Chapter Twenty-Six
Perish
It was the goddamn beeping that woke me up. Steady. Relentless. Annoying as hell.
And in my drugged mind, I couldn’t place what it was, just that I wanted it to stop.
I turned my head toward it and slit my eyes open.
It was like someone stuck those paddles on my chest and shocked me.
It all came rushing back once I realized where I was. In the hospital. That beeping? My own damn heart. It tripped faster as the events of the day before swirled around in my head.
Gracie leaving.
Gracie being taken.
The sound of her cry when she’d been struck.
Then just… rage.
So much that I barely even registered the burning sensation of the first bullet.
Those second and third ones, though, those were a bitch.
But nothing was as painful as Gracie’s screams, of seeing her attacking Cameron on her own, of her busted face as she came running over to me.
The only comforting thought to ease the pain I felt was that her dad was there, her family was there, that they would take care of her, keep her safe, no matter what happened to me.
I tried to lift my arm, but felt a pinched weight at my shoulder, making pins and needles prick up and down my arm.
It was then that I looked down.
That I knew what the weight was.
Gracie.
She was curled around me, her head on my chest, her leg wedged between my thighs, her hand resting over my heart.
Gracie, who didn’t smell like herself. She smelled like antiseptic and antibiotic creams.
My mind flashed back to the old bagel shop, to the blood on her wrists, her hands, her legs, and, yeah, her face.
They’d taken her somewhere to get help.
Then she’d somehow managed to find her way to me.
I knew I should have been worried that the club would find out, that they’d see her curled over me and come to all the right conclusions.
I just didn’t give a fuck.
My arm tightened around her.
I felt her coming awake, her body jolting slightly, her breath gasping inward.
“You’re okay,” I murmured.
“I’m okay?” she asked, pulling up to look down at me.
Christ.
Her face looked rough. Scratches and bruises were everywhere. She had a pretty impressive black eye going on.
I tried to lift my other arm to reach out toward it, but the pain sliced through the meds dripping into my veins, making a grunt escape me as my arm fell heavily back down on the mattress.
“You were shot,” she said, tone soft, like she was informing me for the first time.
A strange little laugh escaped me at that. “No shit.” She rolled her eyes at that. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t lie.”
“My head hurts. But I was mostly worried about you.”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t know that yet.”
“Maybe I can be of some help with that,” a voice said, making both of us jolt.
Seeing a doctor standing there, Gracie scrambled off the bed, her face going red.
“Sorry, I was…”
“Keeping the patient warm,” the doctor, an older man with soft green eyes, said. He gave her a smile. “Staying warm is very important for recovery. I would like to examine your husband now.”
Husband?
My heart lurched.
In a surprised, then confused, then interested way.
My gaze slid to Gracie, who was holding her hand pointedly to her chest, two rings sitting on the third finger of her left hand.
That was how she got in.
Saying she was my wife.
And with both of us fucked up, they probably just assumed we’d been together when shit had gone down.
“Okay. Sure. I’ll… step out. Get some coffee.”
“Get me one too.”
“Can he have coffee?” she asked.
“We don’t usually recommend it. But I won’t be watching him to make sure he doesn’t have it.” He actually offered Gracie a little wink.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, giving me, then the doctor, a small smile before heading out.
“I hear she has been here with you for hours. The nurses didn’t have the heart to tell her to get off the bed.”
He went over the spiel then, telling me about the surgery, about my outlook, about my recovery.
I was stuck in the ICU for at least another day before I was moved to a floor. But I was told that from there, they’d be quick to release me.
“Get home and let that sweet wife look after you,” he said, giving me a nod before heading out.
I expected Gracie to come right back in.
But it was someone else entirely whose frame swallowed up the door.
Duke.
And that look on his face said he knew it all.
Shit.
“Look,” I said before he could lash into me, “I’ve got no excuse—”
“No excuse,” he repeated, stepping closer. And, fuck, if that gait didn’t look predatory. Like he might suffocate me in my hospital bed. And I couldn’t even blame him. “For saving my daughter’s life?” he asked, head cocking to the side.
There was weight under his words, though, a knowing look on his face.
If he’d gone looking for Gracie and found her asleep on me in the bed, there was no way he thought it was just in gratitude for trying to rescue her.
“Duke…” I said, shaking my head.
“Look,” he said, moving to the edge of the bed, hands grabbing the plastic footboard, “the club, the rules, that’s between you and Fallon. I don’t give a shit about the rules. I care about my daughter and who is, and isn’t, good for her.”
“I know—” I started.
“And I’ve watched her date a few no-good fucking losers who didn’t know how lucky they were to have her in their lives.”
“Didn’t know what they had,” I said, shaking my head. I couldn’t imagine having her and letting her slip through your fingers.
“And the thing is, I think you do.”
“I don’t deserve her.”
“Something about the way she screamed to be let go so she could run to you says maybe that’s not true.
“Look,” he said, exhaling hard, “it’s not my place to police who my daughter dates. She’s grown. She makes her own decisions. But it is my place to remind you that if that girl comes to me crying about you someday, I take making you pay for that very fucking seriously.”
“I wouldn’t even fight you.”
To that, he nodded.
“You good?”
“I’ll recover.”
“You took three bullets trying to save my kid. I don’t take that lightly.”
“Dad?” Gracie asked, tone worried.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he said, turning to the side to look at her.
His face tightened as he took her in. It was probably the first chance he got to see her once the bruises really settled in.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“My head hurts.”
