When Dove Cries (7 page)

“Do you think it’s safe to go home?” Allis asked. “We just finished putting the last coat of paint on the wall.”

“I think you’re safe,” Draven answered her. “I think this is about Dove.”

“Me?” she whispered. “But why?”

“You can identify people,” Cade replied.

“This is the Allis situation all over again,” Draven said.

“But Hiller is dead,” Allis pointed out.

“Hiller wasn’t calling the shots,” Givon told her. “We’ve always suspected someone was directing him.”

“When does she get discharged?” North asked, nodding to Dove.

“Possibly tomorrow or the next day,” Draven answered.

“Let us know,” North ordered. “We’ll give you guys an escort home, although you might want to consider moving into the club for a while. Better protection.”

“I have to go home and change,” Givon told North. “I can take Allis with me.”

“I want to stay,” Allis stated. “I’ll be careful.”

“All right,” Givon said. He looked around. “I guess I don’t have to tell you to watch over Dove.”

“You got that right,” Cade replied.

“My deputies and I will be here most of the day, sorting through things,” he added. “Call me if you need me. Okay?”

Everyone nodded. Givon kissed Allis, nodded to North then headed toward his truck.

Dove’s nurse came up to them. “We should be able to move you back into your room shortly,” she said. “As soon as we get the okay from administration.”

She offered an impersonal smile as she moved on to the next patient, saying the exact same thing. Even though the situation was tense, Dove couldn’t help feeling safe wrapped in Draven’s arms.

Chapter Eight

The morning was long and tedious. One of the Red Wolves, a man named Nimrod who had the word ‘prospect’ on his cut, had produced a chair for Dove to sit on. She was embarrassed that Draven had held her so long and had probably hurt his back. Not that he looked like he was hurting. The man had muscle upon muscle, so she figured he’d just gotten in some weightlifting for the day.

“What’s it like being with two men?”

Allis raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking me for sexual clarification, or are you curious how two men don’t get jealous?”

Heat filled her cheeks.

Allis didn’t look away, and neither did Dove.

“Both, I suppose.”

“We sleep in the same bed,” Allis replied, cocking her head as she stared at Dove. “I suppose it helps that Givon and North are best friends. It would be hard if they had tension between them, like Cade and Draven.”

Dove’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t mean… That is…”

Allis chuckled. “It’s okay,” she said. “It can be unnerving when two men are interested and you’re interested right back. You wonder how you can choose between them because each man gives you something that you want and need.”

“No, I, ah… That’s wrong, isn’t it?” Dove asked softly, swallowing. She glanced at Cade and Draven, who stood shoulder to shoulder watching the fire department. “I like them both.”

Allis patted her hand. “I understand. I really do.”

Dove sighed. It felt good to talk to someone who understood, who got it.

“But it’s not easy,” Allis continued. “There will be people who’ll whisper behind your back, and there’ll be people who’ll call you a slut. And you can’t marry both men, so you have to figure out if you’ll just live with them or if you’ll marry one publicly, which I can’t do because to me, that’s picking one over the other. We’ve actually decided to get married on the reservation. Polygamy was practiced in Native American history.”

Draven had peeked over at her, and Cade, who seemed to have sensed that Draven had turned, did the same thing. She stared at both men, and excitement shot through her whole body. Now that her body was healing, her emotions were waking up. Her heart fluttered suddenly with excitement, and a heaviness settled into her limbs that made her think of beds and silky sheets. Surprising, since she’d never had any fantasies of any man, and that included all the handsome, hunky men in her father’s unit. She’d been their little sister, and she’d taken care of them, or at least taken care of the house they’d lived in.

Even though the nurse had said Dove would be going back to her room shortly, it was over two hours before the fire department and administration allowed people back into the hospital. Dove didn’t think Cade relaxed once. He stood guard over her like a Secret Service man protecting the president. It melted her heart.

Now, as they settled back into her hospital room and her nurse reattached her fluids, she began looking at Cade and Draven in a whole different light. Draven had been her angel, and Cade had been her protector. In the five days they’d been plastered to her side, they’d begun to morph in her head. Now she saw how handsome they were, how each man held a unique appeal.

