Kellan (21 page)

I tilted his head back and checked his airway. I went on autopilot, my field training kicking in. I started chest compressions then breathed into his mouth. His chest rose and fell and I thanked Christ for that. But if this old bastard didn’t want
to come back, it wasn’t going to matter. I’d be damned if I was going to let him die right in front of his daughter.
 

“They’re on their way,” Justin called out. Good. Ned’s color was gray and his body was completely limp. I hoped he hadn’t broken his neck.
 

E.J. and Tate came beside me. “Can we help?”
 

Panting, I shook my head. “Go back to the bar and make sure all the girls get home all right.”
 

I knew none of this had anything to do with the club trouble, but I didn’t want to take the chance this night could turn from one disaster into bona fide fucking tragedy.
 

“Got it.” Tate and E.J. said something to Justin, then climbed on their bikes and tore off for the parking lot of the club.
 

God. They never get here. It seems like the choppers never get here. I took a breath. It was bad enough Mallory seemed to be lost to shock. I didn’t need to spin off to Trauma Land myself. This was my club, my town, and I had asphalt under me instead of sand. Whatever happened, I could deal.
 

Maybe five minutes went by, then we were surrounded by an ambulance, a fire truck, and a news van. I gave a look to E.J. though I wished Brax was here to deal with it. The last fucking thing we needed was to end up on the news. But the camera crew was already setting up. If E.J. couldn’t figure out damage control, they were going to get a nice shot of Ned Rhodes’s flaming truck with
The Wolf Den
sign in the background.
 

Fan-fucking-tastic.
 

Then a sound came from Mallory like a wounded animal. She’d made it to her feet and got to her dad just when the E.M.T.s did. I stepped back to let them do their job. I put a hand on Mallory’s shoulder and pulled her back as well.
 

“Daddy.” When she finally did make a sound, it tore at me. Ned Rhodes was a mess, a drunk, and half a bastard. But he was Mallory’s father and the man was in pain. I just hoped there would still be time to save him.
 

“You ride with them, okay?” I said, putting gentle but firm hands on her shoulders. She looked up, her eyes wide with shock, all color drained from her cheeks. “I’ll be right behind you with Justin. It’s going to be okay.”
 

I prayed that it would. The E.M.T.s had Ned bagged, a line started, and strapped to a backboard. They lifted him onto their stretcher and moved fast to the back of their rig. I took that as a good sign. You only need to haul ass when there’s still hope.
 

I held Mallory against me. She was small but fierce. That’s all she ever had to be. I wanted to keep her warm, protect her. For the moment, she was letting me. So, even in all the chaos, she had me spun around and filled with my own need.
 

Justin stepped forward. “Mal, they need to go. You ready?”
 

Sniffing, she looked up and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah.”
 

Justin shot me a look and wrapped his arms around Mallory, guiding her away from me and toward the rig. He helped her into the cab and strapped her in. The E.M.T.s hustled in around him and tore out of there with lights and sirens.
 

Mac had already driven up in the Jeep. Stepping out, he tossed me the keys. I stepped around to the driver’s side and got in. I rolled down the passenger side window and shouted to Justin. “You coming? Get in.”
 

He shut his eyes tight as he exhaled, but nodded. Slapping the hood of the car, he hopped in and we tore off after Mallory and the ambulance.
 

I ignored every speed limit and half the stop lights on the way. The ambulance got ahead of us, but I’d be damned if I’d let Mallory walk into that hospital without me by her side. She’d looked lost, broken. She’d probably convinced herself her old man wasn’t going to make it and then she’d really be on her own. She wouldn’t, and I’d prove it to her. For now though, it was just about getting through the next hour and the one after that.
 

For about a minute, Justin stayed quiet. But I could sense the same urgency in him as I had in me. He dug one fist into his thigh and breathed heavy into the other one where he rested it against his chin. Then he gave up on that and smashed his fist against the side of the door.
 

“Fucking Ned,” he said. “He can’t just trash his own life. He’s got to drag Mallory down with him.”
 

