by E. C. Land
“C–Car–Cara,” I groan calling her name right before everything goes dark again.
Beeping around me, pulls me awake.
What the fuck am I doing in a hospital? I inwardly grumble as I try to remember what happened to me.
Glancing to the side, I’m surprised by finding my dad, Sniper, sitting there, head bent forward with his arms braced on his knees. For a man in his early fifties even I gotta admit my dad turns heads and I’m a fuckin’ man.
“What happened?” I croak, getting his attention.
His head comes up, eyes full of worry as he meets my gaze.
“Son, you don’t ever fuckin’ scare me like this bullshit again,” Sniper growls.
“Ugh, can’t help something I don’t have control over,” I mutter. “Now, what happened.” I ask again.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” I frown at his question as I think.
A truck speeding behind us. Cara in the seat next to me. Her screams of fear.
Dickson’s cackling before we went falling.
Fuck.
Cara.
“Where is she?” I demand doing my best to pull myself up.
“Easy, son, she’s in the room next to you. Coyote’s in there with her,” my dad says calmly.
Taking a breath, I close my eyes and lean back against the bed. “She okay?”
“Banged up pretty good, concussion, bruised ribs. Doctors say you two were fuckin’ lucky as hell to not be in worse shape than you are,” Sniper informs me.
Nodding, I open my eyes and lock gazes with him. “Need you to get Stoney and Tracker in here if they’re around.”
He must have sensed the seriousness in my tone when I say this. Pulling out his phone, he does something and within minutes my Prez and VP are standing at the foot of my bed.
“Prez, VP,” I greet them.
“Damn good sight to see, brother,” Stoney grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Good fuckin’ thing to still be alive,” I mutter.
“What’s going on?” Tracker asks.
“You call lockdown?” I clench my teeth through the pain in my head, knowing I need to rest but this shit’s important.
“Yeah, called everyone in and made the calls, but you wanna tell me what the hell happened?” Stoney demands.
“Dickson, he’s the President of the Dragons Fire MC,” I announce.
“Fuck, you sure?” my dad snarls.
Nodding my head in his direction I explain. “Goes by Spark. He’s the ringleader in what happened to Cara and has threatened all the ol’ ladies, Rachel, Kenny, Izzy, for starters but I know the one he’ll go for next.” I stop to glance at each of the men before meeting my dad’s gaze. “Dad, where’s Storm?” I ask.
Dickson always had a thing for Storm and with what he did to Cara, there’s no telling what he’ll do to my sister. She might be my stepsister but she’s family all the same.
“You shittin’ me?” Sniper snarls getting to his feet. “She’s at the clubhouse back home with your stepmom on lockdown. I got the call from Stoney, took them to Blow and hauled ass here. Fuck, I need to call Blow,” he announces stalking out of the room.
“What are we looking at here?” Tracker asks soon as the door closes.
“War,” I mutter.
“Spark is on a path and won’t stop at nothing to get what he wants. He wants Grigory out of his way, wants our territory, and anything else he can think of,” I state.
Nodding, Stoney seems to contemplate my words.
“We need to get you and Cara out of here,” he declares.
“Sounds fuckin’ good to me,” I mutter. “Just need some fuckin’ clothes and my cut.”
Sitting in the chair next to my woman, she’d yet to wake up and they won’t let us take her until she does.
Shit, the hospital staff didn’t want to discharge me, but I wouldn’t fuckin’ listen to them. With Tinsley’s help I’d gotten her brother to go get Cara some stuff for her. She’d need them when she was discharged. Which I hope is fuckin’ soon. Just need her to wake up first.
“Come on, babygirl, wake up and show them beautiful eyes,” I rasp, caressing her hand that doesn’t have an IV in it.
I feel like shit she’s in this predicament.
Again.
All because of Dickson.
Only this time, he tried to kill us both in his way of gaining what he wants.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to keep you safe like I promised, Cara. I swear to fuckin’ God when I get my hands on him, I’ll make him pay for this. Dickson has hurt you for the last time, and I intend to make him suffer,” I whisper harshly.
“I know you will,” the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard utters inaudibly. If there were other people in here talking, you’d never have heard her.
“Cara?” I call her name hoping she’ll open her eyes she still had closed.
“My head hurts,” she whimpers, giving me an eye flutter.
“I’m sure, babygirl. I got a killer headache myself,” I inform her.
At this Cara finally opens her eyes to look at me. “I thought I lost you.”
Fuck. I’m going to make Dickson suffer before I gut him.
“Right here, Cara, I’m going to get the doctor so I can get you out of here.” With her awake they best not give me any issues with taking her home. I’ll make sure she’s taken care of and so will her brother and anyone else.
“Okay,” Cara nods, her gaze follows me as I stand and move to the doorway to peek into the hallway.
“She’s awake get her discharge papers ready,” I demand not wasting time in getting the fuck out of this hospital.
Right now, my woman is sitting vulnerable in a bed when I need her at the clubhouse where I know she’s safe.
