by Bella Rose
The Hellfires advanced on the Demon Lovers. There were a few scuffles. Griffin heard the distinctive sound of Jackson’s grunt as he launched one of his roundhouse punches that no doubt knocked someone senseless. But for the most part, the Demon Lovers had already given up. They streamed out of the building and onto their bikes. Soon enough Griffin heard them ride away.
Ronnie returned from his police car carrying a crash kit. “Is he breathing?”
“No!” Leah pushed Griffin aside as she started doing chest compressions and CPR, despite the handcuffs still fastened around her wrists.
Ronnie and Leah worked side by side. Then Ronnie reached for his radio. “What’s the ETA on that ambulance, Flo? I’m going to lose this guy!”
The crackling voice that came out of the radio on his shoulder was barely understandable. “They’re three minutes out, Jenkins. Keep at it!”
Griffin stood back with Thorn and the rest of his crew as they watched Leah and Ronnie Jenkins try to save Joe Turnbull’s life. It was surreal at best. The cantankerous old man had taken her hostage, and here she was trying her hardest to save his life. She was one hell of a woman.
Chapter Twenty-Three
If someone had told Leah that she would be riding to the hospital in an ambulance with “Uncle Joe” after trying to save his life using CPR, she would have laughed her ass off. Her mother had never really trusted the man. At least that was the feeling that Leah had gotten during her younger years. And when Joe had failed to turn up for her mother’s funeral and had never contacted Leah after that, she had assumed that her mother was right to mistrust the man. Obviously, he’d had one goal—the land.
As the ambulance bumped over the dirt track to the Demon Lovers’s compound before hitting the main road with sirens blaring, Leah had some time to really think. It was true that her mother hadn’t trusted Joe, but she hadn’t really trusted men in general. And the woman had passed that trait down to her daughter. Leah didn’t believe that they had honest intentions or that they could fully give their hearts in love. They were arrogant and selfish because they were afraid to look anything but masculine.
Now as she gazed down at this man’s ashen face, she wondered if he might actually be her father. Leah didn’t doubt that her mother would have kept a secret like that from her daughter. Molly Rawlins was tight-lipped about everything. This was just one more thing she’d taken to her grave.
Behind the ambulance, the entire Hellfire Crew was following her to the hospital—the roar of twenty-five engines felt comforting this time. Griffin had made it plain that they had no intention of letting her out of their sight. Ronnie Jenkins brought up the rear in his police cruiser. Leah could see the flashing blue and red lights about a hundred yards behind them through the ambulance window. He’d freed her from the cuffs as soon as the EMTs had taken over with Joe.
“Leah.” The reedy voice drew her attention back to Joe. He was pawing weakly at the oxygen mask while the EMT put one hand up to keep the mask in place.
She put her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t try to talk,” she told him. “There’s plenty of time for that later.”
“If I die…”
“You won’t die,” she said firmly. “Only the good die young, remember? And you’re about as bad and sour as they come. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Although you might cut some fried foods out of your diet.”
The old man actually smiled. It changed him a bit and made him look more like the man she remembered from her early teen years. Joe had always had a smile and a ridiculous story to tell. According to him, the man had evaded capture in every county in the state in some overblown manner that had left her laughing until her sides hurt.
“I did love your mother,” Joe insisted, wheezing as he spoke.
“I know.”
But did she? Like Molly, Leah was skeptical of any promises that seemed to come with strings attached.
***
Griffin had a conference with Nevins in the parking lot of the hospital. The crew had already gotten some unfriendly looks from the hospital security. There was no need to create a ruckus when they were just there to support Leah.
“I want you to take the crew and go home,” Griffin told Nevins. He clapped the man on the shoulder. “Just don’t stop at the bar on the way home and forget to ever make the rest of the trip. Right?”
“Ha!” Nevins snorted. “You keeping the boy here with you?”
