Chapter 31 – Presley
PRESLEY
Istared at the monitor and let the steady rhythm of Ariel’s heartbeat ground me. Mom and Dad had fallen asleep shortly after the dinner Jacquelyn promised was delivered. At first, I was grateful for the quiet, but after several hours of silently spiraling, I longed for a distraction.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t watch this any longer,” Carbon said. He’d moved his new and improved chair into Ariel’s room when dinner arrived. “You’ve almost rubbed your neck raw.”
I grimaced and clasped my hands in my lap. “It’s a nervous habit.”
“I know,” he said simply. “How do we make it stop?”
“Point it out. I won’t do it if I’m thinking about it, but as soon as my mind wanders, my hand will drift back to my neck.”
He nodded. “Is it because of her or him? Or both?”
“Him,” I whispered. “I can handle the medical stuff because I know what to expect, to some extent. But not knowing where he is or what happened to him,” I said and shook my head. “I don’t know how to process it. My mind keeps going over all the possibilities, and none of them are good.”
“Yeah, I know what that’s like.”
“You do?” I asked in surprise.
“Harper was kidnapped and held hostage for several days before we were married. So, I get it. There’s nothing anybody can say or do to help. You’ve got to work through it any way you can and lean on the ones who love you when you need to.”
“Is that what you did?”
“Sort of. I ran myself ragged searching for her. When I became a danger to myself and others, Phoenix ordered me to rest. He told me he’d have Patch sedate me if I didn’t comply. I was mad as hell at the time, but it was the right thing to do. I was exhausted and wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Obviously, she was found. Can I ask how that happened?”
He smiled wistfully. “Harper’s tiny but mighty.
She took down her kidnapper and saved herself and Shaker.
He’d been taken, too. They ran through the woods for miles and finally flagged down a car.
I don’t remember who it was that woke me up, but when I saw her standing in the middle of the common room, I thought I was dreaming. ”
“I’m glad it worked out.”
“This will, too. Ink’s resourceful and clever.
People tend to underestimate him because he’s always smiling and joking around, but that boy is a walking weapon.
” Carbon chuckled. “One time, I walked into the gym at the clubhouse. Dice and Ink were in there with water guns. When I asked them what they were doing, they showed me. They’d watched a video on how to disarm someone if they were pointing a gun at you.
They practiced with water guns until they could disarm each other without getting wet.
I thought they were crazy, but they used that exact move just last year at the diner. ”
“Was that during the incident with the guy looking for Dice’s sister?” I asked.
“Yeah, it was,” Carbon said. It seemed like he was going to say more, but he quickly stood instead, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out his phone and walked out into the hall to answer it.
I managed to contain myself for all of two seconds before I got up and followed him.
“Are you fucking serious?” Carbon said quietly. “Fucking hell. Yeah. Okay. I’ll tell her. No, no changes, which isn’t good, but isn’t bad either. Got it. Later.”
“Please tell me they found him.”
Carbon cleared his throat, and I braced for bad news. “They did, and he’s hurt. I don’t have any details, but they’ll be bringing him here as soon as they get him into an ambulance.”
I nodded and swallowed thickly. He was alive. Hurt, but alive.
“There’s more,” Carbon said quietly. “Let’s go back into Ariel’s room.”
I didn’t hesitate. I wanted to know whatever he had to share.
“Phoenix mentioned you were cool with how things were handled the night of the party. Is that still the case?” he asked cryptically.
“If you’re asking me if I have an issue with your club taking care of the person or people who hurt Ink and Ariel, the answer is no. In fact, I prefer it.”
Carbon nodded once. “Good. Because we’ve got one of them and have positive IDs on the other two.”
“How?”
“A girl showed up at the clubhouse and said she knew where Ink was.”
“What girl? Do you know her name?” I interrupted.
Carbon cleared his throat. “Chloe Nelson.”
“Chloe Nelson?” I blurted, louder than I intended. “Sorry.”
“Yes, Chloe Nelson, Elsie’s older sister. She said she’d been held at a house with Ink. She told Phoenix who the guys were and where the house was located. It’s the same three from the night of the party.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked quietly.
Carbon shrugged and shook his head. “Until we figure it out, don’t go anywhere without one of us with you. I’ll make sure someone is available to take you down to see Ink when he gets here.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?” I asked.
“Until we know more, yes. And I know it’s what Ink would want.”
I sighed. “I don’t understand why these people are targeting my daughter. She hasn’t done anything to them. She doesn’t even know them.”
