Peg's Stand

by Manda Mellett

  As I walk up to my seat at the left hand of the prez, Wraith seated opposite, pauses his conversation, and gives me a pointed look, one brow lifted. As I raise my chin toward him, he gives a quick nod, interpreting correctly that I’m going to follow his advice.

  Prez comes in and takes his place at the head of the table. His hand sweeps down his face as he looks around, his eyes narrowing on me for a second, before passing on by. Then he pauses. “Joker, Lady. Thanks for watching out last night.”

  Stifling a yawn with his hand, Joker replies, “No problem, Prez.”

  “The fire’s completely out, I take it?”

  “Bit late to ask, ain’t it, Peg?” As prez raises his eyebrow it seems Wraith wasn’t the only one who’d noticed I’d been missing.

  I feel chastised, having neglected my role in the club while I went on my bender. “Point taken.” I jerk my chin at the prez.

  Prez looks around the table again. “The firefighters are moppin’ up, they’ll be stayin’ for a while, makin’ sure everything’s safe. And,” he casts another look at me, “we’ve got most of the compound cleaned up.” Now it’s me who raises an eyebrow, but Prez shakes his head. “Not your woman’s crew, Peg. A fresh lot.”

  Viper raises his hand. “Prez, got word out to our boys first thing this morning. Stopped them going to the construction site. They’re out there now repairin’ the asphalt on the track.”

  “Anyone heard from Heart?” Joker asks.

  “Yeah, he got to the hospital no problem,” Rock informs us. “Babies and Marcia all doing good.”

  “The girls want to go visit,” Wraith observes.

  “Shouldn’t be a problem. Sam’s been bendin’ my ear about going.”

  Prez is just finishing up when I interrupt him. “Can I ask something?” At his raised chin, I continue. “Does anyone know what happened to Ma’s house?”

  Beef nods. “Spoke to a firefighter. He said they did their best to protect the property, but most of it burned. It’s uninhabitable.”

  “I’d like to know how much damage was done.”

  “What you thinkin’, Peg?”

  “I was wonderin’ whether it was possible to rebuild it. She’s gutted, it’s gone. It was her family home.”

  Bullet nods at me. “I don’t mind going over to take a look. If it’s feasible, we can get some men on it.” He laughs. “Never thought I’d say this, but I’ve come like the old girl.”

  “You didn’t get told off for lightin’ a smoke,” Slick complains. “I wasn’t even in the clubhouse. Just standin’ outside.”

  Beef humps his hips forward and back. “Thought you were giving up to give your swimmers a chance.”

  He shouldn’t have made that allusion to Ella, Slick’s old lady, not getting pregnant yet while sitting next to the man he’s teasing. I wince at the heavy slap he receives to the back of his head.

  “Ma told me to take my shoes off before walkin’ into the clubroom. Because they were covered in mud and shit. ‘Course they fuckin’ were. We’ve been fightin’ a fire. What she think we’d been doing?” Rock frowns. “And we’ve got the prospect to clean that shit up.”

  Hyde can’t hide his grin. Yeah, it wasn’t so long ago he’d been stuck with that job.

  Dollar’s looking thoughtful. “Even if we can save her house, is it right that she goes back to it? She’s what, getting on for ninety?”

  “Her granddaughter seems happy enough to stay with her.” I shoot a look at Hyde, who’s looking anywhere but at me at this point.

  “Which I suppose brings us to how long they’ll be stayin’ here for.” Prez pinches the bridge of his nose. “Now they can get out, there’s no need for us to give them hospitality.”

  “And no reason why not,” Wraith drops in. “We’ve got the space. We’ve got the house we keep vacant for visiting officers at the top of the compound. And we’ve been doing up more blocs.”

  Dollar nods across to Viper. “We’re ahead on the warehouse construction. Won’t take that long if we’ve get the whole crew here. They can easily put in shit that she needs.”

  Viper’s looking thoughtful, as though running things through in his head. “Yeah, could spare them a day or so.”

  With their construction crew on site, things should move fairly fast.

  Prez looks around. “Hold your horses, Viper. Anyone against offerin’ Ma and Sarah a place to stay temporarily?”

