by Franca Storm
The door to the bedroom flies open then and Sarah runs out into the hall. There’s a gun in her hand. Where’d she get it? Fuck. Dealer must have one somewhere inside the bedroom. She fires at the guys crowded ‘round me.
And misses.
The bullet drives into the drywall.
Before she can fire again, Torvin’s lunging at her.
“Get outta here! I told you! Go! Now!” I yell at her.
But she don’t. She pistol-whips Torvin across the side of the face, shocking everyone, even me.
As he falls back, I fight to break the hold on me, cuz she’s gonna get herself hurt real bad any second now. I can see her hands shaking wildly as she tries to point the gun again.
And then it happens.
I feel it.
I stop breathing for a few seconds as the horror of what’s happened hits me.
I look down to see the syringe buried in my arm. My eyes flick up to Jase and he’s smiling with victory and some demented pleasure at seeing the look on my face.
He pulls it out and tosses it on the ground.
“Gonna hit you any second now,” he tells me. He nods at his guys and they release me.
Everything slips away in the next few moments and all that’s left is that all-consuming haze of the intense high I ain’t felt for so long. Something I never wanted to feel again.
It’s too much.
I can’t deal with it.
It’s racking my entire body in a few more seconds and I collapse to my knees, puking my guts up.
I hear Sarah screaming.
And then I don’t.
I got no idea how much time passes before I finally stop throwing up. Through it, I hear shots and screams. Yelling. Thuds. Rushed footsteps.
And then just hushed whispers.
I feel hands on my shoulders.
My head’s too heavy. Drowning under the effects of the drug.
Someone grabs the sides of my face and I look straight ahead to see a very blurry image of Dealer crouched down beside me.
“Sarah?” I croak out.
“We got her. She’s fine. What was in the syringe, Runner?”
“It…it were…”
“Yeah? Gotta know to get it outta your system.”
“Heroin.”
“Fuck,” someone mutters behind him. Sin, maybe? Probably.
“Come on. Gotta get you outta here,” Dealer says and I feel his arms ‘round me, lifting me up. “Gonna help you. It’s gonna be fine. You hear me, Runner?”
I shake my head. “Nah. Ain’t gonna be. It’s…over.”
“It ain’t,” he snaps. “We got you. We got you.”
That’s the last thing I hear before I pass out.
Chapter 17
~Sarah~
I don’t know what to do with my hands.
One moment they’re down at my sides and I’m digging them into my thighs.
The next they’re in my hair, fisting and tugging.
Then they’re rubbing my face.
I can’t keep still.
I’m too anxious.
My left foot’s tapping an incoherent rhythm on the hardwood floor of the corridor outside his room. It’s reflecting the state of my mind at this very moment in time. A complete mess.
I can’t remember the last time I was so afraid. So utterly terrified.
Never. Not even during the worst times with Eddie.
But now?
For Zeb?
I am. And I can’t get a grip.
I will never be able to get that look on his face out of my head. Ever. Pain and utter terror when that maniac had jabbed him with that needle.
The corridor is jam-packed with so many bikers and that’s just making me even more ill at ease. I wish Rox was here with me, but Ax has banned her from the club, because the entire place is on lockdown right now after Jase’s attack and his current threat status. No one is allowed to enter the clubhouse, except the members. They can only leave with Ax’s permission. I’m not sure what that means for me. Do I have to leave? Ax let me come back here with Zeb, but that might not last. Things are hectic right now, so maybe he hasn’t really realized I’m still here. He’s fully focused on Zeb right now.
I’m in the corner, trying to keep a low profile, while also being in a position to see the second the door to Zeb’s room opens and the doctor and Ax finally step out.
Come on! Come on!
I feel a hand on my left shoulder suddenly and a small gasp of surprise leaves me. I turn to see a familiar face. Thank goodness.
“Smiter,” I breathe.
Before I can get another word out, he wraps his arms around me and pulls me in for a gentle bear hug. He’s a huge guy, so it really is a bear hug.