“I can’t promise we’ll be able to get an answer for you, but I can promise they won’t be a problem anymore.”
I smiled. “Ink said something similar to me one time. I told him it was something he couldn’t promise, and he proved me wrong.”
“This is definitely a promise I can make. They were let off easy the first time they made bad choices. Too easy in my opinion, but it wasn’t my decision to make. They did not heed their warning, and they won’t get another one.”
“I should feel bad about that, but I don’t,” I admitted. I knew he was referring to killing those boys. They’d hurt my daughter twice and may have done irreparable damage to her. I couldn’t find it in me to care. I was having a hard enough time not jumping up and down in celebration.
“You shouldn’t feel bad. It’s for the greater good.”
It wasn’t funny, but the way he said it made me laugh.
An hour later, we were still waiting for the ambulance to arrive with Ink. “What is taking them so long? Is there something you didn’t tell me?” I finally asked the question that had been on my mind for the last half hour.
“No, I told you everything Phoenix told me. I didn’t tell you about Chloe showing up at the clubhouse and claiming to know where Ink was until they found him, but that’s it.
Phoenix did say he was in a remote area.
I’m guessing it was a similar situation to Ariel, and it’s taking time to get to him and get him out. ”
“Yeah, I guess that tracks.”
“What do you mean?”
“Things tend to happen in threes. My mom, Ariel, and now Ink. All three were found in a wooded area with injuries.”
Carbon grimaced, likely thinking what I was—Ink would also have a head injury.
We were both lost in our thoughts when Dice lightly knocked on the door. He was filthy and looked like hell, but I still jumped up to hug him.
“He’s downstairs,” he said quietly.
“How is he?” I asked.
Dice shook his head. “I don’t know. He was unconscious when we found him, and he hasn’t woken up.
But the girl who was with him said he had been awake and talking for a while before he had to stop.
She said they were running through the woods when he stopped to throw up. Then he told her to go on without him.”
“Go see him,” Carbon said. “I’ll stay right here, and I’ll call you if anything changes.”
“Thank you.” Inhaling deeply, I nodded at Dice. “Let’s go.”
“Has anybody called Nora?” I asked once we were in the elevator.
“She knows, and should be here soon.”
I tried to prepare myself for what I might see based on what I knew.
But nothing could have prepared me to see a man so full of life and love lying lifeless on a stretcher while my coworkers tried to help him.
“Ink!” I screamed and pushed my way through the fray.
“Please wake up,” I cried, clasping my hands together because I couldn’t get close enough to touch him. “Please be okay. Please.”
“Presley,” Brenda said sympathetically but firmly. “You can’t be in here.”
“I won’t get in the way. I’ll stay right here in the corner,” I promised and pressed myself against the wall for good measure.
“You can wait in the hallway, but you can’t stay in here,” she said.
“Presley,” my dad said in an authoritative tone. “Let them work.”
At the sound of my dad’s voice, my face crumpled, and I released the tears I’d been holding back. I nodded and stepped forward. Brenda grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the bed. “Make it quick.”
I did. Rushing forward, I quickly kissed his lips. “I love you. Ariel loves you. Please be okay. I’m right outside the door.”
I’d barely finished when Brenda gently pulled me back and turned me toward the door. “Sorry, Presley, time’s up.”
I don’t know if I walked on my own accord or if she pushed me, but my dad’s arms were suddenly wrapped around me as he ushered me across the hall. “I’m not trying to rush you, but Nora’s here. Do you need a minute?”
“Shit,” I mumbled and shamelessly used my dad’s shirt to dry my face. “Yeah, I don’t want to scare her by being so upset.”
A hand landed on my shoulder. “Take your time. I’ll talk to her,” Dice said quietly.
I exhaled with relief. “Thank you.”
“I know you don’t want to leave him, but maybe we should consider moving to the waiting room so we’re not in the way,” Dad said.
“I’ll see if we can use the bad news room.”
“The what?”
“It’s a smaller waiting room back here for families to have privacy after they receive bad news. We call it the bad news room.”
After getting permission to use the room, I returned a few minutes later and motioned for the group to follow me. Finally composed enough to talk to Nora, I waited for her to choose a seat and took the one next to her. She reached over and clasped my hand. “They’ll be okay. I can feel it.”
Before I could respond, Dr. Vaughn appeared in the doorway. “We’ve got a minute or two before he goes to CT. Come on.”
Nora and I jumped up at the same time, which was much faster than someone with a healing coccyx fracture should, but she didn’t miss a step as she hurried to Ink’s room.
