Chapter 9
CHAPTER
NINE
CARBON
Staring down at the broken body of a disturbed woman that used to date a brother in Seattle, I frown.
My eyes move up to the top of the flight of stairs to see my brothers, Mint and Wally, cradling Meadow between them.
They shout for Kevlar, and then rush her out of this dank, abandoned motel.
I look over at Hem and Mouse. “Let’s find a tarp. ”
It takes pushing open only two doors before we find one spread out over a bed.
We grab it, wrapping the woman’s body up in it before carting it out to the parking lot.
They ask if anyone has a car, and I nod, jogging off to get mine.
I pull in, popping the trunk for Mouse and Hemmy while Mint and Wally carefully get Meadow into the front seat.
We are quiet as I drive extra carefully.
Meads looks totally out of it, and I don’t want to do anything to make whatever headache she has to be having from the head wound she sports any worse.
She holds an already bloodied gauze pad to her wound.
Her head slowly shifts, and I can feel her looking over at me. “Harry?”
My chest squeezes at her name coming from Meads right now. “Harry?”
I take a jerky look over at her.
“She’s okay?” her voice is soft.
My heart feels like it grinds to a halt. “What?”
“She was in the car with me. We crashed, no, we… she… she ran us off the road.” Meadow seems to be struggling to piece everything together.
“Meadow, honey, talk to me. Harry was with you?” I try to keep the panic from my voice.
“She was talking. Mint said she’s okay, but I… I just need to know,” her voice is so quiet, so stuttered. I breathe through the terror jolting through my body and mind.
“If Mint said she is okay, then we have to trust that,” I tell her as I pull into the parking lot of Kev’s business.
We get her inside, and Kev starts to work, I shift back and forth on my feet as I stand to the side wanting so desperately to get to Harry. My phone shows her at the hospital. I need to see her. I need to know she is okay.
A panic like I have never felt before threatens to overtake me.
Burns under my skin.
Sears at my brain.
Stings at the backs of my eyes.
“Carbon?” Meadow’s soft voice calls out.
“Yeah?” My head jerks up to look at her
“Can you check on Harry for me? It would make me feel better,” she pleads.
My head nods, or at least I think it does, I feel like I have been given a reprieve. Now, I can blow out of here and get to my girl. “On it.”
“I’ll go with you.” Virus smiles and jumps in step with me. Once we are out the door, I start running toward my car. Virus calls to me, but I am not operating beyond getting to Harry. “Brother.”
He tries again, “Carbon.”
I yank open the car door.
“Frank,” his voice snaps.
My head jerks to the side to look at him. “You have something in your trunk. Maybe we let someone else take your car?”
I look around me to figure out what transport I have available. Virus points to his bike. I roll my eyes, and under my breath I grumble out, “What-the-fuck-ever.”
I rush to the side of his bike and climb on behind him. “Ride fast. Wait. Fuck. Do you know where she is?”
“Yeah, I do. I got you. Hold on, you don’t have a helmet,” he grits out, clearly not thrilled about this and my safety. I don’t much fucking care right now, I need to get to Harry.
We take off down the road, and I feel the worry really begin to take hold of me. What if she’s alone? Is she scared? Is she hurt? How bad? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
We pull in at the hospital, I jump from the bike before Virus even gets the damn kickstand down. “Where?”
“Fancy is with her,” he calls after me as I race to the entrance.
I dig my phone out of my pocket and call Fancy.
“Carbon.”
“You with Harlow?” I ask, doing my best to keep the feeling from my voice.
“Yeah, we are in the emergency room, she is in… uhm… room seven, though it’s just a curtained space, not really a room,” he mumbles.
“Got it.” I hit end call and push in through the emergency room, heading up to the counter. “Harlow Hoss, she is in room seven, I need to get back there.”
“She already has a visitor.” The woman eyes me.
“I will send him out. I will make sure he comes over to show you he is out here if you want.” I tap my hand on the side of my thigh as I wait for her to open the fucking door for me to go back.
She nods. “Sure, fine.”
The large double doors buzz and I push through, nodding briefly at Virus as I rush back. I see the seven overhead at the end before the hall turns to the right. I rush toward it, dodging a couple people in scrubs, I tug the curtain open. “Harry.”
Fancy jumps to his feet when he sees me and Harry’s face rounds in surprise. “They only let one visitor in here at a time. Go to the counter and let them know you came out, that is how I got them to let me back.”
He nods. “Consider it done. Doc was in a bit ago, dunno when they will be back.”
