Chapter 32 – Presley
PRESLEY
Iwoke to my dad gently shaking my shoulder. “Presley, wake up. Ink’s asking for you.”
My eyes shot open, and I jumped out of my chair positioned beside Ariel’s bed. “How is she?” I asked, leaning down to kiss her forehead.
“No changes,” my dad said. “I’ll let you know if there are.”
“Thanks,” I said and walked down to Ink’s room.
“Presley,” he breathed as soon as he saw me. “How’s Ariel?”
“She’s still sleeping,” I said carefully and leaned down to kiss him. “How are you?”
“My head hurts like a motherfucker, but I’m told that’s to be expected.”
“Yeah, it is,” I confirmed.
He scooted over and patted the bed. “Sit down, baby.”
I did and reached for his hand. “Do you remember what happened?”
“Some of it,” he said and glanced around the room. “Can’t say much about it right now.”
I nodded in understanding. “I have some things to tell you, but I need you to stay calm so your headache doesn’t get worse.”
“I knew you lied to me.”
“What?” I asked in surprise.
“About Ariel being okay. I was going to say something, but I threw up instead. Then one of your cronies silenced me with a magic potion she pulled from her pocket.”
I smiled and shook my head. “You needed it.”
“Maybe, but now I need to know about Ariel.”
I shifted uncomfortably. “She was barely conscious when we found her, and she lost consciousness moments later. She hasn’t woken up yet.”
“What happened?” he asked. “I thought she was okay. I saw her run away.”
“You didn’t see what happened to her?”
“I don’t think so. I remember seeing her standing near her car and telling her to run, but I don’t remember seeing anything happen to her.”
“She must have been running on adrenaline,” I said.
“I would imagine so,” Ink said in a way that made me think he knew something I didn’t.
“Why did you say it like that?”
Ink gently squeezed my hand. “I don’t think I saw it happen, but from what I recall, I think she had to make use of the item that belongs to you and was left in her car by your father.”
Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes for a moment. “Yeah, that’s what we thought, too.”
“I might know it,” Ink said quietly. “I might know a lot more, and I’ll share it with you later.”
“I thought you just woke up. How do you seemingly know more than I do?”
Ink pointed to Dice. “I’ve been awake for an hour, but it took Dice thirty minutes to stop crying tears of joy. He’s the emotional one of our duo. He’s always crying. Hell, that’s how he got his road name.”
Dice shook his head but explained with one word. “Onions.”
“I’ve only been awake for however long it took you to get down here,” Ink said softly. “Dice filled me in while we were waiting.”
“Good. Now I don’t have to be mad about that later,” I teased. “But I do have one question I hope you can answer now.”
“What is this one hopeful question?”
“The people responsible?” I asked.
“Extinguished,” he said simply and released my hand to hold up his extended pinky. “Pinky promise.”
Laughing, I hooked my pinky with his and accepted his word, assuming he meant his club killed the people responsible for attacking him and my daughter. Then I momentarily questioned my sanity.
I stayed with Ink until I needed to go back to check on Ariel and relieve my dad from watch duty. We were taking shifts so someone was always awake watching over her.
“If you want to sit with Ink, I’ll take over your shift,” my mom offered. “Before you try to argue, I got more sleep than you did last night.”
“Thanks, Mom, but there’s no need. He’s going to be discharged this morning, and he’s already let his nurse know to wheel him to Ariel’s room as soon as he’s released.”
“Oh, honey, he can’t stay here. He needs to go home so he can rest and heal.”
“Preaching to the choir, Mom,” I said. “But we both know he’s not going to leave. At least not until she wakes up.”
“We’ll see about that,” she huffed and pulled out her phone to send a voice message.
“Hey, Miles. Can you make a reservation for the biggest room at the hotel closest to the hospital? Add on anything you think will make it more comfortable for Ink and whoever might be staying with him. Make it for at least two nights with the option to add additional nights as needed. If that’s not an option, reserve it for a week.
Oh, we’d like to check-in as soon as possible, even if that means they need to charge me for an extra day or whatever fee.
” She dropped her phone into her purse and looked at me triumphantly.
“He can try to argue against me, his mother, and a luxury hotel suite, but he won’t win. ”
I knew she was right. I also knew I wouldn’t win when they forced me to leave to shower and rest.