Broken Wings (Dark Legacy #1)(75)

Beck needed to learn I wasn’t going to sit there and watch him beat the shit out of his friend for touching me. I mean, I liked he felt possessive, but we were a team. That’s what they always said. I wouldn’t come between them; that was the last thing I wanted.

When I reached his front gate, it was open, no doubt from Dylan entering before, which made it that much easier for me to get out and ditch the cart. Eddy pulled up a second later, and I practically dove into the passenger side.

“Go,” I said, waving my arms at her.

She laughed as she spun the wheel and hit the gas. “Girl, what’s going on with you?”

I shook my head before sinking back into the soft seats. “Fucking Beck and Dylan. Seriously. Those assholes think they can solve everything with violence.”

Eddy must have noticed my workout gear then. “Defense training?” she guessed.

I nodded. “Yeah. Beck lost his shit when Dylan touched me, and I left the two of them smashing each other in the face.”

Eddy shrugged. “Violence is in their blood. You’re gonna have to get used to that if you’re hanging around.”

“Do I have a choice? Not to hang around?”

She shot me a side-eye. “No. Like … not a fucking chance. You’re in and there is no getting out.”

I dropped my head into my hands. “I don’t know what I’m doing? Beck … the guys. It’s a lot. I have already gone through so much pain with my parents, I don’t know if I can live this sort of life where I’m constantly afraid to lose one of them.”

Eddy swung her car around a bend, and we exited the compound which held the five Delta estates.

“Beck will never let you go,” she said seriously. “I know I warned you about staying away from them, but things are different now. I’ve never seen or heard of him throwing down over a chick, and he would especially never do that with the other guys. They’re a strong unit. A brotherhood. You might be the first thing that’s ever come into their midst that they want to fight over.”

I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Something about me being one of them, an inheritor of this Delta legacy, had them all screwed up. “Where are we going?” I asked when it finally clicked that Eddy hadn’t taken me home.

“Jasper told me you were ditching today for training, so I decided to ditch too and visit him for a few hours. Figured you might want to go?”

The thought of seeing Jasper filled me with excitement. “Absolutely. I’ve been worried about him.”

He’d texted me a few times, and I knew he was supposed to get out in a day or two. He’d had to have minor surgery on his spleen, but his recovery was going really well now. I’d been dying to pop in and see with my own eyes that he was okay. The hospital we pulled up in was the same one where I’d been checked over after the crash. “This is our hospital,” she said softly. “With Delta approved doctors. You’ll be coming here from now on, if you’re ever injured.”

“Your hospital?”

She laughed. “I mean, they treat other patients too, but we have priority, and we do all the hiring and firing. Everyone is vetted through the company. It’s safe here.”

Yeah, like the pilot vetted through Delta. Nowhere was safe, and Eddy was naive to think otherwise. When we got inside, no one stopped us at the desk. Eddy just walked through like she owned the place, which apparently she kind of did. Jasper’s room was really nice, with a huge bed, fancy flat screen television, and a scantily clad nurse in his lap.

“Ew, Jasp, seriously.” Eddy covered her eyes before snapping at the chick. “Get the fuck out of here, skank.”

The nurse glared before she slid off his hand—Jasper’s signature move—and straightened her clothes. “I’ll see you later,” she said to Jasper, shooting Eddy a sly grin as she passed.

Eddy shook her head before turning to her brother, who had thankfully tucked any body parts away, and was once again sprawled back with just a pair of gray sweats on.

“You’re looking much better,” she said, hurrying forward.

He shrugged. “Genetics. Mine are perfect.”

I snorted before I crossed to sit on the other side of him. He reached out with an arm and hauled me closer. “Better get my hug in before Beck shows up here and puts me back into surgery,” he said against my shoulder.

With a laugh, I gently pushed him away. “What?”

“Dylan called me. Seems our boy has a little problem with a pair of blue eyes and perky tits.”

Despite his injuries, I couldn’t help but slap him on the arm. “Seriously, dude. You need help.”

Eddy made a small sound from nearby, and Jasper turned to her. “What, sis?”

She shrugged. “Nothing, just never seen you treat a girl nicely before. It’s … weird.”

Jasper was suddenly serious, and I preferred this side of him to the joking sleaze. That one was his facade for the world. I like the glimpses of the real Jasper I’d gotten in the forest. Strong and loyal, badass and brave.

“Riley is not just any girl. She’s ours. One of us. And despite the tension, I’ve been thinking about how the dynamics have changed. She’s good for us … she makes us better.”

He was talking about me like I wasn’t in the room, but when his face turned in my direction, there was so much emotion in his eyes, that my body tensed. It wasn’t romantic, per se, but it was something.