Chapter 22 #3
“Right now? Absolutely fucking nothing,” I replied like a petty bitch, ducking a second before his gun went off and I was showered with dry wall dust.
I turned slowly, seeing the bullet hole in the wall where my head had been, and I knew it was time to leave. That had been a lucky miss.
“I never lied to you, but believe what you want,” I murmured, stepping towards the door. “Thanks for nothing.”
His firm gaze remained on me, so did his gun, until I left the house and climbed into Lukas’ car, the door to Slash’s house slamming behind me. I finally let the tears fall, knowing there was no way he’d change his mind.
I drove off before he could shoot at the car or something if he was flipping out inside, lifting my hand to feel my throat. It was tender, each breath hurting my lungs as I tried to keep my breathing even.
Once I’d driven a few blocks away, I pulled over to inspect my throat in the mirror, cringing when I saw the finger marks. It would definitely bruise, which meant I couldn’t let Josie see it.
I doubted she’d believe I’d just gotten in a fight for funsies, and she’d call the cops with her finger pointed at Skeeter.
I cleared my throat and regretted it instantly as pain hit me, and I wondered if he’d actually crushed something. Was that possible?
I had three options right now. One, go home and try to put a damn scarf on before Josie saw it and pray she didn’t want me to talk. Two, call one of the guys to meet me to get ahead of the situation before they finished school and saw it without warning. That was probably the smart choice.
I definitely couldn’t call Diesel. He’d lose his mind and kill him.
My final option was to go to Hunter to see if his doctor could check it out, but that also came with consequences. Would he go after Skeeter? I really didn’t need that.
The pain was only getting worse, so I shoved down my pride and started driving towards Mount Mercer, mind made up. I could call the guys once I’d been checked out so they didn’t worry so much.
Faris was just climbing out of his car when I arrived, a grin on his face as I opened the door and he realized it was me.
“Hey, Donovan. It’s been quiet around here without you,” he teased, and I forced a smile.
“Is Hunter here?” I asked, my voice coming out rough and broken. His amusement fell as he moved closer, his eyes dropping to the finger marks on my throat.
“Yeah, he’s inside. Come on. You want some ice for that? What happened?”
“Me and Skeet exchanged words.”
“He choked you?” He didn’t seem surprised, just wanting the facts.
“Shot at me too,” I tried to say with a laugh, but my voice gave out and cut half my words out.
He opened the door to let me inside first, and I eyed Marco as he beat the hell out of someone in the cage. A few of the guys lingered, but it was obvious most were out on jobs, and Marco’s little show wasn’t for pleasure.
I jerked when Faris snagged my elbow to tug me along a little faster, heading to the bar to pull two ice packs out for me.
“Sit here and ice it. I’ll get the boss,” Faris instructed as he motioned to the bar stool, turning and heading up to the office once I was seated.
“Who’d you piss off?” Preston snickered from close by, running his eyes over me.
“Skeet,” I shrugged, and he groaned.
“Seriously? You’re bringing Psychos’ drama here again? You must suck dick real good if—”
Someone punched him and almost knocked him over, my eyes sliding to Marco as he moved to stand in front of me. He was breathing heavily, blood coating his hands with spatters of blood across his chest and face.
“Watch your mouth, Pres. You don’t want the boss to hear you talking like that,” he warned flatly as I heard Hunter jogging down the stairs with Faris behind him.
He appeared in front of me and motioned for me to move the ice packs out of the way so he could look at my throat, his eyes narrowing when I did as he asked.
“What the fuck?” Marco bit out when he realized I was hurt, but Hunter seemed content to gently tilt my head out of the way to run his fingers over my throat, pulling back when I winced.
“I’m going to kill him,” Hunter spat, but I grabbed his wrist to stop him from stalking off.
“Don’t,” I rasped out, stopping him in his tracks. “I came to you to—” I coughed, which just hurt like a bitch, so he shook his head.
“Don’t talk. Type notes on your phone and show me,” he suggested, taking another look at my throat as he waited for me to type out that I wanted to see his doctor and not start a war.
That made him snort when he read it, but he took the ice from my hands and gently held it against my throat so my hands were free.
“I can get someone to look at it for you, but they’ll just tell you to ice it and take ibuprofen like any doctor would.
That’s going to bruise like hell, babe,” he tsked.
“What’s with the dust? You’re covered in it.
” I typed out that it was from Skeeter shooting the wall above my head, and he seemed to take a deep breath before replying.
“We’ll deal with it later. Do you want to hang out in the office for the day? You can go to my place, if you want.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Marco growled, irritated to be left out of the conversation.
“Skeet strangled her and took shots at her,” Hunter answered, letting me take over holding the ice packs again. His fingers brushed through my hair to remove some of the dust, and my stupid eyes watered.
“Take her to yours,” Faris suggested, leaning back against the bar beside me. “We’ve got everything under control here. You don’t have anything major to do today anyway.”
Preston didn’t seem happy about that idea, but he kept his mouth shut.
“I’ll be fine,” I forced out, but Hunter scowled.
“You’re not. Mark can handle things here and you can come to mine. No idea how you’re going to hide that from Josie later though.”
“Me either.”
“Stop talking,” he reminded me, stroking my hair for a second before turning to Marco. “Handle the trade this afternoon then meet me at my place.”
“Or you let me go after—” he started, but Hunter cut him off.
“Don’t do anything. Let her handle it,” he warned, motioning to me. As much as they pissed me off, I’d always liked how Hunter didn’t make decisions for me. Marco fumed but nodded, and Hunter took his keys from his pocket. “I’ve got the bike, so—”
“I can drive. I’ll follow you,” I said as best as I could. It was obvious he didn’t like that idea, but he agreed and followed me outside once Faris had taken the ice packs off me.
It was a short drive, but I was starting to feel exhausted by the time I sat on Hunter’s couch, my limbs feeling heavy as I watched Hunter get me a bottle of water and a blanket.
“I’m not sick,” I joked, but he rolled his eyes and handed me the water.
“I know. Water will help cool your throat, and it’s cold in here.” He draped the blanket over my shoulders before sitting beside me, leaning back to study me for a second. “Should I let someone know you’re here?”
I scrunched my nose, knowing that could end up with visitors, but I knew he was right.
“I’ll text Ty and D,” I mumbled, pulling my phone out to text them both, letting them know I was with Hunter and I’d see them later.
Hopefully, they stayed away long enough for me to figure out how to tell them that Skeeter had tried to kill me twice.