Broken & Burned (22 page)

Everett…

Whatever pain medicine they had given me at the hospital had worked a little too well. When I woke up it was only for a little bit, I had a vague memory of Ashton’s Jeep and then nothing, when I woke it was in Dray’s bed at the clubhouse, a pair of crutches leaning against the wall by the head of the bed.

I blinked and tried to sit up. My leg was raised on a pile of pillows and I couldn’t get my arms under me to push myself up without pain tearing through it. I closed my eyes. I was alone in the room but the door stood wide open. My mouth felt full of cotton and I tried to work up some spit to lubricate it. It wasn’t happening.

“Dray!” I called out and Ashton ducked into the room a moment later, just as I opened my mouth to call again.

“He’s in the Chapel with the others.” She said softly. I struggled into a sitting position despite the searing pain in my leg. Mandy bounced into the room and around Ashton.

“Woah, woah woah! Easy!” Mandy said. The two club hang-arounds and the prospect looked in. The prospect, Loyal came in and put one arm behind my back and the other behind my knees and slid me carefully, wrestling me so I could sit up. I gasped out a thank you.

“Time to take one of these.” Mandy put a white round tablet into my hand. Ashton handed me a glass of water.

“Prospect!” I heard bellowed from somewhere out into the club. The three men disappeared. Mandy sat down on the edge of the bed by my knee and watched me, a worried crease between her brows. I obediently swallowed the pain pill.

“How long have I been asleep?” I asked.

“It’s around ten o’clock.” Ashton said.

“At night.” Mandy clarified. I closed my eyes and my shoulders sank.

“I’m sorry…” I said.

“For what!?” Mandy asked, “Evy you got
shot
.” She said and crossed her arms. I blinked and shook my head to clear the lingering confusion.

“I want to press charges!” I said and Ashton laughed, a high musical sound.

“Honey, when somebody shoots someone, the police do that for you. Some detectives want to talk to you when you feel up to it though.” She took the empty glass of water from my hand and I realized I really had to pee… I sighed.

“Crutches?” Mandy asked, figuring out my predicament. Dray appeared in the doorway when I finally got to my feet the crutches under my arms.

“Bathroom?” he asked and I nodded, he stood aside but kept pace with my slow going. My leg hurt abominably. I managed to take care of business on my own, getting up and down no small thing.

I wore a sexy satin nightgown. Black, so I know it had been chosen by Dray, it clung to my body, held up by thin spaghetti straps and only hung to just below where it would be considered completely indecent. My left mid-thigh was wrapped in a snowy white bandage that was stark against my peaches and cream skin, made even more so by the fringe of black satin above it. I sighed and used the crutches to get back to the door. I reached for the handle and the door opened. Dray’s dark eyes raked over me assessing.

“You go shopping?” I asked and he smiled faintly.

“Yeah. I wanted you in something that would make getting to your leg easy. Something you didn’t have to keep running over it with every time you needed to use the bathroom.” He said keeping pace, spotting me on my return to the bedroom. I smiled.

“An oversized tee shirt would have done the same.” I pointed out gently. He shook his head.

“You deserved something beautiful.” He said and I smiled even more. Most girls get hurt, their boyfriend brings them some flowers, I get hurt and Dray gets me sexy lingerie. I let him help me back into bed. Mandy elevated my leg with the pillows, careful of me.

“You guys, really, you don’t need to fuss!” I said.

“Let us. You were shot Evy… Shot! Okay?” Mandy’s eyes misted, the green becoming luminous and she sniffed. Dray looked grimmer than I’d ever seen him. So still, so quiet… Ashton took Mandy’s hand.

“We need to go.” She told my friend pointedly. Mandy looked at her confused, but whatever she saw in Ashton’s golden eyes convinced her. They slipped out of the room leaving me and Dray alone, the door shutting softly but resolutely behind them.

Dray seemed to fold in on himself. He sat on the edge of the bed by my hip and closed his eyes bending forward at the waist. His hair fell into his face, curtaining his anguished expression, his shoulders shook and he sobbed.

