“Six feet in the ground.” Then I ram the knife into his side and twist, watching as shock takes over his face.
He releases me enough that I can push his arm off my neck and take a few quick breaths. “You stupid fucking bitch!” he yells as he holds his side and looks down to see blood soaking through his shirt and hands. Before he can regain any type of control, I rush forward and stab him in the chest.
I step back and watch in amazement while he struggles to remove the knife. He falls to his knees and looks up at me, right before he falls face first onto the ground.
I vaguely hear Dani saying my name, but I can’t remove my eyes from Rick’s now lifeless body. I killed him. I actually killed him. He will never be able to scare or hurt me again because I killed him.
I don’t know how long I stand there and stare, but it had to have been only a few seconds when the door is suddenly kicked in.
When I finally drag my eyes up, I see Toby standing in the doorway. I have to tell him that Dani needs him, but when I look over to her, I see Blaze crouching down to pick her up. She’s crying and clinging to him, but she’s looking at me.
“Look at my Doll,” Toby says quietly. I move my head slowly back to him. He’s standing so close to me now, but not close enough for me to touch him. I just need him to hold me. I feel so weak and wrong.
Lifting my leg to move towards him, the last thing I remember is falling as my world started to fade out.
“SARA!” The pain in my head goes away and the numbness takes over, right before it all goes black.
Toby
“SARA,” I yell out as I see her collapse. I rush forward and catch her before she can hit the ground. “Sara, wake up, Doll. Please.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Blaze holding Dani, engulfing her into his arms as she cries and holds her belly. I hear him ask if she’s alright, but I can’t hear her answer because I’m focusing all my attention on Sara.
Bringing a shaky finger up to her neck, I check for her pulse, praying that she’s still alive. When I finally find it, I let out a sigh of relief. Though it’s slow, it’s there. Thank fuck!
I pick Sara up. “Let’s go. We need to get to the hospital.” Both of the girls need to be checked out. I just pray to God neither of them are seriously hurt and Dani’s baby is all right. I have no idea what happened to her or how her stomach was hurt, but I can guess. She’s still holding her belly, and that scares me as much as the fact of Sara being unconscious.
I follow Blaze out of the room and watch as he holds Dani under one arm and lifts his phone to his ear with the other. “Mack! We need the truck.”
Once we are outside, I put Sara down and watch as Dani looks over at her before she walks over to her slowly. “We’ve got the girls, but they need to get to the hospital.” I hear Blaze say.
Dani reaches down and runs her hand across Sara’s face. “She saved me, Toby. Rick was coming toward me, said he was going to kill me, but she stopped him,” Dani whispers to me, but she doesn’t look away from Sara.
“Do you know where she’s hurt or what could have happened to make her pass out like that?” I ask, running my hands over Sara to see if I can find the source of why she’s not waking up. Her eye is swollen and there’s a good gash, but I don’t think that’s the reason why she passed out.
“She jumped on his back and was choking him. He slammed them backwards into the wall and I saw her head bounce off the wall twice. He was choking her too,” Dani say on a cry. “She can’t die, Toby.”
Seconds later, I hear a truck pull up and slamming doors. Then I feel someone at my side. “Let’s get her to the hospital. She’s gonna be all right,” Mack says calmly, but I can tell by the tone of his voice that he’s not so sure.
Picking her up, I get into the backseat of the truck and lay her down across my lap. Mack jumps in the driver’s seat while Blaze and Dani get in the passenger side. “Let’s go.” I say. Stroking Sara’s face, I whisper, “It’s gonna be okay, Doll. You’re safe now.” I feel the truck speed off down the road, but the only thing I focus on is Sara.
It’s been five hours since we arrived at the hospital. Sara was taken in to surgery as soon as we got here. She had swelling on her brain and some fluid build-up, so they needed to relieve the pressure it was causing.
They gave her some medicine that will make her sleep for a while, and help her head heal faster, at least that’s what they said, but I just want her to wake up. I need to look into her eyes and know that she’s going to be fine.
