by Harley Wylde
* * *
Zipper
My knuckles were busted and covered in blood, but the two men who had tried to kill my woman didn’t even resemble humans anymore. I’d had to remove my cut and my shirt so they wouldn’t run red. Even stripped off my jeans when things started to get messy. I’d shattered every bone in their faces, broken their fingers, hands, knees. I was sure a few ribs had been busted too, not that it mattered. I wanted them to suffer, and then I was going to end them. Once they were dead, I’d send a message to Delphine’s stepmother. A rather graphic one that I was certain would get the point across.
A phone rang and I heard Torch talking in low tones, but I was still focused on my prey. One of them had passed out from the pain, and I wanted him awake. I picked up a bucket of cold water and threw it on both of them, making sure I had their attention. I grabbed the knife off a nearby table and plunged it into the thigh of one of the men before doing the same to the other. They screamed like the little bitches they were and begged for their lives, from what I could tell anyway. With broken jaws, they weren’t making much sense anymore.
“Zipper,” Torch said softly, coming up to my side. “You need to hand this off to someone else.”
“Why? I’m not done yet.”
“Yeah, you are.” He sighed. “It’s Delphine. Coyote is at the ER with her. He found her unresponsive in the grass between your house and his, and the Prospect you left to guard her was knocked out.”
“What do you mean unresponsive?” I asked, my gut clenching. “What the fuck happened to her?”
“New guy at the gate hadn’t been briefed on what was going on. Tommy? Tony? Fuck if I remember. He’s only been here three days. We think he let Delphine’s stepmother into the compound. He said a woman in her late thirties stopped by, offered to suck him off if he’d let her in. Guess he was thinking with his dick and not his brain, but it won’t be an issue. Tank is going to make sure the little shit pays for his crimes, then his ass is out of here,” Torch said.
I went to the sink on the far wall and washed the blood from my hands and body, then pulled my clothes back on and ran for my bike. I didn’t know why Delphine was still alive, but I was fucking thankful. If her stepmother had gotten to her, she should have been dead. Right now, I needed to get my ass to the hospital, and then I could figure out what the fuck was going on. And after my woman was settled and taken care of, then I’d make sure that bitch who’d married Hwan Lee never saw the light of day again. I didn’t give a shit if she did have kids. As far as I could tell, they’d be better off without her. A fucking rabid dog would be a better parent.
My bike roared through the compound and out the front gate. I broke every speed limit between the compound and the hospital, but no one pulled me over. At the hospital, I parked in the ER parking area, then hauled ass inside. I saw Coyote slumped in a chair in the waiting area, and I went to him first to see if he’d heard anything. He looked up when he saw me and got to his feet.
“I did what I could to keep her breathing. I was going to call an ambulance, but I didn’t know if they’d get there in time. There was a dart sticking out of her back, and with her passed out, I figured it was likely she’d been poisoned. I had Ivan drive the truck and I sat in back with her, helping her breathe when it looked like she was struggling,” Coyote said.
“Any news?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Ivan went to get us some coffee. I’ll send him a text to get a third cup.”
I prowled the waiting area and then went up to the triage desk.
“I wanted to check on my fiancée,” I said. “She was brought in recently. Delphine Lee.”
The woman clicked on her computer. “It looks like a doctor is with her now. You said you’re her fiancé?”
I nodded.
“I’ll let them know you’re here. I’m sure someone will come to speak to you as soon as they know something.” She smiled and I had to hold back the urge to growl and demand that she let me back there with Delphine. I didn’t want to do anything that would slow her getting help, though.
I sprawled in the chair next to Coyote, and Ivan returned a minute later with three steaming cups of coffee in his hands. He handed mine to me, and I immediately took a gulp. I would have preferred something stronger right now, but I wanted to stay clear-minded. I knew that Tank and Torch would figure out what had happened, and that helped a little, but knowing Delphine was helpless right now and that I wasn’t by her side was killing me. I wanted to hold her hand and let her know she wasn’t alone.
