Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
MILLIE
Rolling to my side, I reach for my phone and check the time. It’s eight in the morning. I touch the side of the bed. It’s cold. He hasn’t been here. He promised he would come back here to me, and he hasn’t.
I could be thinking a million different things, but all that comes to mind is that something is wrong. Something has happened. With everything that’s been going on with Dante and me, something feels very off.
Throwing the covers off my body, I place my feet on the floor and stand up straight, then reach down onto the bed for my phone. I check the notifications again, trying to see if I missed something with my initial blurry-eyed glance.
But there’s nothing.
I tug on a pair of sweatpants over my panties and also pull a hoodie over my head to cover up the fact that I’m braless and open the bedroom door. Looking left to right, I almost expect to see someone walking around, maybe even Axton, but there’s nobody and nothing.
Slowly, I begin to move through the hallway and make my way down to the main room.
That’s when I see a couple of girls standing around at the end of the bar talking to Shocker.
They are clearly club girls. Whores is what they call them, but I don’t like that.
I’ve been called a whore enough to know that it doesn’t feel good.
The girls lift their heads when they sense my arrival, but they don’t say anything otherwise. I’m okay with that. I’m not sure what the dynamic is supposed to be with them. I don’t know what the rules are or how any of that goes, so right now, I’m good just staying away.
“You okay, darlin’?” Shocker asks.
My brows snap together, and I bite the inside of my cheek, rolling the skin around a few times as I try to think of how to put this without sounding like a harping girlfriend. But I’m concerned. Axton isn’t one to say something and do the opposite. At least he’s never been one to do that before.
“Has Piggy come back from work?”
Shocker’s brows furrow. I’m sure my expression matches his because I am confused. “I haven’t seen him. He was supposed to come here after his shift?” he asks.
“He said he’d be here at five this morning at the latest. I woke up, and he wasn’t there. He probably just went home.”
My last sentence comes out in a mumble under my breath, because I don’t believe it even as I say it. I don’t believe a word of it. What I do believe is that something is wrong. I can tell by the way Shocker stares at me, then he flicks his gaze over my shoulder and jerks his chin.
Slowly, I turn around and see Bullet walking through the door. “Isn’t it a little early for you to be coming into the office?” I ask. But my unasked questions are clear: What are you doing here? And where is Axton?
“Normally, yes. But I had some schedules to work on. I came in to do that, but the way both of you are looking at me, I’m wondering what the fuck is going on.”
I start to tell him that it’s Axton, that he isn’t here, when Shocker speaks first. “Piggy was supposed to come here after work. He hasn’t. I texted him a few minutes ago, and he hasn’t responded.”
Bullet shifts his gaze from Shocker to me, his gaze searching mine. “You call him?” he asks.
“I didn’t. I just came down here to look for him when I woke up and he wasn’t next to me in bed. I’m just worried. He said he would be here.”
Bullet doesn’t say anything immediately in response. Instead, he takes his phone out of his pocket and slides his thumb around a few times before he brings it to his ear. Something about him making a call causes my spine to straighten.
“Can you make a loop, see if you can find Piggy or his patrol car? I’m heading to the bakery right now.”
He ends the call, then jerks his chin. “You wanna come with me or stay here and wait for him?”
Axton told me to hang around here for safety. I debate going, because I really do want to, but I don’t want to put myself in danger. Instead of attempting to explain my jumbled-up thought process, I decide to tell him that I’m going to stay here.
“Probably a good call. Why don’t you wake up your girl? That way, you got someone for company.”
I wonder if I need someone. But I don’t ask him. Instead, I turn and rush back to the hall and toward Heidi’s room. I know she’s probably still asleep, especially since we both have to dance tonight.
I ball my fingers into a fist and gently knock. The door flies open, and I stare at a fully-dressed, makeup-faced Heidi. She gives me a smile, but it fades almost instantly when she takes in the expression on my face. I’m sure I look as scared, nervous, and frazzled as I feel.
“What’s wrong?” she demands.
“I don’t know where Axton is. He didn’t come here after work like he said he would.”
She presses her lips together, making a pout. “And none of the guys here know where he is?” she asks.
“No, they don’t. Bullet just left to go and look for him.”