Once I get Cara situated, I intend to get to work finding every last one of those fuckers running with Dickson aka fuckin’ Spark.
“I’m fine, you go do what you need to do, Nick,” Cara orders from where she’s propped herself up on the mound of pillows I’d gotten for her. I learned she loves her pillows, she might not sleep on them when we’re in bed together but that’s neither here nor there.
“Alright, babygirl, you need me call me,” I murmur leaning down to press a kiss to her lips gingerly. Due to the airbag deploying she has two black eyes and a busted lip. Another thing to hurt Dickson for.
“I will, but I should be okay, for now at least,” she states.
“Okay,” I nod and head for the door. “Love you, Cara.”
“Love you too, Nick,” she says loud enough for me to hear her as I close the door.
I get halfway down the hallway when Cara screams my name.
Fuck, turning on my heel, I rush back to the room. Storming through the door, several of my brothers right behind me.
“What’s wrong?” I ask moving quickly to the bed as I take in the panic in her features.
“Um, I . . . I do–don’t think I’m okay,” she whimpers, tears spilling down her cheeks.
Nodding, I realize she needs me right now and I’ll let my brothers go on the manhunt to find these fuckers without me.
Pulling Cara into my arms, I hold her tight as I glance over at Stoney, Tracker, and Shadow standing there, looking on with understanding in their eyes.
“We’ll find him and bring him to you,” Stoney declares.
“Thanks, Prez,” I nod in appreciation.
“Nothing to it, family takes care of family,” he states before leaving the room, Tracker and Shadow following right behind him.
This right here is why I fuckin’ love my club and would do anything for them, because they’ll do the same for me.
“Brother, we couldn’t find Spark, but we got two of the men with him,” Stoney informs me as I step into the hallway.
They’d just gotten back, and Cara is out like a light thanks to a sedative Tinsley gave her. She should be out for the rest of the night. Which is good considering she needs it. After m
y brothers left, I was able to find out what freaked her out.
Cara explained to me the last thing she saw while we were hanging upside down in the truck was me knocked out face covered in blood and she didn’t know if I was alive. I get her reasons and the fact this happened not even forty-eight hours ago, so I’m giving her what she needs right now. However, with her knocked out asleep, I have time to deal with this matter at hand.
“Who?” I growl.
“Fucker named Mountain, and some other dude that was wearing the Prez patch, but I know he ain’t fuckin’ Spark,” Stoney sneers.
“They here?” Please let him have brought them back.
Nodding Stoney grins. “Yeah, they’re here. Called Horse on the way back, he’s on the way up along with Twister. They’ve been waiting a long fuckin’ time to get their hands on Mountain, for what he had a hand in with Kenny.”
Shit, I forgot he’d been a part of what happened with Kenny.
Knowing they deserve to be the ones to take him out, I’ll give him my fist and gut the other.
“Let’s get this done then so I can get back here,” I grumble.
“How she doing?” Stoney asks as he leads the way out of the clubhouse.
“Fuckin’ scared out of her mind. Thought she lost me. It’s why she freaked the way she did earlier,” I snarl, thinking of it pisses me off even more.
“Hate this shit for her and it’s not going to get any easier. Spark has declared a war and it’s going to be awhile before shit’s settled.” Don’t I know it. I can only guess as to who, Dickson will go after next. I’m betting Storm.
Stepping outside, Stoney points to the tree line. “Decided to chain’ em up like fuckin animals since that’s what they are.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, making my way toward the tree line finding my brothers standing guard over the fuckers who are about to lose their lives. Well at least one of them will now, the other later.
I don’t speak or acknowledge anyone as I step forward, pull my fist back, and slam it into Mountain’s face, connecting with his jaw. He staggers somewhat but falls to his knees when I throw another punch into his gut and bring my knee up to slam his head against it. “That’s for your part in what you did to my ol’ lady, now you can watch what’s about to happen to your friend here and anticipate my brothers work when they get here.”
Moving to the other fucker, I pull one of my guns out of its holster. With us being so far out and no one around for miles, I don’t have to worry about anyone hearing what I’m about to do. Pulling the trigger, I unleash the entire clip into the asshole. From between the eyes to his dick I filled his body with holes.
“Rot in hell asshole for what you did to Cara,” I snarl and spit at the fucker as he falls to the ground. Eyes still open.
Turning away from the fuckers, I face my brothers.
Stoney steps forward first.
“We ride through hell to get to the other side,” he states and I close my eyes and nod my head before repeating his words along with my brothers.
The war might have started but this battle has been won and I’ve got a woman to watch over and keep my promise to find the fucker and destroy him for what he did to her. And that I intend to do.
Epilogue
Cara
Eight Months Later
I never knew my life would turn out the way it has. Nor did I know that I wanted it to. Last summer, I left for school in New York on a mission to find my independence from my family. Needing to become the woman I thought I was supposed to be rather than be the little sister I was known as.
Meaning I left to get the space needed from my brother. I love him to death but Coyote has always been overprotective. However, if I knew what would happen a few months after our huge blow out, I would have hugged my brother as close to me as I could.
