37. Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Big Dan
Iplace my hand against the closet door, listening to her soft words.
“Somewhere safe. Somewhere far away. Please, God, take me somewhere safe.”
I’d like to leave her here, but she’s hurt.
Her shirt was covered in blood when she ran to me.
“Dan!” Dirk and Raffe yell, racing up the stairs.
The chanting stops.
I meet them at the door, placing my finger over my mouth. “He’s out back. I’ve got him tied up good, he isn’t going anywhere, but someone needs to take him to the shed.”
Raffe instantly starts heading back down. “Can he walk? Or will it take two of us?”
“He can hop on one fucking leg. The other is blown to shit.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he says, jogging the rest of the way down the stairs.
“Did you get ahold of Doc?”
“Yeah, he’s on his way. Are you hurt?”
“No, but she is.” I drop to the floor, listening. She’s whispering again.
“Somewhere safe. Somewhere far away. Please, God, take me somewhere safe.”
Dirk sits down at the end of the bed, placing his head in his hands.
“Luna, Luna, sweetheart, whoever that was that was chasing you is tied up. He can’t hurt you.”
Her chanting stops, but she doesn’t open the door.
“I’m going to open the door now. I need to take a look at your wound.”
Slowly, I open it, finding her curled in a little ball with her eyes closed.
“Honey, it’s Carson’s dad. Can you please open your eyes.”
She shakes her head, hugging herself tighter. Her shirt is soaked in blood, and her hands are covered in it.
I look at Dirk, feeling fucking helpless. I can’t just reach in and grab her, knowing the trauma she’s faced. She has to come to me.
“Sweetie, just come to me. I promise you are safe.”
“I’ll go downstairs and wait for the Doc. I’ll get Jesse over here.”
As soon as Dirk walks out of the room, she dives into my arms.
“Oh, honey. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
“Please don’t make me leave here,” she rasps.
“I won’t. You can stay here as long as you like.”
She hugs me tighter.
“Can I take a look at your wound? Did that motherfucker shoot you?”
Slowly she pulls away, kneeling in front of me.
The blood on her hands seems to surprise her. She looks confused. “He … he shot me?”
“Let me take a look and see what we’re dealing with.”
She pulls up her shirt, holding it under her chin. Her fingers search for a hole.
“I’m going to have Dirk bring us some towels, so we can clean you up, okay?”
Her eyes snap to mine, and I can tell she’s in shock.
“Dirk, can you grab us some wet towels. I think the bullet just grazed her. I’m not seeing an entry point.”
“Be right there!” he yells back.
Luna looks at the blood on her shaking hands. “He was going to take me.”
“Do you know him?”
She nods. “I worked with him in Cheyenne. He stayed at the campground I was at.” Her brows pull together. “He was going to take me!” She falls back and her brows pull together as panic begins to set in.
I take her hands in mine. “He didn’t. You’re here. Safe with me.”
Her eyes lock on mine. “She told me you’d save me.”
Luna tugs away from me and tries to stand. Her bloody hands reaching for me again when she sways.
“Whoa there. Let’s not pass out on me now.”
“He was going to take me in Cheyenne. He was just getting me to trust him.” She rubs her temple. “If Carson and Cole hadn’t ordered that pizza.”
I guide her back onto the bed. “Well, you might be the only person I know who can say they were saved by a pizza,” I tell her, chucking her under the chin.
She looks me over. “Are you …”
“I’m okay.”
“Is he?”
“For now.”
Her face falls, but she doesn’t argue with me about it.
Dirk walks in with a couple of wet hand towels.
He whistles. “Whoo-wee, that fucker got you good, didn’t he?”
She lifts her shirt again, showing him her wound. So maybe it wasn’t him that was keeping her in the closet.
I take the towels from him. “Here, lie down and I’ll get you cleaned up a bit. Doc will be here in a minute. He’ll get you all fixed up.”
“We can’t tell Lily,” she says, already worried about someone other than herself. “She has enough right now.”
“Good luck with that,” Dirk says, moving to the window. He laughs. “Raffe’s got that fucker howling, but he’s getting him in the truck.”
“He followed me here all the way from Cheyenne,” she says in disbelief.
Dirk snaps his fingers. “You know, on second thought, I think I’ll go help Raffe.”
He cracks his knuckles on the way out.
“They’re going to hurt him?”
I’m not going to lie to her, no matter how much I want to.
“We can’t let him live, Luna. He might come after you again … or someone else.”
