Chapter Twenty-One
Samantha
The shocked expression Jingles wore told me everything I needed to know.
“Uh, hey, Samantha,” he said, taking his sunglasses off.
“Nice suit.” I smirked.
He didn’t answer. But I could see the tips of his ears turning red.
“Come inside, Jingles. I need a drink. It’s been a shit day. And since it is your job to protect me, well.” I tilted my head toward the bar.
“I’m not really dressed for the bar, Samantha.”
“Take your jacket off and put your cut on. We’re going inside, Jingles. Unless you would like me to tell King you sat outside while I went into the bar?”
I knew how these things worked. He had to go where I did. Especially after today.
“Fuck.”
Jingles stepped out of his fancy SUV and removed his jacket. I had seen men in tailored suits before, and then there was Jingles.
Oh. My. God.
It should be illegal to look that good in a suit.
I turned and walked to the bar, as Jingles slid his cut over his shoulders. There was no way I wanted to watch him roll up the sleeves of his white dress shirt. Nope, I preferred to watch my porn in private, not out on the street in front of everyone.
We walked in and made our way to the bar. Sitting down, I waved to Grace. She knew what I drank and got to work mixing a cocktail for me.
“Samantha, can I ask you a question?” Jingles looked at his hands that rested on the bar.
“Sure.”
“How did you know I was following you?”
“I saw the SUV following me on the way to the coffee shop. When you walked in wearing the suit, I admit it confused me. But I knew it was you. I assumed the suit was to throw me off.”
“But how did you know it was me?”
I laughed. “When I slammed my hand on the table, you were the only one who didn’t react. That was when I knew for sure.”
“No one has ever caught me following them before.”
“I’m a mom, Jingles. It’s our superpower.”
“My parents never knew.”
I laid a hand on his arm. “They were shit parents then.”
He looked over at me and smiled.
“Yea, they were shit parents.”
“One Manhattan, coming up. What about your—” Grace stopped talking, and her mouth hung open. “Is that Jingles? Holy shit!”
Johnny looked up from his spot at the end of the bar. He just stared. I could see he wanted to say something, but being a prospect and not a patched brother, it would cost him.
“Not a word, prospect,” Jingles growled.
Placing my drink on a napkin before moving over, Grace purred when she asked Jingles, “Where have you been hiding all of that?” Her hand made a circular motion in front of Jingles’ chest.
“Don’t start, Grace.”
She handed him a beer and leaned on the bar, her chin in her hands. She batted her eyelashes exaggeratedly.
“Are you trying to get me killed, woman? Knock it off,” he hissed before taking a drink.
“Eh, fuck him,” she said with a shrug, and then grabbed the rag on her shoulder and wiped down the bar.
“Wait, fuck who?” I asked. “What don’t I know?”
“Nothing. There is nothing to know,” Grace said.
Jingles and Johnny both scoffed. My gaze switched back and forth between the two. “Who? Oh! Seriously?”
“No,” Grace said, pointing her finger at me. “Nothing happened, and nothing ever will. He’s an asshole.”
I rolled my lips between my teeth to stop myself from laughing. “Oh my God, that’s why you got upset that night…” I started, pointing at the stools we sat on a few months back. Grace wasn’t happy when she found out Beck had ridden on the back of King’s bike. She hadn’t been told yet that Beck was King’s niece.
“Shut it, Sam.”
“What? Why did she get upset?” Jingles asked. He appeared excited to have some gossip.
“None of your business!” Grace challenged. “Girl code!”
Shit, she was right.
“Sorry, Jingles.”
“Prospect, do you know what they’re talking about?”
Johnny’s eyes widened. Oh, he knew alright. He looked at Grace, then Jingles. then back at Grace. Fear in his eyes.
“Not a word, Johnny.”
“Prospect—” Just then, Jingles’ phone rang, giving Johnny a reprieve. “Watch her,” he commanded, pointing at me.
Jingles stepped outside to answer his phone, and I sat there alone, my chin resting on my hand.
“Hi there.” I sat up, turning to the voice.
“Hello,” I replied politely.
“I’m Greg, and you’re—”
“Married,” I replied.
“I was going to say beautiful,” he said with a grin. I turned to the end of the bar where Johnny sat watching Greg. I’m ok, I mouthed to the prospect. His eyes landed on me and he nodded.
I didn’t need him losing his shit. He may be young, at a guess around twenty or twenty-one, but he had the biker glare down to a tee.
“So, where’s your husband?” Greg asked.
“Home with our children,” I told him with a smile.
“Any man who would let a woman that looks like you out of the house without him is stupid, or no longer interested. I can give you what you’re missing at home, gorgeous.”
“Do lines like that actually work on women?” I asked him.
“Every time,” he said with pride.
It would have to be false pride. There was no way a woman would fall for that crap.
“I can assure you, the man I have at home is neither stupid nor uninterested. In fact, it would be in your best interest to not talk to me.”
“You’re a real bitch, aren’t you?”
Well, that escalated quickly.
“Yup,” I answered, popping the p for emphasis.
“I’ll get you later. You’ll be changing your tune then,” he whispered as he left the stool and disappeared into the crowd behind me.
“Everything ok?” I jumped, hearing Jingles voice behind me.
“Yea, all good,” I replied, taking a long drink of my cocktail. “Let me guess. That was Jack on the phone?”
“Yea, he wants you home,” Jingles said, sitting down next to me.
“And what did you tell him?”
