Chapter 5
CHAPTER
FIVE
ATOMIC
I make it to the hospital in the amount of time I wanted—even shaving off a few minutes more than I’d anticipated.
I park my bike but don’t climb off immediately.
Something causes me to hesitate in my spot.
I’ve killed my engine, I’ve texted King to let him know what’s going on, but I just can’t seem to make myself move.
Cars drive behind me, moving throughout the parking lot as they do their own thing. But I can’t move. I can’t even breathe. I just straddle my bike and wait for something, anything, to make me move.
It doesn’t.
Not until I catch something out of the corner of my eye. It’s a man. He’s wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and a leather jacket. His description matches who King and Gnaw both said they saw at the pickup site warehouse.
Seeing him, I climb off my bike and walk straight toward him. He’s eyeballing me, his lips tipped up into a cocky smirk, and I want nothing more than to wipe it off his goddamn face. I don’t even know why, but I want to beat the absolute fuck out of him in every way possible.
His eyes flick down to my chest patch, then slide back up to meet my own.
“President,” he mutters.
I make like I’m going to walk past him into the front door, but I stop once he’s just in my peripheral. I don’t want him to think I’m really focused on him or worried about anything that he could possibly want with me, but I also need him to know I’ve seen him.
“You’re looking at me. You want to say something?” I ask, keeping my voice low.
He snorts. “I don’t give a fuck about you,” he grunts.
“No?” I ask.
“You can’t protect her forever. She knows what she needs to do now, and she’ll do it if she knows what’s good for her, for them.”
Without another word, he pushes off the wall and walks away. I am frozen in my spot, wondering what the fuck is going on. My adrenaline that made my hangover vanish has now dissipated, meaning my fucking hangover is back and I’m sluggish as shit.
Taking a step forward, then another, I walk into the hospital and freeze in the foyer. Holy fuck, that was the goddamn pimp.
I turn around and scan the parking lot for him. I have two guns resting firmly in my shoulder holster. I’m ready to kill that motherfucker, and I don’t even know what he did yet. I don’t care either.
But I don’t see him anywhere.
Fuck.
Rushing toward the front counter, I demand to know where Ryan is. The bitch asks me who I am and how I’m related. I’m ready to beat the absolute fuck out of her when she finds my name on whatever the fuck list she finds my name on and finally gives me the floor and room number.
My feet carry me toward the elevators, but everything is a goddamn blur. I just saw Ryan a few weeks ago. She was, in her own way, begging me for help, but it wasn’t enough for me. I was being a selfish fucking dick about it.
The elevator crawls floor by floor until it finally stops on the one I need it to. The doors slide open, and my senses are assaulted with ammonia and fluorescent lighting. I don’t know why, but it all seems so much more intense here than down in the lobby.
Stepping out into the hall, I shift my gaze to the side and look for the room number directory on the wall. Turning right, I make my way toward her room. There are three more hallways until I find myself standing in front of her closed door.
Someone is talking behind me, but I can’t hear anything anyone around me is saying. My focus is on this door and only this door. Reaching for the handle, I inhale a breath, holding it as I push it open.
I instantly hear beeping. When I walk farther into the room, I see her on the bed. But I can’t really make her features out right away. I move closer and closer, then stop at her side, and my gut sinks at the sight of her.
I don’t even recognize her. Her face is swollen. Black and blue bruises are marring every inch of her gorgeous face.
“What the fuck?” I whisper.
Then I hear a door open behind me. Turning my head, I watch as an older woman and a little boy walk through the room. I don’t recognize either of them and judging by the expression of complete shock, the woman doesn’t recognize me either.
“Can I help you?” she asks, placing her hand on the boy’s chest and shifting him behind her as an act of protection.
“The hospital called me. I’m Ryan’s emergency contact.”
Her eyes narrow, she presses her lips together, then tilts her head to the side. “I need more than that.”
My lips twitch into a smirk. “I haven’t seen Ryan in years. She shows up on my doorstep a few weeks ago asking me for help.” My lips turn down, and I can’t stop the pain that slices throughout my body at my next words. “I didn’t give her that help, so you should be wary because this is my fault.”
“You’re here now,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. “Will you protect her?”
I dip my chin slightly. My gaze connects with hers and holds it for a moment before I speak. “I will.”
It’s only two words, but I mean them with every fiber of my being. I will protect her. With my goddamn life. And that little pissant who was standing outside this hospital attempting to intimidate her, he’s fucking dead.
I will find him, and I will make sure the last moments he has on earth are so fucking painful that he regrets the moment he was born, let alone what he did to Ryan. He’s not just going to die. He’s going to be tortured because no way in fuck does this shit go unpunished—ever.
RYAN
I hear murmuring and try to climb out of this stupor. I think they keep drugging me because I keep freaking out, so instead of panicking, I inhale and exhale as slowly as possible. I’m not sure how well I do, but the voices become clearer and clearer with each passing moment.
Then, I’m able to open my eyelids just a crack and attempt to focus on the figures across the room from me. I can make out my neighbor and my baby. My heart squeezes, and I let out a sigh. He’s alive and he’s safe.
