Chapter Twelve
Dani
One month later…
I don’t think I will ever want to leave. Things with Zane have been amazing. We spend a lot of time together. I have played around with the idea of looking at the local hospital to see if they were hiring.
I like to keep busy, but I know how busy it will get and days will be long. I will not see everyone as much. It has been nice getting to know everyone. They all are becoming people I care about.
Zeke has plans to move here today. We were finally able to get everything settled down, and he was driving his moving truck here. He has decided to take his parents up on their offer to move in. He thinks it will help him get to know them until he finds a place of his own.
Having him around will be great. I was used to spending time with him before I moved away with Katy.
“Prez wants to see you in his office,” Tiny says walking back from where I know my dad’s office is.
“Okay,” I say slowly and start making my way over there.
When I knock on his door he says, “Enter.”
He’s looking over some paperwork. “Hey baby girl,” he says with smile when he sees it’s me.
“What’s up?” I ask before taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.
“Well, I wanted to offer you a job,” he says, leaning back and giving me his full attention.
“What kind of job?” I ask in confusion.
“It would be a nurse kind of position. We often get people with cuts, scrapes, and whatnot from various business. Most of them don’t require a trip to the ER, but there is the occasional stitch or two. Plus, there is a brother you haven’t met; Whisky. He’s in need of help. He refuses to have long term care in the hospital, but he’s got cancer and needs the help. I finally got him to agree to get some help for him, which is where you would come in. It would free up a brother or two that have to go over there and make sure he takes his meds and shit,” my dad explains.
“So, you want me to help out when someone gets hurt, but also take care of this man?” I ask, making sure I’m getting this right.
“Basically. I don’t know if you are planning on staying, but I hoped you would be staying at least awhile longer. If you were looking for a job, I thought maybe you would consider this before applying at the hospital,” my dad says.
I pretend to think it over, making him sweat. “That does sound interesting,” I mutter.
“There’s no pressure to stay. I just wanted to offer you a job in case you thought about staying,” he says quickly.
“I’d love to work for you. I was about to go to the hospital to apply today,” I tell him softly.
His eyes widen when he registers my words.
“You already decided?” he asks in surprise.
I nod my head slowly. “Yeah. I think this is a great place. I love it here. Plus, the eye candy helps,” I say before giving a wink.
“You know, I wasn’t sure about you being with someone from the club, but I can see how happy you are and that’s all that I want,” he says softly.
“He makes me happy,” I state.
“I also wanted to run something else by you,” he says looking nervous, even more so than when he was waiting for my answer to his job offer.
“Okay shoot,” I say without taking my eyes off of him.
“I wanted to, well I was thinking of, I…shit…” he stutters out. Actual sweat is beading down his forehead. Wow, I don’t think I have actually ever seen someone sweat like that before.
“What’s going on?” I ask, sitting up straighter.
“I wanted to ask your permission to ask your mother to marry me,” he starts, and a huge smile forms on my face. “I know you usually ask the parents, but she doesn’t talk to hers still, and I know she thinks the world of you. You guys are all each other had for years, and it only seems right that I ask you. I know I haven’t been able to be your father growing up, and I want to be a bigger part of your lives. I want my ring on your mother’s finger,” he rushes out to explain.
“This is so unexpected,” I say with a gasp and place a hand on my chest in fake shock.
“I know, but I never stopped loving your mother. No one could ever compare to her. I don’t know how much longer I can wait to marry her,” he says while looking at me with a pleading expression.
I will myself to form a couple tears, thankful that I took drama in high school. It was fun but not something I wanted to do for life.
“It’s just… she’s all I have! And you want to take her away from me? Why do you want to take my mama away?” I say with a fake sob and cover my face so he can’t see my smile.
“I don’t want to take her. I want us to be a family. One big happy family,” he says getting up and walking over to put his arms around me.
“What’s going on?” a voice says, startling us. I only uncover my eyes and not my mouth to see Zane, Zeke, and my mother standing in the door.
“Nothing!” my dad says, looking panicked.
“Baby?” Zane asks, looking concerned.
When I look at Zeke and my mother, they both have their arms crossed over their chests and look amused.
“I see you finally fell victim to Dani’s acting,” my mother says dryly.
“Acting? What?” my dad asks while pulling away and looking at me. That’s when I move my hands to show him my smile.
“You were messing with me?” my dad asks in shock.
“It’s good to brush up on your acting skills once and awhile,” I explain with a shrug.
“That was cruel,” he says, narrowing his eyes at me.
“I have to have my fun sometimes,” I say.
“What was she pretending to cry about?” my mother asks curiously.
“He was asking me about a job, but that I didn’t have to take it, so I twisted his words around to make it seem like he didn’t really want me here,” I lie with a smirk at my mom.
Zeke narrows his eyes at me, but I subtly shake my head.
I can’t ruin the surprise for when my dad does propose. I look over at my dad. “I think that would be amazing. I think you should go ahead with your plans,” I say reassuringly.
His eyes soften at my words when he gets my meaning. “Alright, baby girl. I get you.”
He pulls me into his arms, and I mouth “later” to Zeke and Zane before glancing at my mom really quickly. They seem to get my meaning because they don’t probe for any more information.
“So, you decided to stay permanently?” my mom asks excitedly.
