When I'm With You (Little Hollow #2)

by Danielle Dickson

  Sam nods, wiping at her eyes and kisses me on the forehead as she stands up. “Back in a minute.”

  I smile weakly and play with the hem of my hospital gown, feeling awkward at being left in this room with a strange man. I hear Sam raise her voice but I can’t quite make out what she’s saying, but she storms back into the room, Daniels on her heels. “Miss Reynolds, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  Her five foot four frame stands tall. “Because you know her do you?”

  “Sam?” I interrupt.

  She holds up a finger to me then points it toward the door opposite the one we’re in.

  “You let us in, he’s done nothing wrong.”

  He rubs the back of his neck and looks at Hernandez who shakes his head and chuckles. “Redheads. I don’t see why not. You heard what she said, he’s innocent.”

  My heart beats in my chest. “What’s going on?” I ask, but they can’t hear my stringy voice so I stick my fingers in my mouth and whistle. That get’s their attention. “Someone want to fill me in?”

  Sam smiles like she’s got the best secret in the world and wheels me out of the room to stand outside the one the cops were just guarding seconds ago.

  She squeezes my shoulder, opens the door, and my head swims.

  The quarter I’ve been twirling through my fingers for the past couple of hours drops to the floor. I want to run to her and I can tell she wants to do the same, but I’m handcuffed to this Goddamn chair.

  “Sam?” she says, never taking her beautiful blue eyes off me. The pretty redhead kneels in front of her. “Get Daniels or Hernandez in here… now.”

  The redhead walks out of the room and Keeley stays rigid in her wheelchair. She looks a little better than a few days ago, but there’s a haunted look in her eyes.

  It seems like forever before the redhead walks back into the room with a cop trailing behind her and during that time, we don’t say anything, we just stare at each other. There’s so many things I want to say, should say, but it feels like someone is squeezing my voicebox.

  Keeley points at me. “Take those cuffs off him.”

  The cop eyes me. “You sure about that?”

  She rolls her eyes and motions for him to go to me so he walks over. “Your story checks out, you’re one lucky son of a bitch.”

  Lucky? I nearly died from him being trigger happy!

  He uncuffs me and I rub my wrist again my sweatpant clad leg.

  “I’ll be right outside.” He tries to say it menacingly but a look of my own has him backing out the room.

  I watch the redhead put her hand on Keeley’s shoulder and whisper something in her ear before following him, closing the door behind her. My eyes focus back on hers and her hitch in breath makes it feel like all the air is sucked out of the room. I use my good arm to push me out of the chair I’m sat in and slowly walk toward her.

  She narrows her eyes and I’m ready for the onslaught that is going to come out of her mouth, but instead her face screws up and tears spill out onto her hollow cheeks.

  I speed up and drop down on my knees in front of her, cupping her face and resting my forehead against hers. “I thought I’d lost you, they wouldn’t tell me a fuckin’ thing.”

  She sobs and I cut off the next one by pressing my mouth to her perfect lips in a gentle kiss. She pulls back and eyes the arm I have in a sling.

  “They had me thinking you were dead, I was so confused. Hunter, you saved my life.” Her hands slide up my neck and fist my hair when she reaches the nape.

  Fuck she’s beautiful! “No, you saved yourself. You’ve always been so fuckin’ strong, you never needed me.”

  She looks deep into my eyes and snorts. “Are you freaking kidding me? I’ve always needed you.” Her voice cracks and I don’t miss the hidden meaning behind her words.

  “I can’t make up for what I did to you. I just hope you can forgive me.”

  Her hands drop from my neck onto her knee and she winces. “What happened to me, it puts things into perspective. What you did fucking destroyed me and I was lost for a while, but I wouldn’t change where I ended up for anything. I finally have people that care about me.”

  I flinch. “I always cared about you.”

  She gives me a watery smile. “You did.”

  I stand and walk to the window to look out over the gray parking lot filled with cars. “I still do, I’ve never stopped.” I turn and look into her eyes. “You were mine from the get go, there’s never been anybody else, never will be.”