“Oh my god! Here!” I said and reached for him, he collapsed into my arms, careful of my leg and sobbed into my chest. His arms went around me and he held me tight as if at any moment I might disappear.

“It’s okay…” I soothed, “Shhhh I’m here. It’s okay…”

He wept his fill and looked up at me, his deep dark eyes full of sorrow mixed with relief and tinged with a bit of grateful. He covered my mouth with his own and I welcomed his kiss, drank him down. I was so incredibly grateful to be alive, to be here with him. Our lips parted and I asked him, “How did you know?” I sniffed. I hadn’t realized I’d been crying with him.

“My mom. I swear to god Em, my mom told me to turn around. Sadie breaking down was the first sign. When I got to the garage the bay door jammed and it was the damnedest thing I swear
I heard her tell me to go.
” I smoothed the tears from his cheeks with my hands.

“I believe you,” I said. He captured my wrists with his hands and pulled them away from his face.

“You don’t understand Em,
my mom was shot
, she died right in front of me… Em she knew, she knew it was going to happen I had a bad feeling all morning. Baby I’m so sorry I didn’t get the message sooner.” Fresh tears tracked down his cheeks.

“I heard my da’.” I confessed.  Dray kicked off his boots and stretched out next to me. I laid my head on his shoulder and we stared at the ceiling and the blank television screen bolted there.

We traded our stories and marveled that our parents, both of them, had come together and guided us both. That they were instrumental in rescuing me that morning.

“Should we keep this between us?” I asked after a long silence.

“I told my pops. I had to… He believed me but I think we should keep it on the down low with the rest of the club.” He said.

“I might tell Mandy.” I said, I felt him nod.

“You know her better than I do Babe.” He turned his head and kissed mine.

“I guess this means your mom approves?” I tentatively ventured.

“Baby I know she does.” He said and smoothed his hand down my arm. I closed my eyes. The pain meds starting to take effect.

“What was the meeting about?” I asked. Dray had told me about the club and how it operated, just not about what the closed door meetings were always about. He’d said in the interest of there being no secrets between us, seeing as what Jerry had done, that he would always tell me what he could and if he couldn’t he would simply tell me so.

“The man who attacked you was twenty-three. His name is Ronald Fortin and the meeting was about the colors he was flying.” He said.

“You mean the patches on the back of his cut?” I asked.

“Yeah, you see ‘em?” he asked.

“Yeah when you slammed him against the window by the door.” He gave me a little squeeze.

“Yeah I beat the fucking brakes off that fucker.” He said, savagery in his tone.

“I know, thank you.” I said.

“Not bothered by the fact I fucked him up?” he asked.

I snorted. “Hell no! He shot me!” I exclaimed and he chuckled.

“Do you remember the patches?” He asked.

“Yeah, the top one said Suicide Kings and the middle one was the King of Hearts, from the playing card. The bottom one was the one that confused me, it said Nomad.” I rolled my head back and to the side so I could look at him. He looked down at me.

“Nomad patch on an individual might mean that they lead a solitary life and don’t want to claim allegiance to any particular chapter within a club. Or it could mean that the club sporting the nomad patch doesn’t have territorial roots, or that they don’t have enough members in a particular area to put down roots for a chapter. In any case, the boy in question seriously pissed in Sacred Hearts Wheaties doin’ what he did on Sacred Hearts turf.” He cuddled me close and sighed.

“How do you know it was the King of Hearts specifically?” he asked, frowning.

“My da’ was a bit of a card shark. The King of Hearts is known as the Suicide King because it looks like he’s driving his own sword into his head on the card, same as the image of the King on the back of his cut, well that and the name ‘Suicide Kings.’” I explained.

“Oh, good to know… Trigger’s gonna reach out. See about having a meet and greet with some of their guys. Lay down the law, see what their about.” He shifted.

“What if they don’t care?” I asked.

“They’re going to want to care. If they’re smart, they’ll care a lot.” Dray said, an underlying threat to his words. A long silence ensued while I lay in his arms.

“Hungry?” he asked when my stomach let out a very audible weal of displeasure.

