by Freya Barker
I’ve always known part of him blamed me for what happened—fuck, I’ve blamed me—but he was good at hiding it. For a while there brotherhood won out, but since he broke away from Arrow’s Edge his resentment for me has only grown. It probably didn’t help that I turned him down when he asked me to go with him.
Guess the time for reckoning has come.
My heart is pounding in my chest when I lead the pack into the abandoned complex. My eyes dart around, hoping to see some movement, anything to alert me to their locations. As agreed, I stop, the other guys pulling up as close as they can behind me, reducing the target.
“Salinas! Show your coward face, hijo de puta!”
I pull my gun and aim it in the air, shooting off three rounds. The agreed upon signal to the agents. Behind me a volley of shots go off as my brothers do the same. Immediately there’s return fire from a main floor doorway on the far right. There was bound to be at least one nervous trigger finger in the bunch.
I aim at the doorway and fire back. Chaos ensues and I crouch down using my bike for cover as bullets start flying from all directions.
At the sound of glass shattering, I look to my left. Shards are still sticking up from the frame of a window on the second floor of the center building.
“Hold your fucking fire!” I hear Manny’s voice.
I see her first, her eyes large in her pale face. Then I notice the arm around her throat and the knifepoint to her cheek, and an angry roar bursts out of me.
“There it fucking is!” he yells. “That’s the pain I’ve craved to hear for so goddamn long.”
Getting out from behind my bike, I start moving toward the building, my eyes locked on Sophia’s.
Manny laughs.
“That’s it. Come closer, I want you to see this.”
When I’m standing right underneath the window the arm around her neck suddenly moves as he yanks her shirt down, exposing her tit. A trickle of blood runs from a perfect bite mark down past her nipple.
“I marked her.”
“I’m gonna rip you apart,” I grind out.
It takes everything for me not to run in there. I want Manny exposed at the window. There are guns trained on him, waiting for the slightest move, the narrowest margin, to take him down.
“You can try, but not before I rip her apart.”
That’s when he makes his mistake. So eager to see me suffer, he pokes his head over her shoulder.
The next moment Sophia screams as a shot rings out.
I’m already running as gunfire breaks out all around me. My only thought is getting to her.
I take the stairs two at a time and burst into the room where I saw them. Sophia is on her knees on the floor by the window, next to the body of Manuel Salinas. There’s little left of his head.
“Tse…” she whispers through the blood she’s covered with.
“Oh, Christ, baby…”
Sophia
“There. Once that heals it’ll be as good as invisible. Now, we should probably get you a tetanus shot.”
The doctor discards the suture needle and puts a Band-Aid over the stitches on my face.
Just three, where Salinas’s blade nicked me when he was shot. The bite mark on my chest was cleaned and bandaged.
I turn my head to look at Tse, who’s been a stoic presence by my bedside. He carried me into the hospital in Farmington and despite staff’s efforts to get him to leave the room, he’s been here the whole time. Other than yelling for help when he picked me up off the floor in that room, he hasn’t said a word.
“Left or right?” the doctor asks, holding up a syringe. “Your arm could be a little sore after.”
“Left,” I tell her, but at the last minute I pull my arm back. “Wait.” I dart a quick glance at Tse. “Is this safe during pregnancy?”
The doctor’s eyes bulge in surprise.
“You’re pregnant? How did you not mention that before?” she scolds me.
Before I have a chance to answer Tse responds gruffly.
“No one fucking asked.”
The woman presses her lips together and lightly shakes her head as she rubs an alcohol wipe on my upper arm.
“It’s perfectly safe.” She gives me the injection, gets rid of the needle, and leans over the side of my bed, her face stern. “From what I understand you’ve been assaulted, kidnapped, bitten, cut, and generally tossed around. If I’d known you were pregnant, I’d have started with an ultrasound.”
Now she’s pissing me off. I notice Tse moving like he’s got something to say, but I give his hand a squeeze, this one’s mine.
