Irish (Devil's Boneyard MC 4)

by Wylde, Harley

  The nurse gave me a soft smile.

  “I wish I could take it back,” I said. “If she doesn’t wake up, I’ll never forgive myself.”

  “The nurse at the information desk says you claim to be her fiancée. She wasn’t wearing a ring when they brought her in,” the nurse said, an eyebrow arched like she didn’t believe me for a moment.

  “I haven’t gotten her one yet. The proposal was spur of the moment. She deserves the perfect ring.”

  The lies were coming easier, but I’d do anything to remain with Janessa.

  The nurse still didn’t look completely convinced, but she let the matter drop. She looked at the monitors again, checked whatever liquids were going into Janessa’s IV, and then she left the room. I didn’t know how long I’d have before Tex showed up and kicked my ass. I’d deserve whatever he did to me, and I’d take it. I just hoped I had some time with Janessa before he got here, maybe even see her open her eyes at least once.

  The minutes ticked by, but my girl didn’t even move, other than the slow rise and fall of her chest. At one point, I started to fall asleep, until blue lights started flashing and an alarm went crazy. I looked at the monitors and couldn’t hold back my cry as I saw the screen showing her heartbeat was a straight line.

  Nurses and doctors rushed in, pushing me out of the way. One of those carts you see in the movies was rolled in, and I was shoved into the hall, where I slid down the wall and didn’t even bother to hold back my tears. I sobbed like a damn baby as they worked on the woman I’d only ever admitted to myself that I loved. The blue light went off and the alarms stopped. Two nurses came out of the room and one stopped in front of me.

  “You can see her again,” she said.

  “Is she…” I couldn’t even bring myself to say the word dead.

  “We were able to bring her back. She’s stable for the moment,” the nurse said.

  I stood and wiped the moisture off my cheeks, then went back into Janessa’s room. I reclaimed the chair I’d sat in before, and took her hand again. I talked to her until my voice was hoarse and I didn’t know what the hell else to say. Light was coming in through her window, and still no one had shown up. I didn’t know what to make of that. It made me wonder if maybe Tex didn’t know just yet. Whatever the reason her parents hadn’t arrived, I was going to enjoy what time I had with Janessa, and for the first time since I was a kid, I was going to pray really damn hard. I’d pray that she’d wake up, that she’d open her eyes and be okay. Even if she slapped my face when she opened her eyes, I wouldn’t care. I just wanted her back, wanted to know she would live. Nothing else mattered.

  I talked to Janessa about anything and everything. Well, not quite everything. I left out the women and club business. Even when my throat was sore, I just sipped some coffee and kept talking. Hours passed. At one point, I would have sworn her fingers twitched, but nothing else happened. I waited, hoping she would wake up. I convinced myself I’d imagined it and started talking about my favorite movies and why I liked each one. When I felt her fingers twitch again, I knew it had to be real. I pushed the call button and waited for a nurse.

  “Everything all right in here?” a blonde nurse asked as she entered the room.

  “Her fingers moved. I thought they had earlier and then figured I was just imagining it, but they just moved again.”

  She gave me a warm smile and moved closer to check on Janessa. She checked the solutions hanging on the pole, then watched the monitors a moment. Did she think I’d made it up? I knew her fingers had moved! Janessa had to be waking up, didn’t she? I refused to believe that she’d never open her eyes again.

  “You let me know when you’re ready to let other people in here,” the nurse said.

  Wait. What? “Other people?” I asked.

  She nodded. “There’s a room full of them. We only allow one or two people in at a time, and since you’re her fiancé and were here first, we’ve let you have as much time with her as you want.”

  “Her parents… are they here?” I asked, almost dreading the answer.

  “Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez are among those waiting. There are some men out there with the same emblem on their vests as you, and the others match your fiancée’s father. They’ve been patient, but I’m not sure how much longer I can hold them off.”

  Shit. If I had known they were out there, I’d have let them come see Janessa before now. I didn’t have a clue about the rules at the hospital, much less in ICU. I hoped Tex wasn’t ready to kick my ass.