It felt like we waited forever before a doctor came toward us.
“Delphine Lee’s family,” he said.
“That’s us,” I said, standing.
“She’s stable. We had to do some lab work to find out what she’d been poisoned with it. It had strychnine in it, but it shouldn’t harm the baby. She’ll need to be monitored closely during the pregnancy in case there are any complications, but I don’t foresee any.”
I swayed a moment as his words sank in. “Baby?”
“She hasn’t been awake long enough to tell us much, but we ran a blood test for pregnancy before treating her just to be safe. It came back positive. The baby is too small to show on an ultrasound, so it’s likely still very early.”
Coyote slapped me on the back. “Congratulations, Daddy.”
“After the stress her body has been through, it’s possible she could lose the baby. I’m not saying it will definitely happen, but there’s a chance. If she makes it through the first trimester, then she should make it full term.”
“What happens now?” I asked. “Can I see her?”
“Of course. She’s not very coherent, but maybe hearing your voice will be comforting to her,” the doctor said. “You can follow me, but your friends will have to stay out here.”
I gave Coyote and Ivan a nod, then followed the doctor through the double doors into the heart of the ER. He ushered me into the room where Delphine lay on a bed, wired to machines. I claimed the chair next to the bed and reached for her hand. She seemed so small and fragile right now, almost lifeless.
“Del, baby, I’m right here,” I said, holding tight to her hand. “I’m not going anywhere, okay? I’ll be here when you’re ready to wake up.”
“We’re going to move her to a room when one’s available,” the doctor said. “She needs to stay overnight for observation, and if she’s doing well tomorrow, we’ll release her.”
“Thank you, doc.”
“If you need more coffee or anything else, just let a nurse know. There’s a call button on the side of Miss Lee’s bed. Someone will check on her shortly.”
I nodded as he stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him.
“It’s just you and me, baby,” I told her softly. “Can you open those pretty eyes for me?”
She didn’t move and didn’t open her eyes. My chest ached and I gently laid my other hand over her belly, hoping our baby made it. I didn’t know how Delphine would feel when she found out she was pregnant, but I liked that she was the one carrying my kid. I couldn’t think of anyone who would be a better mother for my son or daughter, or anyone else I’d want to spend the rest of my life with.
“Come back to me, Delphine. I’ve gone too long without you already.”
I kissed her hand, then leaned over and softly kissed her cheek. I’d do whatever it took to make sure she was safe. I’d never killed a woman before, but I was going to make an exception for Tia Lee. As far as I was concerned, she wasn’t a woman. She was a monster. And I wouldn’t allow a monster to live, especially one after my family.
Chapter Six
Zipper
The hospital had found a room for Delphine, but she’d only opened her eyes once and promptly gone back to sleep. I was scared shitless that I might lose her, but the nurses seemed to think she was doing okay. I still couldn’t believe that fucking bitch had poisoned her. If she’d killed Delphine, if she’d made her lose the baby, I might have litera
lly ripped her apart one piece at a time with my bare hands. As it was, I still wanted to make her suffer. A lot.
There was a knock on the door, then one of the local police officers stepped into the room. I hadn’t thought about the hospital getting the law involved, but since Del had been poisoned that made sense. It was probably procedure or some shit. The man slowly approached the bed, his gaze on Del, but I had no doubt he’d already cataloged me from head to toe, paying attention to my cut.
“I’m Officer Daniels. I wanted to ask Miss Lee a few questions about what happened tonight.”
“As you can see, my fiancée isn’t awake. She’s barely opened her eyes. She’ll look around, and then she goes right back to sleep. I guess it’s her body’s way of healing after the poison that was in her system.”
“And what do you know about that?” he asked, pinning me with his stare.
There was a gold band on his finger, so he was either currently married or had been. I wondered if that was the way to get him to back the hell down. The last thing I wanted to deal with were accusations, like I’d ever hurt Delphine.
