by Kasey Krane
But it didn’t matter. It was more important for me to appreciate the fact that I even had these people I cared about in my life. People who cared enough about me too. I was lucky!
Eventually, when I decided I’d given these two enough time to themselves, I stepped into the hospital room. Marley’s eyes glowed when she saw me. My arms were filled with flowers, chocolates and balloons. Maybe I’d gone a little overboard with the gifts I brought for her.
Edge stepped back from the bed and I ran to her side.
“You’re here!”
“I’m sorry I didn’t stay the night,” I cried, hugging her with relief. Marley seemed weak, but she was hugging me still.
“I’m just glad you’re here, and I was well looked after,” she commented and seemed to glance at Edge over my shoulder.
I’d filled her bed with the gifts and she seemed excitable like a little child.
“I’m going to wait outside so you two can talk,” Edge said before he left the room. When I turned to Marley, she had a wide bright smile on her face and I knew this meant trouble.
Chapter Thirty
Spade
When I woke up the next morning, I saw that the bed was empty and River was nowhere in sight. I jumped out of bed, rushing as I put my clothes on and went to check around the house. In the kitchen I found her note. She’d scribbled on it saying she was going to see Marley and spend the morning with her at the hospital.
I realized that my heart was still racing maniacally as I dialed River’s number. She answered on the third ring.
“Are you at the hospital? Are you safe?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m here with Marley,” I heard her say and finally I could breathe easily again.
“How is she doing?”
“She’s well. She’s recovering quickly, doesn’t seem to have felt anything!” It was good to hear River in a good mood. At least she was somewhere safe, with her friend who would keep her spirits up. I decided I would check in with Edge later and make sure there was nothing to worry about and no incidents.
The call ended quickly because I told her I needed to return to the Clubhouse and she told me to be safe. I had a coffee, took a quick shower and then I was out of the door.
After everything that happened yesterday, I was even more determined to get this shit sorted. I didn’t want to spend one more day worrying about River’s safety. The last thing I wanted was for her to live her life looking over her shoulder. I had even more motivation now to get Mr. Money and his men. These fuckers were going to pay for the horror they made River and her friend go through.
I got to the Clubhouse and found Rook and Ace smoking their cigarettes outside the casino’s doors.
“Fuck man, you doing okay? How is River?” Ace asked. I had prepared myself for information to have spread already. It was completely within Rook’s purview to have filled in the rest of the MC regarding everything that happened yesterday.
“She’s fine, she’s coping. She’s hiding her shock well,” I said, taking a drag of Rook’s smoke which, he offered me.
“The others know too, just wanted you to be prepared for that. None of us had any idea there was anything going on between you and Buck’s daughter, but I can guarantee you we are all going to handle the situation with the respect it deserves,” Ace continued. I nodded. This was exactly what I wanted to hear, that these guys had my back.
“Thanks man, I just wish I could have broken the news to you guys in a different way of course,” I said and Ace thumped my back.
“River is a part of the family. She is Buck’s daughter. You don’t have to worry about keeping her safe. That isn’t your problem alone,” Ace added.
Rook was grinning as well. I knew he was relieved it was all out in the open, so it wasn’t his secret alone to carry.
“And what’s happening with the guy in there?” I asked and Ace shrugged.
“He’s broken and bruised and bleeding but still refusing to talk. But things kind of took a back seat with him when we found out what was going on with you guys. We weren’t sure what we were supposed to do next.”
I clenched my jaws in frustration.
“What was supposed to happen was that you guys were supposed to finish the job. Get the information out of him via any means necessary.”
I pulled an old Blackberry out of my back pocket and held it up.
“I got this off the guy who was holding River yesterday,” I said and Ace and Rook seemed intrigued. “We’re going to have to use it today. Get the fucker inside to use it to place a call. That has to happen today. I’ve had enough of this shit. All our women and kids are going to live in danger till we sort this out.”
Ace was nodding his head. With his own old lady and a baby on the way, he knew exactly what it meant to keep his family safe. The guys stubbed their cigarettes and we walked inside the building.
The casino was shut for now but we were going to open it back up at night. Business had to go on, even though we weren’t really making money from it anymore.
We walked straight to Buck’s old office where I guessed the rest of the guys were. When I opened the door, I saw the guy in the suit in the same position on the chair in the middle of the room. After all the blows he’d received, his suit was practically falling off him now. It was completely shredded and bloodied.
But he was still alive and he still hadn’t talked.
My friends turned to look at me. Most of them had a sympathetic and worried expression on their faces. I didn’t need their sympathies. I needed them to get the job done and it seemed like none of them were willing to take the first step.
I’d never imagined myself to be the one stepping in. All these years, even while Buck mentored me and taught me everything I knew about this business; I never pictured myself as the one calling all the shots when he was gone, but that was what needed to happen.
