Chapter Eighteen
Leaving Wave sleeping, I scribbled out a note and left it on the pillow, then dressed quietly and went back to the hospital.
The nurses told me Connor had a bad night, he had started a fever which they were concerned about.
After talking to Dr Parker again, he assured me it was under control but there were to be no visitors until they got his temperature down.
They had allowed me to stand outside of his room and look at him, sleeping in the bed. Part of me was pissed I didn’t get a chance to confront him about what he did to War, but another, bigger part was sad I still hadn’t managed to actually talk to my friend.
I hated hospitals with a passion. Other than the first time Connor was hurt, I hadn’t been in one since my dad killed someone while driving drunk, but I would have liked reassurance, in person, that he was okay.
I asked Dr Parker to call me as soon as he knew anything and checked in with the others who remained at the hospital. Rosa had gone home in a car with Goldie, but Widow was still here with the girls and Shady had appeared at some point.
When I got back to the hotel, Waverley was dressed and ready to go and I told her what happened with Connor. She wanted to stay but there was nothing either of us could do, so we headed out to the car and set off for Sussex.
When we got back to the compound, I took her up to my room and left her to sort her stuff out and change. She was going to be here for a while. I wasn’t overly happy about her staying in the clubhouse, but I wouldn’t let her be anywhere other than by my side.
Downstairs, I checked in with one of the brothers about the progress at the construction site where he had been working.
My place was decorated, floors laid and all the doors and windows in place, it just needed furnishing.
I didn’t let myself think about moving her in there.
It scared me shitless, but fuck knew how she’d take it, I didn’t want to shake anything else up right now.
I headed over to where Hammer sat near the pool table, reading the newspaper. He was old school like that. Everyone was fully aware there was a Kingsmen on the compound. I wasn’t sure how most of the guys reacted once War made his declaration and we left for the hospital.
“How have things been around here?” I asked.
“If you’re asking me whether that asshole got what he deserved, then no. He’s holed up at King’s place,” he said, his jaw tight. King had a small cabin a little way from The Shed.
“You wanna go against your President and VP?”
Hammer scowled but heaved out a sigh of resignation.
King no doubt hadn’t explained the story to everyone, so they had no way of knowing why he was being lenient.
“Who’s with him?” I’d not expected that would be where they stashed Mace, but if Hammer’s reaction was anything to go by, it was best he was out of the way.
“Handlebar and Raptor are watching over him. King warned us all to stay away, can’t say a lot of us are happy about that.”
“What he says goes,” I repeated, my eyes narrowing.
I didn’t like Mace, or the fact he was here, but there was no doubting what he did for Wave, and, the club.
I wasn’t sure what we would have done to retaliate if anything happened to her, but it wouldn’t have been pretty.
In fact, the Sheriff and his deputies would have found themselves in the middle of a complete shit storm.
“He may not be an ally but right now, he’s not an enemy either,” I pointed out.
Hammer just glared at me, but he went back to his paper without arguing.
“What is happening with the guys up at the warehouse?” I got his attention again. That was really where my job lay, dealing with those guys along with Ballistic, but our Enforcer had left me alone for the most part, knowing I needed to be with War and Wave.
“We’re still holding them. Dirt held us off doing any real damage.”
This time he got up and walked away. I caught Casper’s eye.
For once, he wasn’t behind the bar, he was talking with a club girl, I didn’t recognize her but life went on and nothing at the club changed, women still wanted to come up here and be a part of this world.
I thought about telling her to get as far away from us as possible, but Casper had his arm hooked around her neck as he eyed me.
I just nodded to him and headed towards the back of the clubhouse.
It made sense, holding off on harming the guys at the warehouse had to do with what Mace said about some Kingsmen not wanting to follow Nytro’s rule.
How they figured out who was who I wasn’t sure.
I didn’t know what King discussed with Mace while we were gone.
Him being closeted away at King’s place did tell me something though, Mace must be cooperating.
I couldn’t be disgusted in that. If he turned on his club, it was to our benefit.
His loyalty wasn’t in question as far as I was concerned.
His club was full of bastards, none more than their piece of shit President.
