Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Shadow
I don’t know what the hell I was thinking coming back up here to the hospital.
I should’ve left it be and gone on with what else I have to do.
Instead, I took Maddox’s truck back to him, filled him in on his sister, got my bike, checked in with Lucifer, and went to The Hideaway, where I picked up dinner for Della and me.
I didn’t know what she liked, but I went with something easy and damn good.
The Hideaway is another of the club’s businesses, though we’re only silent partners and still insist on paying.
The menu has a variety of foods to pick from, and the owners pick a daily special.
Today’s special was the fried BBQ chicken sandwich.
It’s one of my favorite things to get from there.
I figured I couldn’t go wrong ordering it for Della.
Getting to the hospital, I checked which room she’s in and made my way in that direction. I found her sleeping, the TV on a show, and her phone on the bed beside her, buzzing. Seeing it was Maddox’s name, I answered and told him that she was asleep, and I’d just gotten back up here.
I sat for a bit and got up to take a call of my own in the hall from Lucifer.
The moment I stepped back in the room, my eyes locked on Della’s.
“What are you doing here?” she demands, eyes narrowing.
“Brought you food. Didn’t think you’d want to eat the shit the hospital has here.”
Della eyes the bag from The Hideaway and looks ready to snatch it up, but she doesn’t.
“I didn’t know what you’d like, but they had the fried BBQ chicken sandwiches on special. Figured, can’t go wrong with that. I also got fries and bacon mac.”
Della’s face seems to soften as she perks up ever so slightly. “Bacon mac?”
“I take it you like that shit?” I never had it. I don’t eat mac and cheese. Ate enough of it as a kid. I’m good for a lifetime.
“It’s my favorite from The Hideaway,” she murmurs, a small smile plays at her lips.
Well, damn.
I saw her smiling and laughing the other night at Rodeo Roundup, but this was a different smile. A beautiful smile. Didn’t matter that she was playing shy.
“Well, you can have that, and I’ll eat the fries instead of sharing.”
“Sounds good,” she says.
I pull out the food, handing it to her, only to hear her stomach make a growling noise.
“Sorry,” she whispers, opens her food, sighing when she gets a whiff. “This smells so good.”
“You eat there before?”
“Once or twice.” She shrugs and lifts the container of mac to take a bite, only to moan. “God, this is the best thing ever.”
I almost feel bad knowing that she hadn’t eaten anything throughout the day. I doubt she ate this morning before leaving the house, and then that damn snake got her.
I’m an ass for not thinking about it sooner.
“Thank you for bringing me food. I wasn’t looking forward to eating whatever they brought me.”
“The Jello is always pretty good.”
Della scrunches up her nose, making me laugh.
“Not a fan of Jello?”
“Ugh, that’s a hard no,” she grumbles and finishes off her sandwich. “Thanks again. It was really good.”
“Not a problem.”
Della nods, sets her container to the side, and reaches for her phone.
She glances at her screen, narrows her eyes, shakes her head, and flips the phone, screen-side down, onto the bed.
A part of me wants to ask her what that was about, but I don’t, it’s not my place.
Honestly, I shouldn’t have even been wanting to ask her period.
It’s not my business. I shouldn’t give a shit.
What the hell is it about this woman that gets under my skin?
My phone vibrates, and I take it out to find Lucifer calling. I answer it and lift my phone to my ear, “What’s up, Prez?”
“Got a situation here at the clubhouse,” he states, “Need you here to handle it.” From the sound of his voice, whatever he’s got to share, he’s not happy about it.
“I’m at the hospital with Della right now. I’ll leave in a minute and head there,” I tell him, already getting out of my seat.
From the sound of it, Lucifer is walking away before he asks, “You went back to the hospital?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there soon.” The hospital was only about a fifteen-minute drive from the clubhouse. I hang up and shove my phone back in my pocket before looking to Della. “Sorry, I gotta get to the clubhouse.”
Della doesn’t say anything at first but nods.
“Call me when they release you, and I’ll take you back to the ranch.”
“You don’t have to do that. I can get a ride back to the ranch myself,” she mutters softly.
“I don’t have time to argue with you about this.” I sigh and head for the door. “Do what you need to.”
I don’t want to leave her, but my club comes first. Always. They’re my family. I can’t think of Della right now. She’s the last thing that needs to be on my mind.
* * *
“What’s going on?” I demand, finding Lucifer standing at the bar waiting for me.
“My office,” he grunts and heads in that direction without telling me. “I came out here to wait for you. Left Tormentor and Phantom in there with our guest.”
“Guest?” Who the fuck is he talking about?
I follow him, noting he doesn’t answer me.
At the office door, he grunts and opens it, stepping inside with me right behind him.
The minute I do, I recognize the woman right off.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Marcy?” I demand. I hadn’t seen her in months. We kicked her out of the clubhouse after finding out she’d been hurting the other saddle bunnies we have here.
“I’m pregnant,” she says, not worrying about looking away from me as I close the door. “It’s yours.”
“Bullshit,” I snarl, not believing her for a minute.
“It’s true.” Marcy pulls something out of her back pocket, and it’s then I notice the slight roundness of her stomach. She holds out the sonogram for me to see. “See, I’m four and a half months along.”
