He lifted his gaze from the scripture he was doing on the older biker’s back. “I’m good,” he said as his gray eyes skimmed over me lovingly. “I’ll finish locking up. Just be careful driving home, baby.”
I crossed the few feet separating us and kissed him, glad that we didn’t have to hide our relationship from anyone now. “Love you.”
He grabbed my ass with one hand, giving it a squeeze before reluctantly releasing me. “Love you, River. So fucking much.”
I kissed the tip of his nose, told the biker goodnight, and then headed for the back door. As I headed for my cousin’s car, I couldn’t help glancing toward the woods. But like earlier, I didn’t see any sign of anyone.
Back at the apartment, I took a shower and then climbed into bed. As I did, my gaze landed on the bottle of pain medication, but I quickly turned my back on it. Now that I was off my feet, my discomfort was mostly gone. Making sure my alarm was set for the next day so I could get to school on time, I snuggled under the covers and was asleep within seconds.
The feel of Maverick pulling me into his arms made me smile, and I snuggled closer before drifting back to sleep as he kissed the top of my head and whispered he loved me. When the alarm went off, I was so comfortable I debated taking another day off, but I was already three days behind on everything.
Carefully, I untangled myself from Maverick’s hold and went into the bathroom to get ready. My mom had dropped off a box of my things at the shop the night before, and I found it in the living room where Maverick must have set it when he came in the night before.
My phone buzzed on my way out the door, and I looked down to find a text.
Nova: Can you give me a ride home after school? I’m staying over to help tutor some of the high school kids.
I shot her a reply, promising her I could. Nova was practically fluent in both Italian and Russian, but she had taken some of the other language classes the school offered. With our town so small, it wasn’t all that much, but she seemed to enjoy American Sign Language and Spanish classes. She was only a seventh grader, still in middle school, but she was better than some of the teachers and had started tutoring several of the high school kids for extra cash.
As expected, I had a load of homework for each of my classes that I needed to get finished, as well as study for an exam I would have to make up on Monday. My backpack was straining at the seams as I crammed all my books into it at the end of the day. The damn thing was heavy, and I knew I shouldn’t be lifting so much weight. The doctor had said I wasn’t supposed to lift anything heavier than ten pounds, but my backpack was at least twenty.
Knowing Maverick would blow a gasket if he found out I wasn’t following doctor’s orders, I glanced around to see if Nova was ready to go. She knew where my locker was, and she normally met me there when I gave her rides. Which was at least once a week. Garett had his own car, but he was usually out the door as soon as the final bell rang. Sometimes before the last class even started.
The school was empty except for a few teachers who were packing up to go home, the custodian who was already sweeping the halls, and students who needed extra help. From the looks and sound of how deserted the place seemed, I was sure the kids Nova was tutoring were already gone.
Leaving my backpack on the floor, I closed my locker and started for the library where Nova usually tutored. Most of them had study hall the last period, and Nova got extra credit in her language classes for helping. With the middle school right across the road from the high school, she didn’t have to walk far, and all the teachers trusted her, so they didn’t try to micromanage her.
The library was on the other side of the building from the senior lockers, so it was a bit of a walk before I reached it. Pulling out my phone, I texted Maverick to let him know I might be late opening the shop as I pushed open the door to the library.
Just as I hit send, I heard a crash that was so loud it startled me, and I dropped my phone. Cursing, I bent to pick it up even as I glanced around to see where the noise came from.
My mouth fell open as I stared at the mess that had once been the library.
There were bookshelves turned over, papers still in the air as they floated slowly toward the ground. Tables were overturned and broken chairs scattered around. But it was the two guys lying on the floor, both of them bleeding out onto the worn, decades-old carpet that had me gulping in fear. One of them had a knife sticking out of the side of his neck, while the other was lying at an angle that didn’t look humanly possible—unless he was dead.