“Officer Daniels, I wasn’t with Delphine when this happened, or I sure as fuck would have stopped the person who hurt her. I love her, and I want to marry her.”
“Stopped them? I know the Reapers reputation. Is that stopped them as in detained them or murdered them?” the officer asked.
“What would you have done if someone injected your wife with poison?”
His lips firmed. “Off the record? I’d have nailed their ass to the wall and beat the shit out of them. But as an officer of the law and an upstanding citizen of this town, I’d have let my blue family take care of them.”
“Blue family? What are you, a fucking smurf?”
The officer’s eyes darkened with anger. “As in the Thin Blue Line. But as an outlaw, you wouldn’t know anything about that, now would you?”
Nope, I didn’t know shit about law enforcement, except how to stay out of jail. I’d done a pretty good job of that so far. I didn’t want to piss off Officer Daniels, not while Delphine needed me. Maybe trying another tactic would work better. When I was little, my grandmother had always told me to kill them with kindness. It hadn’t ever worked out, but her heart had been in the right place. Maybe just a few decades too far in the past.
“Look, Officer. I don’t want to cause any trouble. You want the truth? I was off with my brothers when I got the call that Del had been found unconscious in the grass between my house and another Reaper’s home. She was already at the ER by the time someone called to tell me. It scared the shit out of me, and then I found out she’s pregnant, so you’ll have to pardon me if I’m a little shaken right now.” I looked at Del. “She means everything to me. The thought of losing her, of losing our baby, scares the fuck out of me because without them, I’m lost.”
“People don’t end up poisoned out of the blue, especially young pregnant women. Does your club have enemies who would strike out at Miss Lee, maybe to get to you?” Officer Daniels asked.
“No, this isn’t about the Reapers. This is about Delphine and the inheritance her father left her when he died earlier this year. She thinks her stepmother is trying to kill her. If Delphine dies before she has any children, then Hwan Lee’s tattoo shop and the half of the life insurance money he left to Del will revert to the stepmom,” I said.
As much as I wanted to fuck that bitch over, I didn’t have time for that right now. Delphine needed me, and now that the police had been called, taking out Tia Lee on my own, or with the Reapers, would be suicide. Even if I hadn’t volunteered information, they would have eventually put things together and gone looking for the woman. Delphine had given them enough ammunition to lock the bitch up. We didn’t need a bloody trail leading to our gates.
“Do you know her stepmother’s name?” Officer Daniels asked.
“Tia Lee. I can’t remember what Del said the woman’s name was before she married Hwan Lee. I’d be willing to bet everything I have that Tia was behind this. There’s no one else who could possibly want to harm Delphine.” I wasn’t about to tell him Wire had been investigating the woman and probably knew every damn thing about her by now, including any allergies and her high school locker combination.
“I’ll look into it. If she wakes up and stays awake, I’d like to talk to her about what happened. Since it happened inside your compound, that means it had to be someone your brothers let through the gate. Are you sure this isn’t a Reapers issue?” the officer asked.
“I’m sure. Random women are let in all the time. It wouldn’t have been all that hard for Tia Lee to gain access to Delphine. I had a man watching over her, and I heard he was found knocked out cold. Whoever did this wasn’t just trying to scare her. They wanted Delphine dead.”
Officer Daniels nodded. “If you think of anything else, or she can talk to me, give me a call.”
He handed me his card and I slid it into my pocket. With another glance at Delphine, the officer left, closing the door behind him. Part of me was relieved that more people were going to look into it, and the other half wanted to exact revenge on the woman responsible for nearly killing Delphine. I hadn’t lied to the officer. She was the most important thing in the world to me, her and the baby I now knew grew inside her.
