Brick Brick (Knights Corruption MC - Next Generation, #4) - S. Nelson Page 0,8

got back, which hopefully was soon.

“Yeah.” He looked at his phone again. “Good. Yeah.”

“Yo.” Kaden’s only focus was on his cell. “Hey!” I shouted that time.

His head snapped up. “What?”

“Either stop watching your phone or call her. You’re annoying me with this shit.”

“Far be it from me to annoy the big guy,” he griped, smirking when I flipped him off. He checked one more time before tucking his phone into his back pocket, flopping into the chair in the corner of the bedroom. “Did Addy say how long it’ll be before you’re on your feet again?” He leaned forward in his seat, resting his forearms on the tops of his thighs, his attention fully on me since he’d first walked in here.

“It would’ve been sooner, but I got an infection, so I don’t know right now. If nothing else goes wrong, I’m hoping to be out of this bed in a few days, not that I’m gonna be much good to anyone if shit pops off while I’m still healin’ up. Speakin’ of, how are the other guys doin’?”

“Ace is still recovering from gettin’ shot the first time, but he’s lucky this bullet only grazed the back of his head. And Tag is on crutches. Seems to be doin’ okay physically. Mentally, I couldn’t tell ya. He doesn’t really say anything. Not yet anyway. And Ryder, he’s doin’ all right. It’ll be a while before you two are back on your feet for good. But we got you. No worries.”

“I know. I appreciate it.”

For the next half hour, we chatted about all things club related, from having to shut down the strip clubs, to everyone being on edge, to planning on a big blowout when everything was back to normal. Problem was, we didn’t have the faintest idea when that would be.

“I think someone just pulled in. I’ll go check.” Kaden rushed from the room and down the stairs. None of us could be too careful, and I appreciated his concern, especially considering I couldn’t do a damn thing right now if someone broke in. My gun rested on the table beside the bed, but that didn’t mean I had the strength to get to it in time. It did give me some solace, however, all things considered. Then there was my alarm, which would be a deterrent, but not a guarantee. Come to think of it, the only guarantee any of us had would come with the death of that club, once and for all.

A couple of minutes later, I heard voices, then the front door shut. Instead of Kaden’s heavy footsteps, there was only silence until Zoe appeared in the doorway. Her smile faltered when her eyes landed on mine, but she recovered so quickly I thought I’d imagined her wavered expression.

“How was your visit?” She moved into the room, readjusting her hair into a messy bun on top of her head, pushing her bangs to the side and out of her eyes. Her face was void of makeup, as it had been for the past couple days, and I thought she’d never looked more beautiful.

“Good.”

“That’s good.” I didn’t have much more to say on the subject as most of what Kaden and I discussed I couldn’t tell her anyway. She fiddled with the hem of her blue top, standing at the foot of the bed. “What’s wrong?” I tried to shift on the bed and was only able to move an inch before I was hit with a jolt of pain.

“Nothing.”

“You’re lying.”

She tore her eyes from me and looked down. “I’m not.”

“Come here.” For as weak as I felt, my tone was strong, authoritative.

She peeked up at me but never moved. “Can I get you something? Are you hungry? Thirsty? When are you due for your pain meds?” She glanced at the clock next to the bed. “Not for another two hours,” she mumbled more to herself than me.

“Zoe. Come here.”

Every step she took was laced with hesitation and I couldn’t understand why. She’d been fine when she left. Then it dawned on me… she’d just come from Ryder’s. Either he wasn’t doing well, or he’d said something to her to make her act like this. Like she was shy, or unsure, or… fuck, I didn’t know what.

Once she was close, I reached for her hand and she accepted—thank God—kneeling on the bed and sliding her palm into mine. She was still too far away for my liking, but it wasn’t like I could flip her on