“I’m not going to run.”
“I just told you I been stalking your arse for a month, and you’re not runnin’?”
“You saved my life.”
“Could just as easily end it too.” I grimace, pissed that my own goddamn mouth doesn’t know when to stop running.
“But you won’t,” she says, with a fragile smile.
“Nah, I won’t. You may not wanna be here, but it’s the safest place for you. Go get cleaned up. I don’t have no pants that are gonna fit that tiny little arse of yours, but I got T-shirts and flannels in my bedroom. You’re welcome to ’em.”
“I don’t need ...” she begins, but glances down at her top and freezes when she sees the blood and brain matter plastered to it. “Oh my God.”
She covers her mouth and dry retches. Then she hurries down the hall to the bathroom where she chucks up her guts—if the noises are anything to go off. I leave her be, because I’ve got a call to make.
I pull out the phone and dial Prez. He answers on the first ring. “What?”
“We got a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“A goldilocks problem,” I say.
“The fuck you talkin’ about, Grim?”
“Raine was attacked outside her apartment.”
“What the fuck? Where is she, and how do you know? I thought I made it real fucking clear that you were supposed to keep your distance when it came to her?”
“If I kept my distance,” I whisper, “she’d be bleeding out on a footpath right now.”
“FUCK!” Prez roars into the receiver. “And why the fuck is she there with you, huh?”
“What? You wanna take her home to your wife?”
Prez inhales sharply. I can tell he wants to say more, but he knows I’m right. If I hadn’t followed her, if I’d kept my distance like he told me to, she’d be dead. “Start talkin’. You tell me who I gotta fuckin’ rip apart, Grim.”
“Russians. I think they had a message for us, but I haven’t asked her yet.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because she’s in shock, Prez, but you and I both know who they want.”
“Tank.” He exhales slowly. “Jesus fucking Christ. It never rains but it goddamn pours.”
A phone rings in the background and he tells me to wait. A half-second later, he shouts, “Fuck me! Get your arses to the clubhouse. Your women too. I want everyone on lockdown where these arseholes can’t touch us.”
There’s a cacophony of noise in the background, and I’d bet my left nut Jett’s just done a little redecorating in his office.
“Prez?”
“Where’s Raine now?”
“Chucking up in my bathroom, why?”
“Kick and Tank’s old ladies were attacked. Indie was waiting on Kick to pick her up from working at the café. She’s a savvy bitch, so she got away. A couple guys went after Ivy too—Tank was home and dealt with them accordingly.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, shit is right, motherfucker. Get your arses back here. We’re going into lockdown until every last one of those bastards are dead.”
“She’s safer here.”
“Did you hear me? I said get here now.”
“No, I’m not risking this shit tonight. We’ll get there as soon as we can, but I’m not leaving this fucking apartment.”
“Goddamn it, Grim. I want you both back at this fucking clubhouse now.”
“She’s too shaken up.”
“Put her on the phone.”
I take a deep breath to prevent chewing him out and walk down the hall to my bathroom. Raine has finished throwing up, and is now sitting against the wall, wearing only her jeans and a plain nude bra. I might’ve stared, had she not been red-faced and trembling as mascara runs down her cheeks.
“Hey, you doin’ alright?”
She looks at me as if she’s only seeing me for the first time. Her gaze darts from the hem of my shirt, to my shoulders, and finally to the centre of my chest. I’m covered in blood and brain matter too. It’s just not as noticeable because I ain’t wearing white. I strip off my shirt. Something I don’t think about until she’s staring at the scars that eat away the left side of my torso. “Prez wants to talk to you.”
I hold out the phone, and she tears her eyes away from me to stare at the offending object in my hands. I don’t move closer, but I hit speaker before she takes the phone from me. “Hello?”
“Raine? Darlin’. Talk to me.”
She closes her eyes and sniffs back her tears. “I’m ... I’m so scared, Jett.”
“Shit. Listen, Grim’s gonna bring you back to the clubhouse. Okay, baby? You do everything he tells you. We’re going into lockdown until we find the men who did this.”
“But Grim already—”
“Don’t say another fucking word,” I snap, stepping closer. “Not over the phone.”
“He’s right, darlin’.”
“I don’t want to leave here.” Her voice is small and frightened, but she speaks into the phone as if she were whispering into Jett’s ear. “Please, please don’t make me leave. I don’t want to go out there after what happened.”
“I know, but the clubhouse is the safest place for you right now.”
“Please don’t make me leave tonight, Jett.”
He sighs. “I tell you what, you put Grim back on the phone for me. I’ll see you real soon. We’re gonna make sure you’re safe, Raine.”
“Okay.” With shaking hands, she passes the phone. I take it and turn it off speaker in case Prez says anything incriminating. It’d be just like that bastard to chew me out about my little crush while Raine is sitting half-naked in my bathroom.
“How’s she doin’?”
“She’s in shock. She needs a shower, a hot meal, and to be kept quiet and safe right now. What she doesn’t need is to be dragged across the city on the back of a bike and taken to a rowdy clubhouse where she’ll likely just go back to serving those fuckers drinks.”
He takes a long inhalation through his nose. “You gonna do that? Keep her quiet and safe?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means she’s off-limits, to you and everyone else in this motherfuckin’ club.”
“But not you, right?”
“I’d be very careful what you say next, Grimmy-boy.”
“She’s scared out of her fuckin’ mind, Prez. You’ll forgive me if I’m not paying my dues right now. I got a halfway-to-hysterical bitch in my bathroom, naked and curled into a corner.”
“Naked. What the fuck you mean, naked?”
“We’ll be there at first light, Prez. Sleep tight.” I end the call and toss my phone on the vanity. I don’t give a shit if it smashes—anything to stop him ringing again. I glance at Raine. She’s still huddled against the wall and shaking like a leaf. Blood crusts between her breasts and I figure that might not be what set her off but it sure as shit isn’t helping. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you cleaned up.”