Rush - Blue Devils MC Book 2 (Book 1 Included FREE for a short time only!) (19 page)

She turned on her heel and marched towards the group of reporters off the side, ignoring the shouted demands from the cop behind her.

Rush, seeing Hannah heading their way, stepped off to the side, letting the reporters surge forward, surrounding her. She nodded her thanks to him, butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

We have so much fucking stuff to talk about, you and I, but not right now. Right now, I have to focus on what’s best for Isabel. I have to make her plight known to the world, and let public opinion help me fight for her.

“Today,” Hannah’s voice rang out, clear and sure and confident, making eye contact with the reporters as she looked around the group, “the Blue Devils finished what the
Chupacabras
started almost two weeks ago. They are the true heroes here. When the
Chupas
climbed onto that bus and shot me, I couldn’t fight back except with words, and that day, words did not matter.

“But today, they do. I want the world to know that Isabel Lara is the only one out of the kidnapped group of students who is an orphan. Every other student in those vans has a home and parents to go back to. Every other student except my Isabel.”

She took another deep breath when she made eye contact with Rush. She hadn’t exactly asked him what his thoughts were on what she was about to say, and the chances were high that she would lose him over this decision,
if
she hadn’t lost him already.

But she was done doing what was easy. She was done running from commitments. She was done traveling the world on a whim. Rush had helped her realize that this was what she truly wanted out of life, and if he chose not to follow her down this path…well, it just wasn’t meant to be, then.

No matter how much the idea hurt her heart to think about.

“So today, I am telling the world that I intend to adopt my Isabel. And until the adoption papers go through, I intend to house her and feed her and clothe her. She has been through enough; she does not need to be torn from the only person who has ever loved her, yet again.

“I hope that you will all join me in helping make this dream come true, for Isabel and for me.”

She bent her head close to Isabel’s ear and whispered, “Tell the journalists that you want to come live with me, but tell them in English. Do you remember how?” Isabel nodded against her throat, and then, bravely, lifted her face and stared into the cameras.

“I want Maestra Hannah,” she said simply. “I want live with her. I want her my mom.”

Hannah’s eyes welled up and she hugged Isabel closer, whispering in Spanish, “And I want you as my daughter.”

Hannah straightened up, tears swimming in her eyes, making it hard to see, and she looked at the horde of reporters who were all gathered around her, shouting questions.

“Thank you for your time,” she half-shouted, and the group instantly quieted down. In a softer tone of voice, she said, “I need to get Isabel fed and into some clean clothes. That’s it for now.”

She turned and began trying to walk away and as if by magic, Rush appeared in front of her, pushing reporters, blocking their microphones from her face. The cops waded into the melee and began forcing the reporters away.

She marched over the policewoman who’d been trying to take Isabel away from her earlier -
as if
- and said simply, “I came here on a motorcycle, so I don’t have a way of transporting Isabel to the hospital for her to be checked over. I will ride in the van with Isabel so I can be sure she is okay.”

Clenching her jaw, obviously unhappy with Hannah’s announcement, the cop finally gave a jerky nod of the head.

“That’ll be fine,” she said, turning on her heel and walking to the nearest van. Hannah followed her, talking to Rush as she went.

“Will you follow us to the hospital? You probably need to be checked over yourself for your arm.” She gestured down to his bloody, dirty mess of an arm and he grinned wryly.

“Yeah, probably couldn’t hurt,” he agreed. “Talk to you more there?” His eyes searched her, wanting answers that she wanted to give, but not with an audience.

“Absolutely.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Rush

As Rush waited impatiently for Blue to get released by the doctor, his mind went over the impromptu press conference she’d just held, with Isabel cradled in her arms. It’d been amazing to see her fierce protectiveness for Isabel…

And goddamn heartbreaking.

My
Isabel.

I
will adopt her.

I
will house her and feed her and clothe her.

He was not any part of that press conference - it was Blue and her daughter-to-be only.

I lost her forever. I thought if I saved Isabel, I’d get my Blue back. I thought she’d give me a second chance. Instead, she’s mapped her whole future out, and I’m not in it.

He was trying so goddamn motherfucking hard to only look at the needs of Isabel - tonight, at least, she needed a roof over her head and someone to protect her. Rush had to let her into his house, and help watch over her.

But just for tonight.

The door to the office opened, and out walked Blue, gorgeous as ever, but…

“Where’s your turban?” Rush asked before he could stop the words. She laughed, exhaustion in every line of her face but clearly still in possession of her sense of humor.

“The doctor says it’s healed up enough that it’s better if I leave the bandage off. I have to be careful and not rub my head in a pile of sand, but otherwise, I’m cleared. Have you seen Isabel?”

“She’s out in the waiting room with the rest of the students. They redid the bandage on her arm, now that she’s not trying to duck and dodge the nurse to get to you, but otherwise, she’s in great shape.”