  We all look at each other, but there’s nothing more than a few shrugs or shakes of a head.

  “Okay. Peg, you seem in with the old lady. Want to make them the offer?”

  “Sure, Prez.” I’ll do that and then I’m out of here. I’m going to see my own old lady, and she sure isn’t one like Ma.

  At last, Drummer bangs the gavel the final time and I’m free to go.

  The track down to the road is still covered with debris from the fire, and the asphalt has melted in parts, so I’m forced to take the Jeep instead of my bike. As I slowly make my way down, I pass Dollar and Viper’s construction crew, who’ve already made a good start on clearing the worst of the wreckage. Driving, a smile comes to my face. Ma had been over the moon when I’d told her she could stay—not that she put it in those words, of course. No, what she actually said was she supposed she’d have to, as she’d got nowhere else to go, and grumbled about the state of the clubhouse. But the light that came into her watery eyes showed the relief that she felt.

  She’s probably enjoying herself more than she has for years. So many of us ‘boys’, as she calls us, to bully and order around. I’m already quite fond of the old girl myself. Maybe it’s because she’s as grumpy as I can be myself.

  It’s late afternoon by the time I draw up at Darcy’s house, but her car’s not on the driveway. The last thing I expected was that she wouldn’t be here, having spent the journey over gearing myself up, thinking I’ll listen, then, after finding out whatever’s bothering her, will come up with a way around it. Having found her, I’m not going to let her get away.

  While that might sound a bit stalker like, even to myself, I’d never do anything to hurt her. If she’s really got a good reason, I will put her needs first. She means too much for me to force her into a life she doesn’t want. Then the corners of my mouth turn up. Who am I kidding? She’s such a strong person, I doubt anyone could ever force her to do something she wouldn’t want to.

  But she’s not here. I settle back to wait, expecting her shift won’t start until the next morning at the earliest, so she’s bound to be home tonight. Maybe she’s shopping. Whatever she’s doing, and however long it takes, I’ll be here when she gets back. Not letting her slip through my fingers again.

  Leaning my head back on the headrest, feeling a bit like a teenager turning up at a parents’ home to take their daughter on a first date, I’m as nervous as hell as I wait.

  My phone rings, and I take it out of my pocket. “Yo, Viper.”

  “Peg. You’ve got to get to the hospital.”

  I sit up straight. “What’s happened? Who…?”

  “It’s not one of us, Brother. It’s Darcy. Fuck, I’m sorry man. If we’d not pulled the men today…”

  “What the fuck’s happened?”

  “The security guard... I’m gonna fuckin’ have his balls for this…”

  I thump the steering wheel with the hand not holding the phone. “Just spit it out.”

  “He was late doing his rounds, didn’t go around the back of the site until just now. He found Darcy… She’s been shot.”

  I draw in a breath, and then stop breathing. “She alive?” I whisper.

  “Just. Shot multiple times. And Peg? She was mostly naked.”

  Jesus. I sit, stunned. My heart feels like it’s stopped beating. For a moment I can’t move, can’t speak, can’t draw air into my lungs.

  “Peg?”

  Then everything comes crashing back into life as I hear traffic sounds again and the rushing of blood through my veins.

  “I’m on my
way.”

  I start the Jeep and pull out onto the road, knowing I’m going to be speeding to be by her side. She’s in a bad way. Is she already dying or dead? I can’t lose her now, there’s no fucking way I’m going to let her go.

  Worried as hell about what I’m going to find, I carelessly park and leave the Jeep, not bothering to lock it. Racing inside, I push past people waiting and demand to be told where she is.

  The sympathetic glance I’m given does nothing to ease my concern, as I’m told she’s in surgery, and where to wait. A man in a uniform I recognise as one of Viper and Bullet’s security guards comes over to me. He’s holding a cap and wringing it between his hands.

  “I’m the one who found her.”

  My fists clench.

  “I’m sorry, man. No one was working today, everything was quiet. The cameras don’t cover that area. I toured the warehouse, saw all the tools were okay and nothing touched. Didn’t do a proper patrol until later.”