He pulls back and folds his arms across his chest. He shifts his weight uneasily as he tells me, “Runner’s gonna be fine, sweetheart. He’s a hard-ass.”
It doesn’t escape my notice that Smiter isn’t actually looking me in the eye as he says those words.
“He’s had problems in the past…with drugs, right?” Although, Zeb hasn’t talked to me about it, that was made clear to me from his reaction when I’d wanted to give him painkillers after he’d been stabbed.
Smiter nods. “Yeah.” He rubs his hand over the back of his neck. “Doing this to him was fucking sick, demented shit. Twenty years he’s been clean. And now…fuck.”
“Ax told us…he said…the doctor was cleaning it out of his system ASAP.” That was the last report Ax had given us. That was about an hour ago now.
Smiter looks pained as he says, “He’s still tasted the high, though.”
Oh my God.
Before I can respond, he adds, “But, like I said, he’s strong. Always been a hard-ass. That’s Runner through and through.”
His words of comfort are hollow. I know he’s just trying to reassure me, though.
This is all my fault. Zeb crossed Eddie, because of me. Because he protected me. And that’s how his psycho brother found him. Because of me. It’s all my fault that he got stabbed and now it’s all my fault that he got injected with heroin. I’m so sorry, Zeb.
Oh shit. I need to get out of here.
I’m just causing him more hurt every time he’s around me. I need to stay away.
“I…I need to go.”
I’ve barely made it a couple of steps away when the door to Zeb’s room flies open and Ax strides out. His eyes land on me immediately and he grunts, “Sarah. Come here.”
“I…what?”
“He’s asking for you. Come on. Hurry up. Won’t be long, before he’s out cold again.”
I feel a hand on the small of back, gently guiding me towards Ax. I look over my shoulder to see that it’s Smiter. He gives me a kind smile.
The next thing I know, Ax is leading the way inside and then shutting the door behind us.
The room’s small. The only furniture is a double bed, two bedside tables and a chest of drawers over by a window. There’s also a door at the far end of the room, which I assume leads to a bathroom.
I see a doctor standing by the bed over Zeb who’s lying there. As I approach, I see that he’s hooked up to a bag of some sort of solution. He looks really weak. His eyes are barely open.
“She’s here, Runner,” Ax says, stepping out of the way, so I can get closer to Zeb.
I sit down on the edge of the bed and take his hand. His grip is non-existent. Oh God. Seeing him like this is tearing me up inside.
“You…okay?” he croaks out, so quietly, it’s basically a whisper.
“Yeah. How are you?” It sounds like such a stupid question, because it’s obvious he’s not doing well. But, I don’t know what else to say.
I watch him frown, thinking of how to respond. And that’s when I realize how out of it he really is. His pupils are so tiny. He barely even seems awake.
“We’re doing a rapid detox. Given his history, getting the narcotic out of his system ASAP is vital,” the doctor tells me. “It isn’t a
pleasant process, but he will be fine.”
“He’s gonna be under for most of it,” Ax adds.
“Under?” I ask.
“Knocked out. Anaestetic.”
“Wow…oh…okay. But he’ll be fine?”
“The drug will be out of his system quickly, but he’ll need time to recover beyond that,” the doctor tells me.”
I nod, taking his words in.
The doctor eyes Ax. “He’ll need to be monitored.”
And then something occurs to me and I ask Ax, “Why can’t we take him to a hospital?”
I see him and the doctor exchange a knowing glance.
“Jer, you done here?”
The doctor nods. “I’ll be back to check on him tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” Ax says, stepping forward and shaking the doctor’s hand.
With that, he walks out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
Ax strides up to me and folds his arms across his chest. “We don’t talk ‘bout no business of our club members in front of civilians,” he growls at me, giving me that stern, scary look of his.
“I…I didn’t know.”
“You do now,” he grunts at me.
“Ax,” Zeb croaks.