I push myself a bit more upright in the bed, forcing her to back up a little.
“As you said, I was assaulted, kidnapped, bitten, cut, and tossed around, so forgive me if I didn’t follow protocol to the letter. However, I am pregnant, and I would appreciate knowing the baby is all right.”
She looks at Tse, who stares back hard, before she turns to me.
“You’re right. I’ll get the portable in here. Drink that cup of water for me.”
While we wait I try a few times to get Tse to talk to me, but he keeps telling me to rest. I don’t want to rest, I’m afraid the entire past twenty-four hours are going to play on repeat the moment I close my eyes.
I eventually give up and almost sigh in relief when the bitchy ER doctor is back with the ultrasound.
“We’ll have a quick look, but I’ll also have the attending OBGYN pop in for a quick consult. Just in case.”
She plugs the ultrasound unit into an electrical outlet and starts it up. Then she asks a few questions and feeds the answers into the machine.
“Have you had an ultrasound before?” she wants to know, rolling a protective sheath over the wand before squirting it with gel.
“No. Not since I got pregnant anyway. But I did have one scheduled for this coming week.”
“Pull up your feet as close to your bottom as you can and let your knees drop to the side,” she instructs, lifting the sheet up from the bottom. “That’s it. Any particular reason why so early? I mean, you’re barely even eight weeks pregnant.”
“I don’t know. He just said he wanted a baseline.”
“Where the hell are you going with that?” Tse points at the wand.
“This early in the game we won’t be able to see much with an abdominal ultrasound,” the doctor explains. “We have to use this transvaginal probe to get a closer look.”
“It’s okay, Tse,” I reassure him. “Trust me there are worse things women have to put up with on a regular basis.”
He looks at me with a deep frown grooving his forehead, probably trying to gauge if I’m serious or not.
“Ready?” I look at the doctor and nod. “Take a nice deep breath in and slowly let it out.”
On my breath out, she slips the wand inside. It’s not exactly comfortable but my body quickly adjusts. I feel pressure when she starts probing around and clamp onto Tse’s hand.
“This can be a little uncomfortable with a full bladder, but it helps make the fetus more visible this early on.”
I just hope I don’t pee myself for the second time today. The first time was earlier, as I found out after Tse loaded me in the back of the FBI vehicle. It must’ve happened when Manny was shot. I swear I could feel the bullet that hit him moving right past me.
“Mmm,” she mumbles, pulling out the wand. “Is this an IVF pregnancy?”
“IVF?” Tse pipes up.
“In vitro fertilization. It’s when—”
“I know what it means and hell no. I planted that baby there myself.”
I don’t know whether it is the shock on the doctor’s face, an abundance of nervous energy on my part, or the insulted tone of Tse’s response—likely a combination of all three—but I burst out laughing so hard the tears are running down my face.
“Jesus, Fee,” Tse mumbles worriedly, as he leans closer and with his free hand wipes at the wetness on my cheeks.
“I’ll b
e right back.”
She darts out the door, probably thinking she has a lunatic on her hands as I have a hard time controlling my hilarity.
“Are you okay?” he asks when I finally get myself in check.
“I’m—”
The door opens and the doctor walks back in, followed by a friendly-looking older man who introduces himself as the OBGYN.
“Well, let’s see what we have here.”
He takes his colleague’s place and picks up the wand with one hand, while turning the screen for us to see. He reapplies gel and slides the wand back inside. I’m not sure what I’m looking at until his hand stills and I see a small shadow pulsating on the screen.
“Is that a heart beating?”
“Sure is. Now look from this side.”
He moves his hand slightly, angling the wand a little more as he presses deeper. There it is again, a steady heartbeat…and second one beside it.
“Wait…that…is that?”
“Any twins in the family tree?” he asks, a kind smile on his face.
“Twins?”
My mouth drops open as Tse suddenly leans forward to get closer look at the screen.