John Draven was tall, muscular, with electric blue eyes and sandy blond hair. Cade was a little older, some gray peppering his dark hair. She loved the dimple in his left cheek that constantly appeared whenever he talked. And his dark eyes were full of warmth. But their physical attractiveness was only part of it. The other half was a fluttery sensation inside her, as if something exciting was just about to happen.

Still, she couldn’t rule out that she was just attracted to them because they’d saved her. She didn’t know the technical name for it, but she was sure some shrink would love to dissect her every thought and all her emotions. She probably had daddy issues as well. After all, what other twenty-one-year-old woman would choose to live at home and take care of grown men instead of venturing forth into a life of her own? Yet it wasn’t as if her father had never given her options. He’d sent her off to college, but after two semesters, she’d known it wasn’t what she wanted. Academia just wasn’t her cup of tea. She had moved back home and picked up the slack of taking care of a household full of men, and she’d liked it. That was where she’d wanted to be. When they’d died, well, she’d lost everything, including a sense of purpose.

Was she now going to live with the bikers? Was this trading one group of men for another? And would Draven and Cade even want her with them?

The nurse finished taking her vitals and gave her a tight smile. “You’re being discharged in the morning,” she said.

“Not fucking fast enough,” Draven muttered.

“John,” Cade warned in a low tone.

Draven gave him the finger then resumed his place in his chair by her bed once the nurse had fled.

* * * *

That evening, Cade left to get them burgers and fries for dinner. The cafeteria had been shut down for so long that they couldn’t recover quickly enough, but Dove didn’t mind. It had been so long since she’d had a burger that the smell made her mouth salivate with pleasure. Her dinners had mainly consisted of bland, soft food that the doctor had thought would best suit her stomach. By nine o’clock that night, Dove began yawning, and she begged both men to sit by her so they could talk.

“I want a bedtime story,” she murmured sleepily. “What made you become bikers?”

At first, neither of them seemed to want to go first, and she looked back and forth as if she was watching a tennis match. But then Draven sighed and crossed his arms.

“I didn’t know what to do with myself after I got out of the military,” he admitted. “I was drinking a lot, toking up. I tried my hand at odd jobs but couldn’t make anything stick. Then one night I met up with North, who’d gotten patched into the Red Wolves a couple of years before. I’d gone to school with him, but he was a few years older, and he talked about how freeing being part of the club was. It was a brotherhood, and I really missed that. I suppose I really wanted that sense of belonging again.”

“I know that feeling,” she said. “I used to take care of my father and his men. What branch of the military were you in?”

“Navy,” he said. “But don’t get the idea I was a great sailor. I passed basic A-okay, but on my first assignment, I got so seasick they stuck me into doing KP duty. I basically peeled potatoes and opened vegetable cans my entire eight years with them.”

“You were vomiting, and they stuck you with the food?” Cade asked, incredulous.

Draven shrugged. “They thought it would cure me.”

Cade chuckled.

“What about you, Cade?” Dove asked. By this point, her eyes were mere slits.

He sighed. “Nothing so noble as John, I’m afraid. I patched into a club that I didn’t fully understand, and after some time, I began disagreeing with certain policies, so I decided to go nomad. I’ve traveled around and happened to run into John in Vegas for the charity run and asked if I could come to Wyoming.”

“I’m glad,” she murmured, so softly even she wasn’t sure if she’d said anything. “I’m so glad you’re with me.”

“So are we, Dove,” Cade told her. “Now, close your eyes, baby. Get some rest.”

She drifted into sleep and dreamed of both men loving her body.

Chapter Nine

The new doctor came in to check her one last time the next morning and declared she could go home. The bandages on her wrists would still have to be changed because she had to keep the area moist with antibiotic ointment, but that was something minor. So the nurse took over pulling her IV line out of her arm, calling in her medications to the pharmacy downstairs and getting her discharge papers together. Dove knew that meant someone in billing would be coming to talk to her.