There is a moment of silence during which she shakes her head once before she steps out of the room. “Okay, first things first. You’re going to take a shower. When he does come back, he doesn’t want to see you looking freaked the fuck out.”
“I am freaked the fuck out,” I snap.
She laughs. “You know that, and so do I. But if something has happened, you have to be strong, and part of that is looking put together. You know how these men are.”
I do, and apparently, so does Heidi. “Take a shower. I’ll scrounge up some breakfast or brunch, whatever I can find, and try to get some info.”
I feel her hand on my shoulder, and then she gently guides me toward the bathroom. “I’ll get you a change of clothes. Go ahead and get the water warmed up.”
I don’t know what I did to deserve a friend like Heidi.
But when I start the water and close my eyes, I can’t help but thank whoever sent her to me.
She’s the only thing keeping me together right now.
When I left, I thought it was a way to protect her, but she didn’t need protecting. I’m the weak one who needs that.
Flicking my gaze to the mirror, I take in my reflection.
I am the weak one.
PIGGY
When I come to, it’s not in my police car the way I expect. No, there are bright lights, beeping, and the smell of antiseptic. I fucking hate hospitals. I look around and grunt.
I’m indeed in the hospital.
Turning my head, I look at the door. It’s closed, and there isn’t anyone in the room. I’m alone. I’m alive but alone. When I try to sit up, I moan as my head pounds, so I lie back down and pinch my eyes closed as I try to calm myself down.
The pain radiates from my head and throughout my entire body.
Rolling onto my side, I stare at the door, wondering and waiting. I don’t know what the fuck is going to happen, but whatever it is, it’s going to be huge—I can feel it. I also don’t know who the fuck did this to me, but when I find out, they’re going to meet the same fate as Dante Barone.
They will die.
And I will enjoy watching it happen.
I’m thinking about all the different ways I could kill someone when the door flies open. There, standing in front of me, are both my chief of police and my sister. Lainey rushes toward me, wrapping her arms around me as she buries her face in my neck. I can feel the wetness from her tears.
I wrap my arms around her and hold on to her. She needs this. She probably thought I was as good as dead.
A throat clears behind the chief, and I watch as he takes a step to the side. Both a doctor and a nurse pass through the door and head straight for me. That’s when they tell me all the testing they did and what happened to me.
Something was slammed against my head. No fucking shit. They did scans and tests and shit. I’m alive and well, so there’s that. I guess that means I’m alive another day, so I can figure out who the fuck did this to me and make them pay.
“We’ll only keep you overnight for observation, then you should be good to go. Although…” the doctor says, turning his head to look at the chief. “He should be on light duty for at least a month.”
I curl my lip thinking about being on light duty, which is desk duty, and that shit pisses me off. No way in fuck do I want to be on the desk. That’s fucking worse than being in my patrol car instead of on my bike.
The doctor and nurse leave me, Lainey, and the chief alone. “I know it’s going to kill you on a desk, and it’s going to kill you even more because it’ll have to be during the day,” he mutters. “But not until Monday morning.”
I snort, jerking my chin toward him. “Great.”
“I’m glad you’re okay, Colter. I’ll leave you be. Keep me posted?”
“I will.” I give him a smile.
He leaves, and that’s when I turn to Lainey. She’s sitting on the side of my bed. Her eyes find mine, and I fucking hate the fact that there are tears pooling in them. I hate that I’m making her cry. I’ve tried my entire life to do anything in my power to keep Lainey from crying.
“Who did it?” she demands in a whisper.
“I don’t know.”
She narrows her gaze on me, then leans forward. “But you suspect.”
I suspect. But I don’t tell her that. Instead, I just give her a smile. Then I cup her cheek, sliding the pad of my thumb beneath her eye in an effort to wipe the wetness from there.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I thought you died,” she hisses.
My lips twitch into a smirk. “It would take a hell of a lot more than a knock over the head to kill me. Have you called Millie?”
Lainey lifts her fingers to her lips, covering them as she lets out a small cry. “Oh shit, I forgot. I was so worried, I didn’t even think.”
A few moments later, my woman is called, and I brace myself for what that means. Because this place is going to be crawling with brothers and old ladies, but the only one I give a shit about is Millie.
She’s the only person I want to see, aside from Lainey.