That gets Ax’s angry glare off me as he crouches down to Zeb’s eye level. “Yeah, brother?” he asks in a gentle voice I would never have ever expected he had within him.
“Mine,” Zeb breathes.
Ax’s eyes widen and his gaze darts to me. There’s disbelief all over his face. And, as he looks back at Zeb, a huge smile comes over his face. “Yeah? That right?”
“Yeah,” Zeb says, closing his eyes for several seconds. They open again and I feel him squeeze my hand ever so slightly as his dazed eyes find mine. “Don’t leave.”
I forget about Ax being right here for a moment and I lean forward and gently stroke Zeb’s hair. “Zeb…I….”
He squeezes my hand again and tries to tug me closer, but he has no strength left. “You…love you.”
Hearing those words out of his mouth is so shocking that I can’t physically respond for several seconds. By the time I’ve found my voice again his eyes are closed and he’s asleep.
I sit back, still holding his hand. “Oh my God,” I gasp out loud.
“Shit, woman,” Ax comments.
I jerk my head towards him. “What?”
He’s smiling at me now. “Never thought I’d see the day for him.”
“He’s...out of it,” I tell him. As much as I want it to be true, I’m hesitant to believe it. Plus, my guilt is clouding everything else around me. Before I can stop myself, I’m admitting to Ax, “I’m not good for him.”
He shakes his head. “None of this is your fault, Sarah.”
“Of course it is. He crossed Eddie and got stabbed, because—”
“That’s who Runner is. Rash and reacting on instinct all the damn time. If we’re playing the blame game here, it’s more my fault than anyone’s. He warned me ‘bout Torvin being connected to Jase. I was too cautious. Too slow acting.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose as he eyes Zeb. The way he looks at him, it’s clear how close they are.
The room is tense and thick with our regret.
I rack my brain, trying to think of something to cut through it. Anything.
But then Ax ends up being the one to do it when he says, “He wants you to stay, yeah?”
“Is that…okay? I’m not…with the club.”
“That ain’t the absolute truth now, is it?” he says with an amused grin.
“I don’t understand.”
“He just claimed you as his woman.”
“Claimed me?”
“You’re his girl. He just announced it.”
“That’s seriously a thing? I mean, that is just…uh…really sexist and caveman-like.”
He laughs. “I get why you and Rox are friends now. You sound just like her when the two of us hooked up. Fact of the matter is, it is what it is, yeah?”
I decide not to harp on about it. After all, my goal here is to be able to stay with Zeb.
“So, I can stay?”
He leans against the wall beside the bed and blows out a breath. “You sure you want that? Nobody’s gonna blame you if you don’t. Doc’s doing a real fast detox. It ain’t gonna be pretty, Sarah. The dose Jase shot him up with was…a lot. Gonna be some nasty shit to be ‘round.”
“I don’t care,” I end up blurting out, really forcefully. “He asked me not to go, so I’m not going to.”
He pushes off the wall and lays his hand gently on my shoulder. “All right. But I’m gonna be here, too. I been through this with him before. Gonna need that tonight.” He walks past me and crosses to the door. “Just gotta fill the boys in and let ‘em know he’s gonna be okay, before they end up breaking down the door.”
Chapter 18
~Runner~
I open my eyes slowly.
First thing I notice is the pain jackhammering through my head. Feels like a hangover, but way worse.
It’s hot. Really hot. I’m sweating.
I realize I’m in bed. I reach for the covers to rip ‘em off me and that’s when I see it ain’t just the covers over me.
Sarah’s draped over me, her soft blonde hair fanned out over my chest. She’s asleep. And fully dressed. What’s that all ‘bout? Why’s she in my bed and not naked? Don’t seem like me.
Somebody clears their throat and I turn my head to my left.
Ax is sitting in a chair next to my bed. What the hell’s going on?
I take in the scene all ‘round me and it starts coming back to me.
I shake my head at him and murmur, “Nah. Tell me it didn’t happen, Ax. Weren’t real, right? Just a nightmare?”