“Any change?” I hear Blaze say as he quietly walks into the room. Rubbing my hands across my face, I shake my head.
“No. Doc said that it could be a few days before she wakes up…maybe more.” I say.
He sits on the other side of the bed, opposite of me and looks at Sara sleeping.
“How’s Dani doing?” I ask after a few minutes of silence. When we arrived, Dani just wanted to make sure that Sara was okay, but we finally got her to let a doctor check her out. She said that Trixie hit her upside the head with a gun and that she was fine, but when she stood up and grabbed her ribs, we knew it was more than that.
Turns out Rick kicked her in the stomach, which caused her ribs to bruise. Thankfully, the baby wasn’t harmed in any way, but it will take a few weeks for Dani to heal. “She’s sleeping now. Was raising all kinds of hell, yelling at everyone that if we didn’t take her to see Sara, she was gonna start breaking shit,” he says, laughing at the end.
I crack a small smile, but can’t find it in myself to laugh with him. “Yeah, that sounds like her.”
We’re quiet again, neither of us really knowing what to say, but it’s a comfortable silence, and it’s his form of support, which is very much appreciated.
About an hour later, Mack comes into the room. “Dani’s awake. She’s asking for you,” he says as he looks at me. Not wanting to leave Sara’s side in case she wakes up, I just shake my head.
“I’ll sit here with her. If she wakes up, I’ll send for you right away,” Blaze says. Knowing that if I don’t go, Dani will most likely go against everyone and make her way up here. Not wanting that, I stand up, then lean over Sara to kiss her on her forehead. “I’ll be right back, Doll,” I whisper, then hesitantly walk out of the room.
Mack leads me to Dani’s room, but doesn’t come in with me.
I open the door and can’t help but laugh when I see Dani charging around her room, throwing shit everywhere. “Redecorating, I see.” As soon as she hears my voice, she stops and turns to me. When she sees the smile on my face, she lets out a laugh. “Yeah, well, this place looks like shit so I thought I’d help them with that.”
After a few moments of silence, she finally asks, “How is she?” I walk over to a chair that’s on the side of the bed and she follows.
Letting out a sigh, I rub my hand back and forth across my shaved head. “She’s still unconscious, but the doctor said that she’ll wake up in a day or so. They removed the fluid from her brain, so they said the swelling should start to go down now.” I feel her reach out and grab my hand.
“She’s gonna be okay. We just have to give her time to heal, then we can yell at her for being the hero. That’s your job,” she says seriously.
I look up to her in surprise, never thinking she’d ever say something like that. Usually, it’s about her saving the day or that women can do anything a man can. She sees my surprise and says, “I think I finally understand that sometimes we need to just let you men take care of things for us.”
I just nod my head, afraid that if I comment, she’ll change her mind and that wouldn’t be good.
I sit with her for a few more minutes, but when she can see me itching to get back to Sara, she tells me to go. I kiss her head and walk out the door, heading back upstairs to sit with my girl.
When I push the door open, I hear Blaze talking softly. “Thank you. You saved my girl and our baby with what you did. Even though it was fucking stupid and you put yourself at ris
k, you saved them. I can never repay you for that,” he says, taking a deep breath and letting it out. “I’m sorry about the way I’ve been treating you. I can’t promise that when you wake up I’ll say that so you can hear me, but I can promise that it won’t happen again. I owe you everything. Thank you so much, Sara.”
I wait a minute before walking back into the room, not wanting him to know I heard him talking just now.
He looks up when I get close to the bed. “You might want to get back to your woman. She was redecorating her room when I got there. She was in bed when I left, but who knows how long that will last if you don’t get there soon,” I say as I sit back down in the same chair I’ve been in for the past couple of hours.
Blaze laughs and stands up. “Jesus, that fucking woman. Even bruised ribs can’t keep her down.” I nod in agreement because Dani is definitely one strong woman.
After he leaves, I grab hold of Sara’s hand and bring it to my lips. “Hurry up and come back to me. I love you,” I say, then lay my head down on the bed beside her hand and close my eyes. Please God, let her wake up soon and be my Sara again.
