Hush - Fighting Fate #2 (18 page)

I knew it must’ve been bad when she didn’t
argue with me, and I was suddenly scared. What if she had internal bleeding or something?

I looked up and was met with the officer’s bland stare. “You stumbled?” he said sardonically. “Really? That’s your story?”

With my mouth suddenly dry, I nodded.

“Okay, what about the reports of a raised voice? A raised
male
voice?”

I stared at him without blinking. I knew he’d be able to see the sadness in my eyes. “It must’ve been the TV.”

His jaw clenched again then he nodded. Before he could say anything else, the ambulance pulled up at the curb.

The officers and I stood back as they rushed in and took control of Mom’s
injuries. I watched them carefully fit a neck brace and lift her onto the stretcher.

“You know
, if anyone was hurting you or your mother there is a way out,” the officer said quietly beside me.

I didn’t look at him. I just kept watching my mom, then infinitesimally, I nodded.
I heard him sigh a little before I followed the stretcher out the door.

Chapter 34

Noah

Groceries done. Want me 2
cruz the strip?

Checking the text I tapped out to TJ, I hit send and started the car.
TJ’s code for dealing was doing the groceries. It wasn’t really original, but what the fuck did I care?

My cell
pinged a few seconds later.
Yep. Check X.

I groaned. I really wasn’t in the mood to go to The Cross, but if I got it over with quickly, I could go check in with Kate. I needed to know if they were onto anything with these counterfeit pills.

TJ had managed to nab one guy he’d found selling the fakes with Mr. X’s mark on it earlier that day, but after a pretty gruesome interrogation, all he’d gotten out of him was that the maker called himself The Shadow. That’s it. No location. No way of contacting him. Nothing.

Parking the car just down the block from the seedy club, I strode to the
door and paid the cover charge to get in. Finding a dark corner, I stood back and took in tonight’s trouble. The usual idiots were there, hollering and grabbing the girls as they paraded past, as were a few newcomers.

Movement in the far corner caught my eye
, and when my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I found Kaeli’s loser step brother with another guy.

It was plain to see they were doing some shady dealings. Ken was going to have t
o pull him into line. And soon.

Sticking to the shadows, I walked around the perimeter of the room, my eyes trained on Aaron and the buyer.

Just as I reached the corner, the buyer slipped away. Aaron tucked some folds into his pocket and went to step out, but I took the opportunity to intercept him.

He looked momentarily startled for a second before he jacked up to his full height – which was still
a number of inches shorter than mine, and puffed out his chest. He was a solid dude, but it wasn’t trained muscle like mine. He had muscles, but I seriously doubt he knew what to do with them.

“Back off
, dude!” he spat.

I narrowed my eyes at him, leaning forward slightly so he knew I wasn’t intimidated. “Aaron,” I said in that scary calm way TJ liked to use. Aaron’s eyes widened. I could see the wheels turning as he tried to place how I knew him. “
I don’t think TJ’s going to be happy when I tell him Ken’s dealer is becoming sloppy.”

Fear flashed through his eyes before they turned dark and bitter. “What the fuck do I care?”

I cocked my head as I studied him. There was something skittish about him. He was nervous about something. Nervous was never good. Bad things happened to people when they were nervous.

“I’m sure you’ll care when TJ puts a knife in you.”

He narrowed his eyes and his top lip curled up with distaste. “You’re one of TJ’s guys?”

I gave him a cold stare. “What do you think?”

Uncertainty crossed his face before he closed it off again. Fuck, this guy was all over the place with his emotions. To me, that indicated some major trouble.

“I think I don’t really give a fuck. I was just curious as to what
losers he had working with him. You all fuck each other?”

Oh man. It was a good fucking thing it was me and not one of the other guys. This dick would’ve been out for the count with a knife in his side before he even finished that sentence.

“You heard about these fake pills with Mr. X’s mark going around?” I asked point blank.

Aaron blinked. The shoc
k on his face was out of place, then panic took stage front and center. “What pills?” he stammered.

“You know, little light blue ones with a dark blue cross like ours. But completely full of shit.”

He shifted on his feet uncomfortably.

“You see,” I continued. “To say Mr. X is livid, is an understatement. And to say TJ is furious is even more so. They’re both scouring the
streets to find the culprit, and when they do…” I sighed. “It’s not going to end well.”

Aaron swallowed, but he seemed to spark back into life. “It’s nothing to do with me. I just sell what the old man gives me, and he’s too fucking stupid to re-press pills, so I know it’s not him.” He gave me another disdainful look. “Now, if you
wanna get the fuck out of my way, I have stock I have to shift before the night’s through.”

He pushed past me and I took the opportunity to lift him, my
sticky fingers fast and efficient. I waited for him to work his way through the crowd before stepping back into the shadows to check out the packet I’d lifted from him. Holding it up to the sliver of light, I took in the little blue pills.

I think I knew before I
even looked what I’d find, but when I took in the imperfections and confirmed they were indeed counterfeits, I exhaled heavily. Fucking motherfucking shit.

Then my brain finally processed something. Aaron had said re-pressed pills. Why the hell would he think they were re-pressed?

It all hit me at once.

Holy fuck. The fakes weren’t just reproductions to look like Mr. X’s, they actually were Mr. X’s, ground down and mixed with crap before being re-pressed.

And Aaron knew. Fuck.

