that it isn’t necessary. Pip steps out, and I hear him updating Dragon in the hall.
“She’s quite the little Florence fucking Nightingale, isn’t she?” Dragon rumbles irritably. “What else?”
“Reaper’s guarding Penny’s door in case that asshole comes back to finish the job,” Pip says quietly, and my stomach loosens a little. “Diesel’s gonna stay with her for a while. We’ve got someone watching Ben and Ruthie at her house.”
“And Gary? Anyone know where fucker rabbited off to?”
“He’s in the wind.”
There’s a loud thump, as if Dragon’s hit something, and he swears.
“Striker’s greased a few palms and got the security tape from the hospital for Rat to look over,” Pip adds.
“And Spider?”
My ears perk up at this, but footsteps sound in the hall and the men’s voices fade until they’re barely audible.
As soon as Axe is done, he lets me go, surprising me with a smile and a squeeze on my shoulder. “No more of this hero shit. Stay out of trouble, all right?”
I give him a weak smile at the surprising respect in his eyes. It’s hard to believe this is the same man who drugged me only days ago.
Dee puts her arm around me and guides me upstairs. She looks over the bandage and waterproof adhesive Axe put over the wound. “You’re going to have a nice scar there when it heals, but it won’t be too bad.”
“Where’s Spider?” I ask on the way up to the barroom. I cringe, hearing myself ask something I’ve found myself asking way too often since I met him.
Judging by the way her mouth turns up, she’s picked up on the concern I didn’t manage to keep out of my voice. “Oh, don’t worry about him. He’s off doing what he does best.”
I frown, irritated at her answer. It gives away nothing, but the ominous way she says it makes it all too easy for me to imagine what she isn’t saying.
Club business again.
Doing what he does best. Which is what? Protecting the club, right?
The words imply endless possibilities, but they make it clear that whatever he’s doing it’s dangerous. The Outlaw is out in force.
The thought causes an unwilling tightness in my muscles. No matter how badly I want to be ticked at him, I can’t help the fear for him that tightens my chest.
“Tell Sassy she’s going to have to fill in for Emma the next few days,” Dee instructs Monica as we pass her on the way to the halls that lead to the bedrooms.
“So,” Monica says, following us toward Spider’s room. “You managed to get yourself out of work then, Sticky Fingers?”
Livid anger bubbles up in my gut like acid, but I roll my eyes and say nothing.
Dee doesn’t reply, but her jaw clenches, and her arm around my shoulders tightens.
“Sassy is sick,” Monica says.
Dee rounds on her. “Then get someone else,” she orders coldly. “And if I hear you’ve been giving Emma shit, I’ll make sure you’re the only one available to give Whistler whatever he wants for the next month.”
Monica’s face goes pale. She draws back from her. The shock and dread on her face gives me a savage sort of pleasure. Monica disappears, and I stare at Dee as she opens the door to Spider’s room with a key from a ring full of them.
It’s a strange feeling, realizing what’s just happened here. From the moment Spider brought me to Casper’s, Dee has not only gone out of her way to make my life miserable, but anytime Monica has given me a hard time, she’s watched it with delight. I don’t dare believe that what’s happened with Gary has wiped the slate clean, but still, it feels as if she’s suddenly switched sides.
I shiver, as if a wind of change has just swept through this clubhouse, becoming a tangible thing I can feel on my skin.
What was it Mort said about what happened with Cap? The club keeps track of the bad, and the good. It does not forget.
A trickle of warmth eliminates some of the chill I feel over my last encounter with Spider. Maybe I’m reading more into Dee’s actions than they deserve, but it feels a little like a debt has been paid.
Alone in Spider’s room, I sit on his bed for a long time, lost in my own thoughts. Perhaps my debt has been paid in Dee’s eyes, but will it ever be paid in his? Can it ever be?
The next morning, a knock on the door wakes me. I’m surprised to