CHAPTER 21
Sara
I open my eyes and pain explodes in my head. At first, I think I’m back in that room with Rick, but then I remember stabbing him in the chest and Toby coming to save me. I don’t remember anything after that though.
Glancing around the room I’m in, I realize I’m in the hospital. I feel pressure on my hand, like someone is squeezing it. Slowly, I turn my head to look down, but have to shut my eyes for a minute until the pain subsides a little.
When I’m able to open them again, one just barely, I look to my left and see Toby in a chair beside my bed, leaning back, not looking comfortable at all. He’s at an odd angle, trying to hold my hand while he’s reclining back.
Movement catches my attention to the side. Instead of moving my head, I decide to just try moving my eyes to see who’s come into my room. Hopefully, that won’t hurt so much.
It works and I see Dani, quietly walking into the room. She’s not really paying attention, looking around the room, then to Toby before she actually sees that I’m awake. She gasps, then rushes to the other side of the bed, taking my other hand in hers. “You’re awake.” she breathes out. I try to speak, but my throat is dry and sore. Noticing the trouble I’m having, she looks around her and sees a glass of water on the bedside table. Lifting it to my lips, I take a small sip before swallowing. It hurts a little, but feels good too. “Better?” she asks as she sets the glass back down.
“Yeah,” I croak, my voice sounding raspy and unused.
“How are you feeling? Fuck, that was a stupid question, I’m sorry.” She looks sheepish, which makes me laugh, and causing me to wince in pain. Well, guess I won’t do that again.
Finally, I say, “My head hurts a little bit, but other than that, I think I’m good.”
“Do you want me to call the nurse? She can probably give you something for the pain.” I try to shake my head, but when I feel the pain in my head again, I stop.
“No, not yet.” I pause for a moment before continuing. “What happened?” I ask, needing to know if what I remember actually happened, and what I missed after passing out.
She sits down in the chair and gets comfortable. “Well, when Rick came at me, you stopped him. Thank you, by the way. You saved my life.” Not wanting any thanks, I ask about her and the baby, needing to know. I pray to God that she didn’t lose the baby.
“The baby is fine. Perfect, actually,” she says with a big smile. “I’ve got a few bruised ribs, but nothing that a little rest and time won’t heal. It could have been a lot worse if it weren’t for you.” I weakly hold up my hand.
“Please, don’t thank me. You wouldn’t have been in that situation to begin with if it weren’t for me.” I say, feeling horrible that she could have been hurt and lost the baby, all because of me.
I look away from her, up at the ceiling, not wanting to see the gratitude in her eyes. I don’t deserve it. “Sara, look at me,” she says with an edge in her voice. When I turn my eyes back to her, she says, “This was not your fault. Do you hear me? What happened was not your fault, so stop blaming yourself.” I wish I could believe that.
“It is my fault. Rick came after me and ended up taking you too because you were with me,” I say, disgusted with myself.
“No, he took you because he wanted to break you, but he didn’t. He couldn’t because you are so much stronger than you were when you were with him. And he took me because he was working with Trixie and she wanted me out of the way. Thought if we were both gone, she’d be queen bitch.” I knew Trixie was working with Rick, but I didn’t know the reason why. Was that really why she helped him? To get rid of Dani? I guess it makes sense considering the way she talked about her that night at the clubhouse.
Deciding to let that part go, I ask the next pressing question. “Louie? Please tell me that he’s okay.” Rick never said anything about him either way.
“He’s fine. He was here, but was released already. I’m sure he’ll be back soon to check in on you.” She says this hesitantly, like there’s more, but she’s afraid to tell me. Maybe he was hurt worse than she’s letting on.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask, getting right to the point. Another thing I learned about Dani―if you’re blunt and direct with her, she’ll do the same. I need that from her right now. I need to know what’s going on.
“I’m not sure if now is the right time to say anything,” she says sadly. So it’s really bad, whatever it is.
“Dani, please just tell me. I need to know,” I say with patience I don’t have.
