Chapter Nineteen
Petal folded the laundry. She’d already began making lots of little piles. For the past few days, she had gone through everyone’s room, made a note of who had what, and began the massive task of organizing. Maybe it was growing up with a houseful, or just knowing what she was supposed to be doing, but either way, she had been able to combat what felt like months worth of laundry.
In fact, with the women currently living in the clubhouse, it had gotten a thorough cleanup. Petal hated mess, and it would seem Tanya was not one for it either. Kim had all the help she needed and a husband that wanted to please her.
“I thought I would find you in here,”
Rosalie said, coming toward her, holding a mug of coffee.
“You didn’t have to do that,”
Petal said. “You could have gotten anybody else to carry me a coffee. I do not want you getting sick.”
Rosalie smiled. “I’m not feeling sick right now, and besides, I feel like I don’t get to see you a lot anymore. We rarely hang out.”
Petal looked toward her best friend. “That is because you’re very pregnant, and you’re still getting to know Colt, and it has been crazy. I can’t believe I’m currently living in an MC clubhouse. This is new.”
Her friend laughed and came to join her. “I should have known if there was anyone who could fix this mess, it would be you.”
She rested her head on her shoulder. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been … good. Better than good.”
“I know you’re in Dirty’s room. Is he being a gentleman or do I have to kick his ass?”
Petal laughed and patted her friend’s hand. “You don’t have to worry about me and Dirty. We’re making it work.”
“Making it work? Does that mean you and Dirty are back together?”
“I don’t know what it means for Dirty and me, but we’re doing better.”
“And is this what you want?”
Rosalie asked.
Petal stopped and thought about it and nodded. “Yeah, I think it is.”
“Even after everything?”
She lowered the shirt she was holding and glanced over to her friend. “Do I need to remind you exactly what your husband was like, and how he left you on your wedding night? That same man who threatened to make your life miserable is now the father of your child, and if I’m not mistaken, I’ve heard you tell him you love him?”
Petal mockingly gasped.
“That’s different.”
“It is?”
“Yeah, that … was … it’s complicated.”
“And now it’s not complicated. Dirty and I have complications, but we’re going to work through them. It’s no different.”
“You have a choice, Petal. You could get away from this.”
Rosalie grabbed her arms and stopped her from folding a pair of boxer briefs. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and my mom is gone, and you’re free. You have no true ties to the MC, and you don’t have to be living your life like this. You know there is a death threat on the club, right? Anyone associated with it … and this was not supposed to happen. You’re a free woman. You have the right to go and do whatever the hell you want, free from all of this.”
Rosalie looked half possessed as she spoke. Petal reached and stroked a finger through her hair, tucking it behind her ear.
“No, you’re wrong. The moment you and I became friends was the moment I was all in.”
“Petal—”
“Stop it,”
Petal said, cutting her off. “I am not angry. I’m not disappointed or upset. Sure, our life didn’t exactly go according to plan, but whose really does? Men were not meant to get involved with our lives, and yet they are. You’ve got Colt, and I’ve got Dirty. This is not what either of us wanted, but it is what we’ve got, and I am okay with that. I like working at the diner. I like it even more that we’re running the diner. We don’t have to dodge the wayward hands of the boss. We’re our own boss, with limits, I know, but it’s better than nothing. You’re happy. I’m finding my happy.”
“But what Dirty did…”
“It’s no different than what Colt did, not really, and you found it in your heart to forgive him, right?”
“He’s my husband.”
“And Dirty’s … mine.”
Petal shrugged. “I’m happy. Don’t feel sad or guilty. You’re my best friend, and I wouldn’t change what has happened. I mean, there are some things I would have changed, but we can’t. We’ve got to embrace what we’ve got, and we’ve got to make this work for us.”
“Petal, I love you,”
Rosalie said.
She held onto her friend and frowned. “I’m starting to have my doubts on your kind of love. I mean, you’re trying to get rid of my ass. That is not love.”
Rosalie began to laugh and cry at the same time. “I would miss you, and I’m trying to be selfless here. You have a right to your own life, far from all of this. I want to see you get everything your heart desires. I don’t want anything to hold you back.”
“Nothing is going to hold me back, Rosalie. I’m right where I want to be.”
She held onto her friend, hugging her tightly.
Seconds passed, then minutes before Rosalie finally let go, and Petal finished folding the laundry with her help.
“So, you and Dirty, huh?”
Petal laughed. “I am so not giving you the details here.”
“Is he treating you right?”
“Yeah, he really is.”
“Better than last time?”
“Much better.”
Rosalie laughed. “I never thought you and I would be doing laundry for a bunch of guys, while talking about the men in our lives.”