“He’s not dragging her anywhere. Not if I can help it.”
 

Justin barked out a bitter laugh. “You don’t know her as well as you think you do.”
 

“I know her well enough.”
 

Justin was tense, worried. He was Mallory’s family and the only member of it that seemed at least half-assed able to handle shit. She mattered to him. I reminded myself all of that in a split second. It’s why I didn’t bust his nose on the dashboard after the next words came out of his fucking mouth.
 

“Well, congratulations. You’ve tapped it. So why the hell don’t you just move on?”
 

“Careful. You don’t know
me
as well as you think you do.”
 

“I know
you
well enough. You wanna tell me that was love at first sight back at
The Sand Bar
parking lot? And every minute after that? Look, I get what you’re trying to do with the
Den
and all. And up until tonight, I thought maybe that place was going to really make a go of it. But Mallory’s getting hurt. She can’t afford it. I really can’t believe I want to get into this right now. But it seems pretty appropriate. Whatever happens in that hospital, Mallory’s shit is about to get pretty messy. She doesn’t need more of it from you.”
 

I was about to tell him to fuck off and mind his own business. Then, I don’t know. It was dark. No traffic. And as I did almost eighty through the main streets of Lincolnshire, I got a little clarity where Justin was concerned. Mallory was his business. And if shit were reversed, I’d have probably bashed my own face in at least once already.
 

“I said you don’t know me as well as you think you do. And yeah, I’ll be straight with you. In the beginning, you’re right, I was thinking with my dick where she was concerned. But that’s not all of it. Not anymore. She matters. A lot. I want her in my life. I can handle messy. Fuck. In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s kind of my specialty.”
 

Justin turned and looked at me. I kept my eyes straight ahead but saw enough of him in my periphery to know I’d shocked him.
 

“Then you’re probably the one who’s fucked.”
 

I couldn’t help it. The absurdity of the whole thing just kind of hit me. We were barreling through town after an ambulance carrying Mallory’s fucked-up father. The girl had been running hot and cold with me for weeks and every time I thought I got somewhere with her, she bolted. And yet, as I pressed my foot to the floor and the V6 engine growled, I knew the next thing out of my mouth was the truest thing I’d ever said.
 

“Probably. Coz, it seems like I’m in love with her.”
 

Justin caught up to my wavelength and laughed for real this time as we made the last turn toward the hospital.
 

“So you gonna just sit there and throw shade at me or are you gonna help a brother out?”
 

Justin shook his head. “Well, you’re timing’s stellar. I’ll give you that.”
 

I shrugged. “I’m getting that this kind of thing happens a lot in her life.”
 

Justin let out a sigh and all trace of humor left his voice. “Yeah. It really fucking does. My Uncle Ned’s been a train wreck his whole life. Until he met my Aunt Kate, Mallory’s mom.
My
mom said she helped him be a better man. They met when Aunt Kate was in college and he was twenty-some years older than her. She saved his life. Straightened his shit out. Then she died.”
 

“Mallory told me that much. She was just a kid when that happened. And she’s been trying to hold everything together since.”
 

“Pretty much. She’s been putting her own life on hold forever. She could do and be anything she wants. Jesus. She was going to go to college. What she can do on stage isn’t all of it. She scored off the charts on her S.A.Ts. She even took classes for a semester or two. But shit with Ned always gets in the way. You know, if you’re serious. If you think you’re in this for real. She’s not going to make it easy on you.”
 

I shook my head. “I got that part figured out already.”
 

“She’s just not used to guys sticking around. She’s more like her dad than she wants to admit. Neither of them knows how to ask for help.  And if you try to give it to her, she’s going to push back even harder. Both stubborn as shit.”
 

“Yeah. I noticed that too. You got any advice?”
 

I glanced at him, just for a second before fixing my eyes back on the road. Street signs whizzed by. The red neon emergency sign was just up ahead. Justin looked down and shook his head before looking back up at me.
 

