《Paint with Me Among the Shadows (Book One, the Salvation MC Series)》24. My Family

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At the hospital they literally had to pry Adonis away from me. I sit with everyone in the horrible waiting room, waiting impatiently for news. Dad and Amber are by my side, Amber resting her head on my shoulder and Dad holding my hand like I'm still his baby girl.

Bones sits in front of me. "Sorry, Tater Tot. I moved as fast as I could."

"It's okay," I say with a smile. "All that matters is that everyone is okay."

He takes a deep breath. "It was a good thing your dad and Arch just came back."

"When did you strike a deal with the cops?" Archie asks him.

"A few weeks ago. It's the reason why I went on the run. Adonis thought it was because dad figured us out, but he had actually caught me the minute I stepped foot into the department. He's had guys planted there for some time now. Luckily, the agent leading the investigation on the Silencers wasn't."

Apparently, Bones had made a deal that he'd give them his dad and any higher ups if they'd leave some of the club members out of it. He only had to wait for the next shipment of supplies.

When he went to the Salvation club for back up, dad and Archie had gotten back from their trip. They managed to get Adonis's dad and Bones contacted the agent he had worked with to come and shut the place down.

Adonis's dad was taken away in handcuffs and we were promised he'd never be part of society again, especially with the shipment of drugs I had destroyed with my paintball explosions and illegal weapons they found hidden deep in the paper mill.

"I knew the only way of getting rid of him was to either kill him or give him up."

"I'm really glad I didn't end up killing him," I whisper out.

Dad holds me tight. "I'm so furious with you girls but I'm more relieved that you're okay."

Archie stretches his hand out to Bones. "Thank you. You may not want to join but your welcomed to if you want."

Bones gives a sad smirk as he shakes his hand. "I don't know what I'll do. Someone's got to watch out for these guys and since other higher ups got away, I have to lay low. We were able to get my dad thanks to you guys, but this means the war isn't over."

"We cut the snake's head off," Archie states. "We'll have peace for a little while and we'll keep you and the others at the clubhouse until its safe."

Bones chuckles. "He was right about you guys. I had a feeling you wouldn't strip him."

Dad speaks up, "He's proved himself over and over again."

It falls silent and I get up. I need to walk around. Amber gets up to come with me. I feel bad because I want to be with her and dad, but there's something I need to do myself.

"I'm sorry, but I kind of want to be alone right now."

Amber's face slashes with hurt and my heart falls to my butt, but I push the guilt aside. I turn around and walk away from everyone and go over to a counter and make sure no one wearing any form of Salvation gear is around.

The lady at the desk looks up smiling. "Can I help you, sweetie."

"Um, yeah, is there any way I can check myself in without any of my family or friends knowing?"

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Her face falls. "Are you in trouble?"

My eyes widen and I shake my head viciously at the misunderstanding. "Oh no!" I turn and watch everyone talking and icing themselves. I watch dad and Amber fall into one another so easily and see the closeness in their relationship. "Those scary looking people are my family. They'd never hurt me." I look at the woman and smile. "They may not look it but they're big lovable oafs."

Apparently my smile is contagious because she gives me one right back. "Can I ask why then?"

My smile falls a little but it remains in my eyes. "I don't want to worry anyone if I'm fine. They've been through enough tonight."

She nods. "Sure." She checks me in quickly then points me toward a door. "Go back there and the nurse will take your vitals and get you all situated."

The nurses checks all my vitals and asks, "What brought you in?"

I take a deep breath. "I'm pretty sure I broke my wrist again or at least aggravated it. It hasn't stopped hurting since I fell on it and..." I pause and she waits patiently. "I think I may have also aggravated and old brain injury weeks ago because I've started to bleed from my ears."

I move my curls and show her.

She does her best to appear calm. "Okay, sweetie, well, we're going to get you back there right away and have the doctor look at you, okay?"

She gives me that dumb green leaf gown again and motions for me to follow her. As we walk back I see Adonis and some of the others a ways away. I hold my gown over my face and peek around it and giggle to myself, he looks furious in a matching gown.

As if he knows someone is looking at him his head turns and I quickly dart behind the nurse. She ushers me into a space at the best moment and I practically run in as she closes the curtain. She raises a brow and I smile sheepishly. "I don't want my boyfriend to see me. He'll freak out and want to come in and he needs to get himself fixed up first."

Her eyes widen. "I knew I remembered you! I was on the day you were brought in. Your boyfriend is the unbelievable specimen of a male out there right?! Girl, I couldn't forget about that kiss. He obviously cares a lot about you. I'd love it if my husband kissed me like that in front of everyone."

"He doesn't?" I ask, tilting my head genuinely confused.

She gives me a knowing smile. "Not all relationships are like that. Don't get me wrong, my husband loves me very much but he's very private and can barely hold my hand in public. You have the type of relationship where he wants every man, heck every human being, to know you're his. That's special."

My cheeks grow red and a blissful feeling curls inside of me. "Yeah, it is."

"Hold on to it and don't let go." She waves her pen in the air then points it to the bed. "Now you get situated into your gown and the doctor will be back here in a second. Good to see you again. Let me know if you need anything."

She leaves and I take off my clothes and just as I'm about to tie the gown in the back. The curtain swooshes back so fast I dart back keeping my rear end from being exposed to everyone out there.

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Adonis stands in front of me with his jeans back on and a t-shirt snug against his bandaged up body. "What are you doing? What are you hiding?"

