Dash

by Teagan Brooks

  “Shhh! Calm down, darlin’. Patch is just numbing your arm for the stitches.” Phoenix ran his hand over her hair trying to soothe her.

  She looked confused, “Stitches? Why do I need stitches?”

  “Darlin’, you were shot,” he explained.

  She shrieked, “I was shot? SHOT?”

  I stepped into her line of site. “Keep it together, Ember. Yes, you were shot. Twice, actually, but neither are severe wounds. You just need a few stitches. Try to calm down so Patch can get that done.”

  I felt it deep in my chest when she wordlessly nodded, laid her head back down, and let just one damn tear fall from her eye.

  Phoenix continued to run his hand over her hair and spoke softly to her, “It’ll be okay, baby. Everything will be okay. I promise.”

  Her breath hitched when she tried to talk. She was killing me. Never before had I felt someone else’s pain and fear, but at that moment I felt hers. She was trying so hard to be strong. I was damn proud of her for that.

  “I need you guys to talk to me. About anything. Just distract me. Please.” She sounded desperate. It made me wonder if something else was going on with her. She was naive to the ways of the world and incredibly innocent, but even with the way she was raised, she was not weak. It wasn’t the time or place, but I would be discussing this with her in the near future.

  “What would you like to talk about?” Phoenix asked.

  “I don’t care. Anything. Just talk.”

  I saw Patch draw some fluid into a syringe from a small vial. “Ember, I’m going to give you a little something for the pain and a little something to help you calm down. Might make you a little sleepy, but won’t knock you out completely.”

  “Okay, I think I would like that.”

  He patted her shoulder gently and gave her the medicine through the IV in her hand. When the hell did he do that?

  Patch chuckled, “It was the first thing I did, brother. You were too busy checking her over for yourself to notice what I was doing.” He shrugged and went back to working on her arm. Damn, I guess I said that out loud.

  “Tell me about your family, our family. Do we have any other living relatives?” Ember looked to Phoenix, her face filled with hope.

  He softly smiled at her, “My grandparents. They moved to a beachside retirement community in Florida about eight years ago.”

  Ember yawned, “What about your parents?”

  Phoenix frowned slightly, “My mother and father died in a car accident when I was 15 years old. My father’s parents were deceased when my parents were married and both of my parents were only children. So, for our immediate family, it’s just me and my grandparents, and now you.”

  “Are there any cousins?”

  “Yeah, a few. Two of them live not too far from here. They are the President and Vice President of the Devil Springs chapter of Blackwings.”

  “So it runs in the family?”

  Phoenix chuckled. “My grandfather’s brother started Blackwings MC. When he died, his son, Hawk, became the president. When Hawk died, his sons were too young to take over the gavel, so it was offered to me. Not long after that, Gram and Pop decided to move to the beach, so they gave me their house and this land. I took a vote and we decided to move Blackwings here. When my cousins were old enough, they got a chapter of Blackwings up and running in their hometown where it originated.”

  She smiled as he spoke. Her eyes were closed and it was obvious that whatever Patch gave her was working. Moments after Phoenix finished speaking, we heard a soft snore. Phoenix smiled warmly at Ember and reached down to hold her hand.

  “All right, her arm is done. Her side shouldn’t take as long. Dash, hand me the bottle behind you,” Patch instructed.

  He set to work and since Ember was clearly asleep, I figured it would be okay to speak freely. “How’s Duke doing? Anything new?”

  Patch looked up, “Yes and no. They weaned him off the medication used to keep him in the coma, but he hasn’t woken up yet. He is breathing on his own, so that’s good, but until he wakes up, we won’t know how much, if any, damage was done to his brain.”

  “Is that normal? To not wake up once they stop the medicine,” I asked.

  “I wouldn’t say it is normal, but it’s not uncommon. At this point, nothing we can do but wait. Have the detectives found anything?”

  Phoenix shook his head. “No, I talked to them this morning. They’ve got nothing. They believe someone was trying to send a message. What that message is and to whom it was directed, we don’t know.”