Griffin glanced at Thorn. The kid looked overwrought. He needed to go home and sleep, get some food maybe, and just wind down. But Griffin didn’t figure Thorn would be ready to leave his sister right now. The kid was only just realizing what it meant to have only one person left in his small world.
“I’ll keep him here with me,” Griffin decided. “He wouldn’t be able to relax at home anyway.”
Nevins grunted. “You call if you want us to come get him.”
“Will do.”
Nevins raised his hand and signaled the crew. Every one of them offered Griffin a nod and a wave as they whipped out of the parking lot and back toward Hellfire land. He watched them go, standing with his arm around Thorn’s shoulders until they could no longer see their crew.
“They respect you a lot more than they ever did Dad,” Thorn commented. His tone was so matter of fact, Griffin almost couldn’t be sure he’d heard him right. Then Thorn shrugged. “My dad was kind of an ass though. He wanted to be boss, but he wanted everyone to be afraid of him. He wasn’t scary. Not really. He was kind of like a big dog that growls a lot, but doesn’t really mean it.”
“That’s an interesting way to look at it,” Griffin mused. Then he smiled and wrapped his arm around the boy’s neck. Rubbing his messy, black hair, Griffin chuckled. “You’re going to be a good leader someday, Thorn. You know that?”
“Think so?” The hopeful tone in the boy’s voice touched Griffin deeply.
“Yeah. I do.”
“You think my sister will ever let me be the leader of the Hellfire Crew?”
Griffin started walking toward the hospital entrance. “I think she’d be a lot more okay with that than she would be with you leading the Demon Lovers.”
Thorn looked embarrassed. “I thought they respected me.”
“And you thought we didn’t?”
“I’m just a kid to the Hellfire Crew.”
Griffin snorted. “You are a kid,” he pointed out as they walked through the hospital lobby toward the emergency room. “There’s nothing wrong with it. We all start out that way. Right?”
“I guess.” Thorn shrugged. “What if they never take me seriously?”
“You have to earn it.” Griffin thought back to his own growing up years. “I was your age and part of the crew. I remember what it was like when people called me kid or treated me like I was a bad puppy.”
“It sucks!” Thorn burst out.
Griffin led the way into the waiting room. “Yeah, but if you never prove that you can take that crap and be a man about it, you’ll never be anything but a kid.”
“Oh.” Thorn’s brow crinkled, and he seemed to be thinking that through. “Never thought of it like that before.”
Leah watched her brother and Griffin stride into the ER waiting room side-by-side. They were deep in conversation, and Thorn seemed to be contemplating some point very seriously.
She hid a smile. She didn’t want Thorn to think that she was laughing at him in any way. She just appreciated that Thorn felt comfortable enough with Griffin to really talk to him. That male bonding was a powerful thing for a boy who had just lost his father. Leah couldn’t provide it for him, but Griffin could.
In fact, the more Leah watched the two of them in low conversation, the more she wondered why they needed her at all. Griffin very likely didn’t want to be married. He’d never seemed like the family type. But there was no reason Griffin couldn’t handle a kid like Thorn. Leah had thought he was irresponsible and incompetent when it came to parenting, but Griffin knew exactly how to locate
Thorn, and he’d been doing all the work for her father during the last few months of his life.
“Ms. Rawlins?” A nurse appeared before her, a pleasant expression on her face. “We have Mr. Turnbull stabilized.”
“You do?” The most profound sense of relief flooded Leah’s limbs.
“Yes. And he’s asking for you.”
“He is?” Sure, Joe had been talking to her in the ambulance, but she’d been so obviously available, sitting there next to him. This was different.
“Why don’t you come on back with me?” The nurse backed away and then waited for Leah to follow. “I’ll show you where he is.”
“All right. Thank you.”
Leah cast one more glance at Griffin. He caught her eye and she gestured toward the nurse. Griffin nodded and smiled. Leah left him there with Thorn, still feeling more than a little extraneous when it came to her family life.
