Chapter 7
I wokeup to a pair of electric blue eyes staring at me in obvious concern.
“What happened?” I asked, my tongue heavy.
“You fainted,” Bones said. “Vance caught you before you hit the ground.”
I turned my head and looked at the attorney. “Guess you’re my savior in more ways than one.”
“No one has ever called me a savior before,” Vance said. “I kind of like that.”
Bones whipped his gaze to Vance and glared.
Vance raised his brows.
Bones helped me sit up and handed me the bottle of water I’d dropped.
“Can we get this shit sorted?” Bones demanded. “So I can take her home.”
“You don’t have to take me home,” I announced. “I can have Charlie drive me.”
“I’m taking you home, Duchess,” Bones commanded. “Now sit there, sip on your water, and give your statement to the police.”
It took longer than I thought. There were dozens of questions and I had to repeat myself several times. Eventually, Vance had the security feed pulled and we were released from questioning.
“I’ll have the paperwork taken care of and be in touch,” Vance said.
Duke held out his arm to shake the attorney’s hand. “Appreciate ya.”
Vance nodded. He reached into his breast pocket and handed me his business card. “Call if you have any questions. And not a word of any of this to anyone who wasn’t here today, okay?”
Nodding, I pocketed his card.
“God, I’d kill for a drink,” Willa said, her hand covering her stomach.
“You get hot tea, a blanket, and a foot rub,” Duke said as he pulled her into his side. He looked at me. “We didn’t get a chance to officially meet.”
“No, we didn’t,” I agreed.
“I’m Duke. Willa’s husband.”
The door to the boutique opened and Savage held the door for Waverly and Charlie. Charlie had put on her clothes, but she carried a brown shopping bag.
She bee-lined to me and quickly enveloped me into a hug. “This has been a shit day.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “It has.”
“You ready to go?” Charlie asked.
“I’m driving her,” Bones stated.
Charlie looked at Bones and then at me. “You okay with that?”
I nodded. “We can drop you off at home first.”
“I’ll take her,” Savage offered.
“On your motorcycle?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Savage looked at Charlie. “We could get a drink first. You look like you could use a drink.”
“I could,” Charlie replied. “But I really need to go with Hayden. She’s gonna want to talk about this and?—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I insisted. “I just want to go home and go to sleep. Sleep this entire day off.”
“I’ll still come with you. I won’t say anything, I’ll just be there.”
“Charlie—”
“Excuse us a second.” She grabbed my hand and hauled me away, out of earshot. “You shouldn’t be alone. What if you have one of your episodes?”
“If I have one of my episodes, I’ll be at my house. I’ll be safe.”
“Are you having any symptoms?” she inquired.
“No.” I had fainted, but it was more from shock than anything else. I didn’t have any of the other signs that an episode was impending.
“It doesn’t feel right that I leave you alone,” she muttered.
“I just want to be by myself,” I stated.
“Are you sure?” She bit her lip in uncertainty.
“Yeah. Go have a drink with Savage.”
I embraced my best friend and she whispered in my ear, “If you change your mind, you can call me. Anytime. Doesn’t matter. Even if it’s two in the morning.”
“Okay, I’ll call you if I change my mind,” I lied. “Do me a favor, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Today stays between us. None of this to the parental units.”
“Say no more.” Charlie pulled away and we headed back to the group. She looked at Willa. “I would say it was nice to meet you, but that seems like the wrong thing to say after what happened.”
“I get it,” Willa said. “But for what it’s worth, I’m glad you were inside with Waverly.”
Charlie glanced at Waverly. “You. I’m calling you.”
“You better,” Waverly said.
With a frown, I looked at Charlie.
“I’ll explain later.” My best friend hugged me one last time and then she walked with Savage to the parking lot.
Bones hung up his cell phone. “You ready?”
“I’m too shaky to ride on your bike,” I explained.
“A prospect is coming for it. We’ll take your car.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling like a doll being moved around. “Willa, I?—”
“You’re welcome,” she said with a soft smile.
I said goodbye to Waverly and then Bones took my hand in his. “You’re pale,” he said when we got to my car. “You need a shot of bourbon to put some color back in your cheeks.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want a shot of bourbon.”
He opened the passenger side door and waited until I was settled before closing it.
Bones went to the driver’s side and slid into the seat. His legs were scrunched up because I had it set for my small frame. He got situated, adjusted the mirrors, and then held out his hand. “Keys.”
I dropped the keys into his palm. Before I could pull away he took my hand and turned it over.
“Just as I suspected,” he said, letting go of my hand and sticking the key into the ignition.
“What?”
“You scrubbed your palm free of my number,” he said.