“Just don’t quit on her. No matter how hard she pushes back. You’re going to want to throttle her half the time. I know I do. The reason Mallory doesn’t trust anyone to help her is because pretty much nobody ever does. She doesn’t have much in the way of male role models. She’s got me, but I was a kid just like her for
a lot of the worst of it. And her mom got pretty good at hiding how bad things were before she died. Mallory just kind of picked that up. What you saw tonight? That’s standard Uncle Ned. I don’t know. He just never got over whatever the fuck happened to him in Vietnam, you know?”
 

We pulled into the hospital emergency lot. I jammed the Jeep in park and gripped the steering wheel for a second before whipping the keys out. Ned’s ambulance was already sitting in the bay so Mallory had to be inside somewhere. Justin and I got out and stood side by side just before we walked in together.
 

“Yeah, I know a little something about that,” I said, reaching down to draw up the right leg of my jeans so he could see the titanium rod where my shin was supposed to be. “And I’m not one to quit on something just because it gets hard.”
 

Justin looked down and swallowed hard. He took a step back and gave me a tight-lipped nod. “Good. Coz I have a feeling this shit in there is going to get a whole hell of a lot worse before it gets better whether Ned lives or dies.”
 

So did I. But I meant what I said. I put a hand out and Justin took it. We shook hard and I realized how much it really mattered to me that he knew I was serious. How much
she
mattered to me. And it all just kind of crept up on me. As crazy as everything was, a peace settled over me that I hadn’t felt in a long damn time. God help me, I was about to smile because of it.
 

Then I heard Mallory cry out. It ripped through me like a bullet and heat settled in my belly. When she hurt, I hurt. And now I wanted to tear the world apart to get to her.
 

Chapter Twenty Two

Mallory
 

“Who makes decisions for him?”
 

A nurse came up to me, at least I think she was a nurse. It was hard to tell. She had a tablet in her hand and punched things in on the screen.
 

“Miss, does he have a living will?”
 

A living will. I couldn’t think.
 

“Yes,” I said. “And I’m his . . . I’m all he’s got left. I make decisions for him.”
 

She said other things but none of them sank in. She gave me the tablet and had me sign some kind of consent form. I didn’t care. Whatever they needed. Anything to bring the color back into my dad’s face. I tried to edge closer to the exam room they’d wheeled him to. The whole thing happened so fast. They’d pulled a pink curtain around him and I could only see the squeaky white shoes of everyone in there trying to help him.
 

Another siren pierced through my ears. No. Not a siren. A high pitched alarm from some machine they had hooked up to him.
 

“Get a crash cart!”
 

Then the curtain tore open and a nurse rushed out. I stepped forward. One of the doctors, at least I think he was, pumped my father’s chest but Dad’s color was all wrong. Gray. Ashen. His hand hung slack at his side. Wrong. All wrong. Then I saw the flat lines on the monitors they’d hooked him up to and I understood as the ground seemed to open up beneath me.
 

Something rose up inside me as I stood there unable to do a single thing to help him. I cried out his name and hoped he could hear me.
 

Strong arms came around my shoulders and I tore away from them with enough force I nearly fell to my knees. Whatever happened, they weren’t going to pull me away from Dad’s side. I had to be there. I had to bear witness.
 

“Mallory.” Kellan’s voice cut through the din in my head. One of the nurses snapped the curtain closed even tighter so there wasn’t even a gap I could peek through.
 

Kellan put his hands back on my shoulders and turned me around to face him. He was strong, solid. He stood with his back straight, his eyes dark but filled with concern. A part of me just wanted to let him fold me in his arms so I could bury my face against his shoulder and shut out everything happening around me.
 

But I couldn’t shut it out. Behind me, my father lay dying. I’d like to say he was fighting for his life but I wasn’t sure he was. He’d seemed so defeated this morning I wondered if everything he did after that was part of some alcohol-fueled plan to go out in a blaze of glory. Suicide by biker gang. Except he couldn’t get a clan of Great Wolves to kick his ass to death so he wrapped himself around a telephone pole instead. And then I got just as mad as I was scared. Kellan kept his arm around me and led me away from the awful pink curtains to the waiting area on the other side of the room.