35. Chapter 35
Chapter 35
Lilli
An hour later, Giant comes back to pick me up and pauses inside the door. His brows rise and he shakes his head. “Wow.”
Blushing, I wave my hand, pleased by the compliment. While Miriam showered and dressed, Toni curled my hair, teased it into a pretty braid, and clipped a red bow in the strands.
My dark eyes glitter under lids of kohl, the black accentuating my eyes. Toni loaned me a cute pair of short shorts and another MC top but since I can’t wear a bra, my nipples poke from the thin fabric.
Giant is a complete gentleman and avoids glancing anywhere but at my face, as he carries me back down the stairs. The reclining chair was moved to the edge of the outdoor kitchen area and faces the stage where a band tunes their instruments.
Once I’m in the chair, I grab Giant’s hand. “Have you heard anything about Rachel?” I ask.
He frowns and my heart sinks before he says, “Don’t worry darlin’, come hell or high water, by tomorrow night, Mercy will be free.”
I refuse to analyze what that means and instead crook my finger. When Giant leans forward, his brows furrowed, I kiss his cheek, leaving a purple stain on his bristly skin.
He grins and stands, nodding to Miriam who sits in the seat beside me.
She looks better…rested and I admire her pretty shirt as Draven stalks up to me. I don’t know her at all, but I am appreciative of her help before, except when I try to express my thanks, she says, “Sorry ‘bout…whatever.”
She waves at my stomach, and I glance around. It’s not exactly something I want to advertise.
“Thanks,” I say. “Did Maddox know?”
I’ve been wondering since he gave me that big wad of cash. Her lip curls and she looks over her shoulder as he approaches. “Fucker wouldn’t let up. Sorry. Had to.”
“It’s fine,” I say as she spins and stalks away before Maddox gets here. Pulling up a chair, he hands me a soda and says, “Sorry, sweetheart. No alcohol with your meds.”
“Oh well, that’s okay.”
He smiles prettily and I return the affectation which slides off my face when I look over his shoulder and meet Wolf’s seething glare.
I don't know what I did and frankly, I’m too tired to care. Instead, I turn my focus to the music.
It’s too loud to talk and I enjoy myself for about an hour before I start to fade. Miriam left twenty minutes ago after yawning in her hand.
Maddox’s chatting with the guy next to him, whose name I think is Cash. Cash spies my curious stare and leans past Maddox. “Like the music, sugar?”
”Uh, yeah,” I shout before shaking my head when he puts his hand behind his ear. Since I can’t really move, he leans in, past Maddox who grins and makes room.
Once Cash is closer, he says, “What was that?”
I don’t want to yell and I’m not sure he’s close enough, so I grab the sides of the chair and pull myself closer. Bad move. The ache I’ve come to loathe takes up residence in my chest and I collapse with a cough.
Cash’s eyes widen but before he can comment, Wolf growls from above me, “Back off. Can’t you see she’s fucking tired?”
Cash rolls to his feet and tosses his beer to the ground.
“Can’t you?” he says and Wolf shoves him on the shoulder.
Bemused, I watch as Cash pushes him back before Wolf takes a swing and his head snaps to the side. With a wince, I raise my hand, and this is when Maddox intervenes, barking, “Enough.”
“Fuck you,” Wolf growls, pushing him so hard that he falls back and over the chair behind him.
“Wolf!” Giant barks. Wolf swings his head around, his nostrils flared. He’s magnificent in his rage, like the lone wolf I referenced earlier.
“Yeah?”
"Take your girl and go up to your room,” Giant says.
His girl? What girl?
My chest aches for an entirely different reason until Wolf bends down, slides his arms beneath me, and lifts me gently into the air.
Me?
Wolf stalks through the crowd with a menacing scowl. When we pass Melanie, I turn my head into Wolf’s chest to hide my grin.
I don’t know what’s happening, but I can easily say that I’m guilty of finding pleasure in her disappointment. I’ll repent later.
Once we’re in the room, he sets me on the bed, his eyes dropping to my boobs. They go wide and then narrow before he rasps, “What the fuck are you wearing?”
With a little thrill, I arch my chest and say, “A shirt. You don’t like it?”
His eyes flash to mine and he growls, “You’re playing with fire, baby girl.”
Heat dances along my skin and I thrust into the air again, ignoring the twinge of pain. Somewhere between the outdoor kitchen and here, the devil rose within me, and I want to make Wolf burn.
When he groans and runs his hand through his hair leaving the strands adorably on end, I smile but it fades when he turns to the window.
