Chapter 1 – Ink #2
“I think someone should ride with me,” Flint said. “If one of them starts throwing up or something, I won’t be able to help them while I’m driving.”
“Give us a second to grab the other three, and we’ll all leave at the same time,” I told him.
The three of us made quick work of removing the guys from the house.
Dice and Edge carried their guys over their shoulders.
Since I had the one who was on top of the unknown girl, and was presumably the one who hurt Blaze, I dragged him out by his feet, and let his head hit every stair on the way down.
Once again, no one said a word to us. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if anyone even noticed or was coherent enough to comprehend what they were seeing.
After tossing him into the bed of Dice’s truck with his buddies, I got into the back seat of Flint’s truck with Raven and the girl we didn’t know. “Have you called your dad yet?”
“No,” Flint said. “And this is not a phone call I want to make. He’s going to flip his shit.”
“Just drive. I’ll call him.”
Inhaling deeply, I dialed Phoenix’s number and waited for him to answer.
“Ink? What’s going on?” he asked, foregoing the usual greeting. He knew something was wrong because I never called him at night. None of us did, unless it was an emergency.
I figured it was best to give it to him straight.
“I’m with Flint, and we’re on our way to the clubhouse with Blaze and Raven, and a girl we don’t know.
They were at a party, and someone drugged them.
Raven was able to call for help before she passed out.
Dice and Edge are in the truck behind us with the three guys responsible for what happened to them. ”
“What did happen to them?” Phoenix asked quietly.
“Other than being drugged, I don’t think anything happened to Raven.
One of the guys attempted to assault Blaze, and she fought back.
She was on the floor, passed out with blood on her face when we got there, but she was fully clothed.
The guy we think tried to assault her had another girl on the bed and was in the process of removing her clothes.
We don’t know who she is, but we thought it was best to bring her with us. ”
“How are the girls now?”
“They’re still out,” I said.
“And the guys?”
“They were out when we tossed them in the bed of Dice’s truck.”
“All right, I’ll meet you at the clubhouse. Does Dash know?”
“No. I called you first. Do you want me to call him?”
“No, I’ll take care of that. Just get here with the girls.”
“Will do, Prez,” I said and ended the call.
“How did he take it?” Flint asked.
“He was calm, somewhat quiet,” I said. “Very direct and matter-of-fact.”
“Son of a bitch,” Flint breathed.
“Yeah,” I agreed. We both knew it was the calm before the storm.
A few minutes later, my phone rang with Phoenix’s name on the screen. “Hey, Prez,” I answered.
“Change of plans. Take the girls to the hospital. Patch and I will meet you there,” he said.
“Do we need to wait for you?” I asked. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of carrying three unconscious girls into the hospital, especially one I knew nothing about.
“No. Patch will be there before you, and I probably will, too,” he said.
“Okay, Prez. See you soon,” I said and ended the call. “Your dad wants us to take the girls to the hospital,” I told Flint. “He’s going to meet us there with Patch.”
Flint nodded but remained silent as he drove to the hospital. When we arrived, Patch, Gabby, Phoenix, Annabelle, Dash, and Ember were waiting for us outside the Emergency Room.
“Have they woken up?” Patch asked as I got out of the truck.
“No,” I said. “They haven’t moved or made a sound, but they are breathing.”
Phoenix opened the door and scooped Blaze’s limp body into his arms while Dash got Raven, leaving me with the unknown girl.
“Follow me,” Patch said and led us to a section of the ER where beds were lined along the wall, separated by curtains. He pushed back the curtains separating the three beds, so we were essentially in one big room.
I placed the girl in one of the beds and stepped back, suddenly aware that I was shirtless under my cut.
“Do we know what they were given?” Patch asked.
“No,” Flint said. “We don’t really know anything.”
“Actually, Trembly said he thought it might be something blue because his brother was bitching about the wrong color drink mix for their ‘party juice.’”
“You said they called for help. How did they sound?”
“Raven and Blaze were slurring their words before they passed out,” I offered. “I don’t know about the other girl.”
“It sounds like they were given Rohypnol, or something like it, but in this day and age, it could have been a multitude of things,” Patch said.
“Not helpful, Patch,” Annabelle said.
“Right. We’ll put the girls on oxygen, start IV fluids, and give them the reversal agent for opioids. Gabby, can you put those orders in and grab the Narcan?”
“On it,” Gabby said and dashed out of the room.
I stood back against the wall as the nurses rushed around the girls. One of them approached the unknown girl’s bed and stopped short. She inhaled sharply and brought her hand to her mouth. “Is that Ariel?”
“We don’t know who she is,” I said. “We found her with the other two and brought her with us.”
“I think that’s Ariel,” she said quietly, as if she didn’t want to believe it. “Excuse me.” She’d barely stepped away from the beds when I heard her shout, “Presley! Come here! Hurry!”
“What’s going on?” someone, presumably Presley, asked.
“Three girls were just brought in. They think they were drugged at a party, and I think one of them is Ariel.”
“What? Where is she?”
“Right over there,” the nurse said.
Moments later, a frantic woman burst through the curtain and looked at the girl in the bed. Her eyes widened in shock, and she stumbled back a step, so I reached out to steady her. In those few seconds, she processed more than I would have thought possible. She went from frantic to furious.
“Who the fuck are you?” she screamed and launched herself at me, hitting me with each question. “Why is my daughter wearing your clothes? And why is she unconscious? What did you do to her?”
She shoved me hard enough to make me stumble back, putting a few feet between us. Glaring at me with eyes full of rage, her voice changed to a deep and demonic tone. “I will kill you!”
