I swallow and study him, and then I say softly, “Why did you treat her so badly, if you obviously care about her?”

He flinches. “Don’t ever pretend to fuckin’ know anything about me.”

After that, he says nothing more and I don’t push.

It’s not my place.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

NOW – Pippa

The minute he rolls into the Joker’s compound, the doors swing open and bikers come piling out. Max stares at them, and then mutters, “Fuckin’ Ingro has no idea what he’s messing with.”

That he doesn’t.

I turn to Max and stare at him. “Thank you for helping me.”

He says nothing; he just stares straight ahead. I climb out of the car and my eyes scan the lot for Tyke. He’s not there. I see everyone else, but no Tyke. My heart drops, but I don’t get a chance to say any more because Santana lunges at me, pulling me into her arms. I can’t hug her back, but I let the tears flow as she whispers over and over how scared she was.

Then I’m in front of Maddox, his big hands on my shoulders as he studies me. I breathe a sigh of relief that they’re still here and not about to attack Max’s club.

“Who brought you back?”

I turn and glance at the car disappearing into the darkness. “He was no one.”

“Fuck, Pip,” he says, his voice tight. “You have no idea how scared we were.”

“Tyke, Rainer?” I say frantically. “Tell me they’re okay, Maddox.”

Maddox looks away and my bottom lip trembles. “Maddox?”

“Tyke is okay physically, but he’s checked out. He’s sitting in that room, starin’ at the fuckin’ wall. Rainer is in hospital . . . he’s in an induced coma. His injuries were bad.”

“No,” I whisper, and Maddox reaches down, stroking a tear from my cheek.

“He’s goin’ to get through, you hear me? He will. I will take you to him as soon as I can, but right now Tyke needs you to go to him. I haven’t told him you’re okay. I didn’t want to give him hope if something went wrong.”

I lift my hands. “Can you get these off?”

He nods and flicks his fingers, calling Krypt over. “Get me something to get these off.”

Krypt nods, giving me a warm smile. Then he disappears. When he returns, Maddox removes the cuffs from my hands. Santana and Ash are by my side, clutching me tightly.

“Go to Tyke, but when you’re done, we gotta clean you up and talk to you about what happened, Pip,” Maddox says.

I nod softly, and walk past them all and into the house. With shaky legs, I move down the halls towards Tyke’s room. I don’t know what I’m going to say to him, but I know he needs me. Now more than ever. I reach the door and slowly push the handle open, then I step inside. Tyke is sitting on the edge of the bed, staring out at the window, his body so still it’s alarming.

“Tyke,” I whisper.

He doesn’t move.

Swallowing back my tears, I walk over to him.

“Tyke, honey, I’m here.”

Still nothing.

He’s checked out all right. He’s broken himself. His legs are still battered and his knuckles red raw. In fact, I would go so far as saying he’s still in the same clothes as he was during the fight. I reach for his shoulder and place a hand there. He doesn’t flinch. My heart breaks, and the water explodes from my eyes as emotion finally takes hold of me. I climb on the bed behind Tyke and wrap my arms around his shoulders.

“I’m here,” I rasp between my tears. “I’m here, Tyke, and I’ll never leave you again. I’ll never leave you. I’m sorry. I’m here.”

I kiss his shoulder, then his neck, and keep whispering to him. “Come back to me, honey. I’m here. I won’t go anywhere. I love you, Tyke. I love you so much.”

His hand moves, reaching up and taking hold of my wrist. I think he’s going to pull me closer, but instead he shoves me off and stands, walking over to the window. He presses his hands against the glass and rasps out, “You need to leave.”

Leave?

No.

“Tyke, no. I won’t leave,” I say, standing and rushing over.

“Leave, Pippa.”

“No,” I cry. “You want to push me away, but I won’t let you.”

He loses it, just snaps. He spins around, causing me to lose my balance and then he roars in a voice so harsh I flinch, “I said fucking leave. I’m no good for you. No fucking good. I’m a cripple. An invalid. I can’t help you. Can’t save you. So just fucking do me a favor, and leave.”

He roars the last word so loudly my heart splits in two. He’s shaking, and he looks so broken it tears my heart out. He thinks he failed me. He thinks he let me down. He didn’t. He could never let me down. He didn’t disappoint me, or hurt me. He fought for me with everything he had, but he didn’t let me down.

I realize I have a choice. I can either stand tall and take whatever he’s got to dish out, or I can run crying back to my family. It’s in that moment I decide who I am. I’m no longer the Pippa that shrinks away from confrontation, or the Pippa who is afraid of everything. I’ve grown, changed and become a strong and worthy woman. It’s time to start showing that.

So I step forward and into Tyke’s space. I place a hand on his chest and he flinches. “You can push me away as much as you want, Tyke, but I won’t go. I won’t go because you’re the only person in my life that I can ever truly love. You didn’t do anything to let me down and you didn’t fail. Even if you had perfect working legs, do you think you would have been able to snatch me up and take me away when those three men had guns? It took guts to do what you did, and I won’t let you make it anything less.”