“When the boys got to the strip club where Ryan, the prospect, was supposedly holding Rick, they figured out it was a ruse. After interrogating him, they found out that Trixie was in on it, so they rushed back to the clubhouse, but we were already gone.” She’s quiet for a minute, maybe judging my reaction, but I mostly knew all of this already, except that Ryan was in on it too. “When they got into the club, they knew we were gone, but found Louie knocked out in the kitchen. As they were getting him outside though, there was an explosion in the clubhouse. They got out, but the clubhouse is gone.”
“Is everyone okay? No one got injured, did they?” The only people I’ve seen since then has been Toby, and of course, Dani. Wait, Blaze was with Toby when they found us, so I know he’s fine too.
I see a tear fall and know that someone was hurt, or worse. “Louie, Mack, Toby, and Blaze came out of it with little to no injuries, but Lyle wasn’t so lucky,” she says. No, not Lyle!
“How bad was he hurt?” I finally choke out over tears I don’t remember crying. Dani just shakes her head and I know. He didn’t make it.
We both cry silently for a while, each quietly mourning the life and death of a great man. Lyle was like an uncle to me. He was my Teddy Bear, and now he’s gone.
Once our tears have dried, I get angry. “Did Trixie get away?” When I find that bitch, she’s going to pay for her part in all this.
Dani laughs sadistically. “Oh no. They found out from Ryan where she was going to be. That’s how they knew where to find us. Toby met her there instead of Ryan and got it out of her, then he took care of her. I don’t know how because they won’t tell me, but they said we don’t have to worry about her anymore. In club speak, that means she’s dead.” Instead of being horrified with the news, I’m happy. Ecstatic, actually. I never thought hearing about someone’s death would make me happy, but hearing that Trixie is no longer able to cause any one else to be hurt or killed, I’m almost giddy with joy.
“Good,” I say and leave it at that.
Hearing a groan come from the other side of me, I slowly roll my head over to see Toby waking up. He scrubs his hands across his face before opening his eyes.
When he notices that I’m awake, he shoots up and runs his hands over my face and down my shoulders. “Thank fuck, you’re awake!” He says frantically. I g
ive him a small smile.
“I’m awake,” I confirm.
Toby looks over and for the first time, notices Dani sitting beside me. “What are you doing down here? You’re not supposed to be out of bed,” he says with concern. Hmm, if I would have known she wasn’t supposed to be up, I would have told her to go back to her room and rest. What the fuck am I saying, Dani wouldn’t listen to me anyway.
I give him a hard glare, but I can see the love in it. “I wanted to see my friend, thank you very fucking much. I’ll get out of bed any time that I want, so fuck off,” she practically growls at him.
I laugh a little, which has Toby looking back at me with a small smile of his own face. “You have no idea how much I missed that laugh, Doll,” he says happily.
“Yeah, well, I missed your face more.” That has him laughing, then he leans down and kisses me softly on the lips. “I love you,” he whispers.
“I love you too,” I whisper back, never looking away from his eyes.
It’s been a week since I was released from the hospital. I’ve been staying at Toby’s house since he refused to let me out of his sight for even a second.
After I woke up and he told me again what happened, I remember that we had Ollie at the club. Toby made a call right away to Mack and asked if he could look around for him in what was left of the clubhouse. I remember I left him outside after the guys left, so I’m praying he was far enough away when the clubhouse burned down.
It didn’t take Mack long to call back and say that he found him and he was safe. He said he would keep him at his place until I was released and feeling better.
He kept Ollie with him after I was released because I didn’t really have the energy to play with him. I feel bad, but I know he’ll understand. Or he would, if he could.
We are going over to Mack’s today to pick him up and talk about the reconstruction of the clubhouse. Then, later tonight, we are going to be having a service for Lyle. Even though he already had a funeral, the club always holds a special service that’s just for club members, or people associated with the club. Thankfully, everyone agreed to wait till I recovered a bit before doing it. I didn’t get to go to the actual funeral service, so I didn’t want to miss this one.
Fighting Destiny (Forsaken Sinners MC; Book 2) (Forsaken Sinners MC Series) Page 22