“We can’t do this,” he says and the pleasure humming through my veins turns to ice.
“Oh,” I whisper, closing my eyes. Tears push at my lids, and I fake a yawn. “I’m tired.”
Spinning around, he eyes me before fluffing the pillows behind my back. I just want him to leave but I’m afraid to open my mouth and eventually, tears spill down my cheeks.
He pauses before wiping the evidence away. “Lilli?”
I refuse to answer and shake my head, gasping when he grasps my cheeks and says, “Open your eyes.”
"No.”
"What?”
"No,” I bark, pushing his hands away.
"Lilli,” he says, holding my wrists. “Look. At. Me.”
"Fine,” I sob, opening my eyes. “Happy now?”
"I’d be happier if I could stick my dick in you but I’m not going to do that while you’re hurt,” he growls.
Blinking, I study his eyes until he raises a brow. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh,” he says. “Now lay down and try not to steal all the damn covers.”
"What?” I mumble and he sighs dramatically, shaking his head.
"You talk in your sleep too.”
Talk…in my sleep? Has he been sleeping in here with me the whole time?
My cheeks heat and I bite my lip against the smile curving my lips. He brushes his thumb gently over my bottom lip and I release my teeth.
Except when he pulls away, I eye those hands and say, “You touched her.”
Wolf drops down before me and grabs my hands, tightening his grip when I try to pull away. “It’s a shitty excuse and I know you deserve more but I didn’t touch her, baby girl. I was fucking lost, and she sat on my lap.”
Wrenching away with a grimace because my ribs twinge in protest, I mumble, “You could have pushed her away.”
"I could have,” he says, and I meet his solemn stare. “I should have. I didn’t and I will have to live with that for the rest of my fucking life.”
"Then why did you do it?” I whisper, my throat thick with tears.
"Because I’m a bastard. Because I wanted to hurt you like I hurt. I don’t know. It was fucking stupid.” Throwing his arms wide, he leans in and says, “If you want me to bleed for my sins, I will gladly rip open my own veins. If you want me to suffer like you did, I’ll hold the damn whip. Just say the goddamn word.”
“I don’t…” What do I say to that? I don’t want him to hurt, I just want him to want me. “What does this all mean?”
Wrapping his warm fingers around my neck, he pulls me gently forward and pecks me on the lips. “It means…you’re mine. I’m yours. If…”
He doesn’t say it and I spy a moment of unease before he stands and says, “You need to sleep.”
My heart thumps for my grumpy, growly biker before I blurt, “Dirty.”
When he cocks his head and raises a brow, I say, “Maybe my nickname should be Dirty.”
His eyes are wide as he studies me before his lips pull into a devilish smirk. “It’s a road handle, baby girl and dirty or clean. You’re mine.”
“Wolf,” I moan and touch his chest, tracing my finger down the fabric of his shirt.
“Fuck, Lilli,” he groans.
With a little thrill, I brush my fingers over his happy trail, and he grabs my hand, pressing it flat against his belly.
“You’re killing me,” he rasps, and I look up at him from below my lashes.
“I need you,” I say, and he shakes his head.
“No. No way, you’re hurt. You’re in fucking pain.”
Pouting, I pull my hand free and touch his cheek. He covers my fingers, his eyes bright, and says, “Soon, baby girl. Not now.”
With a shudder, he carefully maneuvers until he’s wrapped around me and says, “Sleep.”
With a yawn, I murmur, “Yessir.”
His groan makes me smile as I drop into sleep, warm in his embrace.
Unfortunately, I was too exhausted to make the moment last and when I woke in the morning, Wolf was gone.
Still, there’s a lightness to my heart that I haven’t felt in a while as I grab the glass of water by the bed.
My hand brushes a piece of paper lying beneath a small black box. After taking a few sips of water, I return the glass to the nightstand and pick up the piece of paper.
I will burn the world to the ground for you.
That’s it, one sentence. But I'm grinning from ear to ear when I open the box. Inside, nestled on black velvet are a pair of gold earrings. They’re remarkable. One stud is formed in the shape of a wolf’s head with a tiny ruby gem for the eye. The other is the wolf’s body, lean and proud.
I’m still staring at the earrings, charmed when Toni appears with a tray of food and my meds.
As she sets the tray down on the bed, I ask, “Toni? Do you know how to pierce ears?”
Her brows rise before she glances at my hand. With a chuckle, she says, “Eat.”
“After?” I plead and dig into my food when she nods.
The process is worth the sting, and I admire my new earrings in the mirror as Miriam enters and slams the door behind her.