  “I’ll step out and let someone else come visit with her,” I said.

  As I made a move to stand, the fingers in my hand twitched and then tightened as they held onto me. My breath stalled in my lungs as I stared at our joined hands, then lifted my gaze to Janessa’s face. Her lids fluttered, but she seemed to have trouble opening them all the way.

  “Janessa?” I held her hand a little tighter. “Come back to me, sweetheart. Open your eyes.”

  It felt like it took forever, but eventually her eyes opened and locked with mine. My heart felt like it would pound out of my chest as I stared down at her. She lifted her other hand and touched the ventilator that was over her mouth.

  “Don’t, baby. It’s been helping you breathe,” I said, moving her hand away from the apparatus.

  “I’ll get someone to come in and remove it,” the nurse said. “Her doctor will probably stop in shortly. Now that she’s awake, there will be some questions we need answered.”

  “Janessa, there are other people who want to see you. Your parents are here,” I said.

  She shook her head and held onto my hand, refusing to let go. More medical staff came in and they managed to remove the tube from her throat. She coughed and gasped, even gagged. Someone gave her some ice chips to soothe the ache.

  “Seamus,” she said, her voice croaking.

  “I’m right here,” I assured her.

  “Don’t leave,” she said.

  I wouldn’t, not if she didn’t want me to. I’d sit here and hold her hand all day and all night. If only two people were permitted in the room at a time, they’d just have to deal with me remaining in this chair. Whatever Janessa wanted I’d give to her.

  “Well, there’s our miracle,” a doctor said as he came in and approached the bed. “We lost you for a moment there. Guess this guy gave you a good reason to come back.”

  Janessa smiled at me, then winced as her lip cracked and started bleeding. I didn’t know who had hurt her like this, but if I ever found them, I’d make them pay. How anyone could beat the hell out of someone so sweet was unfathomable. I gave her hand another squeeze, then moved out of the way so the doctor could check her over.

  “We’re going to leave the monitors in place for now, but we’ll lower the dosage on the pain medication you’ve been receiving,” the doctor said. “We don’t want you to become addicted, but if you can’t handle the pain, let us know and we’ll adjust it. The other bag has nutrients that you’re going to need if you’re going to properly heal.”

  “She has family in the waiting room,” I said. “She doesn’t want me to leave, but I was told there’s a two-person limit for visitors in the ICU. Is there any way you’d let both her parents come in at the same time?”

  “Of course,” the doctor said. “I’ll make sure the nurses’ station is aware of the allowance. There’s two small boys out there, though, and I’m sorry but I can’t permit them in here. Ages fourteen and up only in the ICU. It’s a hospital rule that I can’t break.”

  “Noah and Clayton,” Janessa said in her croaky voice.

  “Maybe you can make a video on your mom’s phone. You can say hi to your brothers and they’ll see that you’re all right.” I winced. “Or maybe it would be better if you just talked to them. The bruising on your face might frighten them.”

  She reached up to touch her cheek, but I pulled her hand away.

  “How bad do I look?” she asked, a tear slipping down her cheek.

  “Y
ou’re beautiful,” I assured her.

  The medical staff left us alone and I sat in the chair by the bed again. I knew I needed to talk to her, to apologize and find out what the hell had happened on that road. Why had she been heading south and not back home to Alabama? They’d said the doctor needed information, yet he hadn’t asked any questions. I wondered why, until a Florida Highway Patrol officer stepped into the room, the doctor right on his heels.

  “Miss Rodriguez, I’d like to ask you a few questions,” the officer said. “My name is Sanchez. I’m a Florida State Trooper, and I’m the one who found you.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “Can you tell us why you were on that road by yourself?” he asked.

  Janessa looked at me and I gave her a tight smile.

  “It’s my fault,” I said. “I tried to do the right thing, and it backfired in a big way. I know I’m not good enough for Janessa, and I never will be. I thought she’d be better off back home, so I did something to chase her off.”