“Virus is in the lobby, you can check in with him, but probably are good to go,” I let him know. “Thank you for today.”
I assume Fancy did some shit to help, so I’ll just thank him, besides, being close to Harry is making my blood pressure finally ratchet down.
He ducks out of the room as I move across the small space over to her side, my eyes move over her, she looks a bit banged up.
A bruised cheek, her arms look bruised, a cut on her upper cheek, but overall, she looks okay.
“Carbon, why are you here?” Her face still reads her surprise, her voice sounds a bit tight, but not with anger, more with relief.
“Meadow was worried about you, she asked me to come, and… and I needed to come,” I confess.
“Why did you need to come?” her haughty tone reenters the chat, and it helps me breathe easier because I know she must be okay.
“I needed to know you were okay.” I keep eye contact with her. She needs to see that I wanted to be here. No, that I needed to be here. That I needed to see her with my own damn eyes. “I needed to know.”
She breathes out a slow, long breath, eyes blinking rapidly.
She gives a tiny shrug, the one that tells me she doesn’t know what to say but she doesn’t hate me being here, and you could never get her to admit that maybe she likes me being here.
I smile at her. Her face softens. “You should do that more.”
“What?” I question.
“Smile.” Her little shoulder lifts and drops again.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to tell people they should smile more,” I tease.
Her eyes roll. “No, men aren’t supposed to tell women to smile.”
“Then how is it okay for a woman to say it to a man?” I taunt her because with each barb I can see my Harry come back.
She tries to fight off her own smile. “I suppose you have a point, I guess I won’t say nice things to you anymore.”
I bark out a laugh.
“Ah, uh, well then. Miss Hoss. Your x-rays have come back.” The curtain is thrust open and an older man, probably in his fifties stands there.
My eyes drop to his badge, and it says he is a doctor.
He ignores me. “Nothing is broken, so that’s good.
Just bruises, and the cut isn’t big enough to need any real treatment.
I would just keep some Vaseline or Aquafor on it for a while and take some ibuprofen for the muscle pain.
The nurse will be by in a bit to discharge you. ”
He ducks back out, not even checking if she has questions. I frown, not pleased with the service here. I feel her hand wrap around mine. I turn back to Harry. “Yeah, he is a little bit of a dick, but I want to get out of here in a bad way.”
I nod. She points to the bag hanging from the back of the chair. “Can you hand me that and uhm… step out? I want to put my clothes back on.”
“Yeah, sure.” I grab it, laying it on the bed beside her. “I’ll just stand right on the other side of the curtain, if you need help, let me know.”
“Okay.” Her eyes looking everywhere but my face. I step out, making sure the curtain is solidly closed. I tap my hand on my thigh as I listen to the quiet shuffling of clothes behind the curtain. A heavy sigh comes through. I hold off asking if she needs help, she knows to ask.
A nurse walks over. “Is she dressing?”
“Yeah, is this her discharge paperwork?”
“Sure is. There are some instructions on here for basic care, it is pretty self-explanatory, but do you have any questions as her caregiver?” Her face is calm and pleasant as she looks up at me with a patience the doctor didn’t have.
“No, I think we will be good, but?—”
“Oh, don’t worry, I will make sure to check with Harlow before you depart.” She smiles and winks at me.
The curtain pulls open and Harlow stands there in a stretched out top and a dirty skirt, no shoes frowning. “I have no questions, thank you.”
The nurse gives her a soft sympathetic look. “Take care of yourself.”
“Thanks.” I take the paperwork from the nurse before she sees herself off to her next patient. I look down at Harry’s feet. “My shoes didn’t make it out of the car.”
“Can I pick you up?” I ask her.
She nods. “Piggyback only, I will so not let anyone see me being carried like a fucking bride or some shit.”
I chuckle. “Deal.”
I shove her paperwork in my pocket after folding it up.
Bending down, I look over my shoulder as Harry pulls her skirt between her thighs and positions herself so it will get pinned between us.
Hooking my arms around her thighs, I hoist her up.
Her hands hold tight, but around my shoulders, not over them, I can see the bruising on her arms and it must hurt too much to do it the other way.
I carry her out into the lobby. Virus jumps to his feet.
“Wait here, I will bring the car I had dropped off here to the front, so you don’t have to go far.” He darts out through the doors.
I settle Harry on the bench out front. I brush her hair back behind her ear. Her eyes fix on her lap. “Can I stay with you for a bit tonight?”
She gives a light sniff. “Only if you promise to handle dinner for me.”
“Deal.” I smirk.