Unplugged: A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance (40 page)

“Jase…”

He whirled at the sound of Maggie
’
s voice. Tired and scared, shaking with
tears, this was a version of her he had never seen before, and never wanted to
see again.
She stood tensely against the concrete
wall, her eyes flicking from him to the body and back.

Suddenly every part of him ached. He
said her name, but it barely came out a whisper against his tight breath. She
rushed to his open arms and he felt as though
he
could collapse on top of her and still not be close enough. She cried into his
chest and he wrapped her completely in his arms.

Everything else fell away from Jase
’
s mind in that moment. He laid his head
on top of her hair and inhaled her scent. He so
aked
in every touch. He knew his life would be divided, now; the time before this
moment, and the time after.

“I
’
m so sorry,”
he whispered into her hair.
“
I failed you the second they laid hands
on you.
”

Maggie shook her head against his chest.
She looked
up at him with steel in her wet eyes.
“
You saved me. You saved me, Jase. You
always have.
”

“
I always will,
”
he said, pressing his forehead against
hers.
“I promise.”

“
I know. I love you.
”

“
I love you too.
”

Eyes closed, he felt a gentle tapping on
his shoul
der.
“
This is beautiful. But we
’
re not secure here,
”
whispered Will.
“
The drop men could be back any minute.
”

Jase opened his eyes. Maggie smiled up
at him, though it was just a shade of its usual brightness. He kissed her
forehead.
“Don’t
leave my side.
”

“
I won’t
,”
she said and shook her head.

Maggie on one hand and his gun on the
other, Jase led them back down the hall with Will bringing up the back. They
found Ghost lazily guarding the wounded man, who cried to himself.

“
Do I get to kill him now?
”
said
Ghost.
The man erupted into sobs and inaudible begging.

“
He can’t follow us,
”
said Will.
“
Let the other Crosses tear him to pieces
when they find out he helped a plot against the Black Dogs president.
”

Ghost seemed a little disappointed, but
he only gave
the man a kick as he passed and followed
the group out. Halfway through the factory floor, they heard the rumble of
bikes and trucks pulling up outside. The group stopped on instinct and
listened.

“
That
’
s a lot of vehicles,
”
said Will.
“
Not just the van fr
om the drop.
”

“
Could be the backup from the Crosses,
”
said Ghost.
“
Let me scope it out.
”
He pushed ahead of the group on the
narrow walkway and lifted his weapon as he swiftly approached the factory door.
After a few tense moments, he yelled back,
“
All cle
ar!
”
His voice carried across the room.

Henry, Beck, and the sheriff waited for
them, along with the secondary riders from the MC outsourced to the police.
Everyone was putting away their guns when Jase emerged with Maggie clinging to
his side.  Henry call
ed out her name and she
unlatched from Jase to run to his arms for an embrace. Henry held her tight and
spoke to her too quietly for Jase to hear. He waited at a distance, watching,
while the cops and Black Dogs swarmed around him and into the building to
begin clean-up.

EMS arrived a few minutes after. Henry
insisted Maggie get checked out, and Jase followed them to the bus. He stood
next to Henry at a distance as they both watched the paramedic assess her
condition.

“
Are you alright?
”
said Henry, putting
a hand on Jase
’
s shoulder.

Jase nodded. He crossed his arms and
kept his eyes on Maggie as she sat on the edge of the bus.
“I am now.”

“I’ll
never be able to repay you for this,
Jase. Thank you for saving her.
”

“Don’t
thank me,
”
said Jase.
“
Even if you
hadn’t
already saved my life
…
she has. I owed her this.
”

Henry said,
“
I guess there was never any stopping
this thing between the two of you.
”

Jase felt surprise, but his fear of this
confrontation was gone. He gathered his words carefully before he spoke.
“I
’
m not sure any of us knew that until today. And it
certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.
”

“Son…”

“
You can kick me out of the club,
”
said Jase, even though he couldn’t look
at Henry when he said it.
“I’ve
had it both ways, Henry. I know what life is like without
her now, and it
’
s not the same. Even at its best with
the MC, even the days I was happy, it wasn’t like this.
”
He shook his head.
“I
’
m not losing her again.
”

Jase turned. For the first time he cou
ld remember, he saw pain on Henry
’
s face, and deep in his eyes.

