Chapter Eighteen
Tess
One Week Later
I woke late Friday morning in Mustang’s bed, immediately rolling toward my phone. When I found I had no missed notifications, I flopped onto my back and yawned.
I’d just opened my eyes and already I knew I was going to need a nap before my shift that night.
Since we got back from Sturgis, I hadn’t slept in my own bed.
Or, as I preferred to think about it, since Mustang told me he loved me, he’d been pretty insistent we were no longer to sleep in separate beds—even though our sleep schedules didn’t always mesh.
Seeing as Mustang had a way of getting what he wanted, especially when it came to me, I’d made it work to be at his place before I fell into bed that whole week.
Sunday to Wednesday we had Mary-Kate. While I didn’t get to see much of her Tuesday or Wednesday, she and I got to spend some quality time together Monday night. Steel Mustang was usually closed Mondays and Tuesdays—but with the rally still going on, they were open for business, which meant Mustang was putting in some extra hours.
Fortunately, Mary-Kate was more than happy to have a girl’s night with me.
It was debatable which one of us had the better time.
Spoiling her was too easy.
Her best friend might have been a boy, but she was a girly girl at heart.
By Wednesday, even though I would be asleep while Mustang worked, and he’d sleep the following morning after I left for my shift, I ended up in his bed because it was convenient. My toothbrush, shampoo and conditioner were already in his bathroom.
Thursday evening had been a long one, Mustang again working behind the bar on a busy night. I hung out, because we’d been two ships passing in the night for a couple of days. When we got home in the wee hours, Mustang promised me he’d take me on a real date as soon as the Sturgis rush had died down.
Seeing as we’d spent four unbelievable nights together at the rally, he heard no complaints from me about the crazy work week that followed.
It was my bladder that beckoned me out of bed. After I’d seen to my needs, I went looking for Mustang. I found him at the kitchen island, sipping coffee, his attention directed at his phone.
“Morning, sweetheart,” I said, stopping at his side only long enough to press a kiss against his Wild Stallions tattoo before heading for the coffee pot.
“Hey, baby,” he muttered distractedly.
I glanced back at him, curious what was on his mind, but I didn’t ask. I’d doctored my coffee the way I liked and was standing opposite him at the island when he put his phone down and gave me his full attention.
“You okay with a sandwich for lunch, or do I need to get more creative?”
“I’m good with a sandwich—but you don’t have to make them. Let me. I just need, like, five minutes with this coffee.”
“Yeah. Okay. I’ll get a quick shower. In about an hour, we’ve got to head to the clubhouse. A few of us need to have a chat.”
I nodded, cupping my mug with both hands. “Is everything okay?” I asked cautiously.
“Just some shit gettin’ stirred down south. We’re handling it.”
While his answer hadn’t revealed much, it was more than he gave me the last time there was club business. I wasn’t entirely clear on how tight they were with the other chapters, but Mustang didn’t seem to be too concerned about it, so I decided to follow his lead.
He went to take a shower while I made us sandwiches for lunch. After we’d eaten, I took my turn under the water. I was running out of clothes, with only a clean pair of scrubs to change into. I made a mental note to ask Mustang if he wouldn’t mind sleeping at my place the next couple of nights, so I could catch up on laundry and restock my non-work apparel.
If we were going to keep up the back and forth, it was possible we needed to consider doubling up on essentials while each of us spared a dresser drawer for the other. Living out of a suitcase was bound to get old fast.
My scrubs and sneakers were probably the most practical outfit I’d ever worn while riding on the back of Mustang’s hog, and I enjoyed our comfortable—albeit short —ride to the compound. We walked hand-in-hand into the clubhouse only to find Bull, Twister, Maverick, Wrangler, and Slick—a guy I didn’t know nearly as well as the others—were already there.
“Hey, Tess,” greeted Bull with a jerk of his chin. “Winnie’s in the office over at the garage if you want company.”
“Alright. Thanks.”
I looked up at Mustang and he squeezed my hand, sliding his sunglasses over his hair. “I’ll come grab you when we’re done.”
“Sure.”
He kissed me before he went to join the others, and I set out to find Winnie.
I’d been thrilled to learn she and Bull would be joining us at Sturgis. Given they still had three kids at home, I wasn’t sure how they’d swing it. Apparently, Miles—their oldest—was left in charge. As Bull put it, under threat of death, he was to keep watch over his brothers while they were away.