“Well, to make it equal, is Colt treating you right?”
“He’s treating me like a queen.”
“Good. That means for another week, he can live with his dick.”
****
Dirty sat in the hospital room and looked at a sleeping Fritz. There was no way of knowing if the man was in any kind of hell. The medically induced coma had stuck, even when he was supposed to be waking up.
The doctors had said it was a risk, and now it was a very real risk they were facing. Dirty didn’t want to think of Fritz not ever waking up, but it was turning out to be a very real possibility.
“You okay?”
He turned to see Colt entering the room. Colt had wanted to come and visit Fritz. The only way to make that happen for Warden, was to have several men assisting them. Warden had a suspicion that Colt was a target, and they now had to keep him safe. Not that it was a problem for anyone taking care of Colt. Dirty would die for any club brother, Colt included. He didn’t give a shit if Colt was the president’s son or not. He was club, and that meant he would always protect him with his life.
“Yeah, I’m okay, but this isn’t right. Fritz shouldn’t be here.”
“I know,”
Colt said.
Colt came to stand beside him.
“I just … I keep thinking there was more we could have done, you know?”
“Yeah, I do. I just don’t know what.”
Clicking his tongue, he stood up and began to pace the room. “What do we know?”
Dirty said. “Think about it. Fritz had to be closing in.”
“And Predator is too much of a dumb fuck to be running things,”
Colt said. “He had the perfect opportunity to take out Mom, and even Petal. Let’s face it, my mom’s death would start a war, but he hesitated.”
Dirty rubbed his temples. “He had to have been waiting for orders.”
“But Petal said nothing happened. No phone call, nothing.”
“That she saw,”
Dirty said. “What if he was being fed orders through an earpiece or something? You know, military shit or whatever. We know Diablo works for Don Stefano Napoli, so that proves the connection to the mafia, and they’re known for tagging people, stalking, getting to know everything. They’d have the equipment for this.”
“Which puts us right back to knowing that Daemon at some point was working for the mafia,”
Colt said.
“So why did he join us? What was his goal?”
Dirty asked. “We knew it was all a lie from the beginning, but why get Gabrielle and Rosalie involved?”
They stared at each other and Colt frowned. “Unless getting Rosalie killed was his plan from the start.”
Dirty looked toward him. “What?”
“Think about it. The man was obsessed with Gabrielle. It wasn’t a sane obsession. He would do anything for Gabrielle. The man butchered his own son because of her death. What if that day it was meant to be me and Rosalie? He’d blame the club, which would start an all-out war, right? He would attack, take out our club, using the manpower with the mafia, and he’d get Gabrielle.”
Colt laughed.
Dirty couldn’t look away. “Are you trying to tell me our club’s demise is all on the basis of him getting a woman?”
“That, and the club.”
“But what the fuck does the mafia have to do with this?”
Dirty asked.
“They’re friends.”
Dirty shook his head. “No, that is too easy. There is something here that isn’t right. It stinks. You’ve got to see that too.”
“I do see it, but what more is there?”
“It makes no sense. Daemon was not the kind of guy to play nice with. They were not a club known for making deals with mafia people that would benefit them. None of it makes sense. It makes more sense for us to have a closer relationship with Don Stefano Napoli.”
Dirty rubbed his temples. “We’re missing something here.”
“But that also explains how the Evil Fuckers MC got out and why they haven’t needed to return to their compound.”
“They’ve got the backing of Don Stefano Napoli. He’s keeping them somewhere.”
Colt glanced toward the bed. “Fritz must have been on to it.”
“All the information on the computers has been wiped. We have no way of knowing any of this shit. No one even knows what Don Stefano Napoli looks like,”
Dirty said. “The man is a ghost. There are rare glimpses, but all those images are pixelated and there’s nothing.”
“Something stinks here and it doesn’t add up.”
Colt moved closer to Fritz. “Look, man, I know you’ve been through hell and back. I get it. We all get it, but we need you. We need you to wake up and do what you do best, tell us what we’re all missing here. Brother, we’re all here for you.”
Colt put his hand on Fritz’s shoulder. “It shouldn’t have happened to him.”
Dirty didn’t even need to wake him to know he didn’t give anything away. It wouldn’t have been hard to find Colt’s address. Fritz was one of them, through and through.
“We’ll settle the score,”
Dirty said.
“It’s time we were heading back. Maybe we could talk to Warden, let him know what we figured out.”
“And hoping he could fill in the blanks.”
They left the hospital room, nodded at Rooster and Pirate, who were manning the door. Warden had made a healthy donation to the hospital to make the security look in the opposite direction.