“
Jase, that hadn’t even crossed my mind.
Why would it? You saved my daughter. Without question you have done everything
you can, every hour, to help me keep her safe since she arrived.
”

Jase
flushed
and looked at his feet.

“
Maybe you two weren’t certain until
today, but I saw this coming years ago,
”
said Henry. He swiped self-consciously at a tear and let
out a chuckle.
“
I saw this coming from the first time
you two traded comic books with ea
ch other at the
clubhouse. I had never seen a boy make Maggie laugh so much. And it was the
first time I saw you acting normal since your dad died.
”

Jase felt a deep, almost painful
gratitude for Henry
’s
words, even as he laughed lightly at the memory.

“
I should never have stood in the way,
”
said Henry.
“
It was a fool
’
s errand. I won’t keep it up now. Even
if I wanted to, I owe you that much for saving her life.
”

He turned and looked Henry in the eyes.
“
I love her, Henry; more than anything,
” Jase
answered
.

Henry nodded and gave Jase an emotional
smile.
“
Good. Keep it that way.
”

The paramedic wanted Maggie to head to
the hospital, worried she might have suffered some head trauma from the abuse
or the rough van ride, but she refused to leave withou
t
Jase. Jase didn’t
hesitate to climb in
to the bus with her and sit next to her stretcher, his hand
curled into hers.

“Love you,”
said Maggie to Henry as he stood at the
edge of the open doors.
“
Thank you for saving me.
”

“
This is your home, sweetheart. W
e will always protect you here,
”
said Henry.
“I’ll
be right behind you once I get things
sorted here.
”

Jase nodded to Henry again before the
paramedic closed the doors and signaled the driver to make his way down to the
interstate.

~
NINETEEN ~

The
doctors
made Maggie spend a full overnight in the hospital for observation. Since the
Taser knocked her unconscious, they didn’t want to take any chances. Despite
the death or capture of nearly all the men involved, the sheriff put a deputy
outside her doo
r, to go along with the three Black
Dogs already posted up there as her guards.

Well, four, counting the one in her
hospital room. Jase refused to leave her side, and had no trouble barking
commands to the others to make sure she still wanted for nothing.
The pain meds kept her floating in and out of sleep, but
every time she woke up, he was still there on the side of her bed, holding her
hand. Sometimes, he was watching her sleep. Once, she couldn’t open her eyes,
but could hear his soft breathing on the e
dge of her
consciousness. And twice she woke only to find him sleeping with his head
perched on her leg gently.

Maggie smiled and found the energy to
lift her hand and stroke his raven-colored hair while he slept. He made a soft
little groaning noise in h
is sleep, and moved a
little under her touch. She didn’t want to wake him, but she played softly with
his hair until she fell back asleep herself.

By afternoon the following day, she was
feeling better, and the docs didn’t see any signs of worry. Like a p
atient guardian, Jase listened to a doctor describe her
recovery treatment. Henry stood in the back of the room, waiting to help
transport her home. Jase was careful as he scooped her up from the bed and into
a wheelchair. Henry walked alongside her as Jas
e
pushed. The doctor had offered, but Jase refused to let him.

Henry stood by as Jase helped her
carefully into the passenger seat of his truck. Once she was belted in, he came
up and took her hand. He planted a gentle kiss on top of it.
“
Tell me this is
the end of the family curse.
”

Maggie smirked at him, still not quite
herself under the painkillers.
“
I hope so, dad.
”

Henry had a confused smile on his face.
“
You haven’t called me dad in a long
time.
”

“I
’
m on a lot of drugs. I probably won’t
remember it
tomorrow, so don’t get used to it,
”
she said. For once, Henry just laughed
at her backtalk. Jase climbed into the driver
’
s seat and double-checked her seatbelt
before he started the ignition.

“
Sheriff
’
s digging out the last of the Rebel
Cross boys from their chapter in Howlett. Most of them had nothing to do with
it, but he
’
s not taking any chances,
”
said Henry.
“
Things should be safe now with Evan
eliminated, but keep your eyes out just in case for the
next few days.
”

“
I dare them to try again,
”
said Jase with a grin as he started the
truck.
“
The higher my body count, the sexier she
thinks I am.
”

“It
’
s true,”
said Maggie. She laughed much harder at the joke than it
deserved, which only made Jase and He
nry laugh at
her.

“
Take care of my little girl, Jase,
”
said Henry before he closed the door.

