Chapter Seventeen
Raff
It was the longest goddamn drive of my life.
And all I could think about was that I should have been there, that I never should have left her.
Did that mean some bastard wouldn’t still break in? No. But I would have been there for her. She wouldn’t have been alone with a bunch of strangers after. Hurt. Afraid. Confused.
My spit tasted acidic each time I thought of her curled up on the ground, bloody, in pain, with no one familiar to reach out to.
Stupid.
It was so fucking stupid to leave her.
Arty could have waited.
Or I could have woken her and brought her with me.
There was no undoing any of that, though.
So I did the only thing I could—peeled into the lot of the strip mall that held the clinic run by Seeley’s wife, Ama.
I spotted a few bikes as well as Teddy’s town car parked right beside the curb and the lights on inside.
But, as far as I could tell, Ama hadn’t arrived yet.
I barely remembered to cut the engine before I flew out and ran toward the doors, finding them locked, and yanking them hard over and over before slamming my fist into the metal frame.
York appeared from the back, brows raised. But he made his way toward me and unlocked the doors.
“Where is she?”
I knew how I must have looked right then: wild-eyed, panicked, borderline insane.
“I think you need to calm down first,” Velle said, appearing out of nowhere. “Lula is pretty shut down right now. She doesn’t need your crazy.”
They were blocking my way to the exam rooms, making me have to resort to pacing to get some of the frantic energy out.
“I know head-shrinking is your thing, Velle. But with all due respect, you don’t know a fucking thing about Lula or what she needs.”
Because she needed me. Whether she even realized that yet or not.
Teddy moved forward, nodding at me.
“I think he’s right,” he said. “She shouldn’t be alone. And she doesn’t know any of us.”
Velle and York shared a look before parting and letting me pass.
“Room Two,” Teddy called as I beelined toward the exam rooms.
I wanted to see her.
But the guys’ words weren’t lost on me, either.
I paused outside the door, taking a few slow, deep breaths, trying to smooth the sharp edges of my panic and anger. Only then did I reach for and turn the knob.
Lula’s whole body jolted as the door opened, making my stomach clench.
But then it dropped to the floor as I looked at her.
There were deep black rings around each eye that I knew from experience would only darken over the next few hours.
Her nose was bloody, her lip fat, blood stained her chest and tank top, and there was a darkness around her throat that, I realized with a sick twist in my gut, was from someone strangling her.
“Oh, gorgeous girl,” I said, my voice as broken as I felt looking at her.
Her gaze flicked over, her lower lip starting to tremble.
“Probably not so much anymore,” she said. As she spoke, a small bit of blood escaped her mouth.
My jaw went granite.
“Nothing could take away all that pretty,” I said, forcing my voice to go light, knowing she didn’t need my intensity right then as I grabbed a tissue and moved over to wipe the blood away. “Did you knock a tooth loose?” I asked.
“Out,” she clarified.
Dammit.
“Where?”
She pointed toward the back of her mouth.
“Okay. Ama will look at that too.”
She was going to need a bridge or an implant if she wanted to replace it. But this was not the time to talk about future plans.
“Lula,” I called, watching her gaze fall to my chin. “Hey, look at me,” I demanded, gently snagging her chin and tipping her head up. “It’s going to be alright. None of this is permanent, okay?”
She gave me a tight nod, her gaze on my chin.
“Why won’t you look at me?” I asked.
“I screamed for you,” she told me, her voice cracking.
Fuck.
It felt like someone stabbed a knife into my gut and pulled upward.
“Where were you? Did you go home—never mind.”
So.
That was what this was about.
She thought I’d left her to go hook up with some other chick. Like it was possible to even think about someone else when she was around.
“Arty called,” I told her. “I wanted to drop by and see what he found out.”
Her gaze lifted.
“Really?”
“Really. I should have waited for you. Don’t worry. I’ve been kicking my own ass about it ever since I got the call from York. Well, my own ass and the car’s hood…”
She frowned, looking down, reaching for my hand. “What did you do?”
“Got a little pissed off.”
“You need to get these cuts cleaned.”
