by Faye Byrd
“Looks like it.”
“Makes fucking sense, I suppose,” I say, annoyed that some fucker felt loyal enough to the Wolves to help Jackson escape that burning building.
Mad Dog taps on my window, motioning to the path they’ve cleared. “Pull it through.”
I back away from the sensor and maneuver the van through the brush. They stay outside to cover our tracks until I get us inside and back on the driveway. As I follow the drive, Mikey fills them in on what we know about Jackson’s miraculous recovery, and it makes me even happier that I killed all those fucks in Redding.
“This driveway,” Mikey says, pointing to the right. “Pull up near that cabin.”
As we load out, Mikey jumps to the back, where he has an even better computer stashed. As he sets up all that technical mumbo jumbo, the rest of us lock and load. But just as we’re getting ready to start the trek two cabins over, a harsh voice echoes through a speaker somewhere.
“Enzo Stone,” it says with a maniacal laugh. “Put those weapons down and come alone, or these little traitors will fucking die.” I freeze, looking for the source of the sound. “Do it now!”
“He has eyes on you,” Mikey says, pointing to a tree. “I can probably jam it, but it’s going to take me a bit. I’m going to have to hack the system and replace the live feed with a loop.”
“So what?” I mumble. “Do as he says?”
“That’s your call,” Mad Dog says, stepping closer. “But we know he has those kids.” He looks to Mikey. “If he buys us some time, can you clear the way for the rest of us to sneak in?”
“Definitely.” He nods once. “But I’m not sure how long it’ll take.”
“It doesn’t fucking matter,” I say, shoving my handgun toward Mad Dog. “I can’t let those kids down. They need me.”
“We all need you,” Jameson counters.
I eye Mikey. “Get started, and I’ll do what I can.”
I make a show of removing all the weapons I’d just geared up with and do a spin with my arms up. “Good enough,” the voice says. “You know where to find me. And the rest of you, remember that I can see you. Don’t try anything or I’ll kill them all.”
“Prove to me the kids are okay,” I yell, staring straight into the camera. “Or I ain’t doing shit.”
“Please, Enzo,” Lois says, her voice small and broken.
“Run, Enzo!” Joshua yells, followed by a slap.
“Shut up, you fucking brat.” My nails bite into my palms. “Now do as you were told, Enzo.”
“I’ll stall as long as I can,” I whisper out the side of my mouth as I prepare to walk away. “If anything happens, tell R—”
“You’ll tell her yourself,” Mikey says, activating my earpiece. “I’ve got your back.”
I bob my head and leave my club behind. The walk to Jackson’s cabin is tense as fuck. Every twig that snaps beneath my feet makes me feel like someone is going to jump out and kill me before I get the chance to save those kids. When I finally spot the rundown wooden structure, it isn’t relief I feel. The windows are boarded up, and it looks as if no one is there, but I know different.
The steps creak as my boots settle on the wood planks one at a time. I pull open the cabin door and immediately put up my hands as I enter. There are lives at stake, important fucking lives, so I follow his every fucking command. The space is small and dingy, dust collected on every surface. There’s a flat screen hung on a wall, showing four different scenes, including the one where my men are stationed. The entire space is dim, with only a single lamp, but it highlights all my fucking fears.
Against the back wall, Jackson has both Joshua and Lois on their knees before him. If I didn’t know who this man was, he’d be unrecognizable. One eye looks like the skin has melted down his face, leaving nothing behind, but the other is wide-open and beady. His nose is barely existent, and his lips are two thin scars, but they open and words come without any fucking issue.
“Kick the door shut,” he says, his voice harsh and raspy as he points a gun at Joshua’s temple. “Or I’ll end him right now.” I do as I’m told and take another step into the room. “Show me your waistband and lift your jean legs.”
Again, I follow his commands. I can’t let this piece of shit kill these kids, even though I have no idea how I’m going to get us out of here. Mikey can hear everything I say, and I hope like hell he’ll get the camera system bypassed so my MC can storm this place before this sick fuck kills us all.