He stood up and took her arm, helping her towards the main waiting area. They were in Copper Lode’s tiny hospital, no doubt giving the medical staff more excitement than they usually saw in a month, but the staff were doing their best to work their way through all of the students efficiently. Blue was so tired, she was dragging her feet but she had her shoulders back and a determined look on her face. She was going to take care of Isabel if she had to kidnap her yet again.

When they reached the main waiting area, Isabel ran and attached herself to Blue’s side as the Copper Lode police approached them. Officer Lopez put out his hand in greeting. “Glad to see you again under such happy circumstances,” he said warmly to Blue. She smiled back at him and then said simply, “Can I take Isabel home yet?”

Officer Lopez exchanged glances with his partner, and then back to Blue. “I’m guessing you haven’t seen it yet.” Confused, she shook her head. “Your plea to adopt little Isabel here,” he reached out and ruffled her hair, smiling down at her, “has gone viral. You were already a hero—” Rush saw her shoulders tense and he knew she hated being called that but she bit her tongue, letting the office continue, “but now you’re a hero with a cause. A cause that apparently the whole world has decided to help you succeed in accomplishing. Someone has already set up a GoFundMe page for Isabel’s legal costs and you should see Twitter. #AdoptIsabel is the top trending hashtag.

“I’ve talked to Social Services and under the circumstances, they’ve agreed that letting you take Isabel home was the best for all involved. They called Santa Maria Catholic School and verified that Isabel is an orphan, so I think that, combined with your celebrity status, should help grease the wheels a bit.”

Blue thanked the police officer and then bent over and explained it all to Isabel in rapid Spanish. Her face lit up and she threw her arms first around Blue and then around the officer. Rush smiled too because smiling is what he was supposed to do, but inside, he was dying a little more with every word.

Blue
could adopt Isabel.
Blue
was a heroine.

Blue was going to take Isabel and start globetrotting again and leave him with Turbo who really would chew the chair leg off this time and…

Black nothingness. Life without Blue was literally unimaginable.

They drove back to Rush’s house in Lain’s borrowed pickup truck while Blue did her best to keep up with Isabel’s rapid questions. Their conversation was conducted entirely in Spanish, leaving Rush out of the loop.

Then when Isabel met Turbo and they set up an immediate Mutual Admiration Society where his dog fell in love with yet
another
person who was not him and refused to leave Isabel’s side, Rush’s frustrations boiled over. No doubt the dog would leave with Blue and Isabel on their globetrotting adventures, and he'd be stuck with…what? A mansion that needed entirely too much work and a best friend who was so wrapped up in his own fiancée that Rush registered somewhere down at the bottom of a very long list of things Lain had time for?

Rush was in a good ol’ fashioned “poor me” funk by time Blue had tucked Isabel in for bed on the couch. Turbo curled up at the end of the couch, plenty of room for him at Isabel’s feet.

Goddamn traitorous dog, anyway
.

Watching Blue sing to Isabel, tucking the blanket in around her a little tighter, brushing her hair away from her face, Rush’s heart clenched. There were bands around his chest and he fucking couldn’t breathe. Watching Blue with her daughter-to-be, it was like looking into a crystal ball, seeing the future he
could
have had with Blue. They could have had a family together, spent the evenings laughing and hanging out, Blue could have loved their kids with all of her heart and soul…

And instead, Blue was leaving and taking his future could-have-been-his family with her and it was goddamn motherfucking
killing
him, bit by bit by bit.

When Isabel finally fell asleep, Rush turned and walked away to the bedroom, wanting to get away from small ears that may wake back up at any moment. He left Blue with the choice to follow him or not.

He stopped by the side of his bed where they’d spent so much time fucking each other during the last week and just stared at it, remembering how her back would arch and her eyes would squeeze tight as she’d come apart in his arms…

Blue walked up behind him and slid her hands up his back and onto his shoulders, stroking him.

“So, when are you going to leave?” he snapped, turning, staring down at her. He couldn’t hold it inside another moment. He had to make it clear that she had to leave.

It was too painful. Too awful.

He couldn’t last much longer without breaking into a million little pieces.

“What?!” she exclaimed, staring at him.

“You made it clear last night that you thought I was nothing more than a lapdog to Lain, and that you can’t love a lapdog. And then today, all you talked about was how
you
were going to adopt Isabel. Well, I can’t continue to keep you and Isabel here, not if you’re just using me as a pit stop in the road. It’s too fucking painful.

“So, I need you to pack your shit in the morning, and get out. I’ll sleep on the floor. You’re free to have my bed, but tomorrow, you’re gone.”

She just stood there and stared at him and didn’t say a word and Rush’s jaw clenched and he felt the tips of his ears turn red and he knew that he was on the verge of losing everything he cared about and he fucking couldn’t change any of it. It was a walking nightmare that he couldn’t seem to wake up from.