“Yeah.” I said, laughing.

“Let me slide out from under you and I’ll fix you somethin’.” I sat up as best I could and he got out from under me. He opened the door, his father on the other side, poised to knock.

“Got food out here Boy.” He said.

“Yeah I’m gonna get her something.” Dray said and slipped by him. Dragon leveled me with his gaze so like his son’s and I smiled.

“I’m glad my wife likes you.” He said. I smiled wanly.

“I am too.” I said and he grinned and stepped into the room.

“You need anything?” he asked and it touched me that he would ask.

“To heal and to get back out on the dance floor.” I said smiling.

“Yeah.” He agreed.

“Thank you.” I murmured.

“You bet.” He said and sat down in the chair that had been brought in.

“Dray tell you how Tilly died?” he asked.

“Yes, just now.” I said.

“Good.” He grunted. A long moment of silence. “You know, since he met you he’s been a different person. More the way my son was before his momma died…” The big man swallowed and I stayed silent, letting him speak. “He was so angry when she went. He turned inside of himself. I’ve heard Tilly a time or two before but never heard Dray speak on it. I was beginning to think he never would.” He sighed and smiled a little sadly, but then the smile brightened.

“Then there was you.” He leaned forward in his seat and kissed my forehead. “Thank you for bringing me back my boy.” He whispered and I sniffed, tears running into my hair at my temples. “I know yours is lookin’ out for you, but this daddy is too.” He said and got up, moving out of the room, the heavy tread of his boots echoing further away as he moved back towards the common room. I blinked and rolled my eyes heavenward.

“Thank you.” I whispered, grateful for the blessings that had been heaped upon me. Mandy spoke up from the door.

“Yeah sure, Dray told me to tell you there’s an emergency club meeting.” I looked over.

Ashton closed the door behind them, turning to me to say, “Women folk are banished back here for the time being.” with a soft smile. They helped me sit up so I could eat. Ashton opened the DVD player and turned on the television on the ceiling. She put on a movie for us and she and Mandy flanked me on the Queen sized bed.

“What are we watching?” Mandy asked, curious.

“Ethan bought me this, I don’t know what it is.” She said honestly.

“Oooo Magic Mike!” I exclaimed and Mandy giggled. I laughed, I’d told her about it but hadn’t been able to get her to watch it. “It’s about male strippers!” I exclaimed.

Ashton giggled. “Oh boy!” She rolled her eyes. We all three laid back to watch.

Dray…

I didn’t want to be out here. I wanted to be back in my room with Em, but we’d decided to call a full club meeting, opened it to the hang-arounds and prospects too which was highly unusual. We were gathered in the common room and the girls were conspicuously absent. The mood in the clubhouse sober and holding that edge of anger, that threat of violence. Or maybe it was just me.  I stood to the right and a little behind my pops, Reaver, Doc and Trig ranged out behind us on the small stage. Our brothers sat in neatly lined chairs in front of us. My pops addressed the room. Now was a time that he was my president and not so much my father and I was cool with that.

“Everybody here knows that my boy’s Ol’ Lady, new as she may be, got shot this mornin’.” Dragon started. Yeah. Em was
mine
, I totally claimed that and everything that went along with it. There were grunts of acknowledgment and nodding heads around the room.

“What everybody might or might not know by now is that some other club calling themselves the Suicide Kings is in town and a boy flyin’ their colors is the one that did the shootin’.” Again there were nods and unsurprised looks among our small gathering.

“Now I know we’re small right now, what with membership flaggin’ and honestly that’s no one’s fault but mine an’ my cabinet’s but we’ve been doin’ our best to stay true to each other and turn a new leaf and all of that. What I’m getting at is we’re gonna try and make contact with these Suicide Kings an’ see what they got to say for themselves, both for bein’ on our lands without givin’ us the customary heads up and for what happened with our VP’s girl. Some of us are new.” He inclined his head towards Loyal, Zander and Squick.