“Yeah, I think this place could be home.” I say the words while looking at Zane. He looks at me with an expression I can’t name, but I don’t bother to hide any feelings.
I know that I have been falling fast for him. It’s scary to think that he has come to mean so much to me in less than two months. I was never one of those women to get attached so fast, but I want to grab him with both arms and never let go.
I walk out of the room when my dad pulls my mother into his arms and kisses her. I have a feeling that my dad won’t be waiting very long to pop the question. I couldn’t be happier for them.
Zane
I smile as we leave Prez’s office. I like that Dani can joke around with him, and that they are getting close.
I am falling hard and fast for Dani, and I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks.
Thankfully, there hasn’t been anymore drama with club women. The word seemed to have spread around that I was off limits.
Dani and I spend a lot of time together. Nights are spent in my room at the club, though I have come to think of it as our room. When she falls asleep, I get my fix of Gilmore Girls. That’s one secret I haven’t told her. I think it’s something I will continue to keep to myself.
Dani explains to Zeke and me about the job offer she got from her dad to help Whisky while he goes through treatment. She seems really excited about it, so I’m glad it will give her something to do; even if Whisky is an old grump.
When she gets to the part about her dad wanting to ask her mom to marry him, her eyes light up like it’s the greatest news she had ever heard.
Tonight, I decide to take her out. I want to get her out of the club before she starts her new job.
She hasn’t spent much time out of the clubhouse, but she doesn’t really seem to mind.
I’m glad she seems to love being here but, eventually, I would like to talk to her about getting a place of our own. We can’t live here for ever.
Dani tells me she’s going to head out for a couple things. A prospect takes her in a cage while I shoot the shit with a couple brothers while I wait for her return.
Hours pass, and I start to get worried.
They should have been back by now. I call the prospect, but it goes straight to voicemail. Then I try Dani, and the same thing happens.
“What’s wrong, brother?” Rock asks, walking up to me after seeing the worry on my face.
“Dani and N should be back by now. They have been gone for hours, and their phones are going straight to voicemail,” I tell him.
“You want to go see if we can spot them?” Rock asks.
I nod my head, and a few other brothers follow just in case we need them. Fuck, I don’t know what to think. Why would both of their phones be off?
We take off down the main streets. Across town, there are flashing lights letting us know there was an accident. When I slow down, my heart rate picks up. I have a feeling that I will not like what I see.
When we get close, I see a vehicle pretty much totaled, and I recognise it as the one Dani and N left in this afternoon.
“No,” I whisper in horror.
When I get closer, someone tries to stop me.
“My woman was in that car!” I shout with a crack in my voice.
“The two people that were in this vehicle are on their way to the hospital,” the officer tells me.
“Are they?” I can barely choke the words out as dread crawls up my spine.
“They were breathing when they left, but that’s all I know,” he tells me with sympathy in his gaze.
I turn to my brothers who look at me with horror on their faces. “We need to get to the hospital now,” I shout while heading to my bike.
We take off and drive as fast as we can to the hospital. I have no doubt that one of the brothers will call Prez and Robyn to let them know. All I need to know is how my woman is.
“Danielle West. She was just in an accident and brought in here with a man. They both were in an accident,” I shout at the desk.
“Are you family?” the woman asks.
“She’s my woman,” I state.
“We can only release information to family,” she tells me.
“Fuck!” I curse and run a hand through my hair. I think I’m about to lose it, but Prez and Robyn come flying in. Fuck, they got here fast.
“Danielle, my daughter, was just brought in!” Prez shouts.
“She has a couple of broken ribs, bruises, and scratches on her face. She wasn’t on the side of impact,” she tells Prez.
I breathe a sigh of relief when she tells us that. “And the man with her? Nathaniel Mitchell?” Prez asks.
“Are you related to him too?” the woman asks dryly.
“I’m his emergency contact. Tell me what I want to know,” Prez states.
“He was on the side of impact; they are rushing him to surgery right now. We don’t know the extent of any damages to him yet,” she tells him.
“They will come get you when it’s time to see Danielle and will update you on Nathaniel,” she tells him.
We move to the waiting room and wait to hear news.
“How the fuck did this happen? There didn’t look to be any other vehicle. They seemed to have hit a tree,” I tell Prez.
“N was driving, so we have no idea what happened until one of us talks to them. Hopefully, Dani will be able to shed some light on it,” Prez says.
The wait is excruciating. I need to set my eyes on her.
When we are finally able to see her, the brothers hang back and let Prez, Robyn, and I back into the room they have her in.
I suck in a breath at the sight of her. She has got bruises all over her face and upper body. She looks pale but, when she turns her head to the door, I see her tired eyes focus on us.
“Fuck, what happened?” I rasp.
“There was something wrong with the brakes. They were fine when we went to the mall but, when we got out, they didn’t work. We were going pretty fast when he tried to turn off into the main street. There was no way we could stop it. Before I knew it, he was swerving so that the vehicle hit his side and not mine,” she chokes out as tears fall down her eyes.
“Someone sabotaged your brakes?” Robyn asks in shock.
“Someone fucked with them. Why were they able to get to the mall just fine but, when they left, it went downhill? We need to see if there were any cameras around,” Prez says with anger coating his voice.
“We will find out who did this,” I state.
Whoever did this messed with the wrong people.
I will make sure they know that.