Allis and North showed up, along with Nimrod and another Red Wolves brother named Branch. Allis carried a bag of clothes she had picked up from Wal-Mart. Dove couldn’t help the quick tears that gathered in her eyes at the kind gesture. She’d never really had a girlfriend before, and Dove couldn’t help hugging Allis.

She took a shower with the nurse’s help since she couldn’t get her bandages wet and used the products in her little gift basket before donning the new clothes. They were just sweats, a T-shirt and cheap sneakers, but they felt so nice that Dove couldn’t imagine winning the lottery could feel any better. When she stepped out of the bathroom, Cade gave a whistle of appreciation while Draven just smiled, his white teeth flashing.

“I’m glad it all fits,” Allis said, clapping her hands happily.

A knock sounded at the door, and a woman dressed in a dark suit and sensible, low heels poked her head inside.

“Hello,” she greeted. “I’m with billing. I was wondering if I could talk to Ms. Aldrin?”

Dove bit her lip. “I’m Dove Aldrin.”

“I was wondering if you have an insurance card or if you can provide an address—”

“Bill the Red Wolves,” North said.

Dove gasped and turned toward him. “But—”

“Do you have insurance?” Draven asked her.

“No,” she replied. “But you can’t possibly pay my bill here.”

“I told you I’d take care of you,” he said.

“We,” Cade added. He looked at North. “I can help as well.”

North nodded. “Done. Now that that’s settled, let’s get the discharge papers and take you home. I bet you’re all looking forward to not sleeping in chairs.”

The billing woman frowned, looking around as if confused, but Nimrod opened the door and practically shooed her out. Without a doubt, Dove owed the Red Wolves so much her head was spinning. She looked around at the people in her room, and a rush of emotions shot through her. It had been a long time since she’d been part of something meaningful. The brotherhood Draven spoke of appealed to her. She missed being with people who cared.

Hospital rules stated that she had to leave in a wheelchair, so about an hour later, she was being wheeled down, unable to stop grinning. It felt so good to be leaving, to be moving on from this painful chapter in her past, although she wasn’t naïve enough to believe she could just ignore what had happened. She still hadn’t given her deposition to the sheriff.

The nurse waved goodbye as Cade pushed Dove down the hallway to the elevator. North, Allis, Branch and Nimrod followed. Draven had left a few minutes before to bring the truck around. Branch and Nimrod would be driving Cade and Draven’s bikes back to the clubhouse.

The elevator doors opened, and Dr. Blake stood there waiting. He stepped out and nodded to Dove. She hadn’t seen him since she’d requested a new physician to take over her healthcare.

“I knew you were leaving, so I wanted to stop by and wish you well,” he said quietly. In his hand, he clutched a paper bag. He held it out to her. “Inside is some extra gauze and ointment for your wrists.”

“Thank you,” Dove replied, taking the bag. Then she reached up and covered Cade’s hand, which rested on the wheelchair’s handlebars, with her own. She saw Dr. Blake glance at the obvious sign of unity.

“Listen, I’m sorry about the things I said. If you need anything, please let me know.” He held out a card. “My cell number is on the back.”

“Okay,” she murmured. She still felt a little resentment at his negative comments, but she took his card and slipped it into her bag.

He stepped aside, and Cade pushed her into the elevator. The rest of them crowded in around her, and it was a comforting feeling. She was really blessed that it was Cade and Draven who had found and rescued her.

The hospital was pretty empty as Cade pushed her toward the sliding doors. They swished open, and she saw Draven jump out of the truck to open the passenger side. The front wheel of the chair hit a break in the concrete, and it jolted a little, causing her to lose her hold of her bag full of goodies. It flopped to the ground and spilled.

“Darn,” she muttered.

“Got it,” Nimrod said, who had been walking beside her. As he bent in front of her to help gather her items, a shot rang out, and Nimrod fell into her lap. For a split second, her mind couldn’t comprehend what had happened, and she simply stared at the young man draped across her. But the others understood.

“Get them back!” North shouted and pulled out a slick black gun from somewhere. He grabbed Allis’ arm and yanked her behind him as he stepped in front of Dove and Nimrod. Branch grabbed Nimrod and dragged him back into the hospital before helping North. They used their bodies as shields as Cade backpedaled to safety.