He watched her sleeping form feeling that emptiness all over again.
His throat hurt from all that screaming from before.
He was also thirsty, and his lips hurt when he spread them to run his tongue along the seams.
He wanted to move, but he simply could not. It was like all the energy in his body had fled, and he was nothing but a limp noodle.
Exhaustion threatened to pull him under, but he forced his eyes awake, staring about the hospital room, wondering why Skye was here alone.
Where was Roy? Jesse? Kyle? Faden and Miles?
Most of all, where was Leo?
He found he needed Leo.
His voice was hoarse when he asked, “Where is everyone?”
Skye’s eyes whipped open, as though she was not asleep after all. She looked so fucking ragged as she sat up to look at him, her expression morose. “Hunt.”
He repeated, “Where is everyone?”
She took a moment, her mind blazing with thoughts as her gaze roamed over his face and settled on the bandage he could feel running down half of it. Just how fucked up did he look? Her throat bobbed as she looked away, like she couldn’t fucking stand to see it. “They’ve gone to…” She paused, breathing quietly, forming the words. “You told Leo who did this to you.”
Had he?
Hunter couldn’t remember.
His mind was in disarray. Images flashed in and out of his mind. Fragments of the before and the now. Vaguely he saw Leo’s face, heard his voice in his ear, but it was garbled, and he couldn’t remember what he said. The drugs he’d been under clouded his mind, had made his head feel heavy. But Leo was there, that was right. It felt like eons ago, and he didn’t even know how long he had been in this bed.
“What did I say?” he asked, staring emptily at Skye as she continued to look anywhere but at him.
“You said the Walker brothers did this.”
He expected to feel anger just hearing those words, but still, his chest was empty. “They did this,” he repeated, but it was almost in question because…yeah, they did this, but…he suddenly couldn’t remember the details.
Narrowing his eyes, he repeated for the third time, “So where is everyone, Skye?”
Looking uneasy, she answered, “Leo told Roy, and they’ve run off to the city to take care of them. I haven’t heard back from anyone, so I don’t know what’s going on, Hunt.”
Leo…with Roy?
That couldn’t be right.
Hunter’s mind raced. The Walker brothers were stationed by the port in the city. They weren’t easily replaceable. This would be an impulsive war, driven purely by emotion. As President, Roy should have held back and made a more coordinated strike.
And what the fuck was Leo thinking?
Hunter’s heart jumped because…he was in enemy territory. Surrounding himself with the bikers, what the fuck was he thinking?
“They should not have gone,” he whispered. “No one deserves to get hurt for me, Skye.”
She looked back at him, her brows furrowing as she retorted, “You are the pulse of the club, Hunt, and you are Leo’s—our—world. And Roy loved your mother more than anything. Sometimes being personal is necessary.” She paused suddenly, her eyes widening as if realizing something. She looked up at him then, her face contorting to pain as she whispered, “This is my fault.”
What did she mean?
Hunter shook his head. “Skye—”
The phone suddenly vibrated in her hand, and she looked down at it, her body tensing as she quickly answered. “Shane?”