Chapter 3 #3
“He said ‘no’, of course. Even if they were in an open relationship, which he didn’t think they were because she’d been hiding it from her husband, he wasn’t interested in that sort of dynamic.
He kept her on as his PT because the clinic was short staffed and it might have harmed her career if their relationship got out, but he kept it strictly professional. ”
“Let me guess. She didn’t.”
“Nope. But after she won his bid at the bachelor auction two Halloweens ago, Bones put a stop to everything. Changed up PTs, moved his schedule so he wasn’t there at the same time she was…
Basically went no contact, and she seemed to finally get the message.
Even took some time off work to get her head on straight.
Fast forward to four months ago, and Dru winds up dead and her husband injured. ”
As dramatic as that story was, Ranger still didn’t understand what it had to do with Bones riding back from Alexandria in the cage. “Okay… So is the clinic short staffed without her? Is Bones not getting his therapy or something?”
Ghost shook his head. “At the funerals, we showed up to show our respect. Bones approached the husband to extend his condolences, which the man accepted, thinking Bones was nothing more than a former patient of Dru’s.”
“Uh oh…” Ranger said knowingly.
Ghost’s expression said it all. “Come to find out, Dru never told him about the affair. When he was going through her things, he found her journals filled with her feelings, thoughts, hell, sex positions… She even had a plan to divorce her husband, abandon her kids, and run away with Bones.”
“Oh fuck,” Ranger breathed out. He couldn’t imagine grieving someone he loved, only to find out after she passed that she’d betrayed him so completely.
“Unfortunately, her journals did not contain dates or even the fact that it was all in the past and that Bones broke up with her or that she was practically stalking him,” Ghost continued dryly.
“And three days after you relapsed, Jett Deininger was waiting for Bones outside the PT office and stabbed him in the heart.”
Angel must have known Ranger’s reaction was coming because she stopped tattooing just before Ghost dropped that bombshell. Ranger bolted upright on the tattoo chair. “What!?”
“Bones is fine,” Ghost said sternly. “You saw him the other day. Thankfully, Deininger didn’t realize the strength it would take to actually stab someone through the breastplate.
Blade went left, puncturing Bones’ lung and nicking a major blood vessel.
Thankfully, he was outside of the clinic where doctors were able to come and assist before the ambulance arrived.
Cage was waiting for Bones as his ride—they’d been coming from work—and he was able to apprehend Deininger before Carlos arrived.
In the ER, Bones was rushed to emergency surgery where they performed a hippopotamus-thorastic?—”
“Hemopneumothorax,” Angel corrected, having paused tattooing completely.
“That,” Ghost said dismissively. “He had a chest tube and had to have his lung re-expanded, and after about two weeks in the hospital, was finally able to come home. He’s still on certain restrictions, but is on track for making a full recovery.”
Ranger stared dumbfounded at Ghost for several long minutes. “Why wouldn’t you tell me all this?” If it happened days after Ranger’s relapse, then it had been three months ago. Three months of him not knowing that his club brother had almost died.
“Seriously?” Ghost asked Ranger like he was a couple of crayons short of a full box.
“I already told you. We wanted you to concentrate on you. There wasn’t anything you could have done.
The rest of us were just as helpless as we had to wait for the surgeons to do their jobs.
All it would have done was add to your stress. ”
“But I could have?—”
“Done nothing,” Ghost reiterated. “Unless you went to medical school and never told me, you would have been as useless as I was in that waiting room.”
Ranger scowled at his president, hating that logical response. “Even so, I should have been told. Bones was hurt. He almost died, and you didn’t think that was something I should know? Were you planning on telling me now?”
“Of course! We were just waiting on you getting your footing first,” Ghost defended.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Ranger.
We did it for your own good. Just as we did with Pumpkin when Scar went over that bridge.
If I recall, you sided on the vote not to tell Pumpkin until he was in a better mental and physical state of mind. ”
Ranger groaned, falling back on the tattoo bed. “This is different!”
“Always is when you’re on the other side,” Ghost told him without remorse.
Ranger studied Ghost for a second before asking, “And he’s really okay?”
Ghost nodded. “Really.”