  I try to control my temper. “How was she when you eventually did do your fuckin’ job and found her?”

  He takes the seat by my side. A dangerous position. While I’ve got a rein on my rage now, if I find she died because of his incompetence, he’s only got hours, maybe no more than minutes, left to breathe.

  “She’s been shot in both legs. And,” he flicks his eyes to mine, then just as quickly away, “in the stomach.”

  Fuck! I fold over, finding it hard to breathe as I digest that bit of news. That’s one of the worst places to take a bullet. Too many people die from wounds like that.

  The security guard continues, as if reliving his ordeal. His fucking ordeal?

  “I called 911. The operator kept me on the phone. I was describing her symptoms. I watched her breathing, her chest was rising and falling, and then it fucking stopped.”

  He almost chokes on a sob. “The medics arrived and took over. Somehow got her breathing again… When they moved her, you could see she’d lost so much blood.” He breaks off and looks at me. “I only knew who she was because one of the paramedics recognised her. Called it in to Viper and found she’s one of yours. I’m so sorry, man. I’m assuming she’s your old lady.”

  “She is,” I say tersely. This man watched her die? If she’d been found earlier… “What have they said? What are her chances?” I grit my teeth as I wait to receive information I don’t think I can bear to be given.

  “I don’t know. She’s in surgery now.” He turns, and this time looks straight at me. Tears running down his cheeks. “Whatever you want to do to me, man. I deserve it. I should have gone out back before.”

  There’ll be time to deliver retribution later. I’ve never been so scared in my life as I am right at this moment. I’m feeling helpless, knowing there’s nothing I can do but sit here and wait.

  The door bursts open, a mixture of firefighters and bikers. The security guard fades away as though he only waited to hand the responsibility of her over to me, and now I have to give the only news I have, and none of it is good.

  We can do nothing but sit and wait.

  Viper is one of the last to arrive. “They found her car,” he announces. “She must have pulled up in the construction site. Fuck knows why or how.” He looks around. “Where’s Bob?”

  My eyes crease in confusion.

  “Bob, the guard who should have been doing his fuckin’ rounds.”

  It’s only then I notice he’s left, and from the look on Viper’s face, it seems he would have gone after some payback now.

  Prez glances up at him and shakes his head. “Viper, put a hold on it. First thing is to make sure she’s alright.”

  But I’ve got a terrible feeling in my gut that she’ll never be alright again.

  A shadow falls over me. Looking up, I see it’s Truck. He’s got stitches in a cut above his eye. “I was following her home last night. I go the same route. Some fucker overtook me, cut in and made me swerve into a lamp post, then he took off pretty fast going the same way Flash was.”

  My eyes sharpen. “The same man?”

  “Look, I’ve been thinking about it. Only thing that makes sense is that he deliberately got me out of the way. She was tired, we all were. If she’d seen me crash, she would have stopped. If she hadn’t noticed, she’d just have kept driving, and was probably still thinking it was me behind her. He might have got her to pull off the road, and she’d have done it, thinking it was me.”

  It’s the only thing that makes sense. A woman like Darcy would never put herself at risk and stop somewhere isolated unless she thought she knew who was following her. She made sure to lock her car and keep her windows drawn up that day I first met her.

  “I’d put money on it being that fucker, Pete.” Truck’s only voicing my thoughts. He leans down and speaks into my ear. “If you’re going after him, well, I’d like to get some hits in too. Make sure he can never hurt her again.”

  He’s surprised me. Slowly I nod. Pete’s the obvious person, but what has he got to gain from shooting her and leaving her for dead? But he’d tried to force himself on her before. And from her lack of clothing when found, I have to deal with the possibility she was raped.

  “Did you get a look at who hit you? Was it him?”

  Truck sighs loudly. “Fucker had his lights on full when he rammed me. And then sped off fast.” His hand touches his wound. “Dazed me a bit. Sorry, Peg, I didn’t see a thing.”

