the meeting room and head straight for the common room. As soon as I step foot inside the atmosphere is taut, the air crackling with electricity.
Crank has Mac by the neck, pressed against the wall and is spitting threats at him that sound lethal. I push through the crowd, satisfaction rolling through me.
Chains is standing off to one side, watching, ready to jump in if necessary. I notice his hand is resting on the knife he’s got sheathed on his belt. One wrong move and Mac will be pushing up fucking daisies.
“What’s going on?” another brother, Franz, demand.
“This cunt is playing us,” Crank snaps out. “I’m just waiting for Omen to get here before I slit his throat from ear to ear.”
There’s no sign of the joker he usually is, no sign of the laughing brother I’ve come to know. This Crank is deadly, a lethal weapon ready to strike.
“Playing us?”
Crank’s mouth pulls into a sneer. “He sold us out. He’s been talking to the Fallen Demons.”
“That’s a lie,” Mac snarls.
“Omen has proof, asshole.”
Mac’s eyes dart around the room and I can practically smell the fear coming off him as Sons draw closer to him.
“Question is…” I say. “What the fuck do we do with him now?”
Chains steps forwards. “What do we always do with traitors?” He leaves the threat hanging in the air.
They drag Mac toward the kill room. I don’t stick around to see what they’ll do. I’ve been programmed to save lives, not take them. I’ve never derived much pleasure from seeing a man tortured, not like some of my brothers who get off on the blood lust, enjoying the process of draining a man dry.
Instead, I head upstairs to check on Havoc and Amy.
I find her sitting at the edge of his bed, watching him sleep. Her eyes come to me when I enter and her face softens.
“Hey,” she says softly, as if afraid she’ll wake Havoc, but I’d pumped him full of morphine after we’d stitched him up. He’s not coming around for a while.
“You okay? You seem tense.”
I lean down and kiss her, my hands going to her shoulders. “I’m better now you’re here.”
She kisses the hand on her shoulder. “I love you,” she tells me and relief floods me. I didn’t even realize how scared I was of losing her because of my lifestyle.
“I love you too, babe.”
I sink into the chair next to hers, and together we keep a vigil on Havoc, keeping him alive through the night.
31
Amy
Havoc makes it through the night and I’m hopeful he’ll pull through. He should have been in a hospital. Back room medicine isn’t me, but I’m glad we could save his life. He’ll have a long road to recovery. Luckily, the wound isn’t complex and is something Shane and I were able to treat. Watching him work had been fascinating. He doesn’t do anything by the book, and I can see where his years of field medicine come into play.
I’m sitting on Shane’s bed in the clubhouse, reading a book when my phone starts to jangle. He’s in something he called ‘church’, which I think is a club meeting. I’d checked on Havoc then come back to the room. I want to go home, but Shane isn’t sure it’s safe yet, and I don’t want him to worry. I took some personal leave from work while this mess is cleared up, and I feel better not having to worry if he might turn up at work, where I wouldn’t be able to escape him.
I peer at the screen, my attention still mostly on what I’m reading. That changes as soon as I see whose name is on the screen.
Natalie.
Quickly, I swipe my finger over the screen.
“Natalie?”
She lets out a sob that makes my heart shatter. “Rick… H-he attacked me.”
Ice fills my veins at her words, fear trailing up my spine as my breath sticks in my throat.
“Oh my God. What happened?”
“I’m in the hospital. The police are here. Can you come?”
She sounds so scared, so alone. “Absolutely. Tell me where you are and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I’m at the hospital you work at, in the ER.”
That fills me with some relief. I’ll have some sway there if I need to use it, not that I expect I’ll need to use it.
“I’m on my way. Sit tight.”
I hang up and scramble off the bed, looking for my jeans. I’m just stripping out of my yoga pants when the door opens and Shane