“That bein’ said, now’s the time to decide if you boys are in it to win it or if you want to get off this ride here. Things have the potential to get real ugly real quick when it comes to these kinds of dealings. We’re gonna try some diplomacy first… This is our territory though and our diplomacy looks a lot like they better damn well play by our rules why they’s in it.” Cheers went up around the room, a smattering of applause with it and I felt a wicked smile curve my lips. “We may be small but we pack a punch. Shit gets heavy we got to stick together.” Dragon scratched his chin through his dark beard.

“Shit gets heavy it ain’t no where I haven’t been before. Count me committed.” Loyal said and crossed his arms.

“Sounds about right and y’all know I love a good fight.” Zander said and grinned, showing off the chip in his tooth. I heard Trigger chuckle.

“Why would I want to leave when it looks like the party’s just getting started?” Squick asked but he looked grim. I think he liked my girl, he sympathized with wanting to serve up a beat down.

“Okay.” My dad looked secretly relieved but quickly covered it by turning to Data.

“Get us what you can on these Suicide Kings. I want a number for their Prez by morning. If the bastard were smart he’d have called me long before now so let’s just hope he doesn’t want to be in anymore hot water. We’ll hold off on contacting surrounding clubs about the trespass but notify the surrounding Sacred Heart chapters. Let ‘em know no violence for now, but that could change depending…” Data was already making notes and as soon as my dad finished and gave him a nod he was up out of his chair and making strides for his media room which was really just a converted janitor’s closet.

My pops went on to remind us that this was a brotherhood and to give props to the men assembled for sticking it out, weathering the storms, both in previous years and this new threat. He reminded us that we lived the lives of outlaw bikers while walking the straight and narrow. That just because we lived clean that it didn’t mean that trouble would never find us from the outside. Such was the life of flying our colors and living under the Sacred Heart’s banner.

It was really nice, touching even, and I was proud of my old man, proud to be his son, proud to be the vice president of this club and to be a part of such a brotherhood… yet at the same time was damn near crawling out of my skin with the need to be back with Everett. I forced myself to stick around. Answered some questions from Zander and made my presence as VP of this club clear. I stayed as much as to prove that I wasn’t dicking around anymore as I was to prove that I had a real loyalty to this club despite having such a personal stake in this particular situation.

Finally my dad clapped me on the back. The sound of his hand slapping, amplified by the leather I wore. I jumped slightly because I hadn’t seen it coming. He trained his burning dark eyes onto my own and I read clearly what he was trying to say before he opened his mouth.

“Go on, get back to your woman. We’ll let you know when we got anything.” He said. I nodded and hugged him.

“Thanks pops.” I let go and he grinned at me and I went back into the farther reaches of the club house. The building was old and there were more rooms to it than just the council of five’s but they needed some serious work before they could be anything. We were fixing the place up little by little and hoped that someday we would have a room available for each man in the club. We had the space for it, it was just bringing the rest of the place up to code.

I opened my bedroom door and smiled. My girl lay on her back, Ashton on one side, her best friend on the other watching something on the TV. Ashton looked over and raised a brow.

“Meeting done?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I said. She got up and smiled at me, brushing past and ghosting out the door. I turned back to the bed. Mandy was looking at me indecision on her face which was illuminated half blue by the flickering light of the screen, the other half cast in shadow.

“She’s asleep. Pain pills.” She said finally. I went over and sat on the edge of the bed. Sure enough Everett was out, her face tight around the edges, drawn into lines of pain, her brow slightly furrowed despite her slumber.

“She’s going to be okay.” I said and the relief finally, really set in. I let out an explosive breath and raked my hands through my hair, holding it back from my face and bowing my head as I watched her sleep.

“I want to be mad at you.” Mandy said and gave a little one shouldered shrug.

“Yeah?” I asked and eyed her warily. No sense in flying off at her until I knew what was what.

“Yeah. I look at you guys and I see ‘bikers’ and I look at her laying here, shot…” she sniffed and took a deep breath, overcome with emotion. I knew how she felt and it should scare me but it didn’t. It just felt right that I should feel what I did for Em and so I didn’t try to fight it, rather, I just went with it.