“Everything okay?” I ask as Toni slinks out with a grimace.
“Fine,” she snaps.
“It’s not fine,” I say, and she turns her glare on me before throwing up her hands.
“The guys are going on some super-secret mission and Duke refuses to tell me what or where.”
I wisely refrain from repeating what I overheard last night because Miriam is approaching her due date and stressed enough as it is.
Unlike her, I’m not worried about Wolf because I know he's the strongest man I’ve ever met. There’s nothing he can’t do, as far as I’m concerned.
“Anyway,” she says with a sigh. “He said they’re going to get Mercy later this evening.”
Just a few more hours until I can see her and hold her, knowing she’s okay. Is she scared? Hurt?
Shaking my head because I can’t change anything between now and tomorrow, I say, “Wanna watch the Twilight marathon with me?”
Her eyes brighten and she crawls into the bed as I change the channel. While she gets comfortable, I nibble my lip before asking, “Mir? Do you know Rose?”
Collapsing against the pillows with a sigh, she says, “Duke’s sister? I mean I know of her, but I’ve never met her. Why?”
Sister. Okay, this I can handle. Waving my hand, I mumble, “No reason.”
Soon we’re knee-deep in vampires. When I wake up later, the sun is lowering in the sky. I feel refreshed and for the first time, I make it to the bathroom on my own before sitting back down on the bed.
This is when Miriam’s phone chirps and not wanting to disturb her, snoring softly beside me, I reach over and grab it from the table. When the phone blinks, asking for her password, I enter her birthday with a guilty look in her direction.
When I click on it, it’s a picture…of Mercy with a man standing behind her. I can’t see his face, but I don’t need to, I see his neck with the tattooed handprint.
The next message says: You have one hour to come home, little bitch…tell anyone and she’s dead
Shoot.
It was foolish but with everything that’s happened I forgot about the sheriff and his lackey. Now what am I going to do?
I glance at Miriam sleeping peacefully and ease off the bed. How do I get out of here without anyone noticing and beyond that, is there a car I can steal because it’s going to take too long on foot?
Either way, I have to go.
I assume with Duke and Wolf gone Giant and Maddox are too. I don’t know who else I can trust and considering Hand was once a brother, I know it’s foolish to do so. Clearly, there are people I can’t rely on here.
Toni probably has a car, but I don’t want to involve her because she might insist on coming along. I can’t risk someone else getting hurt.
My gut churns as I pace beside the bed. As much as I don’t want to ask Miriam, I have no other choice.
“Ugh,” I mumble, tapping her gently on the shoulder. “Mir?”
“Mm,” she mumbles, and I smile when she bats at my hand before she fades back into sleep. Miriam has never been a morning person. I guess some things never change.
“Mir,” I say more firmly this time and she blinks open one eye.
“What?”
“Mir, Mercy is in trouble.”
She sits up, grasping her belly. “What do you mean?”
Flapping my hands, I say, “Hand. He sent a message.”
“Okay back up. Hand sent you a message about Mercy. How? When? Why?”
It occurs to me as she stares blankly that I’ve never told anyone what happened that night with Hand. Everyone still thinks I walked off this compound and went home. So much other stuff has happened that I’ve also never told Wolf about the sheriff who ultimately forced me to go home.
“Look, it’s a long story. Can we maybe discuss this later?” I say and Miriam raises a brow.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
“Whoa.” I hold up my hand. “You can’t go.”
She pushes to her feet, wobbling like a top and I grab her arm. “See you can’t go.”
“Lilli,” she says, her fingers digging into my skin. “You have fractured ribs. You can barely move. Who’s the better bet, here?”
“Yeah,” I snap, “but I’m not carrying a baby.”
The reminder sends a chill through me, but I don’t have time to consider what I lost.
She touches her belly as she leans into my face. “That doesn’t make me a goddamn invalid.”
“I can’t believe I’m arguing with you about this. You wanna go? Go!”
I point to the door, and she says, “Maybe you should put on some pants.”
Right. Pants. Gah.
I painstakingly slip on the shorts Toni brought in the other day but I still can’t bear the thought of wrangling on a bra so Wolf’s shirt will have to do.
My tennis shoes are in the corner, and I slip them on before following Miriam down the hall. We’re halfway to the stairs when she pauses. “I have to pee.”
Rolling my eyes, I refrain from commenting as she ducks into her room. Meanwhile, I consider what we’re going to have to say to leave.
Miriam appears a few minutes later. “Let’s go.”