I was merely relieved I wouldn’t be the only woman riding in our pack. Not that there weren’t plenty of women at the rally to keep the other boys company—there certainly was no shortage of half-naked enthusiasts in attendance—but it was nice to have a known female friend there. And after our long, adventure filled weekend, I definitely considered Winnie a friend.
I was halfway to the garage when my phone sounded with a text alert. I dug the device out of my purse and found a message from Jenna.
Pedicures Sunday? I want to hear all about Sturgis before the memory starts to fade.
I laughed quietly to myself, shaking my head as I typed out my reply. A part of me knew my memories from Sturgis would indeed fade, as all memories did—but I couldn’t imagine forgetting any of it any time soon.
Yes! We’re overdue. Would you mind if I brought Mary-Kate? I’m sure she would love a little pampering.
Jenna’s reply came just as I reached the open door of an empty garage bay.
Can’t wait to meet her.
I caught the attention of one of the guys not busy under a hood and asked if he could point me in the direction of Winnie’s office. I was surprised when he asked if I was Mustang’s woman but didn’t hesitate to answer in the affirmative. Armed with that knowledge, he didn’t point me in the right direction, he escorted me right to the office door. When I thanked him, he gave me the universal badass chin jerk of acknowledgment, then I knocked twice and poked my head in to see Winnie.
“Hi! Get in here. Have a seat,” she insisted.
“Am I interrupting?” I asked, moving to sit on the couch facing her desk on the opposite side of the small room.
“Not at all. I’m just putzing around. Miles is working his apprentice shift out there today, and he’s off in another hour or so. Otto’s at a summer day camp, and Jett is with some friends. I was caught up about an hour ago, so I’m killin’ some time.”
“Oh, I didn’t know Miles was an apprentice.”
Winnie raised and lowered her eyebrows, like she could hardly believe it herself. “Yeah. Before I know it, he’ll be a Stallion probie.”
I considered this and asked, “Do you think all your sons will want to follow in Bull’s footsteps?”
Winnie propped her forearms atop her desk and casually leaned against them. “There were a few years when I thought I might catch a break with Jett, but the older he gets the more unsure I become. He could still surprise us all, but only time will tell.”
She shrugged before she continued.
“Miles will be a senior this year, and I’m sure the only reason he’ll graduate in good standing is because he knows his father will kick his ass if he doesn’t. He’d live on the compound if he could. I knew a long time ago he was born and bred to be a Stallion.
“As for my baby, his daddy is his idol—but he’s five, so I don’t have to worry about him for a while,” she said with a smile of relief.
I thought about why I was sitting in Winnie’s office, and the meeting that was happening in the clubhouse. I wondered if Winnie was guaranteed to live a life of worry until her dying day, every one of the men in her family destined to wear the Stallions patch on their backs.
Except, she’d been part of the club life for a quarter of a century, nearly all her adult years. Maybe she’d built an immunity to all the ins and outs of their world.
“Do you get used to it?” I wondered aloud. “I mean, the worry about… club business ?”
Her face softened in understanding before she told me, “Yes and no. You get comfortable once you learn the world they live in has its own set of rules, and that familiarity eases the worry. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sleep a little less any time Roy goes out on a run.”
“And what about what’s going on right now? Mustang keeps telling me it’s nothing—but is that true?”
She paused before answering, and I could tell by the look in her eye she was about to drop the kind of wisdom only a veteran ol’ lady would know.
“Most valuable piece of advice I could ever give you: never doubt your man. Not ever. I know Mustang. He doesn’t play games, and he shoots it straight all the time. It’s why Roy trusts him so much. He’ll tell you what you need to know. Nothing more, nothing less.
“I’ve lived through some dark times with the Stallions. I wasn’t caught up in the thick of it, but my old man was at the heart of it, so I felt it just the same. Your man won’t lie to you. Mustang loves you, and it’s plain as day you love him. When things are tough, he’ll need you, and you’ll feel the weight of that responsibility—but he won’t burden you with the small stuff.
“They’re handling it. Remember they’re not alone. They have each other, and that means more than either you or I could ever truly understand.”