“But it’s not your fault,” she said, getting a hold of herself. “You guys aren’t like that but you are. I don’t get it, it’s weird and confusing.” She stopped and I drew in a long slow breath.

“We
were
like the dude that shot her.” I said quietly.

“But not anymore?” She asked.

“Not unless you push us and this was a pretty damned good push. We’re going to try and solve this one through some diplomacy, but trust me Red, I want to burn their whole motherfucking world down for this.” I curved fingers around Everett’s prone hand where it lay beside her hip.

“I’ve known Evy since we were in the second grade.” Mandy said.

“Yeah?”

“She’s always been this powerhouse, you know? Outgoing, knows how to take all comers and win, mostly by outsmarting them. There isn’t anything in the world outside this girl’s reach. When I told her it was my dream to be a chocolatier in junior high, she pushed my ass to be a straight ‘A’ honor student all the way up through high school, dragged me along in her wake like it wasn’t anything.” Mandy looked at me, her green eyes penetrating right to my soul in a pale imitation of Everett’s cutting gaze. Still, different as it may be, it had the same effect. I was listening and I was listening good... I nodded once that she should go on.

“Everett made my dream hers and didn’t even think twice about it. She had it all planned out. Put it inside my reach and wouldn’t you know it? We’re almost there!” She chuckled and shook Everett’s other hand gently where it rested in her own.

“She got me grants and not only put me through business class right along with her but she also found a way to put me through culinary school at the same time. Talked my parents into letting me live with them, which admittedly was the easy part, I’m an only child… Anyways. Everything I have is because of this girl right here. She’s like my sister from another mister.” I laughed softly.

“So I want to be mad at you guys for this but I can’t… I know it wasn’t
your
biker gang that did it and I know that you guys don’t do that stuff but I feel like I have to say it… if you hurt her, or any of the shit you get into gets her hurt, I’m ‘a find you and cut your balls off!” she stabbed a finger at me and I nodded solemnly. She couldn’t hurt shit, but the same time I figured it’d be best to let her have this one.  I wanted Em’s BFF to like me. I wanted to keep the peace in Em’s life.

“Understood.” I said and looked at Em.

“That’s the other reason I can’t be mad at you.” She said and sniffed.

“What’s that?” I asked her carefully.

“The way you look at her is… I don’t know it’s indescribable. You’d do anything for her wouldn’t you?” she asked.

“Probably as much as you, Red.” I told her. I set Em’s hand down on the bedding and got up with a sigh. I shrugged out of my jacket and cut and hung them on the hook above the jacket I’d given her. Her boss had stuffed it in her back pack which hung underneath it. I was tired. It’d been a long ass day. I glanced over my shoulder at Red and my Girl and decided
fuck it
.

“I’m changing for bed.” I warned her as I pulled off my boots and she looked disappointed, I softened a bit. I could tell she wasn’t ready to leave Em’s side and you know what, my girl needed all the love and healing energy she could get.

“Just do me a solid and keep your eyes to yourself.” I grunted and stripped my Henley and wife beater undershirt over my head in one fluid movement. Mandy obediently squeezed her eyes shut and covered them with her hand. I smirked with my back turned and quickly changed my jeans over to a pair of comfortable black cotton lounge pants.

I stripped out of my socks and went back to the bed. Em was pretty much dead center. It would be a bit of a tight fit for three but with her leg propped up like it was, I wasn’t about to go about moving her anyways. Red could stay on her other side.

I settled into bed and laid an arm across my girl’s trim wait and kissed the side of her neck, breathing in her lilac scent which was slightly overlaid by antiseptic hospital smell and a coppery hint of spilled blood. Her blood. I sighed and she stirred.

“Dray?” she asked sleepily.

“Yeah Babe, I’m here.” I said.

“Mandy?” she asked.

“I’m here too.” Her friend said softly from across her body.

“Good.” Em said, and slipped back into sleep. We sandwiched Everett in a cuddle and not too long after I fell asleep, vaguely aware of my door opening. Mandy said something to whoever was there but I was unconcerned. Nothing but the brotherhood and their women in the house. I was out like a traffic light inside three minutes.