  I shrug and she looks down at her hands, my heart sinks. “Have you found someone else?”

  She ignores my question and continues staring at her hands like they’re the most fascinating things in the world.

  “Keeley?”

  A flash of pain crosses her face and she lifts her head and points to my hospital bed with a shaky arm. “Help me up? My ribs are hurting sitting like this.”

  I look down at my arm in a sling, feeling emasculated. “Err, I’ll try. You sure you don’t wanna get someone else in here?”

  She eyes me and shakes her head. “No.”

  I shrug, ignoring my own pain and push her as close to the bed as possible, she grits her teeth and pushes herself out of the wheelchair with my help. I forgot how light she is and lift her onto the bed with no problems.

  I pull back and get caught in the wires of her drips. “Shit.”

  She laughs as I untangle myself and find myself smiling before it drops as the tension radiates off her. I don’t stop watching her, trying to read her, but she’s got a barrier up that she won’t drop.

  I stand staring into her eyes, it’s like looking into the clearest water I’ve ever seen. They captivate me. What the fuck is wrong with me? I normally take what I want, but it’s never been like that with Keeley.

  But why not? She’s here, right now.

  She must notice my change in demeanor as her breath catches in her throat and I move to sit next to her on the bed, encasing her tiny hand in mine. “Is there someone back home?”

  She tears her eyes away from mine but I tilt her chin toward me with my fingertips. “Don’t look away from me, I want you to look at me when you tell me there’s someone else.”

  What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment.

  “You’re the one that sent me away on my own, Hunter. You can’t expect me to not move on with my life. We were never together.”

  I let my hand drop from her chin. “You were mine.”

  “Drop the caveman attitude, I’m not an object,” she says flippantly.

  “I don’t mean it like that and you know it.” I shake my head. “All that matters now is that you’re alright. You are, right?”

  She plays with her hands but doesn’t answer me.

  “Steely? Just talk to me Goddammit. If you can’t talk to me, then who can you talk to?”

  My thumb absentmindedly rubs the top of her hand as she looks at me, numb. “I don’t feel sad, I don’t feel anything really.”

  “I’m not buying it.”

  Her barrier drops and I watch as her face turns defeated and tired. “I’m confused about everything, I’m hurtin’ everywhere, and I can’t get his piece of shit face out of my mind.” Tears drip out of her eyes and she takes in a deep breath. “He told me every detail about how he murdered my mom while he took what he wanted from me.”

  My fists clench, making my shoulder ache and I hiss. She thinks it’s because of the pain from my shoulder but it’s not. It’s a different kind of pain, it’s the pain of not killing that motherfucker myself, never getting to inflict every single thing he inflicted on this beautiful, strong woman in front of me.

  “He said you wanted to take something from him so he’d take something away from you,” she adds quietly.

  I do a double take. He did this because of me going for VP? Fuck if that doesn’t hurt. “I would’ve come for you sooner if I knew.”

  She closes her eyes, making the tears flow faster. “This is nobo
dy’s fault but his. But it’s over now, we can all go get on with our normal lives.”

  My thumb traces the tear marks down her cheek. “What if I don’t want to go back without you?”

  She looks shocked but recovers quickly with a flourish of her head. “Then you’re going to be really fucking disappointed, there’s not a chance I’ll ever go back to the club.”

  “All I’ve ever known is the club, it’s been my life for the last twenty-seven years, but it’s not the same as it was. Everything’s gone to shit, Steely. I love bikes and I always will do, but there’s nothing left there for me anymore, my pop has lost his way, and Jacques? He needs a fresh new start. College or somethin’.”

  I let the words hang between us. The door opens and the same cop from before comes in and assesses the situation. Keeley shifts beside me, making my hand drop from her face.

  “Sorry to interupt, but there’s guys here from your club and they’re causing quite the scene trying to get to you both.”

  Keeley tenses and grabs my hand. “They’re coming for me.”

  I push off the bed and walk toward the cop. “How many are here?”

  “Around seven.”

  I nod and worry my lip, they won’t do anything in such a public place, but what if they want revenge on Keeley for killing Taz?