“Yeah. I’ll get in line after you,” I said. “Is all the damage to your face, or are you hurting anywhere else?”
“My side hurts a little. I fell off the bed onto it.”
“Any trouble breathing? Tightness in your chest?”
“No.”
“Can I look?”
I got a small nod, then reached out for the hem of her shirt and gently pulled it up, exposing her skin inch by inch.
It was no time for desire.
But when I held the material up under her breasts, there was no denying the way it coursed through me.
“Tell me if I hit any sore spots.” I poked around her ribs, but aside from a little hiss when I poked a bruised spot. “I think this is okay. But here is Ama to confirm that diagnosis,” I said as the door behind me opened.
“What diagnosis would that be?” Ama asked, using some hand sanitizer.
“That she’s incurably gorgeous,” I said, getting a snort out of Lula.
“I’m afraid I have to concur with Raff on this one. Hi, Lula. I’m Ama. You’ve had a shitty night, huh?”
“You could say that,” Lula agreed.
“Raff, Huck wants to talk to you,” Ama said, nodding toward the hallway.
“I’m not leaving her.”
“She’s in good hands,” Ama insisted as she started to collect supplies and set them on a rolling tray.
“I’ll be fine.”
She probably would. She was accustomed to being alone. To not having someone to hold her hand when she was upset, hurt, or scared.
“I’ll be five minutes,” I told her, giving her knee a quick squeeze.
Taking a deep breath, I made my way into the hall to find York and Velle standing there with Huck.
“I don’t want to leave her for long,” I said, looking at the Golden Glades president.
“Yeah, I get it. Just a quick debrief.” He nodded toward York.
“I was in the guest room with my date,” York admitted. “Then I heard Lula screaming for Raff.”
There was that gutting sensation again.
“I told my date to stay put and ran in to find him over her on the floor. I ran in, got him off her, then he and I went at it while Lula crawled to the bathroom. With the girl in the other room, I knew the only way to end shit was to do it silently.” He winced as he looked up at me.
“There was no way to protect Lula from it,” he told me. “It was a long five minutes.”
I hated that she had to see that. But…
“I saw the bruises on her neck,” I said. “That was the fate he had planned for her. Seems like karmic justice to me. At least we don’t have to worry about Drake anymore.”
“About that…” Huck said, exhaling hard.
“Don’t say it.”
“I had Arty send over a picture of Drake to confirm. This wasn’t him.”
“So, what? A pro?”
“I have Arty on that now. And the guys are working on getting the body out of there.”
“Wait… what happened after? What’d you say to the girl? She heard a woman scream.”
“She heard a loud bang too,” York said. “I convinced her that Lula had a nightmare and then fell out of bed. And that I had to get her to the hospital. It was mostly true, at least. I got her out of there then went back for Lula. That about sums things up.”
“How was she right after?” I asked.
“A little disassociated,” Velle supplied. “I get the feeling she’s not someone who is used to being taken care of.”
“No.”
“And maybe strong and independent… almost to a fault.”
“That’s her.”
“Teddy said she was quiet on the ride but kept putting her hand up to her cheek.”
“Bastard knocked her tooth out.”
There was a chorus of hisses.
“It was a back one, thankfully. But it’s gotta be sore.”
“I’m sorry,” York said, shaking his head.
“This isn’t on you. This is on me.”
“I’m gonna be the level-headed one here and say it’s that Drake asshole’s fault.”
“I wanna know how he knows we’re not only in town, but where to find Lula.”
“That’s a good question,” Huck said. “But maybe for tomorrow.”
“And what about tonight?” I asked. “I can’t make her go back to that house. Can one of you recommend a good hotel?”
“I could,” Huck said, nodding. “Or Teddy offered his penthouse. I’m offering the clubhouse. If this guy is pissed that he failed and wants to come again, Lula would be surrounded by a lot of guys with guns.”
“Yeah, but you and Che have families there. Think maybe a hotel is a good bet. A penthouse with a private elevator. That leads into a vestibule or hallway, not the suite itself. Any ideas?”
“Teddy has a few of those. I’ll get him on picking the one he thinks has the best security.”
“Thanks. Anything else?”
“About Slash…” Huck said.