The confusion and the chaos that the MC was in now—had led to nobody else figuring out what exactly to do next. I had something to prove. To myself, to River and to the memory of Buck.
Now we had a man in front of us, who represented everything that was going wrong without lives. He was a part of the problem. I wasn’t going to let him slide. I was going to get what I wanted from him first.
Breathing hard and drained of energy, the man weakly started to lift his head up to look at me.
“How’s the girlfriend?” he sniggered. I had to hand it to him. He still had the balls to make a comment like that when he could guess what was going to happen to him.
I strode up to him, pushing Bingo out of the way and I kicked him, right in the chest so he went flying backwards along with the chair. He growled in pain as his body crashed to the ground, his hands still tied behind him.
I slowly walked up to him and this time, instead of asking, like I was doing before, I bent down and grabbed a chunk of his hair and started to lift him up by it. He was howling in pain and it didn’t bother me. All I could think about was Buck’s dead body and River sitting on that couch, so afraid and tied up.
“Looks like it’s time for you to make a call,” I said and pulled the phone out of my pocket again. The man blinked, trying to keep his eyes open as he saw the phone. Maybe he recognized it, either way, it didn’t matter.
“Who do you think we should call today?” I asked and he tried to turn his head away, but I was still holding on to him by his hair. I knew it had to be very painful for him. It was exactly what I wanted.
With my other hand, I was scrolling through the very short phonebook saved on the cell. I went through the call logs and a man called Robert seemed to have been calling constantly. It looked like he was someone who had an interest in the activities of these thugs.
“How about Robert?” I asked and the man in my grip wriggled. Was he afraid of Robert? Only one way to find out.
I dialed the number and held the phone to the man’s ear. I let go of his hair and pulled my gun out, pointing it at his forehead. I could see he wasn’t able
to keep himself up, even though he was still tied to the chair.
The phone call was on loudspeaker. We could hear it ringing. I had the gun pressing into this guy’s skull. Robert answered soon enough.
“Mica?” Robert growled into the phone. “What the fuck is going on with the girl?”
I glared at the guy, urging him to speak.
“This isn’t Mica. This is Larry,” he said, barely able to get his words out.
“The fuck. Larry? You still alive? What is your status?” Robert asked and before Larry could answer I had pulled the trigger. The bullet blew out Larry’s brains and I picked the phone up that was now covered in his blood.
“That was your friend Larry, getting his head blown up. You let Mr. Money know that The High Rollers have had enough and we’re coming for him.” I ended the call because I had no interest in what Robert had to say.
Chapter Thirty-One
River
Marley and I had been sitting together for some time now and besides asking how the surgery went and if she was feeling alright, we didn’t really discuss what happened the previous day. I was still feeling awkward and ashamed about everything. I still wasn’t able to forgive myself for what happened to her because of me, the situation she found herself in, how close she was to losing her life. Seeing her lying in a hospital bed, pale and her shoulder bandaged up, brought it all back to me.
We opened up the box of chocolates and Marley seemed famished because she kept eating one piece after another. Her bed was surrounded by balloons and flowers now. It seemed like a few of them weren’t from me, and the only other person it could have been from was Edge. He’d actually gone out and got her this stuff!
He was standing outside the door now, guarding us and I knew this had more to do than just from a sense of duty. There were sparks flying between the two of them.
Marley was talking about some TV show she’d been watching in the hospital and how silly it was. It was like both of us were trying to avoid the subject of the trauma we had both been through. The TV screen in the room was still turned on, till I eventually went over and turned it off.
“Hey! I was watching that!” Marley commented, comically squinting her eyes and creasing her nose. I smiled at her as I sat down by her bed again and reached for her hands. I noticed how small they were and now seemed to be cold.
“How are you really feeling, hun?” I asked, squeezing her hand, trying to make her warm again. She almost seemed surprised by the question.
“I’m fine! Look at me. I’ll be up and about very soon.”
I gulped and nodded.
“Yeah, you look great. But this must be so disruptive for your life! What about the bookstore?”
She shrugged.
“I texted one of the girls who works part-time to keep the store running till I recover. I told her I had a bit of an accident,” she answered and giggled at that.
I licked my lips nervously and drew in a deep breath.
“You didn’t just have an accident, Marley, it wasn’t something small and insignificant. You got shot!”
She was watching me speak and had a soft grin on her face, and now the smile started to droop and she looked away from me.
“I know what happened yesterday, River, you don’t have to remind me,” she said, but it wasn’t like she sounded upset or aggressive about it. She just sounded exhausted. Now that I had brought up the subject, I knew there was no point in stopping.
“And it wasn’t just that the gun was fired and it hit you, it wasn’t a freak accident. Your hands were tied, you were gagged. You were being held hostage by a cruel vicious man who was threatening to kill you.”
