Sacred by Caitlyn Dare
Sadie
“Rhett?” My voice quivers as he steps into the room, all the blood drained from his face.
“Who was that?” I notice the cell in his hand.
“The… the hospital.” He sinks down on the end of the bed, and I rush over to him.
“D-Dane?” He nods, and a garbled cry spills from my throat. “No,” I gasp, dropping to my knees before him. “He can’t be… he can’t—”
“He’s alive.”
“What?” My eyes widen to saucers.
“He’s in bad shape, but he’s alive. That motherfucker is alive.”
“I thought… God, asshole.” I slam my fists into his chest. “Why didn’t you start with the fact that he’s alive?”
Relief floods me. Dane is alive. Darren doesn’t have him after all.
Thank God.
“I just… I thought…”
I throw my arms around Rhett and hug him tight. “He’s okay. Dane’s okay.”
“Fuck, princess. I really thought…”
“Shh, I know,” I soothe him. “I know. He’s at Red Ridge Hospital?” Pulling away, I lock eyes with Rhett.
“No, somehow he made it across the border.”
“You mean he’s here, in Savage Falls?” He nods and I inhale a shaky breath. “Well, what are waiting for?” I leap up.
“No. No fucking way.” Rhett follows me up.
“You think I’m going to sit here while Dane is in hospital, hurting?” Indignation burns through me.
“Sadie Ray, don’t do this. Don’t ask me to take you—”
I step up to him. “I’m not asking you anything. I’m telling you I’m going. He needs me, Rhett. He needs us.” Silently, I implore him to do the right thing.
Letting out an exasperated breath, Rhett narrows his eyes. “Fine. But you do exactly as I say.”
“Fine.”
His hand snaps out, grabbing me by the back of my neck and drawing me closer. “If anything happens to you, princess—”
“It won’t,” I breathe.
Rhett trembles beneath my touch, my hands sliding up his chest to loop around his neck. “I’m here,” I whisper against his lips, and another shudder goes through him.
“I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t.”
We cling to each other, and for the first time ever, I realize how deeply Rhett feels. He hides behind all the ink and muscle and his cold veneer, but maybe it’s just a way to protect himself.
After all, he lost his dad when he was just a boy, and then he lost his mom to drugs. He’s carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, holding his family together, since he was a boy. That can’t have been easy.
“We should go,” I say, letting my lips brush his.
Rhett’s fingers flex on my neck as he inhales a shaky breath. He doesn’t release me. Instead, he plunges his tongue into my mouth, devouring me. This… this is how he speaks. Not with words but actions.
Rhett might not be able to verbalize what I mean to him, but every stroke of his tongue and slide of his lips against mine tells me everything I need to know.
He presses my body against the hard lines of his, molding us together. “Fuck, we should—” He tears away from me.
“Yeah.” I inhale a deep breath, forcing my heart to calm down.
“Come on, princess.” Rhett stares at me for another long second before taking my hand. “Let’s go see our guy.”
* * *
“Dane, thank God,” I rush over to his bedside and clasp his hand in mine. “You look like crap.”
“Nice to see you too,” he chuckles, but it’s drenched in pain.
“The doctor said you’re lucky to—”
“Shh, Sadie, girl.” He reaches for my face, smoothing his thumb over my cheek. “Gotta say, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see your face again.”
My heart lurches into my throat as tears roll down my cheeks. Rhett comes up behind me, the strength of his body taking my weight. He slides an arm around my waist, holding me.
“Fucking relieved to see you awake and talking, brother,” he says, dropping his chin on my shoulder. “What the fuck happened?”
“It was an ambush. Creed’s guys were sitting in wait for us. Took us out like lambs to the fucking slaughter. Ritz?”
“Dead.”
“Fuck.” Dane sucks in a shaky breath. “They got Kenny too.”
“Yeah, and three more Reapers. Micky and Munster are in the hospital over in Red Ridge.”
“Motherfucker.” Pain radiates from Dane, and I squeeze his hand gently.
“What’s the damage?” Rhett asks.
“Nasty contusion, few bruised ribs, my back ripped open again. Oh, and I got a nice bullet hole.” He rubs his hand over the bandage on his shoulder. “It went clean through. I was lucky.”
Lucky.
Nothing about this feels very lucky, but I know what he means. We could have lost Dane today.
“How did you get away?”
“When shit was going south, I managed to get to my bike. Damn near crashed the thing into an ambulance in the parking lot. You might need to call our attorney.”
“Ray’s handling it. He’s over in Red Ridge with Dee and Quinn right now. Micky… it’s not looking good.”
“He’ll pull through. He has to,” I say. Because losing Uncle Micky isn’t an option. It will destroy my dad, Aunt Dee… Quinn.
My heart cracks and I smother a sob.
“Shh.” Rhett drops a kiss to the side of my neck. “Micky is a fighter.”
“Rhett’s right, princess. He’ll pull through. I know what might help.” He grins and I ask, “What?” through my tears.
“Want to snuggle?”
“Dane!”
“I’m serious. Today was a fucking shitshow. I need you, Sadie, girl.” He pats the mattress and I glance up at Rhett. He nods, giving me a little nudge. Climbing up on the bed, I curl myself into Dane’s side.