Hell, I would have begged him to bring me home. I could have gone to school closer. But everything happens for a reason and only God knows the answers to them.
After the Dragons Fire MC kidnapped and raped me, I thought that would be the worst experience of my entire life.
I was wrong.
The worst would be seeing the man you love with all your heart nearly die because of a vendetta that started a war. One that scares me far more than anything else could.
Dicky or Spark, whatever his name is ran us off the road, vanished into thin air, taking most of his men with him. The only ones Nerd and his brothers were able to find were Mountain and the one who was actually a prospect but wore the Prez patch under Spark’s command. He’d wanted to screw with my head before he took his pleasure in raping me.
I still go see Doctor Lanston, although now I talk about the night, I thought I lost Nerd.
According to Lanston, I had PTSD which he’d mentioned before, only now, it’s shifted from what happened to me with the rape to the accident and what happened after.
I didn’t think it was possible, but choosing Nerd was what helped me over come one trauma, but I’m hit with another. One to me is far worse than anything else. I wouldn’t wish losing someone you love on anyone.
My brother lost his best friend a long time ago and it still affects him. Shadow told me about what happened with his brother and how it screwed him up. Now they’re both happy and have boys to look after. Two little boys that I’ll get to enjoy babysitting after I start my daycare.
It’s ironic really that things in life can bring so much perspective. Here I thought I wanted to become a psychologist, but found my passion is working with children. I understand them and they need someone to trust and look out for them as they learn and grow.
“Hey, babygirl, you about ready?” Nerd calls from the doorway. Arms crossed over his chest.
Today we’re laying my mom to rest. Coyote and I got the word a week ago that she passed away in her sleep. We knew it was from a broken heart. One that was long since needed to heal. Coyote and I decided we didn’t want a huge event or anything for the funeral. Just a graveside memorial as they lowered her into the ground.
Finishing with the brush I was using to get the knots out of my hair, I put it down and smile at my man.
God, I love calling him that.
My man.
My Nerd.
Nick.
He’s my everything and I absolutely love him.
I don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s my life.
When Rage told me to talk to someone, I didn’t realize when I made the choice I did I would be where I am. But I’m more than grateful for Rage pushing me into talking.
“Yeah, I’m ready. But, um, first, did you see how Ranger was acting last night?” I ask, bringing up what happened last night at the club the girls decided to drag me to.
I didn’t want to go but everyone thought it would be good for me. Turns out it was fun. I got my mind off of today and knowing Nerd was there with me the entire time did wonders. I was able to have fun and not be scared something would happen to me again.
While at the club, we’d run into a few of the nurses that Tinsley works with and Ranger nearly lost his shit and confronted one of them hauling her out of the club. I swore he was going to throw her over his shoulder if she kept resisting him.
Grinning, Nerd shook his head. “Yeah, I saw them. Those two have been dancing around each other going on three years now, babygirl. She left for a bit and didn’t say shit to him. Now that she’s back, I highly doubt Ranger’s going to put up with anymore of her shit,” he chuckles.
“Who was she?” I ask in curiosity.
“You’ll find out soon, but if I’m not mistaken Victoria and Raven call her Harpy,” he states as I get close to him.
“Oh, okay. Well I guess I’ll meet her eventually,” I shrug and wrap my arms around his waist.
“Yeah, babygirl, you will. For now, though, let’s get through the day. Tomorrow I’m thinking we’re disappearing. No phones. No answering the door. No nothing. Just you and me in our bed where I can love you all fuckin’ day.”
“Hm, I like that idea. Can we actually start this plan when we get home this evening?” I ask.
“Fuck yeah, babygirl. Whatever you want. It’s yours,” he murmurs.
“Then does that mean if I want a baby, you’ll give me one?” I whisper.
“Cara, I’ll give you the fuckin’ moon if that’s what you choose.” And there you go another reason I love this man.
“I love you, Nick,” I say giving him a smile gaining one in return.
“Love you too, woman. And just so you know you were my choice too.”
God how much my life has changed in the past year due to choices I made and pain I’ve endured. I could live without any more of the pain, but I wouldn’t change the turn of events for the world. I finally have the life I always dreamed I’d have growing up.
THE END.
Find out what happened with Cara during her time at Stonewall University come spring of 2021 in the anthology, The Elites. You won’t want to miss this. It will answer questions about her past you may have.
The Elites
Dear Readers,
Thank you reading Choosing Nerd. As you can see Cara didn’t have it easy as she struggled to find who she was once again. To find out more about what happened before while she was at college, check out The Elites as it comes out this Spring.
Now coming up next in this series Ranger’s Fury. I hope you’re ready. You’re in for a wild ride with this one. Anger, anguish and truths will be revealed that only time and the right person can help heal.
Sincerely,
E.C.
Wondering where to begin with the DRMC Originals? Check out Alluring Allies by Elizabeth Knox and myself.
Alluring Allies
Chapter One
Stoney