The ER was a busy place, even in a small town like theirs. Leah followed the nurse past more than a few injuries and illnesses. Soon they reached a large room with a glass front that showed the drapes had been closed from the inside. The nurse stepped inside and pushed her way through the curtain.
“Mr. Turnbull?” The nurse spoke in a carefully measured tone. “I found the young woman you were so eager to see.”
“Leah?” Joe’s voice sounded just as weak now as it had in the ambulance. “Come and sit with me a spell. I need to say a few things.”
Griffin had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his gut about Leah and Joe Turnbull. Or really, about Leah in general. Something was definitely off. The expression on her face when she had looked at Griffin and Thorn had been almost wistful. Did she feel left out? Was she sad? It was impossible to tell exactly what was going through her head. The woman was a complex individual with too much going through her mind at any given moment.
“What’s wrong?” Thorn asked as he lowered himself into a chair in the waiting room. “Is Leah okay?”
“I’m not sure,” Griffin answered honestly. “It was a lot to go through, you know?”
“Sure.”
“I just keep wondering if she’s happy with the way things are,” Griffin admitted. “What do you think?”
Thorn shrugged, but then he put his chin in his hands and heaved a deep sigh. “It’s really hard to tell with Leah, you know? It’s like she never does anything for herself or because she wants to.”
“Meaning?” Griffin’s gut tightened because he knew exactly what Thorn was talking about.
“Well I don’t think she really wants to live out at the compound. I mean, she’ll do it because that’s what I want and that’s where you are and you guys are married and all.”
“But?” Griffin swallowed back the sour taste of failure.
“But she loves her house. She likes being in town close to stuff. She loves her job at the school, and I think she would really rather just live by herself.” Thorn made a face. “But I know she loves me. I think I’ve always known that.”
“Do you remember her from before?” Griffin wondered suddenly. “Do you remember when she and your mom still lived out there with your dad?”
“Not really.”
“She took care of you almost by herself for two years,” Griffin remembered. “You were like her baby. It changed everything for the rest of us. All of a sudden, she was too busy to play.”
“Seriously?”
“Your mother was very depressed. Your dad was angry and drunk most of the time. He spent all his time with the crew, and your mother was lonely. She didn’t really fit in with the crew. She didn’t like motorcycles. She didn’t get along with the women. It was hard for her out there.”
“But Leah’s not like that,” Thorn protested. “She gets along with everybody! And I know she likes to ride. She had the biggest smile on her face when she was riding around on Rayna’s bike. Remember?”
“Sure,” Griffin agreed. “But maybe your sister needs to decide what she really wants in life. She can’t keep letting everyone else decide for her.”
Thorn looked apprehensive. “What if she doesn’t pick us?”
“I guess we have to be satisfied with whatever she decides,” Griffin told the kid. “It’s not like the world is going to end, and there’s always time to try and change someone’s mind.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Leah tried not to be so intimidated by the whirring and beeping sounds of the machines that filled the room. Joe Turnbull was propped in bed with pillows behind his back. He was still pale, but he looked alert enough.
She took a seat on a hard, plastic chair. Her nerves were so tightly strung that she could only perch on the edge of the seat. Folding her hands in her lap, she gazed at Joe and waited for him to speak.
“I am your biological father,” Joe admitted quietly.
Between the oxygen tubes and his bushy beard, it was almost impossible to get a read on his expression. The only thing really visible were his eyes. There was something so very earnest about that gaze that she was inclined to believe him.
“Okay.” She pursed her lips, trying to decide how to proceed. “I’m not sure how that changes things.”
“Your mother was a good woman,” Joe went on. “She was just very, well, reserved, I guess. She was flattered that Deacon and I were both interested in her. We wooed Molly pretty hard. It would have turned any woman’s head to have two men so determined to have her, even though her folks weren’t so keen on either match.”
“I imagine they weren’t.” Leah shook her head. Molly’s parents hadn’t been at all involved in the world of the Hellfire Crew or the Demon Lovers. It must have seemed as though their daughter was turning to a life of crime. “But apparently they couldn’t stop her.”