“There’s two?” he asks.
“Congratulations.”
I start crying as Tse sits back in his chair and presses the heels of his hands against his forehead.
“Holy fucking hell.”
CHAPTER 28
Tse
“HEY.”
Sophia’s hand squeezes my knee and I turn to look at her.
We’re in the back of Gomez’s SUV driven by Luna, who is taking us back to Durango. Honon is sitting in the passenger seat. He got a round in his thigh. I hadn’t even noticed he got shot; I’d been so focused on Sophia.
Through and through, thank God. He was lucky and came limping out around the same time Sophia was released.
Quite a bit of law enforcement in and around the hospital, with one FBI agent shot and two of the Amontinados injured. Worst of was the girl, though—Mandy. From Luna we heard she was taken in for emergency surgery to relieve pressure on her brain.
“You’ve been so quiet. Are you okay?” she asks softly.
“Am I okay? Babe, you’re wearing scrubs because your clothes are covered in blood. Fuck, you still have blood in your hair, I should be asking you.”
Except I haven’t asked. Because I’m a coward.
I’m afraid to hear what Manny shared with her. Scratch that, I already know because I know Manny. He wouldn’t have passed up on the opportunity to paint me in a bad light; especially to the woman I love.
She drops her head to my shoulder.
“I’m good now. I knew you would come, but I was hoping you wouldn’t.”
“What?”
She snuggles in closer, ignoring my bark.
“He wanted to make you watch him kill me and then it would’ve been your turn.”
I take a deep breath and clamp down on the resurgence of the rage I felt seeing him use her as a shield. I wish I’d killed him myself. I have to find a way to get rid of some of this angry energy or I’m going to explode.
Luna takes us through Durango and up to the compound where my truck is still parked. The brothers made it back, all their bikes are lined up in front of the clubhouse. My bike is still in Farmington along with Honon’s. Gomez said he’d make sure they get back to Durango.
Brick is standing out front when we roll up and has the back door open the moment the vehicle stops.
“Son of a fucking bitch,” he hisses under his breath when he catches sight of Sophia’s face.
“I’m all right, Brick,” Sophia soothes, as she slides out of the car and gets swallowed up in Brick’s embrace.
He looks at me over her head and mouths, “Thank you.”
Fuck. He’s thanking me when it was because of me she was put through this in the first place.
As I get out my side of the vehicle, Lisa comes flying out the door of the clubhouse and makes a beeline for Sophia. Seconds later she’s wrapped in a big hug and then Lisa leads her into the clubhouse. Honon and Luna follow them inside but I hesitate.
“You okay, brother?” Brick asks.
“No. I’m not fucking okay. I need to hit something.”
He takes in my hunched shoulders and clenched fists and nods.
“The old punching bag is hanging in my shed. I also have a pile of new wood that needs splitting behind the cottage. Have at it.”
I start walking but stop after a few steps and turn to Brick.
“Sophia…”
“We’ve got her. Lisa has Ouray’s bedroom made up for y’all. For tonight anyway. Go, get it out of your system.”
_______________
Sweat is pouring down my body and my hands are slick with blood from my split knuckles.
I don’t know how long I’ve been in here, taking out my anger on the bag, when I feel a hand on my shoulder.
“Shee-it, Tse. Done a number on yourself,” Trunk rumbles behind me.
All of a sudden, the last of my energy drains and I lean into the bag. When a bottle of water appears in front of me, I grab it and drink the whole fucking thing down.
“She’s pregnant. He cut her, bit her so hard he drew blood, and she’s fucking pregnant. You know what she’s thinkin’? She’s fucking worried about me. Me.” I draw back my hand and punch the bag but there’s not much behind it. “Carrying my fucking babies, listening to the filth coming from that bastard’s mouth, and she knows he’s gonna kill her. Those big eyes staring down at me were wide with fear for me.”
A sound I don’t recognize rips out of me, and the next thing I know Trunk is holding me up.