“And you decide to bring this shit here, now?” Lucifer demands as I take the sonogram.
“I can’t do this by myself, and Shadow’s the father and deserves to know he’s going to have a son.”
“That’s not my kid. I wrapped my shit every time I fucked you, and you damn well know it.” All the girls were also required to be on birth control. We paid for that shit to keep things like this from happening.
“It’s not always foolproof.” She shrugs.
“I called Nightmare. He’s on his way,” Lucifer announces.
“Good, ‘cause I know for a fact I didn’t knock some bitch up.” This is the last, last, fucking thing I need on my plate right now. No way am I about to let Marcy fuck up my life. I nearly did that years ago before I wised up.
She’s nothing more than a whore mongering gold digger. The only reason she got to stay around the club as long as she did was cause she was a good lay. That and she didn’t show my brothers just how much of a bitch she really is to the other saddle bunnies. At least not until we kicked her ass out.
Lucifer turns his attention to Marcy. “If what you say is true, you won’t have a problem with us doing a DNA test.”
“The only thing a DNA test is going to prove is that you’re the father, Shadow. I haven’t been with anyone else since I left here.”
“That don’t mean shit. You’ve fucked every man in this club that carries the patch. Don’t try to deny it. I’m not the father of this kid.”
“What a great way to talk about your own kid.” She sneers, snatches the sonogram and shoves it back in her pocket. “I’m telling you this is your son, and you act like a complete asshole.”
“Marcy, you came here with this shit after getting your ass kicked to the curb. Did you really think that any one of us would be down with this? Fuck no. We’re not stupid. Take a DNA test and prove it,” I shout, not giving two fucks about the fact Marcy starts crying.
I don’t know what game she’s playing at, but it doesn’t sit right with me.
“Nightmare will handle the situation. He’ll perform the testing, and we’ll go from there,” Lucifer states as Nightmare walks into the room.
“My doctor’s office can do it,” Marcy snaps.
“Yeah, and you can play games to get them to alter the damn tests too.” Nightmare sneers.
“I’ll handle the damn tests. It ain’t gonna hurt you or the kid.
It’s a damn blood sample, for-fuck’s sake.
” Nightmare turns to me. “I’ll need a swab of spit from you.
” He turns to Lucifer. “Might as well do every damn member of the club. I’ve got a friend who I can ask to rush this. We’ll have answers in a day or two.”
“Sounds good. Phantom, Tormentor, I want you two on her until we’ve got the results. The bitch doesn’t leave your sight.”
“You got it, Prez.” Tormentor grunts. “We’ve got this.”
“Bring her to the med room so I can do the blood draw. I’ll get you two swabbed at the same time. Then Shadow and the others can follow in.”
“Sounds good,” I tell him and wait for Phantom and Tormentor to all but drag Marcy out of the office.
I wait for them to pass before shutting the door and looking at Lucifer. “I didn’t get her pregnant.”
“We’ll know for sure if any of us did when the results come back.” Lucifer grunts and shakes his head. “I can’t stand that bitch. She’s nothing but trouble, and we’re all a bunch of fools for ever sticking our dicks in her.”
“Think she’s playin’ at something?” I ask.
“No thinkin’ to it. She’s fuckin’ with us, Shadow. I just don’t know why.”
I nod in agreement. “I’ll talk to Dread, see if he can’t dig up anything on her.”
Dread wasn’t just our club’s Secretary. He handled finding any intel the club needed to know at any given time.
This time, Lucifer nods and moves to take a seat behind his desk. “You want to tell me how you got saddled with the task of taking Maddox’s sister to the hospital, or do I not want to know?”
“I went to the ranch to give him the offer, and all hell broke loose. Girl took off on her horse and got bit by a snake.” I let out a heavy breath and shake my head. “She’s fine.”
“And this is your problem, how?”
Damn good question.
“I don’t fuckin’ know. Maddox asked me to accompany her to the hospital.
The tension between them is thick. But the girl is stubborn as fuck.
She all but kicked me out of her hospital room earlier, and then I took her food, and she was different.
” I meet Lucifer’s gaze. “I don’t know what to think about her. ”
“Might want to tread carefully,” he advises. “Especially if we’re about to rip her inheritance out from under her.”
“Damn right.” I grunt and throw myself in one of the chairs in front of Lucifer’s desk.
Everything in this room is simple, just like this chair, yet it’s comfortable.
“I told her to let me know when they were ready to release her from the hospital. Her words were, ‘You don’t have to do that, I can get a ride back to the ranch myself.’ The way she said it pissed me off. ”
“Jesus, fuck. You’re into her,” Lucifer says.
“Not into her,” I grunt, denying his words, but even as they come out of my mouth, I know they’re a lie. What the hell is it about Della Meadows?
“I don’t need to tell you how it would be a bad idea, do I?”
“No, but gotta say there’s something about her that I can’t put my finger on. Regardless, no way am I going to do anything that could fuck up this deal.” Definitely not now with this latest bullshit hanging over my head.
Lucifer stares at me for a beat before changing the subject.
“We better go see Nightmare.”
“Yeah,” I grunt. The best thing I can do is get through this, then move on to the next thing and not worry about what the hell I’m thinking regarding a woman like Della.