Joe grimaced. “When Molly turned up pregnant, her folks were pretty horrified. They demanded she name the father and marry him.”
“So how did she wind up with Dad—Deacon?” Her life could have been very, very different had her mother altered her path just a little. The realization sliced like a razor.
“When Molly told me she was pregnant, I acted like an ass.” Joe sounded disgusted with himself. “I was young and proud, and I accused her of trying to pawn off Deacon’s baby on me. Deacon saw the opportunity and seized it. They married in a shotgun wedding, and boom!” Joe snapped his fingers. “You and your mother were out of my life before I had a chance to pull my head out of my ass.”
“But Deacon knew I wasn’t his kid,” Leah guessed. She felt sick. It made her look at everything the man she had called father had ever done with new eyes. He had been hot and cold toward her from the beginning, but she must have reminded him every second that Molly had loved another man.
“Then after your mama left Deacon, I tried to step in,” Joe admitted. “She thought all I wanted was the land.”
“And?” Leah prompted.
“It might have been on my mind,” he admitted. “Who wouldn’t have been thrilled at the opportunity to take something from a rival? I could have kicked that jerk right off the property and taken it for my own. That and his wife.”
“And your daughter,” Leah murmured. “My what a tangled web we weave.”
Griffin nearly jumped out of his seat when Leah came striding through the ER. She looked like a woman on a mission. She stopped briefly in front of Griffin and Thorn, then she gestured that they should get up and leave.
“What’s going on?” Thorn wanted to know. “Is he dead?”
“No.” Leah shook her head. “He’ll be fine. But I’m sure he’s going to need to change the way he’s living a little bit.”
Griffin cocked his head, gazing at Leah and trying to see past all of her composure to what she was really feeling. “Do you think he’s known he had heart problems and that’s why he’s been trying to tie up loose ends and take our land?”
“Oh.” She pouched out her bottom lip, looking thoughtful. “I hadn’t really considered it, but it seems likely, I guess.”
“Wha
t did you think about?” Griffin wanted to know. He stood up, but he was in no rush. He couldn’t tell what was going on with Leah, but she was fleeing the emergency room as if she had unfinished business that she really didn’t want to deal with.
“I guess I was stuck on the story he was telling me about my conception,” she admitted blandly. “Apparently I am his kid.” She glanced at Thorn. “Which makes me your half-sister, kiddo.”
Thorn shrugged. “That don’t matter to me.”
“Doesn’t,” she said in a distracted voice. “Let’s go. Please? I just want to go home. Not out to the compound. Home. You guys can go back out and give the crew an update or whatever. I just want to be home.”
Her fervent plea made Griffin take a hasty step back. She was practically begging him to leave her alone. It stung more than he expected. He felt…discarded somehow. He also felt helpless to change things. It wasn’t a good feeling.
“If that’s what you want,” he growled. Then he jerked his chin at Thorn. “Let’s go get the bikes and get out of here.”
Thorn didn’t have to be told twice, although the kid didn’t seem to have the same reservations Griffin did. Maybe Thorn was secure in the fact that he was Leah’s half-brother. Griffin was just the husband she’d married out of desperation and spite. He was the one who stood to lose everything when she walked away.
They reached the two motorcycles, and Thorn immediately threw his leg over his bike and started the motor. Griffin did the same and then waited. The hesitant look she gave him cut him to the bone. When she finally got on, Griffin decided that he was getting to the bottom of this now, before anything else blew up in his face.
By the time they reached her little bungalow on the quiet street not far from the center of town, Leah was an emotional wreck. Everything she had once thought to be true about herself wasn’t. Her mother had spent so much time drilling propriety into Leah’s head that she felt all twisted up inside. Molly hadn’t been proper at all. She’d gotten pregnant by one man and then used another one to marry her and make her “respectable.” Molly had always shunned the life of the crew, but certain things about it appealed to Leah. What was a girl to do?
