Friction (Oath Keepers MC Book 5) (9 page)

What is it with men and having to be dicks? ‘Please’
does
come in handy when speaking to a woman; you’d think they would’ve learned that when they were kids. Ghost is the last man who needs to be giving me orders.

I flip on a rerun of a show about building a cabin on HGTV and it puts me right to sleep for a nice little nap.

Five hours and fifteen minutes later…

I’m sitting on the bed eating a peanut butter sandwich when I’m interrupted by a knock. Twist and my brother haven’t returned my calls, so I’m starting to get a little worried. If they took off on a long run and didn’t let me know, I’m going to be so mad.

The door opens a little and Avery pokes her head in. “Sadie? Can I come in?”

“Oh, hi, Avery. Yes, of course,” I say, feeling a little shy. Avery’s so pretty; I can see why Silas is always attached to her hip. He never really brought any girls around me growing up. He was such a good big brother, doing his thing with them away from me.

“More peanut butter, huh?” She gestures to my sandwich.

“Yeah,” I smile. “I can’t seem to get enough of the stuff. Thank God it’s cheap and somewhat healthy.”

“Have you decided if you’re going to find out what you’re having? It’s got to be getting pretty close to your due date by now, right?”

“No, but I’ve thought about it. I need to get things, you know—just baby stuff—and I have no idea if it should be pink or blue. I should be popping soon, hopefully,” I answer with a smile.

“Yeah, you didn’t have a baby shower in California?”

“No, I didn’t have a lot of friends and I was usually at work. I wasn’t expecting one though, so no big deal.”

“That makes sense. Well, I came in to talk to you, because your brother called me. He wanted me to wait, but it’s been long enough, and if it were me, I would want to know.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, he’s fine. I’ve watched you with Twist. I know a lot of the guys around here don’t pay much attention, but I have. You seem pretty crazy about him.”

“I am. My brother isn’t so happy about it though, and Twist can’t seem to make up his mind. One minute he’s hot and the next he’s cold. But oh well… Anyhow, what did you want to tell me?”

“It’s actually about Twist. According to 2, they were out riding with Ares and there was a bunch of metal debris in the road.”

“Oh no!” I interrupt and she nods.

“Well, Twist flipped off his bike and hit the ground pretty hard. He’s at the hospital so they can run tests.”

“Oh my God! I have to go to him!”

“You can’t right now. He hasn’t exactly woken up yet, but 2 Piece said when he wakes up, you can come to the hospital with one of the guys.”

He hasn’t woken up yet? How is this even possible right now? He was just here hours ago, being an asshole. I wonder if the drugs had anything to do with it. I swear if he wrecked because of the drugs, I’m going to strangle him myself.

“I’m not sitting around here waiting; I’m going now. My brother’s an idiot if he thinks I’ll sit around here and wait patiently. I can’t believe he even said that to you; he knows I would never give in so easily.”

“Please, Sadie! It’s for your safety,” she pleads, attempting to get me to reconsider.

“You all may be afraid of threats made to the club, but I’m not in any of that. I’m going in my own car, by myself if I have to. I’m tired of men thinking they can order me around.”

I toss the remainder of my sandwich on the paper plate and throw on a pair of Tom’s. They’re the only pair of comfortable shoes I own besides sandals.

“Wait, okay? I’ll come with you and I’ll tell one of the guys. I don’t want you going alone. If you don’t do it for them, well then, please, for me?”

“I guess so,” I agree and shrug, heading for the door. I snatch one of Twist’s black hoodies on my way, in case it’s cold at the hospital.

Avery has to pretty much jog to catch up to me. She’s got me beat by a few inches, but my short legs can move when they’re on a mission. I can’t believe that no one told me about this sooner, I wonder when this happened exactly.

Stopping abruptly, I face her. She almost slams into me but catches herself. “How long has he been there?”

“Twist? At the hospital?”

“Yes.” I nod and her eyes widen.

“Ummm, about four hours or so,” she mutters in nearly a squeak.