Jase saluted him with serious eyes.
“
Always, boss.
”

Maggie smiled at her father through the
truck window and waved as they backed out of the hospital parking lo
t. For sure, she knew now, it was the painkillers giving
her such ease of emotion. But as silly as she felt, it was a welcome relief
from the horror of the past week. She let it envelop her as she turned to look
at Jase in the driver
’
s seat, watching the r
oad. His
hand had already wandered over to find one of hers in her lap. Every now and
again, he would sneak a look over at her, and she would already be watching him
and grinning. Jase would laugh and turn red a bit before he went back to
watching the road
.

“I
’
m glad to see you sitting there,
”
he said at one stoplight. He squeezed
her hand when she told him she was thinking the same thing.

Jase took them back to his house. He set
her up in bed and demanded her orders.
“
Anything you want, I’ll get it for yo
u. Just say the word.
”

“
Anything?
”

“Yep.”

“A puppy?”

“
Done. What else?
”

“
A glass of whiskey.
”

“
As long as you don’t tell the doc. Next?
”

“Some crack cocaine?”

“
Sure. Wait, what?
”
said Jase with a laugh.

Maggie said,
“
For real on the whiskey.  And why
don’t you tell me what the hell happened, while you
’
re at it.
”
She patted the bedspread for him to sit
down.

Jase made her wait until he got them
both two fingers of a very smooth whiskey he
’
d been keeping stashed away in his
kitchen. They clinked a small
‘
cheers
’
. The whiskey burned down her throat,
and toasted up her insides nicely.

“
What do you remember?
”
said Jase.

“
Just what I told the sheriff. I couldn’t
see anything on the van ride, didn’t know where we were. I didn’t recognize any
of the Rebel Cros
s men
…
only Evan,
”
she said.
“
They left me in there for a while until
suddenly I could hear gunfire from somewhere close. Gunfire came and went, and
then Evan came in and started untying me. He kept saying we had to go, he had
to get me out of there.
”

“
Tha
t was Will
and Ghost,
”
said Jase.
“
If Will hadn’t
called me about Drake, I probably never
would have found you.
”

“I can’t
believe that motherfucker had something
to do with all of this,
”
said
Maggie. Even as she said it, some part of her actually did believe it. He had
never sat right with her.

“It
’
s always about the deals for him. That
’
s what made him so good for the club; he
had connections to everyone. It was stupid of us to think he w
ould keep us sacred,
”
said Jase.
“
But that opportunistic little fuck has
cut his last deal around these parts.
”

“
Is that secret club business you
’
re sharing with me?
”
said Maggie.

Jase smiled and moved a bit of hair out
of her face.
“
From now on, my love,
I will be sharing all secret club business with you.
”

Maggie raised an eyebrow.
“
Really?
”

Jase nodded, serious.
“
You might not wear a cut, but your blood
is in the MC as much as any of us that do. Henry was wrong to try and keep you
out of it. And if we
’
re
going to be together, it makes
no sense for me to try to keep you out of it, either. We have to trust each
other.
”
He bent and pressed his forehead against
hers.
“
We share it all.
”

Maggie smiled to herself.
“
I like that.
”

Jase pulled back and kissed her.
Then he cleared his throat and looked away.
“
So I suppose you’ll just be staying here
then, hmm?
”

Maggie grinned widely, watching his face
tint red.
“
You mean while I recover?
”
She teased.

“
Well of course, yes-- plus the days
after that.
”

“
Oh? How many
days?
”

“
I
don’t know, like
…
.three or four? Or all of them?
”
said Jase with a grin he could no longer
fight.

“
I told you, Campbell, you gotta put a
ring on it,
”
said Maggie, tapping her left hand
sarcastically.

“
Oh, right,
”
he said. He suddenly stood and
started digging through his pockets, and Maggie felt her
heart stop. She stared at him with wide eyes as he sat back down with something
in his hand.

Jase turned and saw the look on her face
and froze. Then he said,
“
Oh, this isn’t
…
. this isn’t that.
”

Magg
ie slumped
and started laughing at herself.

“
When would I have had time to get a
ring?
”
said Jase with a shake of his head and a
laugh.

“
I
don’t know, I’ve been on a painkiller
high for twenty-four hours!
”
she said.

“Don’t
worry, beautiful, you won’t be
waiting long for that,
”
he said. He opened her hand and dropped
into it her mother
’
s rosewood-beaded rosary.
“
They found this in the van that snatched
you. Henry said it was yours.
”