“You’re okay, brother. I’ve gotcha.”
When we finally walk out the night is already dark, but my step is lighter. I left a heavy load in that shed.
My pace increases as we head for the clubhouse, suddenly eager to see Sophia.
“So…twins?” Trunk rumbles beside me.
“Yeah.”
I actually manage a smile.
“Shee-it.”
Pushing open the door my eyes immediately scan the space, looking for her. A group of brothers is hanging around the bar and Lisa, who was sitting at the large dining table with Nosh, gets to her feet when she sees me.
“Where is she?”
“Ouray’s office with Luna,” she says, but when I try to walk past she grabs my arm. “First you need to look in on the boy.”
I know instinctively she’s talking about Ravi and a wave of guilt washes over me. I dumped him here early this morning and took off without a second thought.
“Shit.”
“Yeah,” Lisa mumbles. “Been hiding in your old room all day with that dog. Brick and I tried to talk to him, get him to come out for something, but that damn dog wouldn’t let us get close.”
Okay, change of plans.
I head down the hall and pause outside the door, knocking lightly. A soft growl can be heard on the other side of the door.
“It’s me, boy. Easy.”
I open the door slowly. The dog is standing at the foot of the bed, his body squared up and almost vibrating with tension. He turns his head to the bed before looking at me again, clearly torn between greeting me and protecting the kid.
Ravi is curled up on the far corner of the mattress, still in the clothes I found him in this morning. He hasn’t even had a shower.
I ease the door shut behind me and hold out a hand for the dog, who sniffs the air but won’t budge from his spot.
“It’s okay, Van. Come here, boy,” I whisper.
He takes a tentative step forward, but stops when Ravi’s voice sounds from the bed.
“Tse?”
“Yeah, kid.”
In a flash he’s off the bed and plows into me. His spindly arms wrap around my waist for a tight hug before he releases me and steps back. I bend down to greet the dog, who now feels secure enough to approach.
“She okay?” I can
hear the anxiety in his voice. “Brick came to the door and said you found her.”
“Yeah, we found her, kid. And she’s gonna be just fine. Just got banged up a little.”
“Where is she?”
“Getting cleaned up.” The dog is whining by the door. “Has he been out at all?”
The guilty expression on the boy’s face is answer enough. Poor dog has to be about to spring a leak after being locked in for probably close to twelve hours.
“Tell you what. You take Van and give him a chance to do his business; I’ll go check in with Sophia. You can come see us in Ouray’s office after.”
“Okay.”
He darts out of the room, Van glued to his side, and I’m starting to wonder who that dog belongs to.
Sophia
I take the last sip of tea Luna brought me; although I’d much rather have a swig of something stronger.
Lisa whisked me through the clubhouse, through Ouray’s office, and straight into the surprisingly nice suite right beside it. I lost sight of Tse, but when I mentioned I was worried about him, she said Brick had him. She had clean towels for me in the bathroom and I took a long shower, despite the doctor’s suggestion I wait a day. I had to scrub my body and wash my hair several times to get the stench of death off me.
Lisa was waiting with a clean change of clothes from her own closet when I got out. She suggested the stitches on my face would heal better exposed to the air and helped me change the dressing on my chest. She did it with tears in her eyes, and I badly wanted to cry with her but was afraid if I started I wouldn’t be able to stop.
I knew Luna wanted to talk to me and I preferred getting that part over with sooner rather than later. So, for the last hour or so I’ve gone over the past twenty-four hours, telling her what I know. Unfortunately, other than my trip in the trunk of that car, I remember everything in great detail.
“Any word on Mandy?” I ask her.
“I actually just got a message from Gomez,” she says, running her finger over the screen on her phone. “Uh, she’s out of surgery. Brain bleed, but they relieved the pressure and she’s stable for now. “
“Almost the same as Bernie,” I comment.
Something flashes across Luna’s face as she tucks her phone away.