by Kayley Shaye
He turned around and stared past me like I didn’t exist. I then realized the problem. “I said to put the guns down! Now!” I yelled over my shoulder.
“Why, so he can kill us all?” Devin spat.
“He’s not going to do anything! Why do you think he brought me back here alive?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“I think we all like to know,” Ryder said as he dug through the first-aid kit and came out with a pair of scissors.
I rolled my eyes and looked back over my shoulder to see that the guns were lowered. They didn’t put them down, however, and they probably wouldn’t until he left. Jesse, who was behind me, glared. But when his eyes met mine, it vanished.
Ryder took off my boot and cut the jeans away from the wound before he cleaned it. It stung so bad that tears returned to my eyes again, and soon enough, I found myself crying. Jesse walked over and sat by me cautiously. He was watching his back.
He offered me his hand, and I shook my head as a small smile broke across my face from what I was about to say. “I might accidentally break your hand.”
“Do it, sweetheart.” Jesse smirked and I chuckled quietly through the tears and took the chance.
I didn’t miss the scowl erupting across the room at his words. They’d never seen this side of Jesse before. I was certain, and that’s why everyone was so on edge. This could be a setup for all they knew. A game.
I squeezed his hand hard as Ryder dug around for the bullet. If I had enough strength, I’m sure I would’ve punched him by then. It seemed as if he was taking out his anger on my leg. “Don’t be so rough,” I hissed.
“Sorry,” Ryder muttered.
I leaned my head against Jesse’s shoulder as the dizziness washed back over me again and my eyes dropped shut.
Chapter Fourteen
It was like I was in this deep dark hole and no matter what I did, I couldn’t wake up. I could hear whispering, but I couldn’t make out who it was and I definitely couldn’t open my eyes to see whoever it was.
All I knew was that I was in a lot of pain, and luckily for me, I remembered why. I was shot. Stupid me for smacking the gun out of that officer’s hand, huh? What was I thinking? Oh right, I wasn’t.
The voices got louder and I recognized them as Jesse, Ryder, and Damien. I was shocked to the core that Jesse was with them, alive and talking. Though, I guess, the guys did owe him one for bringing me back alive.
“How did the cops find you?” Ryder asked Jesse, I assumed.
“They must have been watching the clubhouse and caught me leaving,” Jesse replied in an unusually calm tone. Damn, you get shot once and everyone loses their marbles.
“Why are they even after you?” Ryder responded.
“No clue. My tracks are covered.” Jesse sighed.
I heard grumbling and then someone squeezed my right hand. I managed to squeeze theirs back.
“Did she just move?” Damien asked.
“She moved,” Jesse said. Now, I could tell that he was the one holding my hand.
“Don’t talk about me like I can’t hear you,” I choked out. My throat felt like the desert.
“You son of a bitch.” I heard Ryder say with a chuckle.
“I’ve heard it before.” I forced my eyes open. Jesse was leaning over me slightly and Ryder and Damien were standing at the door with guns. Why didn’t that surprise me?
“Thought we were losing you, sweetheart,” Jesse muttered, linking our fingers together. I couldn’t believe how sweet he was being, especially in front of the guys.
“I’m not going anywhere, pretty boy.”
“Pretty boy?” Ryder spat.
“Yep.” I turned my head back to Jesse. He was smirking of course.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Well, my leg hurts like a bitch.”
“We figured that much,” said Damien and then dropped down on the other side of the bed. I heard the gun drop to the floor. “Take these.” He handed me two pills.
“Are you trying to drug me?”
“Nah.” Damien smirked, helping me up into a sitting position. Jesse reached over and handed me a cup of water, which I quickly thanked him for.
I swallowed what I assumed was painkillers and leaned back down on my pillows. I had been shot once before, in the arm, but it didn’t compare to the pain at all. It probably had to do with the fact that it was right above my ankle. But hell, getting shot was going to hurt either way.
“You think the cop made it back to the station okay?” I asked Jesse.
“Yeah, it wouldn’t have taken him long to wake back up. If he hadn’t, we would’ve had the cops busting down the doors hours ago,” he replied.
“Hours ago? How long have I been out?”
Jesse opened his phone and showed me the time. It was 10 AM. I had been out since the previous night. “Well damn.”
“That’s what we were saying,” Damien said, pulling out a cigarette.
“Why are you still here?” I turned to Jesse.
“You don’t want me here?”
“No, no, it’s not that. I just figured you’d be busy with the club. I never said I didn’t want you here.” I squeezed his hand again.
“I thought I could make an exception for the time being.”
“Unfortunately,” Ryder broke in, rolling his eyes.
I harshly pointed a finger at him. “Knock it off. He’s not doing anything to you,” I spat. Were we that immature?
“I think I should be going.” Jesse relented and locked eyes with Ryder as he stood up. He let go of my hand, and his eyes trailed over to mine. “You need anything, you call, alright?”
I nodded and replied, “Alright. Be careful out there.”
“Always am, sweetheart.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead, making me blush. I was at a loss for words until Jesse moved towards the door and Ryder stepped in front of him.