“It took half a bottle of rubbing alcohol to remove it,” I informed him. “You really thought I was going to call?”
“I had hopes, but no, I didn’t expect you to call.”
He backed out of the space and I stared through the window. “Thanks for driving me home.”
“Sure thing.”
“Why did you show up here?” I asked. “I mean, I know why Duke came. He’s Willa’s husband. And Savage…well, I’m not sure why he came either.”
“Savage, Willa, and Duke have been friends since they were kids. But the three of us were finishing lunch together when Vance called.”
“What did Vance say?”
“He told Duke he needed to get to Leather and Ink because Willa was in trouble.”
“Oh. Well, I’m glad Vance came.” I fell silent for a moment. “I hope she’s going to be okay. I mean, she killed a man for crying out loud.”
“Better him than you,” Bones said, his tone dark.
I closed my eyes. “I can’t think about it. If I think about it, I’ll…”
“What’s your address?”
I gave it to him. “You want me to put it into my phone?”
“Nah. I know where you live.” He glanced at me and grinned. “Not in a stalker sort of way, I just meant I know that part of town. I got it.”
“Is Charlie going to be okay with Savage?” I asked.
“Yeah, she’ll be fine. Better than fine.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means Savage knows how to distract a woman from her troubles.”
“Charlie has enough troubles,” I muttered.
Bones chuckled. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you need to be distracted?” He took his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at me.
“Yes, I do need a distraction,” I said, meeting his gaze.
His eyes heated.
“Tell me a joke,” I stated.
“Tell you a joke?”
“Yes. That’s all the distraction I’m interested in.”
“Not nearly as fun as getting naked and letting me distract you that way. A joke is no substitute for a few orgasms.”
“A few orgasms?” I raised my brows. “Aren’t you the optimist.”
He grinned. “I’m confident I could give you a few. It would blow all that static out of your head. Nothing like a good fuck after what you’ve been though. But if it’s a joke you want, it’s a joke I’ll give you. Lemme see. I gotta dig for one…”
After a moment, his brow unwrinkled. “Okay, I got one. A three-legged puppy walks into a saloon and says, I’m lookin’ for the dog who shot my paw.”
The laugh started small, almost like a chuckle. But for some reason, Bones’ terrible dad joke hit me at just the right spot and my chuckle became a full-on belly laugh. I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe, tears of humor streaming from my eyes.
I wasn’t sure when it happened, but the humor turned into something else, something akin to my body realizing I’d almost died, and it was processing it the only way it knew how.
My chest filled with pain. Sharp, like a knife was slicing through my lungs and heart.
His hand settled onto my thigh, but he said nothing.
It only made me cry harder.
By the time Bones was pulling into my driveway, my tears had turned into sniffles and hiccoughs. Bones parked and turned off the ignition, but we just sat there, his hand on my leg as I slowly came back to myself.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“What are you sorry for?” he asked.
“For losing it.”
“Duchess,” he said softly, “you had a gun pulled on you and you watched a man die. The fact that you’re not doing more than crying actually has me a little worried.”
I reached into my purse for a tissue. “What would make you less worried?”
“If you yelled, wanted to punch a wall. Anything. But tears?” He shook his head. “I don’t know how to handle tears.”
I gave him a watery smile. “I think you handled my tears just fine.”
“Maybe,” he agreed. “Why didn’t you want Charlie to come home with you? And why didn’t she fight harder to be with you? You’re best friends, right?”
I dabbed at my eyes, wondering if the waterproof mascara was living up to its advertising. “Best friends. Yes. But I—I don’t know. It’s been so heavy between us lately. I didn’t want to burden her with this.”
“Is she a true friend?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should want her to see you like this. And she should want to be here for you.”
“It’s complicated,” I said slowly.
“It’s not. Not really. Is she your first call when you’re in trouble?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. “Of course she is.”
“And are you her first call when she’s in trouble?”
“Charlie’s always in trouble,” I joked.
Bones didn’t crack a grin. “You pushed her away. And she let herself be pushed.”
“I appreciate the drive home,” I said, unlatching my seatbelt. “But I didn’t ask for a therapy session.”
“I threw the therapy session in for free.” He handed me back my keys.
“How are you getting home?” I asked pointedly.
“I’ll call a prospect to come get me.”
“What’s a prospect?”
“Someone who wants in the club but is going through the hazing ritual before they become a full brother. They have to prove themselves by doing the grunt work first.”
“I see.” I sighed. “Well, why don’t you come inside. You can wait for your prospect while sitting on my couch and watching TV while I shower.”
“Okay.”
“One condition though,” I said as I reached for my door handle.
“What’s that?”
“No more therapy sessions.”
He smiled slightly. “Deal.”