Nova stood in the middle of it, her blond hair in a tangled mess around her face. Blood was splattered over her shirt and pouring down her arm, dripping into a small puddle at her feet. Her bottom lip was swollen and split, as if someone had hit her, and there were angry red marks on her throat and arms that looked like fingerprints. She was breathing heavily as she stared wide-eyed around at the mess.
“N-Nova?” I whispered her name as I slowly straightened, afraid of startling her. “Sweetie, are you…okay?”
Her green eyes jerked to mine, and her face paled. “I… Um… They attacked me.”
My gaze fell on the two men lying lifelessly on the floor in their own blood. “I can see that. Did you…do this?” I don’t know why I was still whispering, or why I’d just asked such a stupid question. How could my tiny baby cousin have taken on two grown men, let alone killed them? “Ah, fuck, Nova. Is there someone else in here?” I rushed to her, my instincts revving to protect her.
Her eyes skirted around the room wildly, as if she were looking for any other dangers. “No, I don’t think so. It was just them.” Her breathing was starting to even out. “I-I have to call Ryan. That…” She pointed to the guy with the knife sticking out of his neck. “That guy works for Matias Ramirez.”
“Who?” I muttered, but she was already looking for her phone. When she spotted it, she walked over to pick it up, but as she turned it over, I saw the screen was cracked. “Forget about calling Ryan. We need to call Ben.”
She shrugged, then winced. “Go ahead. I have to tell Ryan.”
Frustrated with her, I quickly called Ben. He picked up on the third ring, sounding distracted. “Hey, River. I’m in a meeting with the mayor, honey. I’ll call you back—”
“Ben!” I yelled when he started to hang up on me. “Nova was attacked at the high school. The library is turned upside down, and there are two men…” I glanced at them, still motionless, but it appeared the blood had finally stopped flooding out of them. “I, uh, think they might be dead.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “I’m on my way. Are you or Nova hurt?”
“I’m fine.” I glanced over at Nova, who was trying to call her best friend without slicing her fingers open on the shattered screen of her phone. “Nova’s arm is bleeding, and she’s moving kind of slow, like she’s in pain. I think she might be in shock.”
“I’ll be there in two minutes,” he promised. “Stay together.”
The phone went silent, and I focused back on my cousin. She’d finally gotten her phone to work, and she held it to her it away from her ear so she didn’t cut herself on the destroyed screen. “H-Hey,” she said. “Okay, so don’t freak out…”
“What’s wrong?” I heard Ryan demand. “Nova? Tell me!”
“So, um, I think Ramirez might be a little upset with you for some reason.” She grimaced. She blinked a few times then looked down at her arm. “When did that happen?” she muttered to herself. “Shit, I think I need stitches.”
“Nova!” Ryan roared. “Why do you need stitches?”
She was still examining her arm, not even seeming to hear him. I walked over to her and took the phone from her slack fingers. “Ryan?” I spoke softly into the phone, making sure to not let it touch my ear. By the looks of it, Nova was lucky to have even gotten a call through. I doubted I could make the speaker option work. “It’s River.”
“River,” he exploded. “Is Nova okay? She’s scaring me.”
I
wasn’t sure how to answer that without freaking him out more than he already sounded. The times I’d been around him, he’d always been so cool and laid-back, but now he seemed…unstable. “Do you know a person named Mathias Ramirez?” I asked, hoping I could ease him into it.
“Yes,” he gritted out. “Did he do something? Is he there? I’ll kill him with my bare hands!”
“He’s not here,” I hurriedly assured him. “But two men attacked Nova…” I looked around at the mess. It looked like a hurricane had blown through the room. “Or they tried to. They’re…well, the men are dead now.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. “Dead?”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “Pretty sure, at least.”
“But how is Nova? Is she hurt?” I could hear him breathing heavily. “Tell me, River. I need to know.”
“She will probably need stitches. There’s a large cut on her arm.” I couldn’t tell how deep it was from all the blood, but I could make out it was a long slice that went down her bicep. “She seems a little dazed too, but other than that, I think she’s okay.”