  I completely agreed. “What kind of message do eight fucking stab wounds send? You’d have to know what that meant to know who sent it.”

  Ember mumbled something. Her face scrunched and her brow furrowed. Even her little hands balled into fists.

  “What did she say?” I asked.

  “Couldn’t make it out. What was that, Ember?” Phoenix asked.

  It was still mumbled, but it was clearer this time, “Octavius. Eight.”

  Phoenix sucked in a sharp breath and whispered, “What the fuck?”

  And then it clicked. “Hold up. Octavius? As in the guy that owns the dairy farm or whatever that fucking place is?”

  Phoenix gritted out, “How many people do you know named Octavius? Especially around here?”

  Patch stood. “Finished with her side. I want to give her a once over to make sure we didn’t miss anything else. Phoenix, help me turn her on her side.”

  They repositioned her and I watched Patch run his hands all over her. It took everything I had not to break his fucking hands. She was mine and he was touching her, a-fucking-gain. I knew he was only doing it to make sure she was okay, but I still didn’t like it.

  Patch pushed her hair to the side and ran his hands over her neck. He froze, passed his hand over her neck two more times, straightened his spine, and cursed. “Fucking fuck! She’s got a tracker in her neck!!”

  I stepped forward, “You’re shitting us, yeah?”

  “Fuck no. It’s right here!” he pointed to her neck. I couldn’t see anything. Hell, I’d had my hands on her neck and never felt anything, but I wasn’t about to share that little tidbit.

  “Take it out,” Phoenix growled.

  “I can take it out, but I think Byte should be in here. He knows more about how these things work than I do,” Patch said.

  “We know how they work. Now get this damn thing out of my daughter.”

  I got what Patch was saying, or not saying. “Hang on a sec, Prez. I think Patch is saying he can take it out, but he might damage it in the process, yeah?” Patch nodded. “Think for a minute. If we remove it, but keep it in working order, whoever put it there won’t know we found it.”

  Realization dawned on Phoenix’s face. “Right. Get Byte in here.”

  Five minutes later, Byte held a still working GPS tracker in his hand and Ember had one stitch in her neck.

  Phoenix’s eyes glowed. “I’m going to make them pay for this.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Ember

  I groaned. My arm was throbbing, my side was throbbing, and I had an odd ache at the base of my neck. I groaned again, louder this time, and moved to get out of bed when a warm hand gripped mine, “Where you going, darlin’?”

  I didn’t know I wasn’t alone, so I tensed upon feeling his touch and hearing his voice, immediately followed by a sharp wince. Through gritted teeth, I managed, “Dash, what are you doing in here?”

  “Answer my question first,” he smirked.

  I turned away, “Uh, I need to use the restroom and brush my teeth.”

  “Okay, sweetheart. Let me help you up.”

  “I don’t need any help.”

  “Yes, you do. If you rip those stitches in your side, I’m going to tan your ass.”

  I huffed. “Try it and I’ll drop you like a sack of bricks.”

  He grinned mischievously at me, “Not while you’re hurt.”

  I returned my own mischievous grin,
“Fine. I’ll tell my dad.”

  He narrowed his eyes, “Just let me help you get out of bed.”

  I reached back to rub the back of my neck in frustration and discovered a bandage of sorts back there. “Hey, what’s this on my neck?”

  He looked everywhere but directly at me, “Uh, you had a small cut there. Just needed one stitch.”

  “You’re lying.”

  He whirled around and looked directly into my eyes, “You had a small cut there that needed one stitch.”

  I knew what he was doing. He was telling me the truth without telling me the truth. “Tell me, Dash, how did I get the cut?”

  He glared at me, “Can’t say. Club business.”

  Without thinking I jumped to my feet and yelled, “How is my neck club business?” Then, I promptly bent forward and clutched my side in pain.

  “You know, you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. Let me see how much damage you just did,” he said, clearly annoyed with me.