  “And what’s that?” Sanchez asked.

  “I kissed another woman,” I admitted, feeling like shit just thinking about the look on Janessa’s face yesterday.

  Sanchez snorted and muttered something that sounded like “dumbass” before pulling out his pad and pen. I wasn’t going to argue with him, not when he was right. I really had been a dumbass, and my stupid move had pushed Janessa to take off on her own, where she’d been ambushed in the dark. If I had just grown some balls and talked to her, then maybe she wouldn’t be lying in the ICU right now.

  “Miss Rodriguez, do you remember why you ran off the road?” the trooper asked.

  “Gator,” she said, her voice still raspy. “Saw a gator in the road. Then it was gone.”

  Sanchez made a note, but there was something in his eyes. He knew something about that gator, and I wanted to know what it was. Had there been a real gator on the road, or a decoy that someone had used to cause Janessa’s accident? And why had they done it? If there had been other instances like what happened to Janessa, I wasn’t aware of it, which meant it hadn’t been leaked to the news channels yet.

  “And after that?” he asked.

  “Three men. They beat me until I passed out. I woke with my clothes torn, and…” Another tear slipped down her cheek.

  “You weren’t sexually assaulted,” I told her, knowing exactly what she’d been worried about. At least there was one bit of good news I could give her. “The doctors checked.”

  She took a shaky breath and nodded. The tension in her shoulders eased a bit, and I hated that she’d been scared she’d been violated. They may have kicked the shit out of her and pissed on her, but they hadn’t raped her. For that, I would always be grateful. Wouldn’t stop me from putting the fuckers six feet under if I ever found them.

  “Can you describe the men?” Sanchez asked.

  “No. But… they were bikers. I think. They had leather cuts but I couldn’t see a club name, or their road names. Just a skull on fire,” she said, her voice gaining strength the more she spoke.

  My back went ramrod straight at the description of the cuts and I looked at Sanchez. Yeah, he knew what that meant too. It seemed the local clubs weren’t the only ones on alert about those assholes. But if law enforcement was watching for them too, that meant the rest of us needed to be careful how we handled the situation. I gave Janessa some more ice chips while the officer scribbled some notes.

  “Your truck was off the road. You were found next to it, but there was blood on the roadway. Did they attack you, then drag you into the grass?” Sanchez asked.

  “No. They came at me on the street, started hitting me and kicking me, tore my clothes and cut me. I blacked out at some point and woke up long enough to see them walking away. I don’t know how long I was unconscious. When I came to, I started dragging myself to the truck, but one of them came back. He hit me in the head and a little bit later I heard some motorcycles start, from the rumble I’d say at least one was a Harley. I managed to drag myself the rest of the way to my truck and got my phone. I dialed 9-1-1 and that’s the last thing I remember,” Janessa said.

  “Thank you for your time, Miss Rodriguez,” Sanchez said. “I’ll be in touch if we get any leads on the men who attacked you. Until then, please stay in the area in case we have more questions. Your truck was taken to the impound lot, but you can pick it up whenever you leave the hospital. There was some damage, but it should be drivable.”

  After he walked out, I tried to soothe Janessa the best I could, and I knew I needed to talk to her about what happened at the clubhouse. Preferably before her parents came in, and before a nurse said something about us being engaged. The last thing I needed was her losing her shit in the ICU and getting me kicked out, and her possibly flatlining again. It was the last part that had me the most worried. I’d already lost her once, even if only for a brief moment, but it would haunt me forever.

  “Can I talk to you about something before any other visitors come in?” I asked.

  “Guess it depends on what you want to say,” she said.

  “About last night, at the clubhouse. It was an asshole thing to do, and I’m sorry. You have no idea how fucking sorry I am. I thought I was doing the right thing,” I said.

  She blinked at me, then just stared. It was when her cheeks started to flush that I got a clue she was about to erupt. Maybe I should have held off on the conversation after all. I’d thought apologizing might help, but apparently it was the wrong damn thing to do.

