“I can see that.” Emily smiled and caught my arm as I passed, pulling me to a stop.
She didn’t say anything as she rolled up and kissed my cheek.
I received more of the same from Adalynn, Quinn, and Delaney as I moved to the door.
Unfortunately, the welcome out in the hall wasn’t so warm.
As a matter of fact, it was damn right arctic.
“Waiting room,” I said as I strolled past the men.
The short distance to the thankfully empty waiting room did not give Jasper time to calm down.
As soon as Carter shut the door behind him, Jasper launched in.
“I want a full workup of every member—”
“No.”
“No?”
“That is not what Hadley wants.”
“Hadley doesn’t get a say,” he spat.
“If you’d calm down and think, you’d realize she does. Actually, she’s the only one who gets a say.”
Jasper’s torso swung back and he leveled me with a scathing stare. “And when you get your head out of your ass—”
“Stop.” Clark stepped in and Jasper turned his anger toward his friend. “You need to take some time, brother, and think.”
The deep freeze dragged on as each man in the room attempted to get a handle on their tempers.
I tried to keep my tone even. “I know it goes against every fiber of what makes us, us. But we’re gonna stand down. And we’re gonna do it because your daughter is scared as shit she’s gonna lose us. But more, we don’t listen to what she needs, we’re gonna lose her. And there is nothing in this world I would do that would give her a reason to take herself from me. She straight out begged, pleaded with tears in her eyes, for me not to leave her. She does not want you to leave her either. I can’t tell you what to do, I can’t tell anyone in this room what to do. But I will not be a part of anything that she doesn’t want. With that said, a single move is made on my woman, I will not hesitate.”
“And if that move means that she’s hurt?” Jasper asked sharply. “Taken again, only next time you’re too late? You willing to take that chance?”
“Willing to? Yes. Do I want to? Fuck no. But am I going to listen to my woman? Yeah, Jasper, I am. I don’t think you heard me. So let me give you her words: you will be lost to me and I will not survive that. That came out of my woman’s mouth. Your daughter. When I tell you I will protect her, I mean that in every way. Every goddamn way, and not just physically. You do what you have to do, but do it knowing Hadley doesn’t want retribution. She wants to heal.”
The room went silent and after a few beats, I broke it.
“She’s being discharged. I’m taking her home. Obviously, we’d like you all there. But if you’re pissed at me and don’t wanna be there, I get it. I’ll do my best to cushion that for Hadley.”
And with that, I walked out the door.
I said my piece. I let Hadley’s wishes be known.
I couldn’t do more than that.
And as hard as it was to swallow my own need for vengeance, I chose Hadley.
37
I now understood Quinn, Delaney, and Liberty.
I’d had a much smaller dose than they’d had and I was already over my family hovering.
When Quinn was released from the hospital after almost dying, my mom was way worse than she was behaving now. She’d looked at Quinn like she was made of glass. But she was looking at me like she was plotting something.
Every now and again I’d catch her staring. Then she’d look away and my normally pathologically sweet mother looked murderous. I wanted to ask my dad to have a word with her but he was in Brady’s backyard with my uncles.
They’d been out there a long time. Brady thankfully was in the kitchen unpacking the bags of takeout that’d been delivered. Quinn and Addy were both in there helping him. But Addy’s sidelong glances at Trey limping had not gone unnoticed by me.
He normally hid his limp the best he could, so obviously he was in severe pain. Pain that was my fault. But I couldn’t let my mind wander to that right now. I needed to sort my dad and uncles out.
“Hadley, honey, you should stay in the house,” my mom called out as I approached the sliding glass door.