Now that Delphine was in a room and not stuck in the ER, my brothers and their families were able to stop by. There was a never-ending line of visitors throughout the next several hours, not that Del noticed since she slept through it all. It was nice to know that people cared, though, not just about me but about her too. Ridley, Venom’s old lady, had stopped by my house and gathered some clothes for Delphine so she’d have something to wear when we were able to leave. I hadn’t even thought that far ahead, but I was grateful that someone had.
Torch stepped into the room, hands in his pockets, and he looked Del over before his gaze settled on me.
“The job you started was finished. Thought you’d want to know,” Torch said. “How’s she doing?”
“She wakes up here and there, but not for very long. They’re keeping her overnight, and then they want to assess her tomorrow to see if she’s okay to go home. They said since she was poisoned they’ll need to monitor her pregnancy closely to make sure the baby wasn’t harmed.”
“Yeah, I’d heard she was pregnant. Coyote filled us in when he got back to the compound. Do we know for sure it was her stepmom who did this?” Torch asked. “Want me to have her picked up?”
“A police officer came by asking questions. I guess the hospital notified him that Del had been poisoned. He’s going to look into Tia Lee, so we should probably keep our distance. I don’t want any of this shit to blow back on the club.”
Torch nodded. “Maybe it’s for the best they got involved. I know you wanted to settle the matter yourself, but this way you can focus on your woman and baby, and not figure out how you’re going to make that woman pay for her crimes. We’ll let the law handle this one, and if they fumble it, we’ll go from there.”
“It will be hard to make her disappear after the police have been watching her. Since I’m the one who gave them the woman’s name, they’ll come to us first if something happens to her,” I pointed out. “As much as I want that woman six feet under, I don’t want any of us going to prison over it, or having the local law sniffing around and looking into other club matters.”
Torch smiled. “I’m glad to see that even with all this shit piled on your doorstep that you can still think about the well-being of the club and your brothers. Some men would get tunnel vision and only be thinking of revenge.”
“Revenge has its time and place. When I look back on the day I found out I was going to be a dad, I don’t want to think about murder and the blood that stains my hands. My kid deserves better than that.”
Torch patted my shoulder. “You’re a good man, Zipper. Always thought so. Even when you told me why you were hiding out at the clubhouse and no longer working for Hwan Lee, I
didn’t think any less of you. Hell, even when my woman wasn’t quite legal yet, I couldn’t deny she was beautiful. I think you reacted to Delphine the way you did because even back then you knew she was supposed to be yours.”
“Maybe. It’s what helps me sleep at night anyway.” I smiled faintly. “I don’t know what her dad would think of all this. He was a good man, an honorable man. I’m not sure he’d think I was good enough for his little girl.”
Torch rubbed his beard. “I don’t think any father ever thinks a man is good enough for his daughter. You probably could have performed miracles and walked on water, and the man still would have had his reservations. But you’ve proven that she means a lot to you and that you’ll put her first. I’m pretty sure that’s all any man wants for his daughter. Someone to love her, protect her, and treat her like a goddess.”
“And if Lyssa grows up and wants to marry… Johnny for instance? How would you feel?” I asked. The Prospect was a good kid, and I knew he’d be patched in. But I wanted to make a point. “He’s honorable, loyal, and he protects your woman and daughter like they’re his family. What if he wants Lyssa when she’s eighteen? There would be twenty years between them.”
Torch looked pained for a moment. “I don’t want to think about my baby being old enough to be someone’s old lady. I don’t think the age difference would really bother me so much, as knowing for sure whether or not he would take care of her. If it were Johnny? Yeah, I’d probably give my blessing unless he fucks up in the next sixteen years.”
“I’ll remind you of that when it’s time for Lyssa to start dating,” I said. “Of course, Bull’s son is only a year younger than Lyssa. She’d probably be more likely to fall for him.”
“God help us if he’s anything like his dad,” Torch muttered.
Delphine moaned and I focused on her, practically holding my breath while I waited to see if she’d wake up this time and stay awake. Her eyes fluttered and she slowly took in her surroundings. When her gaze locked with mine, she gave me a slight smile.