That’s all that matters.
The third figure, though, is not who I expected to see. I would recognize the back of that cut anywhere in the world. Dark Horse MC is not something that is easily forgotten, and the man wearing it is even less so.
Moaning, I lift my hand, trying to reach out to the group of people. That cut spins around and is the first one at my side. I see his face, knowing that my instincts were right. It’s him. It’s Atomic.
He lifts his hand to cup my cheek as his gaze searches what he can see of mine. “Hey, legs.”
My heart slams against my chest at his words.
Two simple words, nothing more and nothing less, except they fill me with so much joy that I can hardly breathe.
I’m under no impression that this will be anything other than him helping me out of a bind.
But I can’t deny that I feel safe having him here.
“Atomic,” I whisper.
The word comes out raspy and crackling. I don’t even recognize my own voice. I feel his fingers curl around my hand, and he squeezes gently. Then I feel him sink down on the bed beside my hip.
“I’m here, Ryan.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
Atomic hums. “You got nothing to feel sorry about, babe.”
His words are sweet, but he has no idea what I’m talking about. I have a lot to be sorry for. Six years of sorry. I want to tell him everything right now. I’m tired of the secrets, but before I can mutter a word, my eyelids close completely, and I fall back asleep.
ATOMIC
I’m not sure how long I’ve been in this hospital room. But when the nurse comes in and tells me that visiting hours are over, I just stare at her, unsure that she’s said what she has to me. She has no goddamn clue who I am and that I am not a man who leaves the side of a woman I’m protecting, ever.
“Excuse me?” I demand.
“Visiting hours are over,” she announces again.
Rose stands to her feet, Adam doing the same. He’s half-asleep, but he’s hanging in there as he climbs off the vinyl sofa. I watch as he sways back and forth. Then he looks up at Rose. She smiles down at him before her attention shifts to me.
“I’m going to take him home. He needs some sleep. You’ll be here tomorrow?” she asks.
I feel uneasy about them leaving. I want them to stay here with me so I know they’re safe. I still don’t quite understand who they are and what they mean to Ryan. Neither of them has offered the information, and I’ve been so busy texting and calling the men at the club that I haven’t asked.
Honestly, I’m kind of afraid to know who the kid is to Ryan. I’m not stupid, and I’m pretty sure that I could figure out the answer if I thought about it, but I don’t think I want to know. I want to live in fucking denial.
I wish I’d had a brother come up here for protection. I didn’t really think about that. I didn’t think I needed it. But after running into that absolute fucking dickhead outside, I’m thinking I should have someone here.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say, answering her. “But I will walk you to the car.”
The nurse snorts, her gaze focused on me. “You can come back in the morning,” she states.
Shaking my head slowly from side to side, I don’t lose eye contact with her. I press my lips together and roll them as I watch her. I’m trying to think of what I’m going to say exactly, but at the same time, I’m purposely taking my time to intimidate her.
“I’ll be back here in five fuckin’ minutes, and I expect to be let in without an issue.”
“Sir—” she begins.
But I am not interested in her false sense of authority. Fuck her.
“I will be back in five minutes,” I clip, then brush past her and follow behind Rose and Adam.
I ride down with them in the elevator, then follow them to the car, glancing around and taking in the area as I look for anyone who doesn’t belong, mainly that sly motherfucker I know without a doubt has been watching my guys and Ryan, too.
Adam is loaded into the back of Rose’s car, my mind moving a million miles a minute as she does this, but before she walks over to the driver’s side, she stops and turns to face me.
“Thank you for walking us,” she murmurs.
“Rose,” I call out.
She stops and tips her head back, her eyes finding mine as she holds my gaze for a moment before I speak. Clearing my throat, I shift my gaze around again to ensure that we are indeed alone in this dark parking lot.
“Are you safe at your place, the two of you?” I ask.
She looks at the passenger window and focuses on Adam for a moment before she turns her attention back to meet mine. “I have an alarm. I will set it tonight.”
Dipping my chin once, I make an instant decision. “I’m going to call a friend and have him stand guard at your place until I can be there. Until Ryan is out of the hospital.”
“Thank you, that’s very much appreciated. I just hate that this happened, and I was right there, next door, without any clue at all.”
“Drive safe, and you have my number in case you need it. Don’t hesitate at all to call me, okay?”
She gives me a smile, confirms that she’ll call me if she needs to, and then climbs into the front seat of her car. I stand in the parking lot, watching her car drive away before I head back into the hospital.
As the elevator climbs to Ryan’s floor, I expect to find a security guard at her door barring me from entering, but there is nobody there. I slip into her room, and we are left alone the rest of the evening, minus a nurse coming in to check Ryan’s vitals and administer pain medicine.
Calling one of the brothers who I know isn’t on duty to do any pickups or collections anytime soon, I demand that he come up here to help protect Ryan and her family.
“I’ll be there in a few hours,” Rim murmurs.
“I’m at the hospital, but I have her address, so you can go straight there and keep an eye on the old lady next door. That’s where the kid is.”
“Will do, Atomic.”
I don’t leave Ryan’s side.
There is nowhere in the fucking world I would rather be right now.