Page 26 of Ringo
“But I forgot about Apple! How could I forget --”
He silenced me with a kiss before opening the door to the truck and getting out with me still in his arms. His casual show of strength was at once daunting and arousing. I clung to him shamelessly. I wanted to see Apple, but I was terrified of what I would find.
“You honestly think Lemon wouldn’t be raging to the heavens if Apple were anything but safe? She’s hurt, yes. But the fact Lemon hasn’t razed the city to the ground yet to find Illivich means Apple is still alive. The fact Bullet hasn’t had her taken someplace else -- either by truck or a fuckin’ helicopter -- tells me Apple might be hurt, but she’s not hurt so badly he can’t take care of her here.”
All I could do was nod my head. I could feel myself spiraling back into fear and despair, wanting to give into all these feelings buried inside me when I had no idea how to process any of it.
“I… stabbed a man, Ringo.”
“And I killed him,” he said immediately. “I slit his throat on the Goddamned ground, and I’d do it all over again.”
“I’ve never…”
“And I hope you never have to again. But I’m so Goddamned proud of you, Calista. So Goddamned proud! You defended your friend. Our family. My woman will always defend her family. That means this club and everyone in it.” He set me on the hood of the truck, wedging his hips between my legs. “Listen to me. Grim Road isn’t easy. We’re a motorcycle club, but so much fuckin’ more. We keep to ourselves, keep attention at a minimum. But we hunt those who need hunting. That means there’s always the possibility some dumbass will come after us. We will always destroy them. To do that, we need our women willing and able to defend our children and themselves. We’ll always come for you. We just need you to hold on till we get there. That means doing exactly what you did with Redwood.”
“Apple jumped in front of me, you know. Shoved me out of the way. He was supposed to kill me. Not hurt Apple.”
“Apple gets it. I guarantee you, if the same situation happened again, she’d still throw herself into the battle. Would you do any less for her? Or Gina? Or any of the children?”
“No.” My answer was no more than a whisper. “Everyone here has been so good to me. I’ve never known caring like this from anyone other than my mother. I’d protect everyone here with my life. They deserve no less.”
He nodded his head in approval. “Good. Now. Let’s go see Apple and make a fuss over her.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ringo
Apple was understandably shaken. She’d tried to adopt the personality of her sister, but Apple was gentle where Lemon was hard as granite. I wasn’t sure what had happened to send her running and for her to try to change her personality, but this was the woman I’d first met. She was strong, but fragile in so many ways.
“I’m sorry,” Apple said. “I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble.”
“Honey, you’re no trouble,” Bullet was saying even as he worked on her shoulder.
“You saved Calista,” Lemon said, holding Apple’s hand. She kissed her sister’s fingers, showing a rare moment of tenderness. “For that, you can be as much trouble as you want.”
“I agree,” I said as Calista and I stepped into the room. “I owe you more than I could ever repay, Apple.”
Apple’s gaze went immediately to Calista. “You’re OK?”
Calista nodded, then burst into tears. She hurried to Apple’s side and reached out to her but didn’t touch her. Instead, she pulled her hand back and looked up at Bullet.
“Will she be all right?”
“Yeah, honey. She will. Our Apple is one tough cookie.”
“I’m really not,” Apple said. She tugged her hand away from Lemon and reached out to Calista. Calista took it, holding it firmly with both of hers. “I’m so glad you weren’t hurt, Calista.” Apple looked a little lost. She was clearly in pain but doing her best to be brave about it. “We’ve got world domination to plan and stuff.”
That got a watery chuckle from Calista. “Yeah. We do.”
Calista turned her head toward Lemon. “I’m sorry I brought this shit to your club, Lemon.”
Lemon waved her off. “Even if you did, I’m not sorry. If we hadn’t gotten rid of Redwood now, he might have done worse later.” She gripped Calista’s shoulder. “You did exactly what you were supposed to do. I won’t hear any more about it.”
“Where’s Rocket, Lemon?”
“With Crush and Byte. They’ve gone to get this Borris Illivitch shithead.” Lemon’s phone buzzed and she pulled it from her back pocket, checking the message she’d gotten. She gave a derisive snort before putting it back. “‘Bout fuckin’ time.”
“They found him?” Apple looked up at her sister, a hopeful look on her face.