CHAPTER 29
Maverick
I walk up the property by myself knowing my brothers will deal with the mess.
I need to see Kaya. I know she’s safe. I know I just saw her a few hours ago, but that doesn’t matter.
Being away from her while these Bad Blood pricks are gunning for Carnage makes me uncomfortable in a way I don’t understand.
I enter through the kitchen where Jana, Simone, and Lexi are cooking enough grilled cheese sandwiches to feed a small army. Jana looks up when I enter, but upon seeing it’s me quickly refocuses on her task. Progress.
Lexi studies me. “All good?”
I give her a nod. “Kaya still downstairs?”
“Yeah. She came up for a bottle of water and went right back down.”
“Thanks,” I mumble as I walk through the room.
“Hey, dinner will be done soon and then we’re all heading to the hospital. You and Kaya should come up in about ten minutes.”
“Will do.” I figured we would be making our presence known at the hospital. It’s a sign of solidarity to all show up together in support of an injured brother. I make my way through the common room, ignoring every single person, and go directly to the basement.
I push open the door to see Kaya’s back, her dark hair thrown up in a pony tail. Her fingers are gliding across the keyboard, even with her bandaged arm. Above her the screens are showing various locations in Colton and Dogwood Creek. They all appear to be views from traffic cams.
She’s so engrossed in what she’s doing that she doesn’t hear me enter. I bend down and place a kiss on her neck, causing her to jump.
“Jesus Christ!” She turns and quickly hops to her feet. She rushes into me, falling into my arms. I wrap her up, hugging her tightly. She lets out a soft satisfied moan as she buries her face in my chest. “You left so fast that I didn’t even have time to think that something might happen to you.”
I rub my hands up and down her back, taking in the floral scent of her hair as I do. “I’m fine, baby. Everything’s handled.”
She gives me another squeeze before sitting back down. I lean over her chair. “We got information that Daryl and Reese are staying at the old mill in Colton. Anything we can pull up in that area?”
She taps the keyboard, moves the mouse, taps some more, and shakes her head. “No. I mean you can see people driving on that road but the mill is about five miles away from any cameras. And what do you mean handled?”
“I mean he was working with the guys from Bad Blood and now he isn’t”
She tips her head back and gazes up into my eyes. I look down at her with raised brows.
“Handled. Got it,” she says before returning her focus to the computer.
“Lex wants us to go up and eat and then we’re all going to the hospital.”
Kaya reaches her hands above her head and stretches. “Sounds good. I haven’t eaten anything since the breakfast burrito.
An hour later, we’re walking into Dogwood Creek Memorial.
One after another we filter into the waiting room.
All eyes come to us staring curiously, some, even fearfully.
It’s not surprising. Fourteen bikers standing sentry in a room full of people waiting for medical attention isn’t something that happens every day.
Lexi walks through and goes directly to the information desk, where a woman with short blonde hair and glasses sit. Dom and Rebel are standing on either side of me.
“I’m going up with the first group.” Dom says.
Rebel leans toward his oldest brother. “You weren’t even there. You can wait until we’re done.”
Dom’s face turns harder than I’ve ever seen it. “Bullshit. He’s my best friend. I’m going up when you do.”
An unspoken Carnage rule when a brother gets hurt in action is that those who were with him when it happened go in to visit first. It’s like that in every chapter I’ve visited.
It’s a sign of respect but also forces you to face the person while they’re at their worst. Maybe it could have been prevented, maybe not, but it forces you to look the fallen in the eye and acknowledge that it happened.
Lexi’s voice rises from polite and controlled to downright terrifying. “And I’m telling you, that if you don’t call for Cameron Dunn right now, you’re going to regret it.”
“I don’t take too kindly to threats ma’am! I can have you and your gang thrown out of here so fast your head will spin,” the voice behind the desk yells.
Lexi laughs. “I would love to see you try.” Her tone is murderous. “Now, pick up your little phone and call Cameron Dunn or I’ll do it myself.”
We all watch as Lexi stands in front of the plexi-glass window with her arms crossed, glaring daggers at the middle-aged woman. After a beat the woman slowly picks up her phone and calls Dr. Dunn.
Within a few minutes a man wearing white scrubs and medium length salt and pepper hair comes through the door with a wide grin.
“There’s my girl!” the doctor says practically beaming at Lexi.
She moves forward smiling just as wide with her arms open. They share a quick hug.
“Ace said you’d be arriving soon.” He turns to Dom and Rebel. “Hi boys. How we doing?”
“We’ll be better when we know how Tank is.” Dom says.