As I spoke, I could see Marley getting agitated. I needed her to face up to the incident, the reality of what had occurred yesterday. I did not want her to brush it under the carpet and let the wounds fester. I wasn’t going to be my dad. I wanted to talk about these experiences openly.
“I mean, Marley, honey, do you even realize the full scope of what you went through? The psychological effects of something like that?”
She still had her head turned away from me, now she’d closed her eyes tightly shut and was refusing to look at me completely. She’d yanked her hand away from me too.
“Marley, maybe you need some professional help to deal with the situation? Maybe we should get someone you can confidentially speak to about all this? I just think you need help and assistance to come to terms with what happened.”
Finally, her eyelids fluttered and she turned her head to face me. But the expression on her face was blank. She looked like she wasn’t even hearing me at all.
I reached for her face and gently stroked her chin.
“I just don’t think you’re realizing how something like this can affect you, honey. You weren’t prepared for this, you didn’t see it coming. You were imprisoned and shot and it was all because of me. I want to be able to do everything I can to make you feel better, to help you recover from this…”
Slowly, she opened her mouth to speak.
“And what exactly are you doing to recover from this, River?” she asked in a soft voice. I gulped, she’d caught me by surprise.
“Well…well, I didn’t get shot.”
“Well, my gunshot wound has been dealt with through surgery. All my doctors agree that I’m going to do just fine. But you’re not here talking about the physical wound, are you? You said you’re worried about the psychological effect of the trauma. You and I both went through the same thing. How are you dealing with it?”
I shook my head, I didn’t exactly have an answer for that.
“I’m dealing. This is a part of my life and I want to embrace it. I have Spade, and even though my father never wanted me to be a part of this world, I’m back here and this is where I want to belong. I have made a decision to continue this lifestyle.”
Marley nodded her head.
“So, you seem to think you don’t need professional help to deal with the incident, but I do?”
I sat back in my chair and let out a deep breath of air. What did she want me to say? Why was she being so difficult?
“Marley, I understand this might be a difficult time for you. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry all this happened to you. I take full responsibility for it and I want to be here for you, but at the same time, we need to discuss putting some distance between us as well. I feel like that is the best way I can serve you as a good friend.”
She was glaring at me now.
“How could even suggest something like that, River?” she asked, in shock.
I hung my head down, staring at my hands that were clasped together now.
“I don’t know what else to tell you, Marley. I want to do what is best for you and best for both of us. None of this would have happened to you if I’d just kept my distance.”
She sighed and stared up at the ceiling.
“I bet that is how Spade feels about the whole situation now,” she commented. I looked at her with my brows crossed. What she said hadn’t struck me before. I hadn’t thought about it like that.
“Spade…”
She met my eyes now.
“Is he blaming himself for everything too? Does he want to put some distance between the two of you as well?”
My lips suddenly felt very dry. I knew exactly what she was talking about. This was exactly the conversation he and I had last night when he brought me back to his place. He thought I couldn’t handle it. He assumed that my feelings for him were never going to be enough and that I was just waiting to give up on everything.
“Yes, he is blaming himself for everything. He did want to put some distance between us. In fact, he thought I should return to Texas or leave town just to get away from him and all this.”
Marley was nodding her head.
“And what did you tell him?”
“That I wasn’t going to change my mind. This is where I belong. And I belong with him. I can’t imagine being anywhere else
.”
Marley was smiling softly now.
“Good, so you do know how it makes me feel, when you suggest something as outrageous as that.”
I still wasn’t willing to give in. I needed to put up some kind of a fight here.
“But Marley, honey, things are different between you and me. I was born into this. As much as my dad tried to keep me shielded from it, this was going to be my destiny. I honestly believe it was why Spade and I fell in love with each other in the first place. Because it was always meant to be. But you…”
“And you think I’m being forced into this situation?”
“Yes, by being my friend!”
I was staring into her eyes, trying to make her see just how passionately I felt about the whole situation. I wanted her to feel safe. I felt responsible for her well-being.
Marley shrugged.
“What makes you think it wasn’t a conscious decision on my part to continue being friends with you? You seriously think I was naive enough to not know what was going on?”
I ran a hand through my curls, tucked my hands in under my thighs as I sat on the chair near her. I didn’t know what she meant by that statement but I was interested to find out.
Marley shifted in the bed uncomfortably. I could see she was in some pain, even though she was trying to hide it. It was going to be a while before she was fully recovered.
“I’ve always known you and your dad were different from everyone else, River. So, none of this is news to me,” she continued. I was surprised to hear her say any of this. Marley had never let on that she thought I was different in any way. She had always just been my best friend, even in all those years while I was in Texas. Even though we never got to see each other again.
She shrugged.
“Your dad wasn’t like all the other dads. He was tough and rough and rode a bike and hung out with men who were like him. I knew there were guns involved and some violence too. I mean, we were just kids, but I had my eyes and ears open.”