Page 68 of Nightmare’s Playground

“You’re back,” a voice called as a hand came into what was left of my line of sight.

Shifting my head to see Denali, I took it and let him haul me up onto my feet.

“How long was I out?” I rasped, glancing around the room. Someone had moved me to the sofa in the corner.

“About a half hour.”

Fuck.

“Here.” He held out a beer.

“Thanks.” I pressed the cold bottle to the side of my face and hissed. I didn’t even want to know how bad the damage was.

“Don’t ever go behind my back again.”

“I won’t.”

“Jesus Christ, he’s uglier than he was before,” Ruthless said, typing something out on his phone. “Joy’s gonna lose her fucking shit when she sees him.”

Then he held his phone up and snapped a picture.

“What are you doing?”

“Sending my sister a proof of life photo.”

Awe fuck.

Raking his eyes over what I knew to be a battered face, Denali shook his head. “I don’t know what she sees in you.”

That made two of us, because I sure as shit didn’t know either, but I was thankful that she did.

“If you hurt her,” he said, leaving the threat hanging.

I nodded. “I’m gonna spend the rest of my life making her happy,” I said. “You have my word on that.”

He was quiet for a long moment.

Then he tapped his beer against mine.

“Welcome to the family.”

It was about an hour later when the clubhouse door slammed against the wall, and a very pissed off woman was shouting, “WHAT THE FUCK!”

I turned my head—slowly, because anything faster would put me back on my ass—and there she was.

Hair thrown up in a knot on her head, tight tee hugging her perky little tits, cupcake pajama bottoms riding low on her hips. And those golden eyes that usually looked at me like I hung the moon were blazing mad.

Fuck me, she was cute when she was pissed.

Storming across the room, she stopped in front of her brothers, planted her hands on her hips that were cocked to the side, and let it rip. “Which one of you hurt him? Huh? How could you do this? I’m not a damn baby anymore!”

My lips twitched, and I was pretty sure I tasted blood.

“Sweets.” I reached for her hand. “I’m fine.”

She whipped around and narrowed her eyes at me. “I’ll get to you next.”

The grin on my face got even bigger. “I look forward to it.”