It
had to be Ken. With all the extra purchases he’d made lately, it all added up.

Ken was The Shadow.

Kaeli was in more trouble than I thought.

Chapter 35

Kaeli

The beeping of the machine Mom was hooked up to grated on my nerves.
My eyes stung from tiredness, and my cheek and head ached like a bitch.

The doctor at the hospital had given me something to take for the pain, and the nurse had given me an ice pack to help the swelling go down, but it was
the emotional ache that was killing me.

Seeing
Mom laying there so broken was like the worst pain I’d ever known. She had three broken ribs, a broken wrist, a cut on her temple that had required ten stitches to close up, and bruising that almost covered her entire torso.

The doctor had made a point of telling me about all the old injuries he’d been able to see on Mom’s x-rays, practically begging me to confess everything, but I couldn’t do it
. It was a decision Mom had to make. She needed to take the step herself.

Pushing myself to my feet, I sighed
and walked over to the window, self-consciously brushing my fingers over the high part of my cheekbone that still throbbed.

I’d assessed it
in the small mirror over the hand basin first thing that morning, groaning at the dark bruise that had formed overnight. It looked awful, and there was going to be no way to hide it.

A loud voice
drifted in through the open door and I froze.

“Where’s my wife?! I need to see her.”

Ken? I couldn’t believe the audacity of that freaking man! How dare he come in here and pretend he was concerned!

The nurse’s voice was low, so I couldn’t quite hear what she said, but Ken’s panicked response was very clear.

“Melanie Lehmann. I’m her husband. I just got back from a business trip. Is she okay? Can I see her?”

I gaped at the open doorway. If I didn’t know any better, I’d seriously think he was beside himself with worry. The nurse spoke quietly again.

“Kaeli’s here? Oh, thank god. I was worried Mel was all alone.”

I was still blinking stupidly when the nurse poked her head in. “
Hi, sweetie.”

I gazed at her in a daze.

“Your father just arrived…”

That snapped me out of it. “
Step
father,” I said, not quite hiding my disdain.

She frowned at me, but didn’t comment on my response. Clearing her throat, she forced a smile. “He’d like to see your mother. Do you think you could give him some time with her?”

Ah, that was right. Only one visitor at a time…

I had to stop myself from shooting daggers out my eyes at her, reminding myself she didn’t know any different.
“I’m not ready to leave just yet,” I said instead.

She blinked at me. I think she was a little shocked at my response. “He’s quite distraught. I think he just needs to see she’s okay.”

I blanched at her words. “Are you joking? Look at her. Does she
look
okay to you?”

Her gaze jumped over to M
om’s prone body then back to me. “Of course not,” she said quietly. “I’ll let him know you need some more time with her.”

After she left I tried to get myself to relax. My whole body had tightened up like I was going to explode. Moving back over to the armchair, I sank dow
n and went back to watching Mom breathe.

An hour later the nurse came back in. She gave me a look that told me she was disappointed in me, but I didn’t care. She shouldn’t be so quick to judge. Pinning her with my gaze, I spoke in a low tone. “Where’s my stepfather?”

She pursed her lips. “He decided to go home to freshen up. He’s been driving all night to get back here after he heard about the accident.”

I shook my head at her stupidity. “Is that what he told you?” I rolled my eyes to show her how stupid she was to believe him.

She looked confused for a minute, but then she molded her expression into a more professional one. “He said he might come back later tonight.”

I was about to retort with another snide comment, but
Mom’s doctor saved me by striding into the room.

I don’t know why I was suddenly so willing to reveal how much of a douche Ken was. I knew it went against the story both Mom and I had told about how we’d both been hurt, but hearing him sound so concerned about her when I knew just how much of an act it was, pissed me off. That whole Mr. Nice
-guy thing was the reason Mom ended up married to him in the first place. It’d all been an act. She’d fallen in love with an imaginary person. That guy didn’t exist.

Dr. Miller
gave me a sympathetic smile.
He
knew the truth. It was written all over his face.

“You’re still here,” he said with mock surprise. “I’ve just ordered some scans for your mom. Just some follow ups to make sure nothing
’s changed over the last twelve hours.” He eyed me kindly. “It’ll probably take a few hours. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep? She’s going to need you at your best over the next few days, and you won’t be able to help her if you’re run down too.”

He made a convincing case. I really didn’t want to leave, but I knew
he was right. I nodded.

The smile
he gave me made me feel like I’d pleased him, and for some unknown reason, I liked that. “Good girl. Make sure the nurses have your number. I promise I’ll call if anything happens, okay?”

“Okay,” I said. I didn’t think I’d ever heard my voice so small.
Strangely, he made me feel like a small child again. It wasn’t a bad thing. It was more like in the way a parent made their child feel safe and loved. After having a douchebag father figure who beat Mom and sent me into a known drug den for so long, having someone like him care about me made me feel like crying.

Picking up my bag, I turned and left
Mom in the hands of the only man I seemed to trust in that moment.

As soon as I stepped
out into the sunshine I realized I had a problem. No car. Groaning, I squeezed my eyes shut. With a deep breath, I bit the bullet and dialed Mia.

“Hey,” she answered. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”

I sighed. Here goes…“I’m at the hospital. Can you come get me?”

“What?
! Are you okay? What happened?” I held my cell away from my ear at her raised, panicked voice.