“I was so fucking scared we’d lost you,” I whisper the words against his jaw. There’s a wicked looking bruise there, but it doesn’t stop him from brushing his mouth over mine.
“It’ll take more than a bullet to kill me, princess.”
“Don’t say that.” I snuggle closer, exhaustion from today hitting me.
“Close your eyes. I got you, Sadie, girl.” His voice grows quiet as I start to drift. “I got you.”
* * *
“What’s on your mind?” The rumble of Dane’s voice rouses me from my sleep. My body aches, but I don’t open my eyes as I realize he isn’t talking to me.
He’s talking to Rhett.
“Nothing… everything.” His voice comes from somewhere beside us, and I’m pretty sure if I glanced over my shoulder, I’d see him sitting in the chair.
“Come on, brother,” Dane chuckles, hissing with pain. “You think I don’t know something is eating at you…”
“I almost lost you, Stray.” He chokes on the words, and I hold my breath, half expecting the truth to spill out.
We agreed on the ride over not to tell Dane about where he really comes from. Not yet. Not until he’s out of the hospital.
But I feel the truth lingering on the tip of Rhett’s tongue.
“Nah. Like I said, it’ll take more than a bullet to—”
“Stop doing that.” Rhett reins in the anger in his voice, lowering his tone. “Stop turning everything into a joke. This isn’t a joke.”
“You think I don’t know that? When they jumped us and shots started going off…” A shudder rolls through Dane as his hand runs up and down my spine. “All I could think about was getting back to her,” he admits. “Getting back to all of you. Where is Pretty, by the way?”
“Family drama.”
“Shit, have you checked in with him?”
“He’s good, he texted a little bit ago.”
He had?
That’s news to me.
But I can’t deny the way my heart flutters at Rhett’s words. He pretends he doesn’t care… but he does.
“He’s good for her, ya know.”
Rhett snorts at that. “Pretty is… okay, I guess. But this thing with the four of us… How do you see that playing out? We buy a place and live together, one big happy family? That isn’t real life.”
“Isn’t it? Who cares what anyone else thinks. I fucking love her, brother. I love her. And I love you. I’m not afraid to own my feelings if it means we get to keep her.”
Rhett lets out a heavy sigh, and I can imagine his brooding expression. When he doesn’t reply, Dane adds, “Can you seriously look me in the eye and tell me you can imagine a life without her by your side?”
“I—”
“What’s all the noise?” I murmur, putting Rhett out of his misery.
Part of me is desperate to know what he was about to say, but the other part isn’t sure she’s ready to know how he truly feels about things.
My eyes flutter open as I pretend to be waking. Sitting up slightly, I push the hair from my eyes and gaze up at Dane. “Hi.”
“Hi, Sadie, girl.” He drops a kiss on my head. “You slept for hours.”
“I did?”
“Yeah, it’s almost eight-thirty.”
“It is? But shouldn’t we—”
“Relax, Rhett spoke to the nurse.”
“You did?” I twist around and find him staring at me.
“I’m not just a pretty face, princess.” He winks, but there’s something guarded in his eyes.
“And exactly what did you bribe her with to let us stay in here?”
“Jealous?” His brow lifts, eyes heavy with amusement.
“You’re mine, Savage,” I quip back.
Dane lets out a low hiss. “Shit, she’s not messing around, bro.”
“Fuck, that’s hot.” Rhett smirks, and the lingering tension evaporates.
“How are you feeling?” I ask Dane, running my eyes over his injuries.
“I’m okay. You being here… it makes everything better.” He leans in, capturing my mouth in a deep kiss. Our tongues tangle and heat unfurls in my stomach.
“Dane,” I murmur.
“Fuck, I wish I could get you naked right here and let you ride me all the way to heaven.”
“Did you hit your head or something? Because that’s the cheesiest line I’ve ever fucking heard,” Rhett grumbles, and we both flip him off. But then Rhett catches my eye, and I see the relief there.
“I need to text Wes.” I say, a pang of guilt going through me.
“Don’t worry about Pretty,” Dane says, hugging me closer. “Rhett has been checking in with him.”
“It was a couple of texts,” he huffs. “Don’t go reading too much into it.”
“Whatever you say, man,” Dane chuckles.
“Have you heard from my dad? Is Uncle Micky—”
“He pulled through. Prez is going to call if anything changes, but for now, he’s okay.”
“Thank God.” I dig my cell out of my pocket and text Quinn. “And River?”
“Safe at the compound with Pitbull and everyone else.” Rhett’s jaw grinds at the mention of his sister and Jax. But I’m glad she has someone looking out for her the way my guys look out for me.
“So what happens now?” I ask.
Dane glances at Rhett, the air crackling around us.
Rhett scrubs his jaw. “We wait for Stray to heal up, and then we end this.”
Dane nods his agreement. “I get the kill shot.”
My eyes flick to Rhett’s, but he shakes his head.
Not yet.
Which is fine. It can wait. But eventually, we’re going to have to tell Dane the truth.
We’re going to have to tell him about his brother.