I normally think she’s sweet as can be, but in this moment, I could go for strangling her, and every member in this place, for leaving me out of the loop. I generally enjoy being left to myself away from the guys. I find them a little intimidating after Ghost and I’m trying to warm up, but this crap right here, someone should have come and told me sooner—at least my brother, if anyone. I’m probably going to kick him in the nuts when I see him, but then if I do that, everyone will know how I feel about Twist.

Meh.
Can’t say I really care who knows how I feel about him anymore. Maybe it would make it easier for him with my brother if I make my feelings public, I think as we load up.

“I’m so sorry, Sadie; I knew you guys talked and stuff, but I didn’t realize just how close you’ve become already,” Avery winces while she drives my car. I haven’t been driving, I don’t know where anything is here and honestly my stomach feels better when I sit back and relax.

“Look, I know it’s not your fault. I was just surprised. My brother should have called me back; he knows I worry.”

She nods and we stay quiet as she drives down the nearly deserted old highway, the only sound interrupting the quiet is one of the guys following us on his motorcycle. Eventually, we arrive at the local hospital. Kind of weird being here—next to the city. You’d think everyone would use the big hospitals, like the ones we passed the other day when I was out getting food with Silas.

“This is random,” I mutter, and Avery smiles.

“Yeah, the club donates a lot of money here very year to help keep it open. This area’s growing so quickly, and it seems like the community forgets that many seniors feel more comfortable in a smaller, personalized hospital care center.”

“Wow, that’s really nice. This must be where Silas had me schedule the rest of my appointments then…but I thought they said it was a women’s center.”

“Yeah, there’s a small women’s clinic inside; they’ll take good care of you. I come here for my checkups too.”

“Twist wasn’t happy with me going to the other doctor’s office in town and sort of took over for me.”

“I’m not surprised; the guys like to keep everything here if they can.”

I nod and hightail it to the elevators; the information board next to the help desk says patient rooms are on the second floor, so I’m guessing he’s up there somewhere. Avery and the prospect get into the elevator with me, and I can’t help but ask, “So, umm, are you and my brother, expecting…?”

She giggles and shakes her head. “Oh no, not for awhile. Our puppy is plenty for us at the moment. Plus, I don’t think your brother is really wanting to have any of our own kids for awhile.”

“Your puppy is really cute, by the way. I saw Ares playing with her outside the other day when I was in the kitchen. I was doing dishes and he was laughing because she kept running after him. I’d never expect the scary guy to smile so big.”

The elevator dings and we all unload.

“People don’t really understand Ares; he’s not as mean as everyone makes him out to be. Come on, Twist is down this hall.”

I just raise an eyebrow, because clearly she’s delusional. The man grunts, and the guys under him practically piss themselves. I waddle as quickly as possible, eager to check over the blond god—who currently has my stomach doing somersaults full of anxiety—wondering if he’s really okay.

Silas steps into the hallway, his eyes falling to us and growing wide.
You better be nervous brother.

“Really?” I shout, unable to keep my feelings in check. This baby has me moody lately and my brother deserves to get yelled at over the crap he pulled today. He should’ve talked to me. I’m his sister—not his child.

He raises his hands up to calm me with his fatherly/big brother bullshit he’s always done that I’ve gotten used to over the years of growing up with him. “Now Sade’s, just calm down,” he soothes.

“You’re not pulling that monotone shit with me this time! You know how I feel about you not calling me back! You ride a motorcycle for God’s sake—nothing wrong with that, but people are assholes, and when my brother doesn’t call me back for hours, I think some jerk ran him over! I’ve already lost Mom and Dad, Si. You know how I get about not being in contact.” My eyes tear up at the mention of losing my parents, and his hands drop, pulling me into a hug.

“I know; I’m a dick and sometimes I forget about how you worry about me.”

“It’s not like I call you twenty times a day, brother. It’s only like once a week, a little more now that I’m here with you. I’m not trying to be a nag…truly. I just love you and want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I got you little sister.” He pulls me in a little tighter, and once I’m done showing him I love him, my anger spikes again over Twist.