Most of whom were now trying to kill him for doing the right thing.
If he was using us for protection from them, or just cooperating didn’t make any difference to me anymore.
King and Dirt were alone in the office talking but waved me inside.
“How’s Stitch?”
“Still some complications,” I went on to explain about the fever. “But he seems to be doing okay.”
“And Waverley?”
“She’s getting changed. She’s moved into my room.” King looked at me in silence. I didn’t flinch or look away. He was there when I claimed her, proved how I’d always known she was mine, even when she was away.
“She given you any trouble about being here?” he eventually asked.
“No. We don’t need to worry about her. Where’s War?”
King was behind his desk as usual, Dirt spread out on the sofa by the window. I looked between the two of them. “With Mace last I heard.”
“He spent about an hour with Omen this morning,” Dirt laughed. “Let’s just say he got out a lot of his frustrations before he went up there. Mace should be safe.”
“He alive?”
Dirt nodded with a grin. “He’s gonna draw that out. Nothing the fucker doesn’t deserve.”
King grunted from his desk but didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure if that meant he approved of how War was dealing with Omen or not, or he simply didn’t want to mention the traitor’s name.
“Is there anything you need me to do?”
“Right now, we’re following up on some information Mace gave us. He has given us some things to work with. Namely about the bitch. But he’s being tight lipped about other things.”
“That’s a start,” I answered with a nod.
“We’ve also got a couple of locations on Nytro,” Dirt added. “A few of their guys at the warehouse haven’t been quite so quiet.”
“For now, I want to focus on Danica,” King said. “She’s the one I want. Nytro is a nuisance but I’m not worried.”
“Someone needs to be,” Dirt disputed. “He’s unpredictable, look what he did with that bomb.”
“We were taken by surprise,” King pointed out. “We won’t be again.”
“Don’t forget we killed his best friend,” I noted. “That might make him even more unstable.”
“It has,” Dirt agreed. “Mace said as much. The guy is fucking losing it over that. We all know his initial reaction.”
“We have plenty of people on that fuckwit,” King said, trying not to focus on the fact Waverley could be dead right now if Mace hadn’t got her away, after what happened with Mad Hog. “We’re focusing on her,” he indicated himself and Dirt, but he meant all the council.
Now we knew the truth about King’s relationship with Danica, and he had finally spoken up about his wife’s murder, a fire had been lit under him.
Not that he hadn’t actively been protecting the club through all this but now, he was ready to tear off heads to get to her.
He was keeping his own head, working with Mace instead of beating him like some of the brothers would prefer, it was a good strategy.
I made sure they didn’t need me to do anything else and headed out. I wasn’t surprised to see Waverley in the hall, leaning against the wall. She gave me a look that said she overheard most of that. Her brow arched and I shook my head, knowing arguing was pointless.
“Come on,” I muttered as I passed. She grinned and fell into step with me.
It wasn’t far to King’s cabin, but we took my bike anyway. It alerted the others we were there and Handlebar stepped out of the door greeting us both.
“Is he in one piece?” she asked him.
“Of course,” Handlebar said with a smile. He doesn’t seem to be as pissed about Mace being here like some of the other brothers and that doesn’t surprise me. He’s always been easy going. “You okay if I head back for a couple of hours?” he looked to me. “I’ve got some work to get on with.”
“Go for it,” I agreed. He patted my shoulder and gave Wave another smile before sauntering off with his hands in his pockets. We both looked after him. Wave turned to me as he disappeared behind some trees, an odd look on her face, the beginnings of a smile even. “What?”
“I just remembered something we talked about before everything went to shit.”
“Oh yeah? What?”
“I can’t say.”
“You serious? You can’t say that and then clam up. What is it?”
“It’s not club related,” she waved me off and headed for the front door of the cabin, leaving me staring after her in irritation.
“You’re really not going to tell me,” I asked indignantly, walking up beside her and putting my hand on the door.
“Really not,” she smiled and pushed me aside to let herself in.
“I’ll find out,” I told her as I followed.
“Not from me,” she gave me her back and walked along the short hallway to the living space.