“So, what’s the plan?” I ask when we’re at the bottom of the stairs. Every step down reminds me of why I shouldn’t be doing this, but Hand doesn’t seem like the type to wait.
“What do you mean?” Miriam asks.
I open my mouth before snapping it shut when we approach a guy I don’t recognize. He’s standing with his back to us, wearing the vest or cut as Wolf called it but this one says “prospect” on the back.
He turns as we approach and Miriam smiles with a small wave. Miraculously we walk right past them and two more outside, tinkering with their motorcycles.
She leads me to Duke’s pretty muscle car and once we’re inside, I say, “That was too easy.”
She glances at me with a weird expression before saying, “We’re not prisoners, Lil.”
“Oh.”
Once we’re cruising down the highway I say, “I think you should wait in the car.”
“I think you should stop thinking,” she grumbles.
“Mir, what do you think is going to happen in there? Besides, someone has to take Mercy when he lets her go.” I splay my hands, and she eyes them with a frown.
“Why Hand?”
We both know she’s changing the subject, and I shake my head before saying, “I don’t know. He’s working for the sheriff. They came looking for me at Wolf’s. He’s the man who chased me through the woods.”
She mulls over the condensed version of my story while I stare at the trees as they pass by in a blur. What took me hours the other day is disturbingly fast in this car.
“I always hated the sheriff,” she mutters. “Creepy fucker.”
Eyeing her sideways, I don’t comment but I do wonder if he ever said gross things to her, like he did to me.
I can’t be sure what Hand wants but it can’t be good if he went out of his way to find me after all this time. I desperately want my sisters to live through this and I can’t afford for Miriam to get in the way. Maybe she hasn’t grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Maybe she doesn’t care but I do. That baby deserves to live, and I won’t stand by while we lose another precious life to the evils of this world.
All too soon, we’re in our neighborhood. It looks the same but so different after just a few days of being gone.
The hedges around the sides of the house need a trim. Daddy’s car is in the drive.
Mrs. Myrtle, our neighbor, is sitting on the front porch across the street. It’s so normal that for a minute, I wonder if Hand is even inside that house with Mercy.
“Stop here,” I say out of instinct, two doors down.
Miriam slows, glancing at me with a frown. Exhaling slowly, I say, “Give me twenty minutes. Please.”
Her troubled gaze meets mine before she stops in front of the house that’s been vacant for a year. The previous couple died in that home after the husband went crazy and it’s been empty ever since.
At the time, Daddy used it as a lesson about the godless man and woman who were nothing more than lost souls, ending their journey long before their time.
Shivering at the reminder of my own impending demise, I push the door open as Miriam says, “Twenty minutes. That’s it.”
“Okay,” I say before leaning back in. “I love you, Mir.”
“I love you too,” she rasps.
Wolf
The farther we go from the clubhouse, the itchier I get. I know this has to be done but I want nothing more than to be with Lilli.
There’s still a lot to discuss but I only had so much self-control and when she practically begged me, I shut that shit down and made her sleep.
Although I’d give anything to slide between those silky thighs, I vowed to never hurt her again.
The trip on my bike to the bar two towns over soothes some of the raging emotions and I’m calmer if anxious to get this over with when we arrive.
Taking down Hand won’t be easy. He’s a wily bastard who knows how we operate and can be downright dangerous knowing that we’re hunting him.
This is why we were careful to plan this thoroughly. One of our newest prospects, who came along just after Hand disappeared, volunteered to be the lookout.
He should be arriving at the bar where Hand will supposedly be any minute now.
Since we’re moving into other territory it would have been wise to contact Mac Dornan, the Irish mob boss who controls the area but without knowing who Hand has been dealing with, we figured rather than ask for permission, we’d deal with a future favor later.
As soon as we arrive, Joker parks his ride and approaches. We decided to come in hot rather than hide because Hand deserves to know what’s coming for him.
The back of my neck tingles though when Joker says, “Rolo texted. He says the fucker’s not here.”
“Then where the fuck is he?” I growl and Joker rubs his head.
It was a long fucking ride based on an assumption but worth the risk. Hand would be stupid to come back. If we want to bring him down, it’ll be somewhere beyond our control.
“Don’t know,” he grunts. “I’ve put some feelers out with Dornan. In the meantime, Rolo and Tank will hang out, see if the fucker shows, and follow him.”
I don’t like the idea of leaving but I’m eager to get back to Lilli, so I don’t argue.
The ride home feels ten times as long and I’m rolling into the clubhouse, ready to see my woman when Duke shoves off his bike, waving his phone, and barks, “What the fuck?”