  I point to the cop. “You stay in here with her, you let anyone in and I’ll be back for you.”

  Keeley tries to shuffle out of the bed. “The hell with that! I’m not staying here like a sitting duck.”

  I push her back down on the bed. “You’ll stay here, I’m not askin’.”

  A fire flickers behind her eyes but she nods once. I take one last look at her and make my way out of the door, eyeing the cop as I walk past him. I don’t need to ask where my brothers are, I hear them before I see them around the corner. I turn, facing them head on.

  “Bear!” Jacques pulls me into a man hug and claps me on the back. “I thought you were six feet under!”

  I pull away and look into his eyes. “You called them down here?”

  “Where the fuck is she, Bear?” Pres growls, walking toward us.

  My shoulder screams out as I undo the sling, ready to put him down if I need to. “She’s none of your business anymore, you washed your hands of her, remember?”

  He squares up to me. “She’s my fuckin’ daughter and as far as I’m aware, I’m still president of this club! You’ll step aside and let me see my daughter.”

  There’s nothing about his statement or his demeanor that says he’s here to hurt her. I eye the other brothers standing behind him; Jacques, my pop, Jojo, JT, Grim and Smiler. I scrub a hand down my face in relief, none of these brothers would do anything to a woman, not on purpose anyway.

  I sigh. “She’s in a bad way, Pres. She-”

  “She can speak for herself.”

  My skin bristles at her raspy voice, and I hear the collective growls and hisses from my brothers at the sight of Keeley, bruises marring her beautiful skin.

  “Keeley…” Pres breathes out and his face turns into a picture of rage as he punches the hallway wall. “Fuck!” He shouts.

  Two cops run toward us and he puts up his hands. “No problem here.”

  They eye us all but don’t turn away.

  “Bear, you better start fuckin’ talkin’ before these guys take me away in cuffs.”

  His chest heaves up and down and I take Keeley’s wheelchair off the terrified looking nurse. I eye the two cops standing with hands ready to grab their guns at any sign of trouble and tip my head to them. “How about we take this somewhere private?”

  “There’s a room just up here,” Keeley sighs out.

  I turn my back to Pres against my better judgement, and start wheeling Keeley away from the stares of them all.

  “I can talk for myself.”

  “I know that but the situation needed defusing. You’re either real stupid for coming out here or real brave.”

  “We’ll go with both,” she quips.

  Her lip curls up and I shake my head at her ability to make jokes at a time like this.

  I’m putting on a brave front, but all I want to do is find somewhere to hide until this all blows over. Everyone looked furious when I rolled up, the only thing stopping them from doing something to me was the two cops who turned up at the right time. In the past hour, I’d found out that Hunter was alive, that he still really cared for me even after nearly four years, and that my feelings for him haven’t diminished any either. And on top of that, I’m just about to face my dad again for the first time since he eighty-sixed me from the club, his house, my work, the whole fucking area I only ever knew.

  Hunter wheels me into the room the cops took my statement in and Hernandez and Daniels stand out in the hallway, giving me a look that says they’re not going anywhere if I need them.

  He takes us into the far corner and chooses to stand next to me. My fingers grip my knee as my dad files in but he tried to stop the other guys from following him in. “This is a private matter.”

  “The hell it is! This is club business, we all were fuckin’ interrogated, not just you!” Grim sneers.

  My brow furrows, what is he talking about?

  “Let them stay,” I say, sounding braver than I feel.

  I feel Hunters eyes on me but I ignore his questioning look, may as well get this over and done with. I tense as Jacques’ eyes meet mine, a pitiful expression crosses his features. He must only be… eighteen now but he’s so tired looking it makes him look a lot older than he is. The club pressure is obviously getting to him like it did Hunter. I should feel nothing but hatred toward him, but he looks like nothing more than a frightened boy in a man’s body.

  I specifically left out the part in my statement that I knew it wasn’t my Uncle who had taken me, they’d just assumed it was, so I never corrected them. I knew what club life was like, you had to do things you didn’t want to do at times, and I can tell looking at him now that he feels nothing but remorse and guilt.