“I’m on my way. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” His voice sounded choked. “Please watch over her for me.”
“I will,” I promised just as I heard sirens in the distance. “Ben is here. I should go. Nova needs to get to the hospital.”
“Right,” he rasped. “Tell her…”
I reached out and stroked my free hand over Nova’s hair. “I think she already knows,” I murmured. “Don’t worry. I’ve got her.”
“Thank you,” he breathed before the phone went silent.
Ben burst through the doors only a few moments later, followed by two of his deputies. All three of them had their guns drawn, but when they saw us, they quickly lowered them.
The sheriff rushed forward, his eyes taking in everything all at once. “Ambulance,” he ordered the other two men. His eyes still glued to Nova and me, he bent and checked the pulse of the guy who didn’t have a knife sticking from his neck. “And the medical examiner.” Straightening, Ben crossed the remaining distance between us and carefully pulled Nova into his arms.
She blinked up at him a few times before focusing on his face. “Hi,” she said in a small voice.
Cradling her head in one of his huge hands, he wrapped the other around her and rocked her against him. “Thank Christ you’re okay,” he breathed.
She jerked back from him. “I’m getting blood all over you.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time one of you Hannigans got me covered in blood,” he grumbled. Bending, he picked her up in his arms just as more sirens filled the air. “River, sweetheart, call Raven. Tell her to have Flick and Jet meet us at the hospital.”
Fifteen
Maverick
I burst into the emergency room that was already overflowing with my MC brothers and family, my eyes flying around in search of River.
I’d barely gotten her text that she might be late opening the shop before sirens had been flying past my apartment. Not two minutes later, more sirens had alerted me to an ambulance, but I hadn’t thought much of it.
Not until River texted me ten minutes later that she was on her way to the hospital and not to worry. How the fuck was I supposed to not worry when she said shit like that? I’d broken the speed limit getting to the hospital, but there was no sign of her anywhere.
“Mav!” I turned at the sound of my sister’s voice to see Mila standing by the nurses station. She took one look at me, saw how desperate I was, and gave me a nod. “She’s in the back with Nova,” she said, waving me toward the door that would take me back to the exam rooms.
The nurse she’d just been speaking to opened the door for me, and I sprinted down the hall until I saw Uncle Bash and Aunt Raven. They stood beside Ben, who was speaking to them in low tones. Behind them, my dad was standing in front of a triage door, his arms crossed over his chest, his face blank but his eyes wild.
He was who I ran to. Who I knew would tell me the truth. When his eyes landed on me, he dropped his arms and reached one out to grasp my shoulder, steadying me. “She’s okay,” he said in a low voice. “It was Nova who was attacked. River wasn’t even touched.”
“You’re sure? She…” I scrubbed my hands through my hair, biting back the words that had nearly spilled out. She had only just lost our baby a few days before. She was still recovering. She could have been in pain and wouldn’t have told anyone, because she wouldn’t want them to worry about her.
“She’s fine, son,” he said, his hand squeezing my shoulder reassuringly. “I wouldn’t lie to you.”
I nodded, knowing he would always give it to me straight, no matter what. Taking a deep breath to try to calm my racing heart, I glanced at the door behind him. “Is Nova okay?”
He glanced at the door then over at Ben. “Doc is in there now. Her parents are with her, and so is River. It was that fucking Colombian rival of Vitucci’s.”
“They came after Nova to make a statement?”
He shrugged. “That’s the way it looks.”
“Fuck,” I muttered and turned to stand beside him.
As I did, the ambulance bay doors opened, and River’s parents came in. “Raven.” Colt grabbed his sister’s elbow, turning her to face him. “Where is she?”
She gave him a quick hug before stepping back. “She’s fine, Colt. Nothing happened to River, I swear.”
“Then why the fuck is she in the emergency room?” he demanded.
Raven glanced at Aunt Kelli, who lifted her brows in question. “Ramirez’s men came for Nova. River was going to give Nova a ride home, but when she went to the library to see if she was ready, she found Nova had been attacked.”
