christ, Ellie, you been eating all your spinach, girl?” I tease, closing my eyes and hugging her back for dear life.
“Yup.” She giggles, pulling away with a smile that looks sad and yet happy at the same time. “She’s okay? Miah said she woke up—”
“She’s alive, which is a fucking miracle to begin with.”
“Language, asshole,” Wyatt says and Ellie and I both grin.
My brother hates it when we curse in front of his wife, and yet I have not met a fouler mouthed motherfucker in my life. Double standards is what it is.
“Oh, Jared, I’m so glad. I hardly slept all night, and me and Ma and Clari prayed so hard for her. How is she?”
I run a hand through my hair and breathe out heavily, doing my best to keep my anger at bay as I fill them in on Cupcake’s condition.
“She looks like hell. Whoever took their fists to her did a stellar job of roughing her up. Her eyes are almost completely swollen shut but for the little sliver she can crack the left one. Her mouth is a mess and she’s bruised everywhere. Three bruised ribs and she’s just come out of surgery because someone kicked her so hard, her left kidney was bleeding….”
I stop at the reminder and take a few slow breaths before continuing. Ellie looks horrified while Wyatt just looks ready to start killing, something I’d join him I if I actually had a target at hand right now.
The need to hurt something or someone is riding me hard and it’s taking all I got to just keep myself locked down and controlled right now.
“Fuck. They worked her over real well.”
I snort at Wyatt’s assessment and turn to enter the hospital again, needing to be close to Cupcake no matter how much it hurts me right now.
I haven’t even told them the worst of it yet, and I can’t say I ever will. Not this. The doctors did a thorough exam on her before rushing her to the OR, and what they found makes my anger so white hot, it’s all I can do not to start ripping the city apart in search of those fucks.
Cupcake had blood staining her thighs…a lot of blood that came from…and the doctors were so horrified…
I can’t continue thinking this way, I acknowledge as I hit the elevator with my family and it starts ascending slowly. If I let those thoughts in, I know I’ll lose it, and that’s not what Paulie needs right now.
I’m being hard on her at the moment, and maybe it’s some of my anger coming through, but for the most part it’s me needing to take charge and get her in line before she starts thinking stupid shit like she’s going home or…I just need her to be a little afraid right now so that I can get her where I need her without too much fuss.
When we’re home I will try to let go of some of my resentment, and I will try to listen to what she has to say. Part of me doesn’t want to even hear it, because it terrifies me to think how I’ll feel if she tells me she did it for that fuck Huley, her “fiancé.”
We step off of the elevator and I halt Wyatt and Ellie two doors down from Cupcake’s private room.
“Don’t do or say anything to upset her, and for God’s sake, do not let on how terrible she looks. Please. She’s already so self-conscious and iffy about that shit that I don’t want—”