Shit.
“Yeah,” Huck said, nodding. “I had a feeling this was something you didn’t let your president in on.”
“It wasn’t really my business.”
“Maybe it wasn’t until you involved my club. But now we’re involved. And I don’t want to be keeping shit from Slash. I won’t force your hand on when, but I want him debriefed.”
“I’ll do that. You understand not being in a rush,” I said, glancing over at the door, wondering how Lula was doing in there.
“Yeah. But within the next few days.”
“Got it.”
“Alright. I think that’s it for now,” Huck said. “Go check on your girl. Let me know if she needs anything. I’ll go talk to Teddy.”
“I appreciate it. Really. I’m sure getting rid of a body wasn’t on your bucket list tonight.”
“This is Florida, man,” Huck said with a smile. “We got built-in corpse removal animals. We know the locations of a lot of groups of crocs. Never had an issue getting rid of something.”
“Even the bones?”
“All those teeth, but they don’t chew. Swallow everything whole,” Huck said.
“And they have the most acidic stomachs of any animal,” York piped in. “Can dissolve anything… even bones.”
No wonder no one seemed particularly worked up about a body lying around.
“Either way, I appreciate it.”
“You’ll make it up to me when you deliver that gun Murphy is designing.”
With that, I made my way back to the exam room, finding Lula’s face cleaned up but the bruises settling even darker than before.
“How’s the patient, Doc?”
“She’s going to be just fine. Sore, obviously.
But it’s all superficial bruising. No fractures or anything like that.
As for the tooth, it was completely avulsed, so I irrigated the wound and stuffed it with gauze.
Lula already knows she needs to bite down on that for thirty to sixty minutes to make sure a good clot forms. No straws.
Soft foods. The usual kind of things you’d hear when a tooth is pulled.
Obviously, you’re going to want to follow up with a dentist.”
“Definitely on the list,” I said, giving Lula’s thigh a squeeze. “Anything else?”
“Lula is very out of date for a tetanus booster, so I am going to give her that. As well as some pain meds. I’m going to hold off on prescribing an antibiotic, but if you notice any signs of an infection—fever, swelling—I want to know right away. Otherwise, a dentist will do the follow-up.”
“Great. Thanks so much for coming in this late, Ama.”
“Yeah, thank you,” Lula said with a mouth full of gauze.
“I’m just going to go get your shot. Then write up your scripts. Then you can be on your way. I’m sure you’re both exhausted.”
“We’re not going back to the beach house,” I told her when we were alone, tucking some hair behind her ear. “Huck is talking to Teddy about which hotel has the best room for us. Seems safest for the time being.”
“Safest?” she asked, her voice a jumble of sounds.
“Keep biting on that gauze,” I told her, running a finger over the bulge in her cheek. “I know he was wearing a mask when he attacked you. But the guy at the house… that wasn’t Drake. It seems like he hired someone to try to kill you.”
Lula exhaled hard, shaking her head.
“Huck offered the clubhouse, if you want to go that route. I just thought you might want more privacy than that.”
She nodded as Ama came back into the room, handing me scripts, then setting up and injecting the tetanus booster before telling us we could head out.
Lula was too quiet through the process of leaving the clinic, climbing back into Teddy’s car, and making our way to the hotel.
“She okay?” Teddy asked as he climbed out with me.
“Think she’s just trying to hold it together until she’s somewhere more private.”
He nodded to that.
“I made sure the penthouse has everything you need for the night. But if there’s anything else, just call down to the desk.”
“Thank you, Teddy. You’ve done a lot for us already.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just take care of that girl.”
With that, I opened Lula’s door, watching as she self-consciously tugged her cover-up tightly around her body and ducked her head as we made our way through the doors and into the lobby.
She turned her back on the desk as I got the key for the private elevator, refusing to lift her chin until we were alone again.
As if she had anything to be ashamed of.
But her silence was starting to bother me as I unlocked the door and we stepped into the penthouse.
“Lula…”
That was all it took.
Her breath caught on a sob.
As soon as my arms were around her and her face was pressed to my chest, all of the fear, pain, and uncertainty finally poured out.