Chapter Nineteen #2
Pat didn’t even ask and rushed inside. He found Lidia on the floor, pale.
Her face was bruised, and a syringe was stuck into her arm.
Across her chest was a bag, which clearly showed she had been on her way out.
Her cell phone had been stepped on, and from the angle of her hand, it looked like someone had crushed it under their foot.
“Shit, fuck,” Grant said, going to his knees. He pressed two fingers against her pulse. “She’s alive, but barely.”
Pat was already on his cell phone, organizing a car. They didn’t have the means of getting her to the hospital.
Jake was the one to answer the call. He didn’t give a shit if there was a risk. He told him to get there in five minutes, and not to give a shit about the cops. Just to get here. If anyone followed him, Pat would deal with them.
“She couldn’t have been like this for long,” Grant said.
Pat knew it had to have been this morning or last night.
Getting to his feet, he pulled out his gun and started to walk through Lidia’s small house. He was tense, wondering if he and Grant had stopped the attack.
Making his way through the kitchen, he checked the back door to find it was locked.
Pat looked through the downstairs, and everything was safe and secure.
Upstairs, she checked everything. No sign of a break-in, and this wasn’t good.
Making his way downstairs, Jake arrived with the car and Grant had picked her up in his arms.
“She knew who it was that attacked her,” Pat said.
“How the fuck was that possible?” Grant asked. “No one hates Lidia. Sure, she’s a pain in the fucking ass and talks too much...”
“She answered the door to them. She stepped back, let them in, then they hit her.”
“Are you sure they didn’t attack her?” Grant asked.
“Look where she was lying down. She fell. She was hit, fell, and they injected her. She didn’t put up a fight.”
“We don’t have time to speculate,” Grant said. “We’ve got to get her to the hospital.”
****
D oc picked her up from the coffee shop and dropped her back home. Once again, Violet was there, and she also noticed a car parked just down the street, with one of the men wearing a Chaos and Carnage MC leather jacket.
Ava didn’t ask what was going on. She only asked if Pat and everyone was okay. Doc told her everything was fine, but she was not to go home, and she was to stay with her mother and sister. Those were Pat’s orders.
She thought he mumbled something about a lockdown, but she wasn’t entirely sure if she heard him correctly. Either way, she was home. Violet didn’t stay up after waving to Doc. She made herself another hot chocolate, Bernice settled into her bed, and Ava went to take a nice, long shower.
Lauren had been so happy and excited. It seemed Lauren had met a man.
She was not willing to say much of anything yet, because it was still early.
Just that he loved her coffee and cakes, and wanted to take things slowly.
According to Lauren, he was a bit of a bad boy.
Ava wasn’t sure what to say, and seeing how happy Lauren was, she didn’t tell her she wanted to quit.
The other woman was still her friend, and she was not, under any circumstances, going to let her down like that.
So, she got to work, served coffee and lots of cake, and then got picked up by Doc. She was happy for her friend, and could relate to how happy she was. One day, she would find out who Lauren was dating.
After finishing her shower, she had taken her pajamas with her into the en-suite. Changing into them, she stepped out and came to a stop to find Pat sitting at the end of her bed.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”
“You know, you don’t need to keep sneaking into my bedroom window,” Ava said.
“Do you want me to leave?”
“No, I love you coming, but you can come to the front door. I don’t mind letting you in.”
“This way I don’t disturb the whole house.”
Ava nodded. “That does make sense.” Also, it was kind of cool that he wanted to climb through her bedroom window and see her. She saw he wasn’t happy, though. “Are you okay?”
Pat looked at her, and she stared back at him, waiting.
“No,” he said.
She stepped toward him and sank down onto her knees in front of him. Placing her hands onto his knees, she waited. “What is it?” she asked.
Pat put his hand over hers, and she saw he struggled.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want.”
“Lidia’s in the hospital,” Pat said. “Someone attacked her inside her home. Hit her hard, and it appears injected her with heroin.”
“Wow,” Ava said. “That’s awful. Is she going to be okay?”
“The doctor said it is going to be touch-and-go for a while. We don’t know if having the drugs forced on her is going to have any effect. She might crave them.”
“That’s insane.”
Pat ran a hand over his face. “I didn’t even think to go and check on her. It’s only when I was talking to Grant and we worried. Fuck.”
Ava gripped his thighs tightly. “This is not your fault.”
“Lidia hung out at the club. Her best friend is an old lady. This attack is because of the club.”
“There is nothing you can do, and I bet Lidia wouldn’t want to hear you talking like this.”
“The club is not a good place right now, Ava,” he said. “Bad shit is happening to people around us.”
She had not heard about Lidia, this was new. The town would start talking about this, and there was a risk the club become even more of an outcast.
“You’ll make it right,” Ava said.
“How do you know?”
“Because I can see that look in your eye, and regardless of what you say, you try to break up with me, I will kick your ass. There is a chance I might be pregnant seeing as we haven’t been careful. You’re not backing out now.” She smiled to show she was also kidding around, but not by a whole lot.
“You’re funny,” he said.
“That’s me. I’m a funny woman.”
“I’m not going to give you up, Ava. I’m too fucking selfish to let you go.” He cupped her cheek, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. “I’ll never let you go. I have tried to walk away, and I keep coming back.”
Ava felt her throat burn. “That’s because of the coffee and cake. Another woman’s baked goods helped you fall for me.”
“No, I fell for you. This smile is what I fell for, and your kindness. Nothing else.”
She took a deep breath, then reached up, cupped his face, and kissed him. Pat didn’t push her away, and she was so damn pleased he didn’t leave her or break up with her. There was only so much she could take.
Pat began to remove her clothing, and she pushed his leather cut from his body, only she stepped back, grabbed his jacket, and placed it over her chair in the corner. “I know how you like to take care of your jacket.”
“Woman, you’re fast becoming my very favorite person in the whole fucking world.”
Ava laughed, and then she sank to her knees, removing his jeans, and when she removed his boxer briefs, he reached for her hand as if to stop her from doing anything else. She didn’t fight him as he pulled her up off the floor, and then sunk his fingers into her hair, kissing her at the same time.
“There is going to be a time and a place for that,” he said. “Tonight, I just want to be balls-deep inside you.”
She liked the sound of that.
Within seconds, he had her on the bed, and she cried out as he ran a hand down her body, reaching between her thighs to cup her.
He slid a single finger within her, and she already felt how wet she was herself, without even touching.
He used a second finger, stretching her, and then she felt his thumb stroking across her clit.
“Please, I want you inside me,” she said.
Pat removed his fingers, and he moved between her thighs. She stared up into his eyes, not wanting to look away, as inch by inch, he started to slide inside her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck as he came down and kissed her. He completely stole her breath. There was nothing else she wanted and no one else she ever wanted to be with. She wanted to belong to him completely.
He took hold of her hands, pressing them either side of her head, then he started to slowly make love to her. This time, he didn’t rush. Everything was slow, precise, and she felt every inch of him, whimpering as he pushed her over the edge.
At one point, he did stop, reaching between her spread thighs, and began to tease her clit, drawing her closer and higher toward that peak, and when he finally pushed her over the edge, she was more than ready for it.
Pat joined her moments after, and then she lay within his arms. He held her tightly. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said.
She trusted him, believed in him, and knew no matter what, nothing bad was ever going to happen.