“Good.” He laughs, and it’s this disgusting, evil sound. It makes my stomach turn. “Now let’s discuss some shit before I kill you.”
“Let the kids go,” I say, my voice firm. “You have who you want. You don’t need them.”
“You mean Lois, who betrayed me and ran?” He pulls a knife from somewhere with the hand not holding a gun and drives it into her side, slinging her to the floor by her hair. Her scream fills the room, but I can’t take my eyes off this fucking monster. “And Joshua here, who only had to do what he was told and they could’ve both walked away.” His finger tightens on the trigger, and I take a step. He aims the gun toward me. “Don’t fucking move.”
Panic washes over me as I watch blood pool beneath Lois at the same time as his gun goes back to Joshua’s temple. “Let Joshua go,” I say, keeping my voice even. “He’s a kid. Asking him to murder someone was too much. Let him go, Jackson, and I’ll kneel before you and accept my bullet like a fucking man.”
He scratches his gnarled cheek with the barrel of the gun. “Why would I do that when I can just kill you all? Randi’s already dead.”
“What?” Those waves of panic turn into a full blown tsunami, and my knees nearly give out beneath me. He’s lying. He fucking has to be. “You’re a goddamn liar.”
“Really? She’s at the hospital, yeah?” he asks, not bothering to wait for a reply. “Two members of the MC parked in the lot? Went to lunch at about eleven forty-five.” He pulls a cell from his shirt pocket and cues up some text messages. I can’t read them from here, but blood thunders in my ears so loudly I can barely hear the rest of what he says. “It’s such a rinky dink room, that break room, buried down a lot of deserted halls.”
My eyes shift to Joshua. He’s begging me to fix this, to do something that won’t cost him his life, and I want to. So fucking bad, but I’m hanging on by a thread. He has too many details about Randi, and it’s a load too fucking heavy to bear. It makes me determined to kill this motherfucker, cost be damned. I have nothing to live for if she’s gone. I try to communicate to Joshua how fucking sorry I am, that I don’t want to end it like this, but it’s all I can do.
Jackson is still rambling about how he made sure she was beat and tortured, and I just can’t fucking take any more. I charge that motherfucker, and at the same time, Joshua delivers a skinny elbow to his ribcage. It doesn’t do much, but it gives him a chance to dive out of the way unscathed before I fly across and take Jackson and me both down.
The gun goes off, and my shoulder burns, but not as brightly as my rage. I grip his wrist and pound it against the rotting wooden floor until the weapon falls away. Then I mount this pussy-ass bitch. The hat he’s wearing falls off in the melee, and he’s even uglier now. His scalp is just as marred as his face, and all of it turns red when blood starts pouring from his nose and mouth and every other cut left behind by my fists. They pound until he’s unconscious beneath me.
Meaty arms encircle me from behind, and Mad Dog’s voice breaks through. “He’s out, man. He’s done.”
Shifting gears, I grab the gun and shove the barrel inside Jackson’s mangled mouth. I pull the trigger until it’s empty before standing and kicking the bloodied heap. He’s dead, and it’s still not enough. I can barely think straight, until the awful things he said about Randi seep into my reality, and the red haze clears.
“Randi,” I say, turning to Tank. “He said he …” My vision blurs, and I sway. “She’s dead.”
“Enzo!” Jameson says, grabbing me
before I hit the floor. “Yo, guys. He’s been hit.”
I see his hand covered in blood.
My blood.
And then my world goes black.
SIXTEEN
Shut Out
Randi
I move to chase Enzo down the hallway, but my IV holds me back. It’s a good fucking thing, too. Another gurney follows closely behind, and this one is carrying a pale and bloodied Lois. My knees give out, but Justice catches me before I crash to the floor.
Somewhere in the distance, I can hear Joshua screaming for his sister … and for Enzo. The torment in his voice breaks me into tiny pieces and tears flow down my cheeks. I bury my face in Justice’s chest and release all my pain through a torrent of tears, and when I’m done, I stand and wipe my face.
“I need out of this room,” I say to Justice. Rhonda is no longer anywhere to be found in here, and I need fucking answers which are most likely in the waiting room. “Find someone to release me or I’ll release myself.”