I nodded, on the fence as to whether or not anything she’d said made me feel better. On the one hand, it seemed I didn’t have anything to worry about at present. On the other, it sounded like worst things could and would happen, and I needed to be ready to take that on when they did.
Then I thought of Mustang. I remembered him pulling me back against his chest, holding me tight as he told me he loved me for the first time, and I knew I’d walk through fire for my man.
Before either of us could change the subject, Winnie’s mobile began to ring on top of her desk.
“Hmm,” she hummed, glancing at the screen. “It’s Mustang.”
She swiped her finger in order to answer the call and put it on speaker. “Hey Mu—”
He didn’t even let her finish before he barked, “Need the keys to your cage. Give ‘em to Tess and tell her to meet me outside. Now .”
I was on my feet in an instant, my heart rate picking up speed in response to the tone of his voice.
As Winnie began digging in her purse for her key fob, she asked, “Is everything—?”
“ Fuck , no,” Mustang interrupted again. “It’s MK.”
Neither of us even noticed when he disconnected, the two of us staring at each other, suspended in a moment of terror, the possibilities of what that could mean unending and unfathomable. The fact that he needed Winnie’s car—that whatever was happening was so urgent we couldn’t take five minutes to go get his truck—made my belly ache.
It was Winnie who broke free of our shared moment of shock first, continuing her dig before she produced the key.
“Here,” she said, standing and thrusting it at me. “Go, go.”
I practically lunged across the small office, snatched her offering, then sprinted for the door.
Mustang
“I need an ambulance,” he spoke into his phone, relaying what little information he knew and the address of the emergency. Tess came running toward him as he yelled, “I don’t fuckin’ know! I’m on my way there. Just send an ambulance.”
Dispatch let him know an ambulance would be on its way, and he didn’t bother to listen to anything else as he disconnected the call.
“Babe?” asked Tess, holding out the key.
He grabbed it, shoving it into his pocket as he changed direction, headed for Winnie’s SUV. He hadn’t answered the inquiry found in that one word greeting, but Tess didn’t miss a step as she hurried alongside of him. Less than ten seconds later, they were in the car. Mustang didn’t bother with a seatbelt but started the engine and gunned it out of the parking lot.
Tess braced but didn’t speak a word in protest.
“Fuckin’ done,” he muttered. He slammed his hand against the steering wheel and repeated, “Fuckin’, fuckin’ done .”
And he meant it.
'Mustang, she’s not waking up. She’s not waking up!'
He replayed his brief, panicked exchange with Trix, then pressed his foot down harder on the gas.
It took five minutes to get to Trix’s apartment.
The fastest he’d ever made it was three.
That afternoon, he was there in two.
He came to an abrupt halt as he parked, jumping out of the driver’s seat with the vehicle still running. He made his journey to Trix’s door at a jog.
His Tess kept pace, following after him, still not uttering a word.
When he reached the right unit, he tried the handle, but the door was locked.
He didn’t bother knocking.
He kicked twice, and the old, wooden frame cracked around the barrier, allowing it to fly open.
His heart dropped when he saw MK, sprawled unconscious on the floor, her head in Trix’s lap.
“Oh, my god,” breathed Tess.
It was the only voice he registered before both of them raced toward his girl.
He was there first, lifting MK’s small frame into his arms. She was light, even in her unconscious state, and Mustang felt her precious fragility as profoundly as he had the first time he ever held her in his arms.
“MK? Baby?” he called, his desperation heard even in his own ears.
“What happened?!” cried Tess.
It was then when Mustang heard Trix wailing on the floor and saw her man pacing frantically back and forth across the room, his fingers buried in his hair.
“How many?” he asked Trix.
She looked up at him, tears streaking her cheeks and snot dripping from her nose as she shook her head in reply.
“ How many?! ” he repeated at a yell.
“I don’t know! I don’t know!”
“Babe,” Tess called, drawing his attention.
She had hold of one of MK’s hands, but her pleading expression was aimed at him.
“She’s calmy and her pulse is weak. What the hell happened?”
“She got into Trix’s edibles,” he spat, instantly irate at the fact that they’d been left in such an easily accessible place.
Tess’s face paled. “Edibles?”
“They’re just weed. They’re just weed! ” the man cried.
Tess shook her head, never breaking eye contact with Mustang. “They could be laced with anything, and we don’t know how many she had or how long ago. We need to go. Right now.”