I rear back and kick him really hard in the shin making him jump back in shock away from me.

“The fuck was that for?” he shouts and I glare.

“How could you not tell me about Twist? Thankfully, Avery seems to have a bigger heart than my own brother and told me about Twist being in the hospital! Was I supposed to just wake up with him not being there and not worry? I sleep next to that man every single night!”

“What do you mean you sleep next to him?” he grumbles, deflecting on my private life.

“Oh no! You don’t get to go there; you’re the one who messed up today.”

Avery grabs my hand and my face shoots to her.

“2 was the wrong; but you’re here now, so how about you go see Twist and you guys talk about this stuff later, not so public. I think the yelling is drawing too many eyes to y’all.”

Silas and I both gaze around and see five or so nurses enjoying the show of me tearing my brother a new asshole. Probably looks funny seeing a short, pregnant lady with a huge belly chewing out a big ol’ biker.

“Okay, that sounds like a good idea,” I agree easily. I shoot a scowl at Silas as I walk past him into Twist’s room.

My eyes instantly land on my damaged man, his colorful tattoos even more prominent against the pale blue hospital gown and bright lights. Warm tears fall down my cheeks as I make my way to him; the sight of seeing him look so broken, rips me in pieces.

His forehead is wrapped in gauze hiding the upper portion of his face and one of his arms has gauze covering it as well. His nose looks disgusting and the worst part of all is he’s strapped down. They have his hands secured to the bed and I want nothing more than to untie him and take him home with me.

I spin around to yell at my brother about this, too, but he’s already right behind me, catching my arms as I turn.

“Wha-what is this? Why is he like this?” I cry.

“They did it for his and their own safety.”

“Take them off, Silas!” I gesture toward Twist’s arms angrily and hiss, “What if he wakes up?”

“He’s sedated to give his body some healing time so they can run tests and make sure he’s all right.”

“You know he has dreams; they can’t do this to him! I won’t let him feel trapped. I’m so glad I came…he needs me. They won’t know what to do; he has to be free.”

“Calm down… I promise when he wakes up I’ll take them off. You haven’t seen him when he rages, Sadie.”

“He’s been upset around me, and he’s not a fucking monster who deserves to be strapped down like some crazy person.”

“You don’t know what Twist gets like when he’s angry; he could kill these people if he gets mad enough. If I let that happen then we would never see him again. You
think
you know, but you haven’t seen him the way I have. We have our issues, but he’s my brother and I won’t let him do that to himself.”

The sobs come more pronounced and he pulls me into his chest.

“This is why I didn’t call. You gotta stay calm; you’re already supposed to be takin’ it easy an’ shit. Twist wouldn’t want you to be crying over him like this; he wants you to be rested and relaxed.”

“You shoulda’ called,” I drone, my voice getting lost in his gray T-shirt.

“Fuck, kid, I’m sorry, okay,” he murmurs and rubs my back. “You need to go on back to the compound and try to get some rest. I’ll bring my brother home once he’s straight and allowed to leave.”

“You have to take care of him for me,” I blubber and wipe my face with my hands, hiccupping through my sobs. “I can’t stand seeing Twist so helpless and hurt.” He looks nothing like the stubborn man I’m used to, lying here as if the hospital bed’s going to swallow him up. He towers over me, strong and resilient normally, but in here he looks so meek and fragile.

“I won’t leave his side…I promise,” Silas reassures me, even though it brings me no real comfort.

I nod and pull away, wiping more of my tears away with my palms and make my way next to Twist’s side. I wish I was able to stay here with him, but that’s not realistic. My brother’s right about me already being so upset, and I’m supposed to be lying around taking it easy.

I brush my wet fingertips over the side of Twists scruffy face and kiss his forehead, pausing to whisper, “I’ll be waiting for you…please be okay.” A few more teardrops fall before I’m led out and away from the man I’m falling for.

Fifteen minutes later…

Avery hauled ass back to the club, and thank God she did; we arrived just before all hell broke loose.