Then she charged.
I braced for impact from the beautiful demon rushing toward me, and I was kind of looking forward to it.
Patch swooped in and wrapped her in a bear hug, pulling her away from me. “Presley!” he yelled. “Stop! He saved her!”
“What?” she asked, fighting to free herself.
“Listen!” Patch bellowed, causing Presley to still. “He found her with the other girls. He carried her out of the party and brought her to the hospital. She’s wearing his shirt because hers was gone when he got there,” Patch explained. “He’s the good guy.”
It was like a switch flipped. She sagged in Patch’s arms and started sobbing. Gabby appeared with a chair and pushed it beside Ariel’s bed. “Have a seat, Presley. We’ll tell you what we know.”
She nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Then she looked at me. “I’m sorry for attacking you. Thank you for helping my daughter.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “No apology necessary.” I wanted to say more, but I knew it wasn’t the time to tell her how much I enjoyed her mama bear routine.
“What happened?” she asked.
“We don’t know a lot,” I told her. “Raven called her brother from the party and said they needed help. When we got there, all three girls were passed out. Raven was in a closet, Blaze was on the floor, and your daughter was on the bed. There was a guy on top of her, unzipping her jeans. Her shirt was already off.”
She nodded slowly and audibly swallowed. “Where’s the guy?”
I looked at Phoenix before I answered. He nodded once and brushed his finger across his lips, letting me know I could tell her while not telling her.
“He suffered some minor injuries and is currently being monitored at a friend’s place,” I said quietly.
She glanced at my cut as a small grin appeared on her face. “If I can be of assistance with his injuries, I’m happy to oblige.”
Annabelle smiled and stepped into Presley’s line of sight.
“Hi,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Annabelle, Blaze’s mother and Raven’s grandmother.
And this is my daughter, Ember, who is Raven’s mother.
This is my husband Phoenix, my son Flint, and my son-in-law Dash.
We’re sorry to meet you under these circumstances, but we’re not sorry to meet you. ”
“Hello, everyone. I’m Presley, and this is my daughter, Ariel.” She turned to me. “And you are?”
“Oh, uh, Ink. My name’s Ink,” I stammered. Smooth. Fucking smooth.
“Ink?” she asked.
“My given name is Isaac, but I prefer Ink.”
Patch reappeared and handed a shirt to me. “I had an extra in my locker. It’s clean, but it might be a little snug.”
“Thanks, man,” I said and quickly removed my cut so I could pull his shirt over my head.
When I slipped my cut back over my shoulders, I looked up and caught Presley staring at me.
As soon as I made eye contact with her, she turned away and focused on her daughter.
I briefly wondered what she was looking at, but ultimately assumed she was looking at my tattoos and didn’t think anything else of it.
“Hello,” Claudia said. “I’m going to get their IV fluids started.”
“Can you stay with Ariel for just a minute?” Presley asked. “I’ll be right back.”
“Of course,” she said.
Presley grabbed my arm and pulled me to the other side of the curtain before I could process what was happening. Then she grabbed the hem of my shirt and yanked it up my torso.
“What are you doing?” I asked and flinched when her hand touched my skin.
“I’m so sorry. Let me get you some ice.”
I looked down at my chest in confusion. When she moved her hand, I saw the red mark it had been covering.
“Presley,” I said softly. “You didn’t hurt me.”
“You flinched.”
“Because your hands are fucking freezing.”
“Oh,” she said and clasped her hands together. “I get that a lot.”
“Listen, I’ll admit you scared the hell out of me, but you didn’t hurt me. I have no doubt that you would have if Patch hadn’t stopped you, but as it is, I’m fine.”
“I’m really sorry. I saw your shirt on her, and I just reacted,” she said, covering her face with her hands. “She’s my whole world.”
At the sound of her first sob, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her. “Get it out now so you can go back in there and be strong for your girl.”
After several heart-wrenching moments, she stepped back and wiped her eyes. Like a soldier reporting for duty, she straightened her shoulders and nodded once. “Thank you.” Then she turned and went back to her daughter’s side, taking a little piece of my heart with her.
“All right,” Gabby announced. “I’m going to start giving the reversal agent.”
“Narcan?” Presley asked.
“Oh, sorry, Presley. I just realized you weren’t here for that part. Yes, Narcan, O2, and IV fluids.”
Presley nodded in a way that made me think she agreed with what Gabby said.
We waited in silence as several minutes passed. “Well, I think it’s safe to rule out opioids,” Patch said.
“Agreed,” Gabby said.
“What now?” Annabelle asked.
“Just like with Falcon, we wait,” Ember sighed.
“Falcon?” Presley asked.
“My son, Falcon, was drugged at a party a year or so ago,” Ember said and shook her head. “I realize you don’t know much about me other than both my children have been drugged at parties, but please don’t judge me.”
“I only have the one, so if we’re going by percentages, we’re both at one hundred percent,” Presley said.
“How old is she?” Annabelle asked.
“She’s seventeen—” Presley said and paused when a nurse entered the room.
“Hey, Presley, I’m going to take over your patients until Cheryl can get here. Can you step out to give me a quick report?”
“Sure,” Presley said and kissed Ariel’s forehead before she stepped outside with the other nurse.
“We’re going to pick up some food,” Phoenix said and gestured to me and Dash. “Flint, you stay here. Duke and Diesel are in the parking lot if you need them before we get back.”
“Make it count,” Annabelle said.
“Of course, doll face.”
I was almost giddy when we left the hospital.