"Adonis!" I screech quietly as I awkwardly tie my gown and motion for him to shut the curtain like a mad woman. He shuts it and stands in my little makeshift room. Licking my lips, I hold up my cast. "I'm pretty sure I broke it again and back when Dallas and Red Light attacked me they bashed my head pretty good. I think maybe... I did some permanent damage since my ears have started to bleed."

His whole face pales. "How serious?"

I lift a shoulder. "I don't know." I swallow. "I didn't want to tell anyone just in case it's nothing. We've all been through enough."

He's silent and I watch as he calculates everything I said. "I'm not leaving you but, Tater Tot." His beaten face softens. "They'd want to be here with you. You should let them."

I bite my lip. "I'm scared." Tears fill my eyes. "I don't want them to see me scared. I don't want you to see me scared."

He moves quickly and wraps me in his warmth. "Don't do this alone."

"But," I sniff, "if my dad finds out..."

"What?" he asks, patiently stroking my hair.

I tell him every gory detail about the night in the garage, even the hallucination of myself as a child. At the end Adonis looks at the back of my head and his fingers touch the spot where all my episode begins. "It's really there."

I nod.

"Your dad can handle it," he says with no hesitation. I look up at him and his green and pearl eyes bore into me. "He's a lot stronger now. He's not that same man anymore."

At that moment, the doctor comes in and I stop him asking, "Can I have my sister and dad here before we start?"

He's handsome. Really handsome. He gives me a tired but understanding smile. "Of course."

Adonis sizes him up. "What are your credentials?"

The doctor laughs. "They're reliable and I promise your girlfriend is in good hands."

"Fiancé." Adonis corrects causing me to go into a spasm of coughing and absolute gibberish.

Both men look at me oddly as I make no sense, because well, I'm not making any. "You, we. Yeah, pfft. I knew. What? Sure. Okay. Umm. Mrs. Georgiana Adonis? Last? Wait? First?"

"When can she have the MRI done?" Adonis asks.

My dad and sister walk in and my foreign language stops and I become a blubbering idiot. "I'm so sorry."

Dad's nostrils flare and his eyes widen "Oh my god, you're pregnant."

Amber's eyes widen and she beams jumping for joy. "I'm going to be an auntie?"

Adonis busts out laughing uncontrollably and it's absolutely beautiful. Holding his side he gathers himself and sits in the chair in the corner. "With how she's acting right now one would think but no, I've been nothing but respectful toward your daughter."

All humor dies away once I explain everything to the doctor and my family. Dad takes it all in stride. He's instantly by my side as is Amber. Adonis lets them take the lead but every once in a while he makes sure to touch me to give me some reassurance.

The next hours are filled with tests, pain of getting my wrist fixed back up, and yes, I had broken it again. Now we're all waiting for the MRI results and I can't stop my legs from shaking.

Amber holds my hand and tries to distract me by telling me how Ducky tried to "save" her when she didn't need to be and ended up slugging him in the eye by accident. Dad stands talking with Adonis about his dad and filling him in on everything.

The doctor comes in and we all go quiet. Amber relinquishes her spot and dad motions his hand to Adonis. He sits on the bed with me and his warmth surrounds me and my body instantly relaxes.

"Georgie, after looking at the MRI I can tell you what your experiencing with your ears, has nothing to do with your previous head injury. Whatever happened weeks ago had no effect on your brain. You may have had a minor concussion but it wasn't enough to do any serious damage. A lot of the symptoms you've given me like random pain or ringing in your ears, the dizziness, and blood can have a simple explanation."

I'm relieved but also confused. "What's causing it then?"

Getting up, he takes out an ear scope and looks in my ears. "It could be a couple of things from a loud noise like an up close gunshot, infection, changes in pressure or something simple like an object in your ear. It looks like in your case; both your ears are infected and you eardrums have been torn."

He rolls in his little stool over to his chart writing stuff down. "Do you clean your ears often?"

"Everyday," I say with pride.

He gives me a knowing smile. "Contrary to what most believe. Cleaning your ears with cotton swabs is incredibly bad for you. You have some remnants of cotton stuck in your ear, which is causing the infection and it looks like you may have tried to clean them to aggressively, which caused your eardrums to tear."

My eyes widen. I am an idiot. "It's from cleaning my ears."

Adonis's arms wrap around me and he buries his face into my greasy curls. "Thank God."

The doctor brings his computer over on its rolling tray. "Usually tears heal on their own but I think it's best if we go in and patch it up. With this surgery we'll be first cleaning out the infection, removing the cotton swabs and then, by taking a tiny piece of your skin we'll patch up the holes. It will be a two to three hour surgery."

"Okay."

He smiles. "We'll get you in the schedule and hopefully we can get you back there today and get you all fixed up and home."

"Thank you."

"Do you have any questions for me?"

I shake my head and he gets up. "The nurse will be in to prep you and I'll get you back there soon."

He leaves and dad collapses into the chair behind him and starts sobbing. "Oh, thank God. Thank you God."

I untangle myself from Adonis and do what I've needed to do since the day I remembered what had happened to me. I put my forehead against his. "It wasn't your fault dad. It was an accident."

Dad pulls me in for a huge bear hug, sobbing with tears of guilt and relief. "I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry."

Amber comes next to us and throws her arms around us. "It was no one's fault. You didn't mean to dad."

Amber and I are squished together as he wraps us both in a tight embrace. He cries and we hold him as he does. I look over at Adonis and relax my cheek against dad's chest.

He's got his hands dug into his heavy rusted gold locks and he's staring at the curtain zoned out. Sensing my eyes he turns his head and his face is filled with relief.

I still don't know what's wrong with me, but for now...

I'll take this victory.

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