  Chapter 28

  Darcy

  I know that I’m dying, but try to hold on, as I want the man who abused me named and caught. Dawn has come and gone, and the last time I was conscious the sun was high above. I’d expected the construction workers to come on the job early this morning, but no one’s arrived. My arms have gone completely numb, and my mouth is dry as I dehydrate in the sun. Slowly I’m giving up hope that anyone will find me.

  Peg. I’ve no right to long for him after how I’d dismissed him, but even my pain doesn’t stop me wishing I could see him one last time, and feel his strong, safe arms around me. Then I realise he’s going to take this hard, and if I could, I’d do anything to prevent him knowing what happened to me. A strong woman brought low by a man and violated in such a way that it would be hard for someone so possessive like Peg to handle. While I had thought it best that I leave him, I didn’t want it to be this way. It’s not fair on anyone to know the woman they care about was abused and left alone to die.

  In the past hours I’ve gone through every emotion from anger to despair, and now I’ve hit rock bottom again.

  My body has reached the end of its tolerance, and I feel cold rather than the pain or even the heat of the blazing sun.

  Am I dreaming? I can hear a voice speaking. But I can’t reply, or even move. But perhaps I’m not dying alone. I’ve no strength, can’t talk, but as I take my last breath, in my head I’m saying goodbye.

  I’m floating in a cosy cocoon. Is this what death’s like? I think people are around me. Angels or devils. Which way will I have gone? But isn’t that Peg’s voice? It must be a dream. Is there life on the other side? I strain to hear what people are saying—if there’s a heaven and hell, I want to know where I’m heading.

  Then the pain registers. Not as bad as it was before, but enough to make me uncomfortable. It must be hell. Surely in heaven I wouldn’t feel anything? Then there’s a strange numbing sensation spreads through my veins, and soon my brain registers nothing at all.

  Now I can hear a machine’s beeping, a regular annoying sound. It’s rhythmic beeps keeping pace with my breathing. My breathing. I’m taking air into lungs I never expected to work again. Experimentally I try a deeper breath—it hurts—but my muscles seem to obey my brain. The beeping speeds up as I struggle to open my eyes, but the light’s too harsh, and I have to close them.

  “Flash? Darcy?” An anxious voice sounds close to my ear. “Darcy, I’m here, darlin’.”

  I try to fight to confirm with my eyes that it’s Peg talking and not my imagination, but the fog pull
s me under once again.

  Next time I awake I feel stronger, and this time my eyelids pull all the way back, blinking furiously in the glare from the room. Turning my head to the side, I see Peg sleeping right next to me, leaning on the bed, his head on his hands, which are clasped around one of mine.

  “Peg?” My voice sounds hoarse and rusty.

  He jumps with a start and stares at me. As I never expected to see anyone mortal again, he’s got to be the most beautiful sight in the world. His hand comes out to stroke my cheek. “You’re gonna be fine, Darcy.”

  He reaches up to press a button, and within minutes the room is filled. There are two nurses checking everything they can possibly monitor, and a doctor looking cheerful as he sees me awake.

  “What?” I stammer out.

  He interprets my one word correctly. “You’re going to make it, Darcy. You were lucky, the bullet to your stomach missed everything vital. You’ll be sore, as it damaged a muscle, but help got to you just in time. You’ve got a tear in your calf muscle, but like the wound on your foot, the bullet went straight through. You’ve lost so much blood you’ll feel weak for a while, but with time you’ll make a full recovery.”

  I try to process his words, and then remember what else Pete did and shudder.

  The doctor continues, clearly trying to put my mind at rest. “The bullet from your stomach showed the gun was a twenty-two calibre, so your wounds could have been worse. Your foot will need time to heal, as there’s a fracture to the bone, but you should be able to walk normally again. Can’t deny you gave everyone a scare, and if you hadn’t been found when you had, it would be a different story. But you were, you’re here, and you’re safe.”

  Experimentally I move my arms. My shoulders are stiff, and bandages circle my wrists. The doctor watches me carefully and gives me a moment to take everything in as one of the nurses gives me an ice cube to suck. Feeling as sore as I do, it’s hard to believe I’ll recover. I try to concentrate as the nurse shows me how to work the pain pump, and then explains the dressings need to be changed.