“Fuck,” Colt exploded. “Is Nova okay?”
“Doc is with her now. She has a knife wound that needs stitching up, but we’re waiting to know more once Doc is finished examining her.”
“But nothing happened to River?” Aunt Kelli’s gaze shot to mine. When I shook my head, she visibly relaxed.
But when she shifted her attention to me, so did Colt, and I could feel his rage before he even took a step.
“What the fuck were you doing when you should have been protecting my baby girl?” he bellowed.
I squared my shoulders, prepared to let him get it all out. I understood—fuck, I wanted to rage a little myself. My fear that something had happened to River still lingered, even though I knew she was safe behind the door I stood in front of. He barely took a handful of steps before both Raven and Aunt Kelli blocked his path.
“Why are you yelling at the boy?” Aunt Kelli demanded, pushing at her husband’s chest. “She was at school, dumbass. He was on his way to work.”
“He should have—”
“What?” she interrupted him. “Followed her around like a lost puppy while she went to classes?” He sputtered for a moment before growling something low that I couldn’t hear. “Shut the fuck up, idiot.” She stepped into his personal space. “I’m tired of your tantrums, Colt. She’s a grown woman now. River loves him, and they’re together. Pull your head out of your ass and be happy for them.”
The door behind me opened, and I turned around at the same time Dad did. Jet stood there with a lethal look in his eyes, but his gaze moved past us to his youngest brother. “If all you’re going to do is yell and scream, then you should just go the fuck home, Colt.”
“How is Nova?” he asked instead, his anger turning into concern for his niece.
“Doc is about to stitch her up.” He stepped aside and looked over his shoulder. “River, honey, you look exhausted. You should go home, or to work.”
“I promised Ryan I would stay with Nova.” Her soft voice came from inside the room, but I couldn’t see her over Jet’s shoulders.
His lips tilted up in a grim smile. “I think he will understand if I take over guard duty.” He shifted, and I finally got to see my girl. She was leaning on the exam table beside her cousin, who was lying down w
ith her injured arm stretched out while Doc and Flick bent over it.
My eyes ate up the sight of River. Her hair was disheveled, and her clothes were wrinkled. There were dark circles under her eyes and her cheeks were pale, but she looked as beautiful as ever to me. When she lifted her gaze from Nova, it locked with mine and she smiled.
“Hi,” she mouthed.
“Hey,” I said with a wink. “How about I take you home, beautiful?”
I could tell she wanted to go, but she glanced back at Nova as guilt filled her eyes.
Nova reached out with her free hand and squeezed River’s arm. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay. You should go to work.”
Pressing her lips into a hard line, River finally nodded and bent to kiss her cousin’s cheek. “Call me if you need anything.”
“I will. Love you,” Nova murmured softly. “Thanks for staying with me.”
“Love you too,” my girl said as they hugged. As she stepped out of the triage room, her eyes skirted over to her parents, and I felt her stiffen when she spotted her father. She reached for my hand, and I entwined our fingers. “I forgot my backpack at school. I need to get it so I can finish all my homework and study for a test I missed.”
Ben walked over to us. “School will be closed tomorrow, but I’ll have one of my deputies get your bag and drop it off to you.”
She smiled up at him. “Thanks, Ben. It was by my locker.”
“No problem, honey.” He shifted his gaze to me. “She’s had a rough day. Don’t let her do too much this evening.”
“I’m fine,” River argued. “It’s Nova who had a nightmare of a time.”
I tucked her against me, pressing my lips to her forehead. “I’ll make sure she takes it easy,” I promised.
“I’ll be here and then at Raven’s,” Dad told me. “Cancel all my appointments.”
I nodded. “Keep me informed.”
“Will do.” He pulled River away from me to hug her. “Glad you’re okay, honey.” To me, he growled, “Be safe.” What he meant was, keep her safe. But he didn’t have to tell me that. I’d die before I let anything happen to River.
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