“If they find something on the scan, he’ll go straight to surgery,” Dr. Vaughn said.
“Go ahead,” I said to Nora. As much as I wanted to hog all the time for myself, she was his mother.
“You too,” she insisted. “There’s nothing I’m going to say that you can’t hear.”
We took turns telling Ink how much we loved him, and all the other things people say to a loved one before surgery until someone knocked on the door. “They’re ready for him.”
Ink’s body tensed, and several monitors beeped.
“Ariel,” he mumbled hoarsely.
“We got her,” I told him, and his large body relaxed. “She’s upstairs.”
After Ink was wheeled away for his CT, Dr. Vaughn asked to speak with Nora alone. I knew why, but it still pissed me off. She was his next of kin, and I was nothing—legally.
“Is there a reason Presley can’t be here?” Nora asked.
“It’s hospital policy, and the law,” I said. “I’m not family, and he hasn’t specifically listed me as someone who can have access to his medical information.”
“I’m family,” Nora huffed. “Can she stay if I say it’s okay?”
Dr. Vaughn smiled. “Yes, she can. I'm sorry, Presley. Since you’re an employee and the patient’s girlfriend, I wanted Nora to ask for your presence independently and unprompted.”
I nodded. I understood, and I would thank him for his thoughtfulness at a later date when I was no longer pissed off about it.
“I wanted to go over his injuries with you and how we’re planning to treat them,” Dr. Vaughn said.
“Our main concern is his head. Depending on what the CT shows, he’ll either go to surgery or be admitted to the ICU.
Other than his head, he has a laceration on his right wrist, ligature marks from the zip ties on both wrists, and various superficial scrapes and bruises. Any questions?”
“Just one,” Nora said. “If he goes to surgery from the scan, I want to know immediately. How do I do that?”
I almost laughed at the way Nora presented her demand as a question.
“I’m going to CT from here, so I’ll be the first one to know, and you’ll be the second,” he said.
“Thank you, Dr. Vaughn,” Nora said. “Please, don’t let me keep you.”
He left, and I walked Nora back to the bad news room. Then, I checked on Ariel, used the bathroom, and returned with enough time to rub my neck enough for my dad to notice.
“Stop that,” he said quietly.
I stopped immediately and clasped my hands together in my lap. “Thanks,” I said quietly.
After what felt like an eternity, Dr. Vaughn returned and asked Nora and me to step into the hallway.
“Surgery isn’t needed at this time,” he said immediately and gave us a moment to express our relief. “He does have a skull fracture, but no brain bleed. We’re going to admit him to the ICU and continue to monitor him. Honestly, I expected to find much worse.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised. My boy’s always had a hard head.”
Electronic tones sounded overhead, followed by, “Code Alert, Radiology.”
“Fuck!” I sprinted down the hall, leaving Dr. Vaughn and Nora in the dust. Or so I thought. Dr. Vaughn came to a sliding stop at the same time I did.
Ink was standing in the middle of the hall wielding his IV pole like a weapon, with his bare, inkblotted ass cheeks on full display. “Where’s Ariel?” he demanded.
“Ink!” I shouted and waved my arms to get his attention.
He found me quickly but didn’t change his defensive stance. “Where is she?”
“She’s upstairs.”
“Is she okay?” he asked, dropping the IV pole.
“Yes,” I said and slowly moved toward him. “But you’re not. Let me help you get back into bed. When they’re finished with you, we’ll go see her.”
“Okay,” he said slowly and frowned. “My head hurts.”
“Shit!” I blurted and moved to his side right as Ink leaned forward and threw up.
“My fucking head,” he groaned and tried to straighten, but he wobbled and lost his balance.
With Dr. Vaughn on his other side, we kept him from falling to the floor and dragged him to the bed. “She’s okay?” he asked again.
“Yes. She’s upstairs,” I told him before I stepped back so my coworkers could take over and wheel him back to his room.
“That was impressive,” Dice said. I should have known he’d follow us.
“There’s a lot of paperwork to do if they actually hit the floor,” I said. “No one wants that.”
“Why did you lie? About Ariel?” he asked as we walked back.
“Because it was the easiest and safest way to get him to calm down so we could get him back in the bed.”
“Gotcha.”
On the way, we stopped by the bad news room to get Nora before continuing to Ink’s room. There was no reason we couldn’t stay with him since he was stable. Unfortunately, he was no longer awake when we got there.
Things moved quickly until they didn’t.
Ink was admitted to the ICU, only a few rooms away from Ariel.
And then we waited.