“Ryder, come here,” I said, trying to distract him. “Leave him be. He’s not going to do anything.”
“He better not,” Ryder warned and stepped out of the doorway. Jesse cast one last glance in my direction before he turned and stormed out of the clubhouse.
“Sweetheart? Are you serious?” Ryder rolled his eyes again.
“Quit being such an ass!” I all but shouted.
Ryder tossed his gun to the floor and crouched down by the bed. “What on earth were you thinking, sneaking out of the clubhouse to go see him? Are you trying to get killed?”
“No! He’s an okay guy. You don’t know him. You’ve only seen the bad in him, not the good.”
“There’s nothing good about that man. He kills people for the hell of it and doesn’t feel guilty about it the least bit,” Ryder said.
“And you do?” I challenged. “When we kill people, we don’t feel sorry for it either.”
“The difference is, we don’t kill the innocent. He does. Do you remember how his people killed a dozen of ours last year? They weren’t even doing anything to him.”
I sighed and turned to look up at the ceiling. I remembered it. They went out on a run, and Ryder and Devin were the only two that returned from that group. It really crushed the whole club, especially because it was an ambush set up by the Rebels.
“Ryder, he’s not going to hurt me. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Then tell me, why do you believe that he won’t hurt you? He kidnapped you!” Ryder argued.
I wiped away a stray tear that had somehow managed to fall just as Damien stepped out and left Ryder and I alone.
“It’s not something someone like you will understand, not unless you have been through it. When I was kidnapped, the only thing he ever did was slap me once because I wouldn’t shut my big ass mouth.”
“So? Is that it? What a lame excuse.”
“Just listen, please!” I begged. “You know when we went on that run and you guys thought I was dead?” I asked.
“Yeah, so?”
“I wasn’t around because Jesse
pushed me out of the way and told me to stay put. When you guys left, he shoved me out of the side exit and I took off to find you guys,” I explained. “Doesn’t that count for something?”
“He’s just using you to get to us. He wants information out of you.”
“No he doesn’t!” I yelled. I wanted to punch Ryder so hard. I might not know Jesse that well, but I sure as hell knew he wasn’t using me for info. Hell, he hadn’t even asked about anything like that. “And last night, Jesse was there when a cop shoved a gun in my face.”
“What?” Ryder hissed.
“It doesn’t matter. We took care of that. Anyway, when I got shot, he obviously carried me back here—two long miles. Does that not say anything to you? If he didn’t care or if he wanted me dead, he would’ve left me to bleed out.”
“Of course he doesn’t want you dead, Sage. You’re the only one stupid enough to fall for his games.”
“Are you kidding me?” I smacked him. “Just get the hell out, now!”
Ryder was getting incensed by then. He scooped up his gun, and as he was nearing the door, he turned back around to face me. “He’s playing you, Sage, and as soon as he’s through, he’s going to put a bullet in your skull just like he does to everyone else. Stay the hell away from him.” He left and slammed the door.
“Asshole,” I muttered under my breath as tears fell from my eyes.
Where the hell was I supposed to go now that everyone hated me?
Chapter Fifteen
A pillow was pressed tightly into my face as Liam touched my gunshot wound. I was desperately trying to keep myself calm and not knock his ass out cold, but when he roughly pulled off the bandages, I threw the idea out the window.
Throwing the pillow across the room, I bolted up and pushed him away. “That hurts!”
“What did you expect?” Liam asked, his energy drink by him.
“You could be gentler,” I spat, unwrapping the bandages myself. I cringed as I did so. “There.”
Liam grumbled something and leaned down and swiped up the towel and rubbing alcohol. He held my leg and poured the alcohol over it and then wiped the edges off with the towel. “When was the last time you took pain killers?”
“I don’t know, not since this morning I guess,” I replied. Liam put my leg down, and I moved towards the fresh bandages to wrap it myself. No way in hell was I letting him get back around it. “But I’m fine. I don’t need any.”
“Are you sure? You look like you’re in a lot of pain,” Liam said, studying my face.
“That’s only because you were so rough. I was fine before,” I grumbled, falling back onto the bed when I was finished. “I’m alright, Liam.”
Liam nodded, gathering some things in his arms. “Call out if you need anything.”
“I will, not that you’ll be paying attention.”
“Why’s that?” A knowing smirk crossed his face.
“Because I’m going to guess that you’re heading back to the chick that’s been occupying your bed all day.” I grinned and winked at him. “She’s waiting for you.”
Liam laughed. “Didn’t think you knew about that.”
“Nothing gets past me anymore, especially when I can hear you two. Go on now. Don’t keep the lady waiting.”
“You’re pretty messed up, you know that?”
I turned my head to him. His lips twitched up at the corners. “I know.”
Liam left me alone again, and I stared up at the ceiling like I had been doing all day. Obviously, I had a lot of time to think about what Ryder said. I mean, it wasn’t like I could leave my bed. If only! I’ve come to the conclusion that Ryder was just worried about me and the safety of everyone else. Truth be told, I already knew that, but I just didn’t want to accept it.