“You were supposed to have medicine by now,” he said, tone partially chastening.
“Don’t be mad at Mom,” she demanded. So that was how she got out. “Or Rune.”
Rune.
That made a certain kind of sense.
Him with those knowing looks.
“I’m not mad at anyone today,” Duke said. “My girl is safe. That’s all that matters. But I am gonna go make your mother get some sleep. She’s been up all night in the waiting room.”
“I love you,” she said when he pressed a hand to her cheek.
“I love you too. Perish, get well soon.”
With that, he was gone.
Gracie stood there with a coffee in each hand and a small brown bag hanging from her fingers.
“Um…”
“He knows,” I told her.
“Did he threaten you?”
“Yes. But only if I hurt you. He’s… okay with it.”
“What? Really?”
“Don’t gotta sound so surprised,” I said, letting out a chuckle that made the wound in my side hurt.
“Don’t laugh,” she grumbled, rushing forward to put the cups and bag down on my tray.
“I’m fine. Doctor isn’t worried. I’ll move down to a floor tomorrow, then once the doctors clear me, I’m out.”
“Well, don’t take any chances. No laughing.”
“I’ll try. What do you have there?” I asked, looking at the bag, suddenly aware of my churning, empty stomach.
“Bagels. I know you’ll get breakfast eventually. But they serve, you know, human size portions. And you—stop!” she demanded when I started to chuckle.
“Stop making me laugh then,” I suggested. “What’d you get?”
“Sesame and butter for me. Everything and cream cheese for you. And a knife so we can cut it up.”
“Baby, I’m shot, not five.”
We ate in relative peace for a few minutes, with a nurse coming in just to check on me.
But it wasn’t long before there was someone else darkening the doorway. Someone I’d been dreading but knew would show up sooner rather than later.
“Fal, listen,” Gracie said, unfolding from her seat and trying to square her shoulders to seem more sure of herself since she wasn’t usually someone for confrontation.
“Goose, this isn’t about you.”
“It is, actually.” Her voice was sounding shaky already.
“I need a couple of minutes with Perish.”
“Fine,” she said, biting off the word. “And you can kick him out if you want. But that’s not going to stop anything. So you’re just fucking yourself over for no good reason.”
Fallon’s brows went up at the curse, but he just stepped to the side and waved toward the door.
“You don’t have to be such an asshole,” she snapped as she walked past.
He turned to watch her go, but when he faced me again, there was a smile tugging at his lips.
“Brought some fire out of her.”
“She’s exhausted and in pain. It’s making her bolder than usual.”
“I think we both know it’s not that. Gracie’s go-to is crying when she feels like shit. This is something else. She’s… happy with you. And I’m a threat to that.”
“When’d you find out?”
“You hear the way she screamed at her father to make him let her go so she could get to you? Then.”
“Surprised you didn’t just let me bleed out there.”
To that, Fallon sighed.
“Look, I’m the last person who is gonna say I did everything right in life. I mean, I was fucking the president of a rival MC in secret.”
“It worked out in the end.” They were married, had a litter of kids, the whole deal.
“Look,” Fallon said, moving to the foot of the bed. “The rules exist for a reason. But the uncles, cousins, and I have been vague about them.”
“Okay…”
“For very obvious reasons, we don’t want guys in this club to use and toss aside our cousins.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“And, for the most part, that’s what the guys are interested in.
The girls don’t need to be anywhere near that shit.
That said, none of us are in the business of telling the girls or the club members who to love.
So if that is what this is, we might be able to come up with a punishment that doesn’t involve you in a fuck of a lot of pain. ”
Some part of me wanted to insist it was too early.
But that feeling I’d been pretending not to notice in my gut, in my chest? There was really nothing else to call it.
“I love her.”
“Figured. And Duke’s been here already with the ‘don’t hurt my girl’ spiel, right?”
“Right.”
“Remember that comes from all of us.”
“I know.”
“Figure once you’re recovered from this shit, you’re taking over prospect duties for three months for lying. I think I’d be satisfied with that.”
“Gotta tack anything else on in the future, I’m game. It’ll be worth it if I can be with her.”
To that, he nodded.
“I’m gonna make her come back to the clubhouse to get some rest. And so you can rest.”
“Good. She won’t admit it, but she feels like shit.”
“Yeah. Her folks will bring her the meds from Hailstorm so she can get outta pain and sleep. You take what they give you too. Don’t need to badass your way through this.”
“Boss’s orders to take drugs. I like it.”
He smirked at that. “You have a guard shift ‘round the clock.”
“That necessary?”
“Being cautious. Got busy saving Gracie, so we didn’t get a chance to round up more of the crew to pressure test them. So for now, you have guards, Gracie is at the clubhouse, and the other girls and kids stay at Hailstorm. I’m hoping by the time you’re released, it’s all over.”
“I’m sure I don’t have to ask this. But Cameron?”
“Handled.”
“Was Gracie the one to handle it?”
“Not gonna lie, almost. If he was left alone, it would have happened eventually. But, no. I… handled it so that’s not on her.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded. “Get some rest, Perish.”
He moved out. Then it was Dezi moving into the room.
“The nurses ask, you got a big-ass family,” he said. “Donut hole?” he asked, holding out the carton.
I shook my head.
“Dibs on the remote. My stories are on.”
Then, I shit you not, one of the club’s biggest badasses watched fucking General Hospital while munching on a whole fifty-count box of donut holes.
And me?
I counted my fucking blessings.
I got to have the club.
And I got to have the girl.
I was one lucky fuck.