  I let him gently lift my shirt and look at the stitches in my side. “They’re all still in there. You must have just pulled them real good. At least it isn’t bleeding. You are going to have to take it slow for a few days while you heal.”

  “Okay, I get it. Now, can I pee, please?” I asked, my irritation as evident as his.

  He gestured to the bathroom like a game show host, “Be my guest.”

  I did my business and brushed my teeth. My hair looked like I had stuck my finger in an electrical socket, so I quickly pulled it up into a messy bun. Once I was as refreshed as I could be, I returned to the room to find Dash lounging on the bed and Phoenix seated in a chair next to him.

  “Have a seat, darlin’. Dash and I need to talk to you and ask you some questions.”

  That didn’t sound good. I reluctantly took a seat at the edge of the bed.

  “First, how are you feeling this morning?” Phoenix asked.

  I grinned and said, “I was doing okay until I pulled my stitches when I jumped out of bed because Dash said he was going to spank me.”

  Phoenix’s eyes widened and he turned to Dash, “The fuck is she talking about?”

  Dash was holding his hands up in a placating manner. “It wasn’t like that, Prez. I was just trying to get her to let me help her get out of bed. I said if she ripped her stitches I would tan her ass. I wasn’t serious about it.”

  Phoenix just stared at him. Finally, he scoffed and said, “Yeah, we’ll talk about that shit later.” Phoenix then directed his attention to me, “Got a few things I need to tell you. Most of it you ain’t gonna like. Then, I got a few things I need to ask you. You probably ain’t going to like that either, but I need you to stay calm, listen to what I’m saying, and answer my questions as truthfully as you can.”

  Well, now I really didn’t have a good feeling about this. “Sure. I’ll try. Go ahead.”

  He audibly swallowed, “Last night, after Patch fixed up your wounds, he checked you over to make sure you didn’t have any other injuries.” He paused for a moment. He seemed nervous, like he was having trouble gathering his thoughts, and that did nothing to ease my anxiety. “There’s no easy way to tell you this, so I’m just going to say it. He found a tracking device in your neck. Do you know what that is?”

  My hand flew to my mouth and I gasped. I couldn’t speak, so I just nodded. I knew exactly what a tracking device was and I could not believe that they found one in my neck. Well, I could believe it, I just didn’t want to.

  He continued, “Patch removed it, which is why you have a bandage on your neck. Did you know it was there or do you have any idea when it was put there?”

  How could they? Those lying, evil people at that farm! Oh, something was going to be done about them. They couldn’t be allowed to continue doing things like this. I tried to compose myself, but my anger was at an all-time high. “No, I didn’t know it was there, but I do know when it was put there.” Both Dash and Phoenix looked at me, confusion evident. “About a year ago, I had a physical with the physician that came to the orphanage. Everything was the same as always until he told me he found a suspicious mole on my neck that needed to be removed. He said it was so small that it would be easier to remove it instead of biopsying it. I didn’t put it together at the time, but he had everything he needed to remove the mole with him that day, like he knew he would be doing it. I’m sure he was implanting the tracker and not removing a mole.”

  “Patch said you didn’t have any scars back there. Removing a mole would leave at least some kind of mark, so you’re probably right.”

  “So they’ve known where I was this whole time? Do you think that’s who shot me last night?”

  “Assuming they were actively using the tracker, yes, they have known your location the entire time you’ve been gone. Is that who shot you? I can’t say for sure, but I think it probably was.”

  “Why now? Why wait? I’ve been here for over two weeks now.”

  “That’s true, but last night was the first time you’ve been in a place where they could get to you. They can’t get close enough to the clubhouse to target you and they’re not going to risk being caught taking a shot at you in broad daylight with a town full of witnesses.”

  “That answers my first question. They have been actively tracking me.”

  Phoenix nodded, “Seems that way.”

  “What am I going to do?” I cried. My breathing was starting to accelerate. They knew my location and they tried to shoot me. Correction, they did shoot me, twice. It was only a matter of time before they tried again.