“On it, Randi,” Justice says, nodding as he turns to hurry from the room.
A minute later, my answers come, but not in the form I expected. “Randi, honey.” My dad rushes in. “I need you to stay calm and I’ll tell you what I know.”
“Enzo,” I say, not giving a single fuck about anything else at the moment. “Is he going to be okay?”
“He’s in surgery.” My dad leads me to the cot and pats the thin mattress. “Take a seat, honey.” As I climb on, he continues, “He’s been shot, and we don’t know if it hit anything major yet. He’s lost a lot of blood, but Doctor Bradshaw is the best surgeon we have, and he knows how important Enzo is to us.”
I take a deep breath, absorbing that information. “And Lois? Who’s operating on her?”
“She’s stable,” Rodney says evenly. “Her laceration was deep, but she’s only getting stitches.”
Justice comes rushing back into the room with Doctor Davidson right on his heels. “Nurse Dawson, what’s this I hear about you demanding to be released?”
“Yes, doctor.” I hold up my arm for him to remove my IV. “Either you take it out or I’ll do it myself. I can’t be confined to this bed when my reason for living is fighting for his life.”
His entire demeanor changes then, and it’s pity that overcomes his face. I don’t fucking want it. “I’ll see to it that you’re dismissed.”
He turns to leave the room, but my cold voice stops him. “Take this fucking IV out right goddamn now. I’m not leaving the hospital, but I am leaving this room.” Without another word, he comes back over and takes the fucking needle out of my arm. “Thank you.”
He nods and disappears through the curtain. “What happened?” I look between Justice and my dad. “Is Jackson dead? For real this time?”
“Deputy Marcus called right before I came in here,” Rodney says, looking down. “There is a body up there, but it’s scarred and beat up pretty badly. Seems Enzo was able to finish the job even after he was shot.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know how he survived the clubhouse fire, but he’s certainly dead now.”
“Mikey seems to have some answers,” Justice breaks in, “so go check with those guys while I get Randi to the OR waiting room.”
A small laugh escapes. “Listen to you, sounding all hospital savvy and shit.”
“Don’t give me credit.” He shakes his head. “That’s just what Rhonda told me to do. She said you’d know where to go.”
“I do.” I shift my gaze back to my dad. “Go find out what all happened, and check back in with me in a little while. I need to go to Enzo.”
As I stand, my dad grabs me in a tight hug. “I’m so glad Enzo’s been teaching you to take care of yourself. I could’ve lost you today.”
I allow the hug to continue for a few seconds before pulling away. “And I still might lose Enzo.”
I don’t waste another second. I rush from the cubicle and down a few hallways with Justice right on my heels. He won’t leave my side until Enzo is able to be there himself. That’s just how the MC rolls, loyal until the end. I stop by the OR nurse’s station to see who’s in there with my guy, only to find out that Rhonda has joined the surgery. Her specialty is surgery, but the events in this small town aren’t usually enough to keep her busy. Relief floods me because she’ll make sure I’m kept up to date, and she’s the best this hospital has to offer.
“Randi,” Sierra says from behind me. She’s a nurse I worked with during my internship but haven’t worked with since I started my paid job. “I’m so sorry.”
I turn to her. “Any news?”
“Not yet,” she replies, taking my arm and leading me to the waiting room. “But Rhonda said you were coming and that she’ll send out information as soon as she can.” She gestures to the nicest waiting space in the entire hospital. “Doctor Bradshaw is the best. You know this. Your guy will be fine.” She squeezes my arm and turns, dropping a shy smile toward Justice before leaving us to wallow in misery alone.
“Call someone and get them over here,” I say to Justice as I pace. “I need all the dirty details from whoever witnessed this shit firsthand.”
Justice pulls out his phone and his voice is low as he murmurs into the line. He pauses, his eyes shooting to mine. “That’d only be Lois or Joshua.”
“Then get me Joshua,” I say, knowing any residual anger I had toward him is completely gone. “We can even go see his sister after we talk.”