“I told him I would make sure you got home safe when you finished your drink.”
I looked over at Jingles. These guys hated going against a brother. When they did, it meant something.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Hey,” he said, bumping my shoulder. “He didn’t hear the conversation you had with Carrie. I told him you needed that drink.”
“Yea, I did,” I agreed. “I recorded it, so Jack could hear it all.”
“Me too.” He smiled and winked.
I chuckled.
“What is wrong with her, Jingles? She was never like this,” I asked. “She gave up everything for me and Charlie.”
“It sounds like she has an unhealthy obsession with either you or Charlie, maybe both. ”
I looked at him. He heard everything I did and came to the same conclusion.
“That’s what I was thinking, too. I need to figure out why. She needs help,” I said.
I closed my eyes. All at once, my head felt heavy. I took a deep breath and crossed my arms on the bar.
I dropped my head on top.
“Hey, Samantha. You ok, honey?”
“No. I’m tired.” My words slurred, which made little sense because I hadn’t even finished one drink, never mind any others.
“Samantha.”
I heard my name being called again and again.
I didn’t know why they were yelling.
“Answer me, honey.”
I answered. Maybe you aren’t listening.
Maybe I wasn’t listening. The voices were getting quieter. They needed to let me sleep.
Woah, am I floating?
“No, honey, you aren’t floating. Johnny, get the door. Grace, call Jack. Tell him to meet us at the hospital.”
I don’t feel good.
“Stay with me, Samantha.”
Where am I going?
“Gonna get you to the hospital, Samantha.”
Just take me home. Jack is there. Jack will take care of me.
My head hurt. My eyes were heavy and wouldn’t open. And if someone didn’t turn off that blasted toy Charlie was playing with, I just might scream. I should have paid better attention to what Jack was buying her. The constant beeping was fucking irritating.
“How is she?”
What? How is who? Is someone sick ?
“She hasn’t woken yet, but the doctor says she’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry, Jack. I only stepped out to answer your call.”
Wait. What? Who is Jack worried about? Is it Charlie? Did something happen? Did Derek find her?
“Charlie?”
“Sammy. Come on, baby, open your eyes.”
The sleep fog lifted, and my eyes opened to Jack’s face, lined with worry.
“Charlie, is she ok?”
“Charlie’s fine, baby. It’s you we’re worried about.”
“Me? Why?” I tried to sit up and couldn’t. I was just too tired.
“Lay still, baby, let me lift the bed.”
Suddenly, the bed moved, lifting just the upper half of my body until I was sitting up. That was when it dawned on me. Looking around the room, I realized I was in a hospital.
I was the one Jack was worried about.
“What happened?”
“What do you remember, Sammy?”
“I’ll get the doctor, Jack.” I watched Jingles leave the room and then turned to Jack.
“What is the last thing you remember?” Jack asked again.
“I was sitting at the bar with Jingles, talking.”
“Then what?” Jack prodded.
“Then I woke up here. What happened, Jack? Where’s Charlie?”
I was starting to panic.
“Charlie is fine. She’s at the clubhouse with Beck and Blade,” he assured me.
“What happened, Jack? Why am I in the hospital?”
“We aren’t sure, baby. Jingles said you were sitting at the bar talking and you suddenly started slurring and got weak. But you hadn’t even finished one drink, so you weren’t drunk.”
The doctor walked in and came to stand beside the bed.
“Mrs. Reynolds, I am Dr. James. I have your test results. I would like to go over them with you.” The doctor looked at Jack and Jingles. “If you could both step outside for a moment. ”
“Fuck no, I’m not leaving her alone,” Jack barked, standing from his chair next to my bed.
“Jack,” Jingles said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
I reached out for Jack’s hand.
“It’s ok, Doctor, you can tell me with them both here.”
“Samantha, I can step outside.”
“No, Jingles, you’ll be told later, anyway. Just stay.”
“Mrs. Reynolds,”
“Sam, please,” I told the doctor.
I hated being reminded I was a Reynolds. Even though Charlie had the same last name, it didn’t stop me from wishing neither of us had it.
“Sam, without having a history of any kind on file, we have a protocol when someone comes in displaying your symptoms. The first thing we ran was a tox screen.”
“She wasn’t fucking drunk.”
“Jack, please. Let him finish,” I pleaded.
“We were told when your friend brought you in that you had been at a bar and only had a half a drink before you started displaying signs of being drunk. So we ran a drug screen.”
“Oh my fucking God. What the fuck, Doc? She doesn’t use drugs. What the hell happened?”
“Jack, if you don’t sit down and shut up, Jingles will drag you out of this room and I won’t let you back in. Let the doctor finish!” I scolded.
Jack dropped into his chair with a little help from Jingles, who kept his hand firmly on Jack’s shoulder. Jack glared at the doctor and circled his hand at him, to let him know he could continue.
“As I was saying, given that you had been in a bar…” The doctor paused, waiting to see if Jack would lose his shit again.
Jack just glared.
“The drug screen showed GHB in your system.”
“Greg,” I whispered.
“What?” Jack growled.
“Sam, do you know who did this?” the doctor asked.
“Maybe,” I admitted .
“I will need to have the police come and get a statement.”
“No need, Doc. I’ll call the sheriff right now,” Jingles hissed and walked out of the room.
“I want to keep you here for a few hours just to monitor your vitals and make sure there are no adverse reactions. You should be able to go home tonight.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
As soon as Dr. James left the room, I looked at Jack.
“Tell me,” he growled.