  Dash put his hand on my shoulder. “Hang in there, darlin’. There’s more to discuss.”

  “Okay.” I reached up and patted his hand on my shoulder. He grabbed my hand and gave it a little squeeze, but didn’t let go. Just that simple touch from his hand provided me with a world of comfort.

  Phoenix eyed our hands curiously, but continued on. “Now, this can’t be repeated. Normally, I wouldn’t even talk to you about this kind of thing, but I think you might be able to help us out. Can I trust you to keep this to yourself?”

  “Of course. What is it?”

  “Last night, we thought you were asleep from the meds Patch gave you. We were discussing Duke. We mentioned that the detectives thought someone was trying to send a message by what they did to Duke. Dash asked what kind of message eight evenly spaced stab wounds would send…”

  I sucked in a sharp breath and whispered, “Octavius.”

  Dash scooted closer to me on the bed and Phoenix leaned forward in his chair. “That’s what you said last night. Actually, you said, ‘Octavius. Eight.’ Can you tell us why you said that?”

  Fear was taking over and tears pricked my eyes. I knew exactly why I said that. Dash squeezed my shoulders gently. “It’s okay, Ember. You can trust us. Whatever it is, you can tell us.”

  I started rubbing my hands together and my breathing picked up again. Dash ever so carefully lifted me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me. He spoke softly into my ear, “Just breathe with me. There is no reason to be afraid. No one is going to hurt you. No one can get to you. You’re safe here. Just breathe when I breathe.”

  When I finally calmed down, Phoenix was staring at us with the strangest look on his face. I couldn’t quite place it and didn’t have the energy or focus to even try. I cleared my throat and began to speak. “As you know, Octavius owns the farm and the land the orphanage is on. I think he owns the orphanage, too. He’s tied to it in some way. Anyway, he is obsessed with the number eight. He’s the eighth one to inherit the farm or something like that.”

  “What does this have to do with Duke?” Phoenix asked.

  “The stab wounds. If you draw a line across the top to connect the top two, a line across the bottom to connect the bottom two, connect the top two and the bottom two on each side, and draw an x between the ones in the middle, it makes an eight. It’s his ‘symbol’ or something. He puts it everywhere. It’s even worked into the product labels for the
dairy farm. Take a look at the barn doors sometime.”

  Phoenix sat back in his chair and ran his hand down his face. “I’ll be damned.”

  “Why would he do that to Duke? What message was he sending?” Dash asked.

  “I don’t know, brother, but he’s a fucking fool if he thinks he can do this shit to one of my men and I’ll let that stand.”

  Phoenix was angry. Like scary angry. I unknowingly scooted back a bit from him. He frowned, “Already told you, darlin’. You don’t ever have to be afraid of me. I’ll never raise a hand to you and I’ll never intentionally hurt you.”

  “I know that. I really do. I guess it is just a learned behavior from the farm. When the men were angry, the women shied away and disappeared. No one ever hurt me there, but I tried very hard to stay out of trouble. I watched the adult women and mimicked their behavior. I guess it will just take time for me to unlearn some of those things.” I didn’t like that my involuntary reaction had upset him.

  He patted my knee. “You don’t have to worry about anything like that here.” He turned to Dash. “Let’s go see if Byte has found anything on those names he got from Ember, Reese, and Jamie.”

  Dash got up and followed Phoenix out of the room. That reminded me. Where in the world was Reese? I really wanted to go find her, but my body wanted to rest. I climbed back into bed and was asleep in minutes.

  CHAPTER 17

  Ember

  I don’t know how long I slept, but I hadn’t been awake very long when I heard someone knocking on my door. “Come in,” I croaked.

  Dash opened the door and strolled into the room. “I thought we told you to ask who it was.” He raised his eyebrow and peered at me.

  I rolled my eyes, “Give me a break. I was recently shot, twice I might add, and I just woke up about five minutes ago.”

  His features relaxed and he asked, “How are you feeling?”

  “Better I think. What time is it?” I asked as I pushed myself up to a sitting position.