Chapter 2
Chapter Two
HAVEN
Iconsider myself a fit person, but carrying one hundred and thirty pounds of dead weight is fucking hard. Add in the caution of not causing more injuries, and you have the most fucked up adrenaline surge of your life.
It took me longer than it should have to move her inside and strip her so I could triage, but it only took me a moment to see she needed a fucking hospital.
I was going for my cellphone when a strange ringtone filled the air.
I searched her clothes and found one tucked into a leather vest she was wearing with the Royal Harlots logo on the back. The front had an embroidered patch that read Mercy, President.
Must mean she’s hot shit.
I slide the answer button on the phone and hear static and screaming on the other end.
“MERCY! WHERE ARE YOU?” This is it.
I can hang up and turn the phone off. I only need to stabilize her until I can get her to an ER and leave her for the authorities to deal with. That is all I owe to my family. But the people yelling on the line sound so desperate that I cave.
“No, Mercy’s unconscious. Who’s this?” Danica groans at the sound of her name, and I rush over so she doesn’t fall off the couch.
I stitched up her wounds, but she’s pale as shit and probably needs a transfusion.
“Loki, who the fuck is this?” I grin at the loyalty I hear in the woman’s voice.
“Haven,” no way was I giving more info than that.
“Oh, thank fuck. You’re the cousin. She’s safe!” She knew who I was?
“I wouldn’t say safe. She needs more medical care than I can give her here,” Loki cuts me off with a sharp word.
“NO. No hospital. You ain’t moved right? I’ll be there in ten.” The line goes dead, and I glare at my cousin.
“You told your gang about me and where I live?” I pace my living room and expect an answer.
“You’re the only local family I have. They knew to find you if anything happened to me.” I turn to face her and barely make out that one eye is open, watching me.
“Congrats, you’ve achieved that status. What the fuck, Danica! Who did this?” I motion at her body and she makes a sound I think is supposed to be a chuckle, but comes out a cross between a moan and a cough.
“Rival club at a drop,” I put my hand up.
“Stop, I don’t want to know. Where does it hurt the most?” I bandaged up her hand where the fingers were missing, and one of the stab wounds was really close to her kidney, but to my horror, she slaps her chest.
“I don’t know how you’re even talking. You have multiple sites, I know, that are bleeding internally. All I did was plug them. Danica, you’re dying. Why didn’t you go to a hospital?” I go and kneel in front of her and hold the hand that’s not injured.
“Missed you,” she deadpans, and my mouth falls open in shock.
“This is no time to joke.” I’ve watched a lot of people die in my profession, but never anyone I loved.
A tear runs down my cheek as banging comes from my back door.
I stand and run for the door. A petite redhead with a vest that reads Loki, Vice President, is glaring at me through the window.
“What the fuck, open the door!” I curse and unlock it as Diesel barks at us.
“Quiet!” I call out to him, but he still growls as Loki rushes past me, frantically looking for my cousin.
“Oh fuck, Mercy! Shit!” I close the door and look at it, then join them in my living room.
“Cargo secure?” Danica sputters out the question, and her breathing gets labored.
“Yeah, what do you want me to do about this?” Loki looks at me, and I frown.
“This has ears and can hear you, just fine. You don’t have much time. Danica, I’m sorry I didn’t answer you earlier.” The guilt I fought with all night comes to a head as I watch her slip away.
“Okay, love you both. Loki, she’s Prez now. Tell her everything…” Danica stops breathing.
Loki shakes her and screams her name, but it’s useless.
I watch this stranger fall apart over my cousin’s body and feel empty. I’m completely numb, and for the millionth time in my life, I wonder what is wrong with me.
I just don’t deal with death like normal people do.
It’s always fascinated me more than scared me. Am I sad my cousin is dead? Fuck yes. Looking at her has always been like looking into a mirror. The fact that she’s gone and I’ll never talk to her again is agonizing, but I’m more angry than sad. I feel cheated.
I’ll never know who she grew up to be. What she’s been doing all these years, or why she chose this life. I have no fucking closure for the absence of my closest family member.
“Get off her body. You’re getting your DNA on her.” I clear my throat from how hoarse it sounds.
“Wow, is that all you have to say? Your cousin just died!” I glare at this woman who has known me for ten seconds.
“You don’t get to judge me in my own house.
I’ve known Danica all my life, and she came to me for help.
This is now a family matter, and if I don’t want you slobbering all over her corpse that I’ll need to clean and prep so that her mother will actually recognize her at her funeral, then I damn well will tell you to back the fuck off.
” I’ve walked right into this woman’s face with my fists balled up, hoping she’ll argue with me.
I want to hit something, and she’ll fucking do.
“Fucking Christ, you really do look just like her.” Loki tilts her head to the side to examine my face better.
“Get out. Diesel!” My Dobermann is at my hip in a second.
He might be a hellhound when left alone unsupervised, but he’s a hell of an attack dog.
“I can’t. There is shit you need to know. I need to go hide her Harley and help you clean up her. Then we need to burn her body. There ain’t gonna be any funeral. As far as the world knows, Danica “Mercy” Demato is alive.” I shake my head in disbelief.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Lokie sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.
“She can’t be dead. Yet. She has to finish this drop. If not, a container of thirty-five women are all going to die with her.” My eyes widen.
“That was the cargo she asked about?” I glance at my cousin, feeling sick.
You were running women?
“It’s not what you think. We save them. Listen, call the dog off, and let me help you. I’ll talk to you. It’s all I ask. It was your cousin’s dying wish, for fuck’s sake.” I feel like she slapped me.
“What?” Loki rolls her eyes.
“Weren’t you listening? Mercy made you the President. This is your responsibility to finish now.” My knees finally give out, and I end up sitting on my ass staring at my cousin.
You fucking bitch. You just had to stick it to me one more time.
FINE.
I’ll clean up your mess one more time, Danica, but I will not take over your gang. I don’t owe them shit. After this, they are on their own.