Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
AXE
Hours pass and I’m barely hanging on waiting to hear word about CJ. I filled out her paperwork myself, calling her Citrus Wyatt. They’d already seen her ID, so I told them she’s waiting on her new one to come in.
I keep pacing the length of the waiting room, wearing a hole into the floor. Patients come and go, but no one has come out here to give an update on CJ, and I’m starting to freak.
The doors to the outside open and in storms Scorpion, Ice, Grimm, and Maverick from the Toxic Warriors.
All four of them look seriously pissed, but I’m drawn to the girl with them.
She’s no more than eighteen at most and the spitting image of CJ.
Another woman is with her. They both have tears in their eyes.
“Any word?” Scorpion demands when he gets to us. His arms go around both women when they step closer to him.
“We’re still waiting,” Hammer mutters, stepping forward. “Scorpion, Ice, Grimm, Maverick,” Prez greets them, reaching a hand out to shake theirs.
“Is CJ going to be okay?” the woman who looks like CJ asks.
“I’m sure she will, darlin’,” Scorpion mutters, giving her a squeeze.
Scorpion’s gaze lands on mine and he glares. Releasing both women, he steps forward along with Ice. “What happened?”
“Drive-by at the bar. She’d stepped outside, I’m guessing to take your call earlier. I found her there. We were heading back inside and that’s when it all happened. I dove to shield her, but I was already too late,” I say gravely.
Fuck, it hurts to even recap what happened tonight. The thought of losing her guts me more than losing my sister.
“And you claimed my daughter?” Scorpion grinds out.
“Yeah, I fuckin’ claimed her. CJ’s mine,” I declare, stealing my emotions.
Scorpion tenses, eyes glaring at me. “You don’t know what you’re asking for. Do you know just who she is?”
“I do,” Hammer says quietly.
“Then you know who her parents were and who raised her until she ran away at sixteen.”
“I’ve seen what Cy found out, and I know exactly who her parents were. She looks just like her father,” Hammer says, and I become confused by what they’re talking about.
“Who’s her real father?” I ask.
“CJ and Apricot are the biological daughters to Samuel Williamston,” Scorpion announces.
Furrowing my brow further, I try to remember who Samuel Williamston is.
“CJ’s father, also known as ‘Fireball’, was a member of the Toxic Warriors MC charter long ago.
When he died, the aunt and uncle, the girls’ birth mother’s sister, took CJ.
She allowed Apricot to be adopted for a high price.
We did what we could for her and tried to get CJ too, but she didn’t budge. ”
I stand there soaking in the information Scorpion’s just given me, and I’m stunned to find out CJ isn’t just anyone.
She’s a daughter of a club member who’d died years ago.
I remember hearing about Fireball. You fuck with him and he’d light your ass on fire in a hot minute, then he’d stand there watching you burn while laughing at you.
Fuck.
“Does she know who her father was?”
“CJ doesn’t know. Or at least I don’t think she knows,” Scorpion mutters.
“Either way, she’s also Viking’s cousin,” Ice grumbles.
This shit just got complicated.
“If you claim her, then I expect you to make sure this shit doesn’t happen again,” Scorpion sneers.
“Daddy,” Apricot calls out as she steps forward again. She looks so fuckin’ young where her sister seems to be a hell of a lot older. She looks at me with an apprehensive smile. “Are you my sister’s ol’ man?”
“Yeah, I am.” I give her a grin though I don’t feel like grinning. No, what I feel like doing is getting my ass back there and to CJ when they finally allow me in there.
“Family of CJ Wyatt.”
Thank fuckin’ God.
At the sound of them calling CJ, I step around Scorpion and face the doctor who calls out for my woman’s family.
“How is she?” I demand, crossing my arms over my chest and brace for the words that could make me or break me at this moment.
“Your wife is stable, and they’re putting her into a room as we speak. She’s definitely a fighter. We were able to stop the bleeding and repair the damage the bullet caused,” she says, placing her hands in her pockets, seeming to want to speak further but eyes the people surrounding us.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I mutter the question needing to know what else is going on.
“I’m sure you’re aware of the scars covering your wife’s body, but the ones on her stomach are nerve-racking. I’ve never seen anything like them, and I’ve seen a hell of a lot in my line of work,” she says before giving me the room number and turning to leave.
“Thank you,” I utter the words grateful she’d saved CJ’s life, but now I want to know more about these scars.
I turn to face the men and women standing behind me, my worry and pain switches to fury and vengeance for CJ like a switch being flipped.
For CJ, I’ll fuck up all the people who have hurt her. I swear now that the ones who’ve caused her pain will reap what they have sowed.
But first, I need to set eyes on my woman. To talk to her and tell her she’s not alone anymore. I need her to know she can trust me with her secrets. It seems from the look on Scorpion’s and the other Toxic Warriors’ faces, they didn’t know.
CJ’s filled with all sorts of surprises and it’s time she let those demons free by giving them to me to take on for her from now on.