Finally, she whispered, “Can we sit and talk for a minute?” Jaw clenched, Rush nodded and they sat down on the bed, since that was the only place to sit in the bedroom and Rush pulled his t-shirt away from his neck, suddenly stupidly turned-on by seeing Blue on the bed with him and he couldn’t go there.

He wouldn’t.

“Rush,” Blue said, breaking into his thoughts, “I’m not leaving you.”

He opened up his mouth to argue - how
dare
she just move herself right on into his house without his permission - but she held up a hand to forestall him. “Let me talk for a moment, and then you can tell me to go, and I will then, I promise. If you still want me to.”

Grumpily, he gave another jerky nod of his head. He’d listen to her and
then
kick her out.

“I had an epiphany today, as we were riding to the old mine. Which, by the way, how the hell did you know they’d be up there? And did you guys kill all of the
Chupas
? No, never mind, you can tell me all of that later,” she said, waving her hand in the air dismissively. “This is more important.

“Anyway, as we were riding to the mines, I realized: I trust you like you trust Lain. I’ve trusted you to save me from slithery things and carry me when I can’t walk straight and break me out of hospitals when the
Chupas
are trying to kill me and drive like a fucking maniac on a bike and yet get me safely to wherever I need to go. But, I’m not your lapdog. I just have this deep trust in you that is beyond love, beyond knowledge. It’s instinctive.

“With you, I am safe.”

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. “You’ve lied to me twice now. You lied by omission both times, by the way - I’m not sure what that says about your personality, that you can’t state a lie but you’ll let a lie be believed,” she chuckled softly, “but as long as we’ve known each other, to have only lied to me twice that whole time is not a bad track record.

“But God, Rush, the shit you chose to lie to me about…you don’t lie to me and tell me that my ass looks small in a dress when in fact, I look like a poster child for the song
I Like Big Butts and I Cannot Lie
.”

Which made Rush laugh, something he’d have sworn he’d never do again just five minutes earlier, because Blue’s ass
was
big and he
did
love it - it was one of his favorite features, other than her legs and her eyes and her hair and her goddamn loving nature and her sense of humor and her intellig—

She was talking and he was missing it. His eyes snapped back to hers and he tried to focus and not think about her ass anymore.

Well, a little bit about her ass, because that was just a 24/7 sort of thing.

“—lied to me because you didn’t want me to think any less of you. You hid the fact that you are, in fact, Timmy Blackburn,” he grimaced and she laughed. “I promise never to call you that again, Rush. But you hid that from me, and then you hid the fact that y’all went illegal after high school, even making deals with the
Chupas,
God forbid.

“Someday, when you’re telling me how you figured out where the
Chupas
were hiding the little girls, I want you to also tell me what happened the night that Brock died. From what Ella was saying, it sounds like all hell broke loose.”

Rush nodded, keeping himself from blurting the story out then, because he wanted Blue to tell him everything that she was thinking. He wasn’t super happy about the turn the conversation had taken - listing off every time he’d fucked up wasn’t his idea of a good time - but he also knew that if he was going to have even an inkling of a chance with Blue, he had to own those mistakes.

“I’m not going to lay the blame for the Muddy Hanny incident at Lain’s feet,” she winked at him, “but he did tell you to vote for Brock as president, and he did tell you to vote to yes to the gun deal with the
Chupas
. Those were both bad decisions, but unless I’m wrong, I think you and Lain both realize that now.”

Staring into Blue’s brilliant aquamarine eyes, he gave an emphatic nod. He couldn’t say anything, not yet, not until she was done, but he hoped she could sense his seriousness in his demeanor.

“I can’t expect you to be perfect, any more than you can expect me to be perfect. In high school, I turned a blind eye to how much the Blue Devils meant to you. I ignored your ties to John and Suzi and Lain because it was convenient for me. I liked the idea of motorcycles just being a phase for you, because it meant that I got to keep you after high school - that you’d move with me and we could travel the world together and I’d get my way.” She smiled sadly at him and said, “I’m not sure if you noticed this yet, but your Blue can be a little on the stubborn side.”

Rush’s heart leapt at the words “your Blue” and he reached his hand out and stroked her cheek. She turned her face into the palm of his hand, nuzzling it, and he just tried to so hard not to hope but also not to panic - to just let her talk and
then
he could let himself react.

But not until then.

“Rush, when I stood in front of those reporters and told them that
I
was going to adopt Isabel, I had no idea if you still even wanted me in your life. At that point, we weren’t exactly on speaking terms. I couldn’t go on national television and say, ‘Oh, and by the way, my hunky biker badass boyfriend who isn’t even speaking to me right now is going to adopt this little girl with me, even though he just met her three minutes ago.’ I couldn’t make that kind of commitment for you.”

He swallowed hard and felt his tips of his ears grow red again, but this time from embarrassment. Because she was right, of course. To have expected her to make that promise without talking to him first was…a stretch.

“But, I’m asking you now.
If
you’ll take me back, even after the awful things I screamed at you, will you be my partner in raising Isabel?”