The look of devastation in his eyes tells me it were as real as it gets. He don’t even gotta say the words.
I look ‘round, tryin’ to get my bearings.
“How long I been out?”
“All night. Most of the morning.”
Ah fuck. I know what that means. Rapid detox. “You let her stay for that?”
“You asked her to. She wouldn’t leave you. Been holed up in this room, not leaving your bedside.”
I bring my hand to my face. “Fuck.”
Never wanted her to see nothing like this. Never wanted an angel like her to see me in no messed up state. She’s better than all this bullshit.
I clench my fists and bury my face in ‘em.
“She cares ‘bout you, Runner,” he says, laying his hand on my shoulder.
I lift my head and tell him, “I need a drink.”
“Not yet,” he says, in that stern Prez-tone of his. The tone that nobody dares to argue with.
But I guess I’m still messed in the head, cuz I shrug my shoulder outta his grip and hiss at him, “Fuck you.”
I ease Sarah off me and climb outta the bed.
As soon as my left foot touches the floor, Ax is there, his arms ‘round me, supporting my weight. “You gotta rest longer, Runner. You ain’t in no state to be walking ‘round.”
“Need to take a piss, all right?” I snap at him.
He don’t react. And that ain’t like him, the guy with the crazed short temper. I get it right away. He’s pitying me. I try to wrestle outta his hold, but he’s got a fucking vice grip on me. “Let go. I’m fine.”
“Just let me help you, for fuck’s sakes, Runner.”
“I’m fine. Let go!”
He does and I pull away, making my way over to the bathroom door over on the other side of the room. “Get her outta here.”
“That ain’t what you really want.”
“Don’t tell me what I want, Ax. Get her outta here. Don’t want her seeing no more of this bullshit. She’s already seen way too much.”
“She’s under club protection.”
“What?” I ask, turning ‘round to look at him.
“You don’t remember?”
I pinch the bridge of my
nose. My headache’s getting worse by the second and him talking ain’t helping it. “Remember, what? You get how screwed up I were, yeah? What the hell you think I’m gonna be remembering shit for? You seen me that way before. You know how it works.”
“You claimed her, Runner.”
I did what?
My eyes dart to Sarah, sleeping on my bed. So looks real peaceful when she’s sleeping. She’s sprawled out over the whole bed, just like every time I’ve slept next to her. She don’t stay on one side. Nah, she spreads out all over me. I never liked that shit ‘til she came along. Now, I’ve already started looking forward to it, waking up to find her body all over mine, her thick blonde hair all mussed up, and those sleepy eyes of hers, first thing in the morning. So…innocent.
But, a guy like me? Do I really deserve that? A woman like her? A good woman like her?
I might not remember what the hell happened after Jase shot me up, but my memory’s fine with all the shit that went down before that. I remember her holding a goddamn gun in her hand and tryin’ to shoot at the guys coming at us inside the safe house. Jesus. A short time in my world and she’s holding a goddamn gun? That’s what I bring to her. And, unlike the whores I usually screw ‘round with, Sarah ain’t built for that bullshit.
She don’t belong in my world.
Sweet and angelic don’t mesh with rough and dirty. And that’s what I am.
“You wanna take it back?”
Ax’s voice pulls me outta my thoughts. But I don’t look at him. Can’t take my eyes off her.
“What?” I got no idea what he’s getting at.
“Claiming her? You wanna take it back? You were outta it and—”
“What she say when I said it?”
He laughs as he tells me, “Something ‘bout it being sexist.”
Figures.
But then he goes on, “She were determined ‘bout not leaving you. Knew you needed her.”
I blow out a breath and slump against the wall. “She ain’t Rox, Ax.”
“I know, brother.”
“She’s a goddamn angel. Way too innocent.”
“You been treating her that way?”
I scrub my hand over my face roughly. “Can’t be no other way when I’m with her. Ain’t even a question.”