Ranger took a moment to absorb all this information. “What happened to Deininger?”
“He’s being held up at county. They’re still in pre-trial, and given the evidence, he’s looking at ten to twenty for premeditated attempted murder.
They’re looking to plea that down, playing the grieving widower and single father card, but we won’t know if the judge will accept that for several more weeks. ”
Single father? That’s right, Ghost had said something about Dru and Jett having kids. “What about the kids? Were they put in foster care?”
As a foster kid himself, Ghost had very strong feelings towards the corrupted system.
Ghost, though, shook his head. “Dru’s sister came down and is taking care of them.
I think they’re staying in the area until his sentencing.
After that, I’m not sure what’s happening or how that legally works, but I met Dinah at the courthouse. She seems like a good person.”
Shit. That was certainly a lot to process. Not liking how Angel and Ghost were staring at him, like they were waiting for another freak out, Ranger turned to Angel. “What? Are you napping over there? My tattoo is not going to tattoo itself.”
“I will leave you like this,” she threatened, indicating the unfinished tattoo.
Ranger pulled out his phone.
Ranger: Your mom is being mean to me.
A second later, Angel’s phone buzzed. Whatever it was Bree said to her made her laugh at the screen and then glare at Ranger. “Well played. My daughter is threatening to sic your mother on me if I don’t behave, and since I actually like that woman, I suppose I’ll finish your tattoo.”
Ranger grinned down at her. “You just like her cookies.”
Angel snorted, dipping the gun back in the ink. “Damn right, I do. When it’s time for her to leave, I’m going to have to go to NA with you to get over missing those cookies.”
Though Ghost scowled at Angel for her joke, Ranger laughed, appreciating that Angel wasn’t dancing around the elephant in the room.
As Angel got back into position, Ranger settled himself against the cushion. “So when is someone going to bring up the blonde on the back of Keys’ bike?”
Angel and Ghost exchanged another look before Angel bent back over Ranger’s navel.
* * *
101 Days Sober
Several of the club members managed or worked at businesses that the club owned.
When the idea of the VDMC was still just a group of veterans sitting around the diner thinking up ways to support the members they hoped to bring to Mount Grove, jobs had been a real concern.
The VDMC wasn’t created for the veterans who fit into society, the ones who had support and family as they worked their way back into civilian life.
So long as the veteran was honorably discharged, the VDMC was open to all, regardless of branch of service or financial/familial situations, but the founding idea was to create a home for veterans who had nowhere to go.
Originally, before motorcycles were even brought into the conversation, the thought was more of a support group.
But motorcycles or not, members still needed jobs.
Lucky, Bear, and Bulldog were the Mount Grove natives. They’d grown up here, had family here, and in Lucky’s case, raised his kids here. Having members who had contacts in the community was extremely important, but Steel still wanted something that was theirs.
The idea of a bar was thrown around, but none of the Original members—Steel, Lucky, Bulldog, Jumper, Demo, Bear, and Scar—knew anything about running a bar, and Steel wanted to steer clear of a stereotypical biker gang business.
At least to start. Plus, no one could see Scar standing behind a bar listening to the woes of his patrons while cleaning glasses.
Lucky was a welding artist and owned a shop in town. While he had a couple part-time college students work for him during the touristy times, most of his business was online, so hiring a full-time employee wasn’t worth the payroll for him.
At the time, Bear was an RN who worked for the local hospice facility, doing inpatient and outpatient calls. That was no help to the club.
Jenna wanted to create a charity business.
Now that Steel was retiring, one of their three kids was out of the house at college, and they weren’t at the military’s mercy for where they would be living, her dream of owning a children’s consignment store to help out struggling moms and families could now become a reality.
But again, that wouldn’t open positions for new members.
Maybe one or two could help out on occasion, but nothing long term would be required.
Bulldog suggested an auto garage. He wasn’t a published author yet, and he had an old bike left to him by his grandfather that he wanted to refurbish.
Problem was, Bulldog knew nothing about mechanics.
Jumper knew some, but his PTSD was so extreme that he wasn’t reliable to run the business.
Demo could handle the paperwork and accounting, just as he was for the club, but they didn’t have a mechanic.