  “Kissing some whore was the right thing to do?” she demanded. “If you didn’t want to see me, you could have told me to fuck off, Seamus. And yes, I used your fucking name. You might have earned the name Irish with your club, but you haven’t earned shit with me.”

  I shifted on the chair, suddenly uncomfortable that I was getting hard while she was in a hospital bed and slinging curses at my head. Despite everything, seeing that fire inside her did something to me. I liked this version much better than the meek woman who had run off after I’d kissed the blonde, even if I was worried she might get too stressed. If she flatlined again, I didn’t think I could handle it. I wished she’d called me on my shit at the clubhouse. I likely would have hauled her off to the nearest empty room and kissed the hell out of her, and she definitely wouldn’t have been on that fucking road. Not that what happened to her was her fault, not in the least. If that blame lay anywhere, it was at my feet.

  “Your dad will never let us be together, Nessa. You know it and I damn well know it.”

  “My dad doesn’t get a say in my life, Seamus. I’m a grown woman and I can date whoever I want to. If I want to fuck every guy in your club, then that’s my choice.”

  I stood so fast the chair went flying. “Like fucking hell! Did someone come on to you while you were there last night?”

  She squared her jaw and didn’t answer, which told me plenty. I didn’t know who had talked to her, but I’d find out, then I’d put my fist through their damn face. Brother or not, every last fucker in my club had better stay away from Janessa. Just because I couldn’t have her -- shouldn’t have her -- didn’t mean she wasn’t mine. Whether I’d wanted to admit it or not, she’d been mine from the day I’d met her.

  A nurse came into the room, her lips thinned and her eyes flashing. “If you’re going to upset the patient, and the rest of the ICU, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. We let you stay since you’re her fiancé, but no more special treatment. Quiet down or leave.”

  She left as quickly as she’d arrived and I turned to find Janessa gaping at me.

  “You’re my what?” she asked.

  I reached over and shut the sliding door, hoping to give us a little privacy for whatever Janessa was about to say. The last thing I needed was for the hospital to find out I’d lied this entire time. If Janessa threw me out, it was one thing, but I wasn’t about to go just because a nurse was in a snit. The rule about only family seeing her was bullshit. No way I would have
left her in this place all alone, not with her family two hours away.

  “Fiancé,” I said.

  “They must have beat me worse than I thought. I seem to have forgotten your proposal, unless it was your tongue down the blonde’s throat. In which case, I don’t accept.”

  I tipped my head back and stared at the ceiling. I should have known she wouldn’t make this easy on me. Not that I deserved any leniency from her. If I’d just admitted how I felt, that I’d loved her all these years even though that was completely insane, then she wouldn’t have been hurt. I’d known all this time that screwing around was the wrong thing to do. I knew that plenty of my brothers did the same thing, but I’d taken it to a new level, and I wasn’t the least bit proud of myself right now. My past was going to hurt Janessa. Probably made me the biggest asshole in the state, possibly the region. No. There was no contest. I was definitely the biggest asshole in the region.

  “What do you want to hear? That I puked like a pussy when I heard you’d been hurt and were in the hospital? That I blame myself for what happened? Or do you want to know that I’ve thought about you every fucking day for five years, even when it made me a sick fuck because you were just a kid?” I asked. “And no, I didn’t think about fucking you back then, but you stayed on my mind just the same. Couldn’t escape you no matter how hard I tried. So, yeah, I’ve screwed around with the club sluts. They’ve just been a quick release and a distraction. I wanted to go after you when you turned eighteen, but I didn’t. I knew Tex would kick my ass if I showed up on his doorstep.”

  Janessa was quiet as she looked up at me. I didn’t see anger etched on her features like I’d expected. Instead, there was a cautious kind of hope. I didn’t know which part of my speech had done that, but at least she wasn’t screaming at me anymore. I wasn’t entirely sure that hope was a good thing, though. I still had to deal with her dad, and he was going to be pissed, especially since he’d been cooling his heels in the waiting room while I was back here with his daughter.