As if on cue, the sound of sirens could be heard as an ambulance approached. Tess started for the door without a moment’s hesitation. Mustang began to follow just as Trix stood to her feet.
His grip around his girl tightened as he turned to face the woman.
His voice low and menacing, he shot her a glare and warned, “You do not want to see my face again. If you do, and my girl is not in my arms, mine will be the last fuckin’ face you see.”
“Mustang, please,” she begged.
He paid her no mind, turning toward the busted door.
“Mustang!”
He was gone, hurrying for the stairs even as he saw the paramedics headed his way with their gear and a stretcher. Tess reached them first, filling them in on everything she knew. When Mustang caught up, he reluctantly surrendered his daughter into their care.
“There’s room for one in the back. Which one of you is coming?”
Before Mustang could answer, Tess was standing in front of him, her hands taking hold of his arms. “Babe? Babe, listen to me.”
He looked down at her and, for the first time, noticed the calm he saw in her golden-brown eyes. She was steady. Unwavering. His anchor in the storm.
“Let me go,” she continued. “I know you’re scared, and I know you don’t want her out of your sight, but I’m an extra pair of hands, sweetheart. I can help. Please, let me be the one to go.”
It wasn’t until he tried to speak that he noticed his fear had morphed into a knot in his throat and all he could manage was a curt nod—but it was enough.
Tess pressed a kiss on the underside of his chin, giving his arms a squeeze before she joined the paramedics in the ambulance, not even sparing him a second glance. When the doors shut behind her, he ran back to the still running SUV.
She had to be okay.
He needed to believe his MK would be okay.
If she wasn’t, he’d come unhinged.
Even he feared that version of himself.
Mustang rode the ambulance’s bumper the whole way to the hospital.
He paid little attention to where he parked, but he did manage to kill the engine before he got out from behind the wheel.
As soon as the doors to the ambulance opened, Tess was jumping out, and a team of nurses and a doctor were there to help escort his baby girl inside.
“Oh, shit. Tess?”
Mustang jerked his head in the direction of Jenna’s voice. She was already gloved, her hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, obviously on duty that afternoon.
“She’s still not waking up,” said Tess. “Jenna, she’s overdosing.”
Mustang’s blood turned cold at the word.
The paramedics started relaying more information, the doctor in the lab coat asking questions as they all rushed into the emergency room, but Mustang could make sense of none of it. There was only one word circling around his brain.
Overdosing.
His four-year-old was overdosing .
When Tess was no longer of use, the ER staff busy at work in the bay they’d taken MK, she came to his side and took hold of his hand. Reflexively, he squeezed hers in return.
“They’re going to pump her stomach,” she told him. “It could take twenty minutes or so. Tell me what you need.”
He didn’t take his focus off his daughter as he muttered, “Need my girl to open her eyes.”
“I know. I know, babe, and they’re working on that.”
She hugged his arm, pressing her lips against his bicep comfortingly. His brow furrowed as it hit him where she’d kissed. In the center of his tattoo. The tattoo he’d gotten in an attempt to memorialize another Mary-Kate he’d lost way too soon.
“ Fuck ,” he spat through gritted teeth. “ Fuck! ”
“Hey. Hey, look at me,” Tess demanded, cupping a hand around his cheek.
He found her golden-brown gaze and held on, desperate for the calm she still exuded.
“She’s in good hands. All we can do now is wait, babe. While we do that, you need to keep it together. Mary-Kate needs you to be strong. And I have every confidence that you will do that for her, because I know—to the depths of my soul—you would do anything for that little girl.
“And if you need a little help, well, I’m right here, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere. If you want me to call Bull or Winnie or anyone? Just tell me, and I’ll do it. Whatever you need, Mustang. All you have to do is ask.”
He forced in a deep breath and let it out slowly, all the while drawing strength from the hand he still gripped tightly in his. When he felt a little less like losing his shit, he touched his forehead to hers and nodded.
“Need Bull. Winnie’ll be worried, too.”
“Okay. I’ll call them. I’ll call them right now.”
Before she could move away from him, he buried his fingers in her hair, gripping a fistful and keeping her close.