Doctor Dunn faces Dom. “Understood. He has a concussion and suffered some burns to his back and arms. Most are superficial. We are treating a third degree burn on his right arm that will need some extra care. We performed a CT scan just to be cautious and there is no sign of brain injury. He landed pretty hard on his chest after being thrown from the blast, which luckily only resulted in two cracked ribs. Unfortunately, he is probably going to need a haircut.” The doctor smirks. “His hair did get pretty singed.”
“Shit. That’s probably the worst part of this. Guy loves his damn hair.” Riker says.
Our crowd reacts in laughter. The mood quickly lifts with the good news that Tank will be ok.
“I have about five that need to go up first.” Lexi says in a tone that says, she’s not taking no for an answer.
“Of course. Follow me.” Doctor Dunn waves us on as he starts toward the door he came in from.
Dom, Rebel, Kaya, Lexi and I follow the doctor through the halls of the hospital, into an elevator and down a hall to room 312.
Doctor Dunn knocks twice as he pushes the door open.
There on the bed lies Tank. The egg on his head is smaller than it was earlier.
His long blonde hair is pulled onto the top of his head sitting in a pile that resembles a bird’s nest. There is an IV attached to his arm and a nasal cannula in his nose.
Monitors and wires are attached to him making him appear way worse than what the doctor said.
I glance around the room to Ace and Deuce who are both sitting in chairs with hospital coffees in hand. Cipher is sitting on the edge of his brother’s bed staring at the monitors. They all greet us. Kaya is gripping my hand tightly as we make our way fully into the room.
“Is he ok?” Rebel asks in a whisper. “He looks like shit.”
“Let’s blow you up and see how good you look.” Dom retorts.
“I’m just saying. I didn’t expect him to look so bad.”
“Well, the goose egg on his head is smaller.” Kaya says sounding hopeful.
Cipher stands and faces us with a grin. “He was up for a little bit and was already flirting with one of the nurses. He’ll be fine.”
Just then Tank lets out a groan and winces. His eyes flutter for a brief second before closing again. A small smile crosses his lips before he says, “Gabby,” in a soft whisper.
The tension in the room spikes and I have no idea why. Dom stiffens next to me. Kaya and I turn to face him as all the color leaves his face. His mouth turns into a hard scowl and his breathing turns ragged. He glares at Tank’s sleeping form.
“Shit. Come on, man. Let’s go back downstairs.” Rebel says moving toward his brother.
I study Cipher whose face has changed from content to worried as he eyes Dom nervously.
Lexi puts her hand on Dom’s shoulder and pushes him from the room with Rebel right behind her, assuring that Dom won’t be able to come back in.
“We don’t need a repeat of that shit.” Deuce says while raking his fingers through his hair.
Ace shakes his head and then looks at me. “If anyone else wants to come up tell them to make it quick.”
I nod and give Cipher a clap on the back before pulling Kaya out of the room.
“Glad he’s doing better,” she says. “Tell him we’re all pulling for him.”
Doctor Dunn follows us back downstairs and brings up the next group. Lexi and Dom are outside in a heated discussion that’s viewable to everyone inside through the large glass windows. Dom is pointing and ranting with a cigarette in one hand while Lexi tries to calm him down
Kaya turns to Rebel. “What in the hell is that all about?”
Leo points a thumb at Grayson. “His sister.”
Sophia’s eyes widen as she turns to her man. “Your sister?”
Grayson huffs. “Yes. Her and Dom had a thing around the time my dad passed. Gabby took my dad’s death really hard and blamed the club. She wanted to leave town but was having a hard time leaving Dom so…” Grayson sighs.
Leo waits a beat and then continues the story. “Tank had a huge crush on Gabby since high school and they ended up in bed one night. Dom found out and flipped his shit.”
Grayson frowns. “My sister took off not long after leaving Tank and Dom feuding.”
Rebel shakes his head. “It went on for months. Tank and Dom barely spoke unless they were fighting. We broke them up more times than I can count.”
“Finally, my dad stepped in and made sure that they did everything together. Every job, every shift at the garage, every run, Tank and Dom had to be side by side.” Leo says.
“You never told me that!” Sophia smacks Grayson’s shoulder.
He shrugs. “It’s not exactly something I like people knowing about my sister. I try to stay out of it as much as possible.”
Jackie, who was sitting in the corner by the club bunnies stands up. “My daughter didn’t make very good decisions back then,” she says in a clipped tone, before walking outside to join Lexi. The bunnies start chattering as soon as she walks away.
“Alrighty then,” Kaya says. She looks up at me with a sweet smile. “You ready to go?”
I nod. Sophia walks over and hugs Kaya. I wait by the door while they discuss Gretchen.
Ty is sitting by himself in the center of a row of chairs staring down at the carpet like he isn’t even here with the rest of us.
I feel bad for the guy but after the day we had, I just want to get the fuck out of here and go to bed.
After another hug between the girls, Kaya finally joins me and we do exactly that.