Chapter 9 #3
“I’m not in the mood today, Ty. What happened to your face?” Hunter growled, handing me the ice pack.
“Pissed off Skeet in the school parking lot. You should have seen what Jensen and Skeet did to each other though,” I huffed, pressing the ice to my eye. “I want to know about Rory. Is she okay?”
“This fucking idiot,” Hunter snapped, waving a hand in Marco’s direction with frustration. “Broke into the hospital through the air ducts last night and fell asleep next to Aurora. He woke up just before the guards came in when she was discharged. Barely got out without being caught.”
I was jealous he got to see her, but relieved at the same time. At least she’d had someone in there.
“You got to see her?” I asked Marco, who nodded.
“You know things are rough when she was happy to spend time with me. I paid the night guard off, but their shift changed at some point. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“Is she okay? Did you guys talk?”
“The damage was nothing major and was easily fixed. Mentally, she’s a bit of a mess though. She had a pretty good breakdown and cried herself to sleep. It’s how I ended up passing out, I didn’t want to move her,” he grumbled, looking annoyed at himself. “I’m turning into Hunter.”
Hunter didn’t find the comment amusing, crossing his arms and glaring at him.
“You could’ve gotten arrested and gotten her in trouble.”
“It was an accident, man,” he argued, pointing at me. “You get that, right?”
“Hey!” Hunter barked. “Don’t do that shit. I’m not having you drag him into it.”
“Bite me. You were worried so I got on my bike and rode four fucking hours to check on her for you. I’m more worried about why Skeet’s throwing hands.”
“To be fair, I taunted him, and Jensen started their fight,” I admitted with a cringe. “I kind of mentioned he’s angry at everyone for apparently fucking you, but the only one who has is him.”
“You’re lucky he didn’t shoot you,” Marco chuckled. “He’s just jealous.”
“That’s what I said!”
“Enough,” Hunter muttered, dropping into a chair at his desk. “Can we get Rory out of prison before starting a war with the Psychos? I don’t have enough hours in the day to do both.”
Marco grinned, sitting on his desk and lighting a cigarette. “How about you focus on her while I focus on Skeet?”
“How about you do as you’re fucking told and stay away from him?” Hunter demanded, smacking his palm down on the desk. “I shouldn’t have to babysit you, Mark.”
“Chill out. It was just a suggestion,” he snorted, blowing smoke into the air.
“I thought it was a good suggestion,” I muttered under my breath, making Hunter turn his glare on me.
“I swear to God—”
“He’s a fucking asshole, Rivera,” I threw back.
“Well aware, but we don’t need to add more drama to our schedule today. If we all get arrested or killed, Rory’s likely to never get out,” he warned, shutting me up.
“I’m going down to the cage,” Marco grumbled as he stood, earning a dirty look from Hunter.
“You’re not sparring. You haven’t healed.”
Marco flipped him off on the way out the door, and I swore Hunter was going to burst a blood vessel.
“Can I spar with him? Not like a full fight, but he can show me some moves,” I asked, making him snort.
“He wants to make someone bleed, he’s in a mood. Trust me, you don’t want to be the person he’s throwing punches at right now.”
“I feel fucking useless.”
“Keep your shit together. No rich boy tantrums, okay? I have somewhere to be, so can I trust you to stay here and out of trouble? You call me if Marco leaves,” he said seriously.
“Where are you going?”
“D’s. I’ll fill him in on things.”
“I don’t think they knew about her being shivved. Skeet seemed surprised when I mentioned it to him today,” I explained, and he sighed.
“Probably means Skeet’s gone back to tell the guys about it. Diesel’s probably freaking out and that’s why he asked to meet up.”
“Can’t he leave the Psychos and join you guys?” I asked hopefully, my hope short-lived as he gave me a warning glance.
“No, you can’t just transfer crews. That’s a massive betrayal and a reflection on the person’s character. If D would betray his own crew, then we wouldn’t want him either. You really don’t understand that he’d be executed, do you? Once you’re in, that’s it.”
“That’s dumb.”
“It’s just how it is, man. Can I trust you to behave or not?” he asked bluntly, and I nodded.
“I’ll hang at the bar and keep an eye on Marco.”
“Good. I’ll be back soon,” he grunted before motioning for me to follow him downstairs.
“Where the fuck is he going?” Marco asked as I joined him at the bar, eyeing Hunter as he walked out the door.
“To see Diesel. We got told to stay here,” I mumbled, his eyes narrowing.
“He shouldn’t be driving around alone.”
“He’ll be quick. I know you’re in a blood-thirsty mood, but can you teach me some fighting tricks? If I can’t have a gun, I should at least be able to throw a good hit,” I stated, and he rolled his eyes.
“You do throw a good hit. I lied when I said you didn’t. You’d be better off learning defense.”
“I’m game.”
“Fine, but you’ll definitely get hit if you don’t block,” he smirked, making me wonder if this was a bad idea after all.