Jesse wasn’t using me. I knew that much. No, I hadn’t been talking to him long. And no, I didn’t have actual proof that he really wasn’t. There was just something inside of me telling me that Jesse wouldn’t do such a thing, not to me, at least.
There wasn’t anything that I could do to make Ryder believe me, so I had to be more careful if I continued to meet Jesse. I didn’t want him getting killed after all, and I wouldn’t put it past the guys to follow me. Then again, I was rarely out of their sight anyway.
My phone buzzed and I picked it up quickly. I smiled when I realized I had a text message from Jesse.
How are you? It read.
I’m okay, just resting. But I have a question for you, I texted back. Almost as soon as I sent it, my phone started ringing. I picked it up.
“You have something to ask me?” Jesse asked.
I smiled. “Yeah, actually, and it’s pretty random.”
“What is it?”
“Why didn’t you get into a fight today with Ryder, after everything that happened? We stole money from you and you’re just . . . letting it go?” I said. I hated bringing up the past, but I couldn’t help it. Letting your rival club steal money from you without revenge wasn’t normal by any means.
“There are some things you’ll never understand about me, sweetheart.”
“I’m not going to argue with that, Jesse, but this scares me. You aren’t the type of guy that lets things go and neither is Ryder. So I’d like to know why you two haven’t killed one another yet. You’ve had plenty of opportunities.”
“Let’s just say, Ryder and I used to be close. We grew up together,” Jesse’s voice dropped almost as if it was hard to look back on the memories and speak them out loud. “I can’t kill him, no matter how much I hate him.”
“That doesn’t make sense. What do you mean you grew up together?” I nervously played with my sheets and listened to his sigh through the phone. Clearly, he didn’t want me to ask questions.
Hearing Jesse say that he couldn’t kill him no matter how much he hated him was a huge mind blower within itself. Never had I heard of Jesse Miller sparing a guy that screwed with him before.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. It was the past.”
“It does matter. Tell me!” I heard him sigh again.
“He’s my half-brother, Sage,” Jesse admitted.
I almost dropped the phone but was quick to catch it. “What the hell did you just say? Did I hear you right?”
“He’s my brother. I’m not lying.”
“He’s your . . . brother? What? That’s not even logical!” I spat, clutching the phone tightly.
“Yeah, it is because it’s true,” Jesse said. “We’re a year apart.”
“But you don’t even look alike!” I argued. Well, they did have the same color hair and eyes, but that didn’t mean anything.
“Hence ‘half-brother,’ Sage. We have different dads,” he said in an annoyed tone.
“So, you’re saying I’ve been lied to for the past two years? You two hate each other and instead of taking care of the problems yourselves, you bring in the clubs and have them fight one another? Killing each other?” I asked. “I don’t think things can’t get anymore messed up than this.”
“It’s not like that, trust me. You need to ask Ryder about it. I’m not bringing that back up right now.”
“Apparently, you do it every day. Every time you and your club has come after us, killing us, it only happened because you hate Ryder? We’ve lost people!”
“I’ve lost people too because of your club, so don’t even go there,” Jesse growled.
“Is that the real reason you kidnapped me? To get back at your brother?” I asked. I thought I had figured this out already and yet here I was doubting myself.
“No,” he spat. “I needed that money and you damn well know it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. You didn’t get it. I’ll talk to you later.”
I hung up without another word and threw the phone on to my nightstand. I felt like everything I had ever known about Ryder was a lie. He wasn’t even who he claimed to be.
They were half-brothers.
Freaking half-brothers! How did I let something like t
his get past me?
Chapter Sixteen
I was painfully aware of the fact that I wasn’t supposed to get out of bed for anything other than to use the bathroom, but that didn’t mean I was going to listen.
I slowly lowered my feet over the side of my bed and cursed under my breath. I had opted out of pain medication completely, save for once in the morning, so it wasn’t going to be a piece of cake. But not even that was going to stop me from getting to Ryder. I had to talk to him right away, and it couldn’t wait until later. My mind was racing.
Reaching for the nightstand, I stood up slowly and kept my weight on my good leg. Then I decided I couldn’t hop all the way over to the door like that, so I turned my foot a bit and pushed down on it enough to step forward with the other. “Oh my God.” It felt as if I was tearing the wound back open. Then again, I probably was.
Stumbling to the door as fast as I could, I reached for the handle and swung the door open. I gripped both sides of the doorway to keep from falling. My nails dug into them.
My room was right at the beginning of the hall, so I didn’t have far to go until I reached the main room. Now, if only I could make it there without face planting the floor first. Talk about embarrassing.
I looked up and down the long hall where all the bedrooms were located. Not a single soul was out and about. They were probably screwing women or drinking. What a shocker.
Finally, I reached the opening to the main room. The only thing keeping me from falling was the wall, so you better believe that I was leaning on it for dear life.
Some guys were relaxing and drinking. I couldn’t see Ryder though, but if I had to guess, he was probably pissed at me and hiding in his office.
“What are you doing out of bed? I told you to call me if you needed anything,” Liam shouted, drawing attention to me.
“I need Ryder, and I figured he wouldn’t come if you asked him to. He’s a little mad at me.”