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Zane was looking at Ava and at the spot on the bed next to her, but he didn’t move. Ava looked back at him and wondered what was going on.

“Come on,” she said, patting the spot again.

“I’ll just sit here,” he told her, heading toward the chair he sat in when she had woken up.

“Why? I would like you to sit next to me,” she asked.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.

“Don’t be silly. Gabriel was sitting there not five minutes ago. Come on, let’s have a talk,” she told him. Slowly, with hesitant steps, Zane rounded the bed and gently got on it. He watched her to see if she was uncomfortable or in pain. Ava just smiled at him patiently. As he sat down facing her, he took her hands in his and looked intently at them. Ava just let him be. He had something he needed to talk about, and she would give him the time to think it through.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking up at her. That was not what Ava was expecting.

“For what?” she asked, genuinely surprised. Zane smiled at her and caressed her cheek with his thumb.

“For so many things, angel. But mostly for letting you walk away from me without a fight,” he told her. It was Ava’s turn to smile.

“Thank you. I will accept your apology, but it isn’t necessary. It was just as much my fault,” she told him.

“No. I could have stopped it by not letting you go with them. I should have known they weren’t to be trusted.”

“Yes, and I could have said no. If I would have said no, and told you something was wrong, would you have made me go?” she asked.

“No.” He didn’t need to think about the answer. She smiled and placed her hand on his cheek.

“There you go. I felt something was off, but I was too wrapped up in my own thing I didn’t object. Let’s just agree that we both could have handled it better.”

“I should have known you were missing. It’s killing me I didn’t see it, and I let you be hurt by that scum,” he told her.

“I don’t blame you for that either, I walked out of here so you had no reason to check up on me.”

“I should have watched over you.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s stalking,” Ava said, and laughed.

“Gabriel knew, he knew, he told me and I did nothing for three weeks,” Zane insisted.

“Is that true? Then why did you lock him away if you didn’t believe him?” she asked.

“I did believe him. Hell, the way he raved and shouted, no one would have doubted him. But I just sat here, making plans, trying to find you.”

“Then you didn’t do nothing. You did something.”

“I should have done more. It was infuriating to listen to Ryder and Jax go on and on about we needed to get you out on the first try. That if we didn’t, we would lose you. I fucking hated doing nothing. And you paid the price. I am so sorry for leaving you there for so long,” he told her. “I should have done like my father and burned the city down.”

“Zane, no disrespect to your parents, but I’m quite happy we didn’t go down the same route they did. I like being alive and having you mostly sane,” Ava said with a smile. That got a soft chuckle from Zane. “I didn’t like my time spent with Johnson. And it will take me a while to recover. But I think Ryder and Jax were right. The moment you let on that I was important to you, Johnson would have used me to make you suffer even worse than he did.” Zane watched her for a long time, like he was trying to add her memory into his brain.

“I’m probably a big shit for what I’m about to tell you. But I promised myself that if I ever got the chance, I would do it. Ava, I love you. From the moment I met you, I have loved you,” he told her. Ava thought she had misheard him, but as the words reached her heart, she felt herself tear up. “Oh fuck, I made you cry. Please don’t cry,” Zane said, sounding panicked as he wiped away her tears with his thumb.

“They are happy tears, stupid. I love you too, Zane,” she said. Zane froze in place and looked at her like she had grown an extra head. Ava leaned in to kiss him.

“What are you doing?” he shouted and jumped back. The reaction surprised Ava to the point she stopped moving.

“I was going to kiss you.”

“You don’t move. You will relax and just stay still. For fuck’s sake, don’t scare me like that,” he told her. But he leaned in and placed a perfectly chaste kiss on her lips. She scrunched her eyebrows together.

“That won’t do. That was not a kiss,” she objected.

“That will have to do until you get better. It’s all you are getting, angel,” he said with a silly grin.

“I’m going to help you lie down again and you will have a nap,” Zane told her.

“Will you stay?”

“I have told you, I won’t leave this room. I will be right beside the bed in the chair over there,” he said. Nodding towards the chair beside the bed.

“No. You look like you haven’t slept in a couple of days. You will keep me company right here next to me and you can take a nap as well,” Ava told him. He eyed her side. “I’m not in that much pain, and you heard Linda. My injurie aren’t that bad. I want to cuddle, and you can tell me everything that I have missed when I was gone,” Ava insisted.

“Fine, I’ll just go and change. I am just going to the closet,” he told her. Ava thought it was cute he wanted her to know he wasn’t going to leave. She nodded and when he walked away, she took a moment to look at the room. It was as if she had never left. All her things were there, like he was just waiting for her to come back. Ava felt teary eyed again when she relived the moment he told her he loved her. It felt surreal her feelings were answered. Zane came back, and he helped her get comfortable. He gently got into bed next to her and placed one arm beneath her head and he took her hand with his free one. Ava shifted a little so she could snuggle up against him. She felt him release a content sigh as he kissed her hair.

“You know, Gabriel might be right. Maybe you should think about going away,” Zane told her. She could feel and hear how much he hated the idea.

“I thought we just discussed letting me go was a bad thing, that we love each other?” she asked, confused.

“I do love you. And that is why I can’t be selfish when it comes to you. Gabriel is right in that you aren’t safe around me. If not Johnson, then someone else will come gunning for me,” he explained. Ava thought about it for a while.

“I guess so. But I don’t care. I want to stay right here. You will do what you can to protect me, and I will have to learn how to shoot a gun or something.” Zane chuckled and kissed her hair again.

“I just don’t want you to change. You are fucking perfect, angel. I would hate to drag you down to my level,” he confessed.

“Is that what you think? That you are beneath me? Zane! You are just as perfect as I am in your own way. And I am not as good as you think I am. I smashed a glass over someone’s head and stabbed him with my heal in under an hour,” she told him. Zane laughed so hard Ava bounced around a little.

“Is that what happened? The little fucker refused to tell us how he got hurt. Well done, angel. I don’t think we need to get you a gun. I will just make sure you keep wearing heals,” he said. Ava heard he had relaxed. She imagined the topic wasn’t completely closed. But she knew he had dropped it for now.

“What happened after I passed out? Is Johnson dead? What about Jacob and my uncle?” Ava asked.

“Slow down, Angel. I will tell you everything, but only if you promise to stay calm.”