Her eyes fill with tears. “I can’t let him hurt anyone else. I didn’t stop my dad and he …” She pauses and closes her eyes. “He hurt Chance.”
“He won’t. Carson will make sure of it.”
Luna’s attention snaps to me. “Carson?”
I shake my head. “You’re his old lady, and that fucker hurt you. Carson gets dibs, and trust me, I know my son. He’s going to be the one to escort him out of this life. Tim couldn’t play nice, so Tim doesn’t get to play at all.”
“I can’t ask that of Carson.”
“You don’t have to ask. In this club, we protect what’s ours. You’re his, Luna. You’re ours.”
The truck fires up outside the window. Dirk and Raffe are on their way to the shack.
Jesse runs up the stairs. I recognize her footsteps.
“Jesus,” she says, rushing to Luna’s side. “Baby.”
“I’m okay.” Luna smiles at her.
This girl is strong.
But she deserves to not have to be.
I let Jesse fuss over her. “Are you hungry? I’ll fix you whatever you want.”
Luna begins to tell her she’s fine, but I stop her. “Tell her what you want, because you’re eating it. I know for a fact you haven’t had supper.”
“Oh, well, I don’t want to be a bother.”
“Tell her.”
Jesse sits back at the tone of my voice. It’s the same one I gave her when I demanded she let me help her all those years ago.
Goddammit, why do these poor girls have to suffer so?
It doesn’t make any fucking sense to me, and I don’t know that it ever will.
“Well, I do love to have breakfast for supper,” Luna says quietly, pulling me from the rabbit hole I was about to go down.
“Say no more. Big Guy?” She jumps to her feet. “Just kidding. I know you’re starving.”
Even with her graying hair, I see the dark-haired girl who walked into my tattoo shop, dumping a coffee can full of change on my counter.
Luna laughs lightly, flinching when she does.
Someone knocks on the side of the doorframe.
“Doc.” I stand up and greet him.
My mind runs through the possibilities of how this plays out. Luna is acting normally, but that’s the damn problem. None of this is normal.
“Somewhere safe. Somewhere far away.”
Doc confirms that the bullet grazed her. It’s fairly deep though, and it’s going to take a while to heal. He bandages her up, giving me instructions on how to care for it as he does. Before he leaves, he hands me a bottle of antibiotics.
“Thank you.”
Jesse is back, offering to help Luna out of bed. “I have everything set up downstairs,” she tells her.
“Oh,” Luna says, tugging away from her. “I … I think I’ll stay up here for a while. If that’s …” Her eyes meet mine. “If that’s okay?”
And there it is. Please don’t make me leave here.
“Of course. I’ll go down and fix you a tray. Do you like blueberries?”
Luna nods, wincing as she lies back down.
Jesse pats my stomach on the way out.
I sigh, sitting down on the bed beside her. “Luna, you can stay here as long as you like, but …”
Tears begin to pool, confirming my fears are valid.
“I’m going to need you to leave this room once in a while.”
Her shoulders fall in relief.
“At least to go to the bathroom,” I add.
She nods, swallowing hard.
Jesse comes in with a tray filled with every kind of fucking breakfast food there is.
I snag a muffin and Jesse slaps my hand away, taking it from me.
“Go get your own.” She nods toward the door, and I take the hint. She wants to make sure for herself that Luna is okay. She also wants to know whose ass she needs to set on fire.
I pat Luna on the leg. “Tell Jesse what you need, and she and I will run over to the cabin and pack you a bag, yeah?”
She nods; those pesky little tears spill over her cheeks despite her best effort to keep them at bay.
I head down the stairs and stop in front of the table filled with enough food for an army. I know Carson will be here soon, and I know exactly how he’s going to feel. He’s going to blame himself for leaving her.
It’s not going to help when he finds out she doesn’t want to leave.
What I don’t know is how he’s going to feel about me not making her.
Jesse comes down a while later.
“I’ve got a list …” she says, waving it sadly.
“Let’s wait a few until my dad gets here. I don’t want to leave her alone.”
She nods, falling into the chair beside me. “She said she was tired.”
“Yeah,” I say, letting go of the breath I’d been holding.
“She seems okay.”
I give her a look, and she sighs.
“Okay, I get it now.”
“It only took you over thirty years.”
She waves me off. “If she’s hiding it, then what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to be there for her.” I lean across the table. “Just like I was for you.”
“Well then.” She settles back in her chair. “She’ll be just fine.”