“I can’t lose her,” he whispered. “I’ll kill her. With my bare hands, Tess. If anything happens to my baby—”
She cut him off, pressing her lips to his in a hard, close-mouthed kiss. She hardly pulled away when she mumbled against his mouth, “If she’s anything like her daddy, and we both know she is, Mary-Kate isn’t going down without a fight. And so far as I’m aware, her daddy always wins—so I’m willing to bet, she will, too.”
Her words buoyed him, and he tightened his grip in her hair before delivering his own hard, close-mouthed kiss. Then he let her go.
“I’ll be right back. My phone is in my purse. I left it in Winnie’s car.”
She hurried toward the entrance, and he looked back at the bed that seemed to be swallowing MK. He folded his arms tight across his chest, the sight of a tube shoved down her throat making him want to come out of his skin.
Tess had been right.
He needed to keep it together.
If he lost his shit, it wouldn’t help his girl.
As far as he was concerned, she had only one parent left—and she needed him.
Twenty minutes later, the contents of MK’s stomach emptied, and her bloodwork on its way to the lab, they were still waiting for her to wake up.
“We’re going to get her admitted,” said Jenna, hugging the tablet she’d been updating only a minute earlier. “We’ll move her to the pediatrics clinic just as soon as we can sort out a bed.” She hesitated, her attention drawn across the room before she said, “You and Tess can stay with her, but we’ll have to ask your friends to stay in the waiting room.”
They both followed the line of her gaze, watching as Bull, Winnie, Twister, Wrangler, and Maverick headed their way. Mustang felt bolstered by their sudden presence. He also knew, if Bull had brought Twister and Wrangler, he wasn’t just there to check in on his brother and his daughter.
“Stay,” he told Tess, pressing a kiss into her hair. “I’ll talk to them.”
“Are you sure? I can—”
“Stay, baby,” he semi-repeated.
Before he left, he reached out, gently grazing his knuckles over one of MK’s pale cheeks.
“Daddy’ll be right back, princess.”
He wasn’t sure if she could hear him, but he wanted her to know it just the same.
When he reached Winnie and his brothers, no one spoke. Winnie grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze before she continued toward Tess and MK. Bull nodded toward the exit, and Mustang jerked his chin in agreement before the five men stepped outside.
There was a warm afternoon breeze that blew past them as they stepped out of earshot of any passersby. Mustang raked his fingers through his hair, squeezing the back of his neck as he scowled down at his boots.
“What do we need to know, brother?” asked Twister.
Mustang told them about the gummies, his call from Trix, and the subsequent chain of events that brought them to the present moment.
“Shit, man,” muttered Wrangler. He rested a hand on Mustang’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
Bull, who stood with his hands at his hips, leveled Mustang with an unwavering stare.
“Know what I’d do if it was Otto in that hospital bed. But it’s not. Regardless of the patch on the front of my kutte, this isn’t my call. She’s the mother of your child.”
Retribution.
Mustang didn’t need Bull to make it any clearer.
Neither did he need time to think about it.
He’d known since the moment he’d gotten that call.
He was done.
She’d been warned, time and time again.
His daughter fighting an overdose was beyond the pale of anything he could have imagined happening while she was in Trix’s care.
He tolerated her because MK loved her—but he’d lost his mother because she loved a man who loved himself more. He wouldn’t lose his MK to the same fate.
Trix wasn’t an ignorant innocent.
She’d wanted to tie herself to a Stallion.
It hadn’t turned out the way she hoped, but she sure as fuck was tied to him—and she knew what that meant.
She also knew there were consequences should she fuck up.
And she’d fucked up in record breaking fashion.
Anyone who could boast a braincell knew you didn’t mess with a Stallion and his kin.
Meeting his piercing blue stare, Mustang simply replied, “She doesn’t see my girl again.”
Bull nodded. Then, without a word, he cut his eyes at Twister.
Twister clapped Mustang on the back. “Hang in there, brother,” he said before starting for the parking lot. “Let’s roll,” he called.
Wrangler gave Mustang’s shoulder another squeeze, following after their VP. Maverick, too, gave a silent show of affection before he was headed for his hog.
“That’s handled,” said Bull. “What else you need?”
Mustang thought back to when Tess asked him a similar question, and he found his answer hadn’t changed.
“Need my girl to open her eyes.”
He said nothing more before turning to head back inside.