It doesn’t take five minutes before Wyndall is bringing him into the waiting room. His eyes are red and his entire body is downtrodden. I hurry over and pull him into my arms.
“This is all my fault,” he cries. “If I’d just told you guys what was going on.” He breaks down into sobs, and I soothe him in every way I can, but he’s right. He should’ve fucking trusted us, though I won’t say that … not right now, anyway.
We spend the next half hour going over everything that I don’t know about Jackson. How he survived, how he kidnapped Lois and blackmailed Joshua, how he lured Enzo to his cabin alone, and how he told him I was dead, which brought about his end. Though he was able to get a shot off at my Lion before dying at his hand.
It’s all a bit overwhelming, but also satisfying at the same time. I know deep in my soul that Enzo’s life won’t end here. My Lion will make it through this surgery, and we’ll be stronger for it. Nothing can come between us. There’s no more evil lurking in the darkness to bite us in the ass.
The next two days are fucking tense.
Lois is sent home with forty stitches the same day, and Sandra blubbers on my shoulder as she thanks me over and over, even though it was Enzo who saved her kids. He makes it out of surgery late that evening, but he’s in a medically induced coma to allow his body time to heal.
Leaving the hospital is not an option. Justice and Wyndall take up residence in the waiting room down the hall. I use Enzo’s room as an apartment, showering and changing in the bathroom. I work my rounds in the day and sit by his side at night. On the third morning after surgery, Doctor Bradshaw informs me that he’ll be weaned from his medications.
I take the day off to be by his side. I can’t take the risk of missing when those gorgeous hazel eyes open, and Doctor Bradshaw trusts me to keep an eye on him as the drugs wear off. I sit at his side, watching every fluctuation of his body. The twitching eyelids and fingers, his legs moving as the restlessness grows, and the low groans as he begins to wake.
My Lion will be fucking hurting.
It takes another forty-five minutes before the first sign of him being awake comes. The heart monitor picks up speed, and he lifts his non-wounded arm toward his face, but he grimaces and his eyes pop open wide.
“There you are,” I say, reaching to alert the nurses’ desk. “You’re okay.”
His wide eyes focus on my face, and he licks his chapped lips. “Randi.” It’s barely a breath, but it’s enough.
The relief I feel when he recognizes me is the fucking best thing in the goddamn worl
d. I was afraid to consider that he wouldn’t, but the thought has been lurking in my mind. Between being a nurse and watching chick flicks, that shit has been fucking with me.
“Hey, babe,” I say, grabbing a cup of water on the side table. “Take a drink.”
He shakes his head, turning away. “You’re okay.” He attempts to lift his hand again, to reach for me, but I grab it and hold it in mine instead.
“You don’t think I’d let some fuckwit kick my ass, do you?” I laugh to make him think it wasn’t a big deal, but his eyes zero in on my bruised cheek. I cover it from his eyes, shaking my head. “I killed him, Enzo. Because of you. Your training did exactly what we intended it to do.”
His eyes fall closed, cutting me off.
“There you are.” Doctor Bradshaw breezes into the room, interrupting any further conversation. He checks all the machines and turns to my Lion. “How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” Enzo rasps, putting all his focus on the doctor. “How’s Lois?”
Doctor Bradshaw smiles. “It was a nasty wound, but she’s perfectly fine. Already at home with her mother.”
My Lion nods, but then he winces. “And me? What’s the prognosis, doc?”
“Your surgery was successful, but there was some nerve damage in your shoulder,” Doctor Bradshaw says, grabbing his chart. “In time, you should regain full use of your arm, but you will need physical therapy.”
“And Randi?” he asks, not even looking my way. “Is that bruise her only injury?”
Doctor Bradshaw glances at me, and I shrug. “I don’t care.”
“I wasn’t Randi’s doctor, but she was banged up pretty good. It was nothing that would cause her to need stitches or medication.” He scribbles on Enzo’s chart before lifting his eyes to my Lion. “But the mental ramifications may be longer lasting.” He glances my way, and the apology is written all over his face. “She was attacked on her job, Enzo. The outcome could’ve been completely different, and as it is, she had to kill someone.”