  Everyone chooses to stand apart from Jojo who sits in a chair on the left side of the room and gives me a quick wink, he’s always been one of the only ones that I liked out of all of the brothers. He’s like the class clown that all the ladies love to hate. He’d never settled down, well, he hadn’t when I was still about, and it doesn’t look like he’s changed one bit apart from a rounder belly.

  Hunter’s voice breaks my thoughts. “Y’all just gonna stand there like a pack of wolves, or you gonna sit the fuck down?”

  I’m impressed at how authoritative he sounds and everyone but my dad sits down.

  They seem to be in a staring contest and I roll my eyes. “For fuck sake, this isn’t a pissing contest. If you’ve come to say something to me, just say it.”

  Dad’s eyes linger on Hunter for a couple more seconds before he looks at me and his face softens ever so slightly. “You look a mess.”

  I roll my eyes. “Ever the confidence builder, now let’s get to what you’re really here for.”

  “You killed my brother,” he states, but he doesn’t seem angry.

  He knows the answer but he wants to hear me say it. I puff out my chest as my eyes bore straight into his. “I did. And I’d do it again.”

  His eyes flit over my body and back to my face. “How?”

  He says it as if someone as small as me could never overpower someone his size. I can see his fists are clenching and unclenching as he uses his peripheral vision to eye Hunter beside me. It clicks, he thinks I’m covering for him, fine, I’ll give him what he wants.

  “While he was too busy groping me, whispering how he was going to gut me and kill me just like he did mom, he got sloppy. I noticed a knife sheathed in his belt and decided I wasn’t going down without a fight. I grabbed it, broke his nose, and dug that knife deep to the hilt, right into his chest. His blood ran down my arm as I watched every inch of his worthless life drain out of his eyes. That what you wanted to hear, dad?”

&nbs
p; His face pales and everyone in the room is deathly silent apart from Hunter that releases a low growl.

  “Your mom?” Dad whispers.

  I nod and squeeze my eyes shut, I still haven’t processed that properly. “I’m not talking about this in front of everyone.”

  Trent, Hunter’s dad, walks up and grasps Hunter on the shoulder. “Proud of you, Bear.”

  Even Hunter looks confused at that but doesn’t say anything as he watches his dad walk out of the room, Jacques and Jojo following behind them. My dad turns to the other three men. “Means you too.”

  They stand up warily but eventually leave the room so there’s only me and my dad with Hunter standing over me like a guard dog.

  “She said everyone, Bear,” dad says, narrowing his eyes at him.

  Hunter snorts a laugh. “Yeah, I ain’t leavin’.” And sits down in the chair to my right to prove his point.

  My dad looks like he’s about to walk forward to get Hunter out, so I sigh, “He can stay.”

  He narrows his eyes at him but talks to me. “Your mom?”

  I nod even though he’s not looking at me. “She tried to tell you what Merl was like but you wouldn’t listen, you kept telling her to stop attention seeking and do her Old Lady duties and stand by your side.” I eye Hunter and he winces. Although he was always the one I would run to when I needed to feel safe, there wasn’t one time I ever told him why, he’d always just assumed it was because of my mom’s drinking. “I even tried to tell you a bunch of times that he made me feel uncomfortable, but he was your brother, and not just by the patch, he was a blood brother, so why would you listen to us?”

  He waits for me to carry on talking, although I can see his jaw ticking as he holds back what he wants to say.

  “I was six years old when I first saw him force himself on her. She hid me in your closet but I could still see through the gaps in the doors. He held her down and raped her right there and then left, just like that. It happened nearly every damn day and she tried to tell you!”

  I hear Hunter growl beside me but I ignore him and stare back at my dad, feeling the anger flood through me at the injustice. “She couldn’t handle it anymore, she drowned herself in liquor all the time because your sick, twisted brother couldn’t keep it in his pants. The bruises? They weren’t from drunken falls the majority of the time, he’d come around and let off his frustration in one way or another. Why do you think I was always around Trent and Arlene’s?”