Novel Palace
Chapter 23 (Zero)
Chapter 23 (Zero)
“I'll share the sentiment next time a fucker shoots you in the butt.” After mutters something at my
reminder of how she acted when she was shot on her ass cheek and leaves.
I ignore Mercy grinning at the mention of the incident as she begins stitching me up. Then After wasn't
the dead bitch she is now. She was full of life, still a hard ass but one who smiled and cracked a joke
now and again.
Now her jokes only muse her at the expense of someone else. But fuck it, she is my sister for all intents
and purposes. Never looked at her as anything more.
“We're done here, let's go check on the patient, call your girl up, find out how far she is, Venus needs to
get an I.V up.”
Mercy washes up her hands while she talks to me and I pull on my cut and rip the rest of my sleeve
from my arm off.
Mercy used to be a nurse for the military before she decided her life belonged in the field, not caring for
the injured. She became our eyes and ears, got a shit straw of luck when her in-tel got her sister and
team dead. Now she hides her pain and hurt behind her nosy ways and optimistic but lethal attitude
toward life. She is one of the few of us in the club that has retired from the special ops. And maybe the
only one who didn't let that life alter the one she lives now.
I wait for Mercy to leave the bathroom, then take a leak. Once I am done I pull my phone out and do as
she requested, “How far are you guys?”
“About another ten-fifteen minutes,” Venus says in answering instead of Quinn who must be driving.
“Be quick, she needs fluids asap.”
I clip the call and take a deep breath before I enter the room with the woman who wrecked my life in
every sense of the word.
“Marone, he is the only one Lucca trusts. Don't think he'll leave anytime soon.” Beggar's dry and
scraped voice steals my attention as I walk back in the room.
Beggar is lying on the bed, her knees are bent to her chest as she keeps her gaze planted on After
who is currently wiping the dirt off her face with a dishcloth.
River, Ribs, and Gizbee stand around the bottom of her bed.
“So what do you think he'd do now, you hunted him before, then you spent years hiding from him, you
gotta give us something sweet girl,” Gizbee asks Beggar.
The man is huge, with a beer gut and a beard that is as gray and old as the cut on his body. But Gizbee
is a sweet man who falls instantly into the trap of a woman.
And Beggar is one woman he doesn't want to drop his guard around. She'd slice his neck and not even
look back if she had to.
The sound of the door opening jerks me out of my thoughts of Beggar's killing capabilities as Killer
opens the door, walking in.
Behind him is Quinn, Venus and Jade carrying in packets and medical supplies.
Venus wastes no time before she goes to Beggar and I stand quietly by the wall with my arms crossed
as I watch the doc fuss over Beggar.
Quinn joins Venus, jumping into action as Venus starts ordering her around. Killer surprises the fuck out
of me when he walks up to me and hugs me.
I am initially stunned then give him a pat on the back. It is fucking awkward but I take it.
“How's the arm,” he asks and at the sound of my reply Beggar jerks up and her big eyes stare at me
from across the room.
They are big and rounded, the pool of black hooks me in, and it is like my heart is been wrapped tightly
in cling wrap ready to be given to her to do as she pleases.
“Zero.” My name from her lips, intensifies the tension in the room as everybody's eyes stray from hers
to mine.
Including Quinn, who I look at, breaking my spell from Beggar's intoxicating stare to Quinn's
questioning one.
She knows the story about Beggar, but in her mind I made it as if she is the bad one, that she left me
for another man, that she used me to kill my brother while knowing I was falling hard for her.
I told Quinn that Beggar was the biggest mistake I have ever made, I never told her that Beggar and I
were two souls that connected in a way that when she left me it felt like I died everyday since, I never
told Quinn that Beggar was my Beauty and I, her beast.
Killer must sense the tension in the room, guess The Ghost always knows.
He moves steadily toward Beggar, pushes her legs aside with familiarity, and without her screaming her
lungs out. He sits next to her and starts talking about Aron, his brother's son and her attention is
instantly turned to him when he slips his phone out and starts showing her pictures.
I silently thank the brother, and the girls are able to get an I.V up for Beggar.
“Guys we need to change her clothes. Move or lose it.” After announces and River snorts shaking his
head as Ribs, Gizbee, and him leave.
Killer and I both stay put.
“I said men, last I checked you two both have dicks.”
“Last time I checked you licked pussy same way as the guys with dicks.” I say to After as she glares at
me.
I see Quinn smiling as she takes Beggar's change of clothes out of the brown sack. All content is property © NôvelDrama.Org.
“Your woman is standing right here, and you are insisting on looking at a poor innocent woman naked,
you should be ashamed.” I roll my eyes as After makes a piss poor attempt at trying to make me feel
like a pervert.
“I want you to leave.” Beggars dry discernible voice however grates me up the wrong way.
I know Beggar, she has never cared about her nudity before, she has changed in front of all the guys at
the clubhouse.
Why the sudden change now?
I want to ask her just that but one look from Killer has my mouth snapping shut.
The brother's eyes are haunted, telling me it is grievous. I give her one last look, her eyes focused on
her hands refusing to lift her head and face me, and I leave.
Come hell or high water I will get to the bottom of what she is hiding and Lucca would pay for what he
did.