Stepping out into the sunlight, Dirty knew it wouldn’t be long before the cold would be fighting back, and they were heading toward Halloween and Christmas. His thoughts drifted to Petal, and he was already thinking about what to get her for Christmas.
She didn’t know he had already picked out a ring for her. He wanted to marry Petal, to go all in with her. This time, there was no holding back. No cutting corners. He was going to make her his wife. He didn’t know if he should propose to her right now, wait until Halloween, or save it for Christmas. Patience was not one of his many virtues, it used to be, but with Petal, he didn’t want to give her chance to remember how much he had fucked up. This was going to be a fresh start for them both.
Riding out of the hospital parking lot, he stayed close to Colt, keeping an eye on their surroundings.
Dirty didn’t like the feeling that swept over him. Something didn’t feel right. That was when he saw the gun coming out of the side of one of the cars behind them. He pushed on the brake, moving in behind Colt, who gave a wide berth, and as the gun fired, it moved between them, taking out the back screen of the car in front of them.
They had to get off the road, as more shots were fired. There were not a lot of choices. They had to pick up speed and try to lose them. With Colt close, they weaved through the few cars and then pressed on the gas. Dirty checked his mirrors and saw the car gaining.
“Make a right!”
Colt said, yelling.
He didn’t second-guess or question it. They took a right, taking them off the main path and down an old dirt road. Their speed was already coming down, and then he heard the bikes. Dirty glanced behind him, seeing the car, along with three bikes.
“They’re on our tail!”
The dirt road opened, and it was to an abandoned ranch. Dirty didn’t even realize how many of the ranches were now abandoned.
More shots were fired, and Dirty felt the burn in one of his shoulders. There was a forest up ahead and he followed Colt through to it. They had no choice but to abandon their bikes.
“You’re hit,”
Colt said.
“I can still fucking run. Tell me you know how to get to the fucking clubhouse from here.”
“I know.”
“Motherfuckers. Making me leave my bike, pieces of shit are going to pay for this.”
He took off, running to follow Colt. He had already pulled out his gun, as had Colt, as they took off.
The bikes in the distance stopped, and Dirty didn’t need to look back to know they were being followed.
All too soon, Colt stopped. “We’ve got to take them out.”
Dirty was all for it. He was never the kind of guy to run away, and one of these pieces of shit had shot him in the shoulder. Now, he was pissed.
Finding cover behind a tree, he held his gun, feeling the fire in his shoulder, which he attempted to ignore, and just focused on taking out the men that were following them.
There was silence, and he fucking hated it. Glancing through the trees, he looked for anything that was moving, listened for any noise. He took a deep breath and then seemed to hold it, gaining focus as he spotted one man, and he took out the man’s leg. One shot was all it took. This spooked the other two, who then tried to launch an attack, but he and Colt took each one.
They waited and then, silence. There was no one else coming.
“We should head back. Grab our bikes,”
Dirty said.
“No, they’re waiting. We’ve got to go before they send more men,”
Colt said.
“You get the sense you’re their target?”
Dirty asked.
“I don’t have a sense, I know, but they are shit shots, and we’ve got to get you back to the clubhouse, now.”
****
Kim looked toward her husband as he hung up his cell phone. She had known Warden most of her life, and she knew that look on his face. It wasn’t good.
Getting to her feet, she went to him. “What is it, honey?”
She felt fear race down her back. If Fritz was dead, the whole club would feel that pain.
“That was Rooster. He was checking in to see if Colt and Dirty had gotten home. They left two hours ago.”
Kim knew he was keeping his voice low. Petal and Rosalie were playing with Leanna, while Tanya was fixing the sink in the kitchen.
“Two hours.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t take two hours to get to the hospital and then here.”
No, this couldn’t be. There was no way she was about to lose her son. Not now. Not when life was going great. He had a lovely wife and a baby on the way. Bad shit happened all the time. She got that, but not now. Not like this. She refused to accept this could be happening.
“He’s not dead.”
“You don’t know that. You don’t know what could have happened.”
Warden grabbed her arms. “I know this is difficult. But you have to pull it together. The club needs you. I’m going to go out and look for them. I will find our son, and I will bring him and Dirty home.”
Kim gritted her teeth. Her husband was right. This was not the time or place to be getting hysterical. Dirty and Colt had probably stopped for food or something. Maybe to have a nap. Even as she tried to make every excuse she could, nothing was working. Her son wouldn’t do that. Neither would Dirty, not when the club was on a lockdown. They would have come straight home.
Warden was heading toward the door and that was when Colt and Dirty came in. “We need a doctor,”
Colt said. “Dirty’s been hit.”