Elaina

by Jennifer Hanks

  “Holy shit.” Ben’s voice came from behind me, telling me he was the one who’d just arrived. “Is the fucker on the ground still alive?”

  “I think we’re going to have to call animal control.” Brody announced.

  “Syd might know someone, she still volunteers at the shelter.” Cam took out his phone, pressed a button and walked away.

  Police sirens rang out as two cars skidded to a halt behind the trucks. All these fucking people and we can’t get past the dog to even find her.

  “What the…” I heard an unfamiliar voice, assuming it was a cop, I took a tentative step forward.

  “Beasley,” I called out. “I need to get to Lanie.”

  His eyes flicked behind him to the house before turning back to me, telling me all I needed to know. She was in the house.

  Ben walked up to stand beside me. “I’ll go with you man.”

  I nodded and took another hesitant step forward, but Ben squatted down and whistled. Beasley’s ears perked up and his eyes locked on Ben. “Hey buddy, remember me. You had me in that same position, but I was at least getting licked, not suffocated.”

  I took another step forward and Ben stood, Beasely’s eyes going between us.

  “Go around the side of the house while we have him distracted, in through garage there’s a door to the kitchen.” I said aloud my eyes still trained on the dog.

  Ben moved forward, his hand outstretched until he squatted again, closer now. Beasley let out a low growl when I moved, my aim obviously for the door. I heard glass break, guessing the garage door was locked and they were letting themselves in as quickly as possible. A quick scan of the yard behind me told me Brody and Striker were gone.

  “Syd called a friend of hers from a rescue group who’s been in difficult situations, he’s on his way.” Cam said, his voice close.

  Ben whistled again, almost right in front of Beasley and he loosened his jaws. “It’s okay boy, you did a good job, she’s safe now.”

  Ben continued forward until he was close enough to touch the dog, but he looked down first at the man under him. “He’s breathing. I can see his chest moving.”

  I was close enough now to see who Beasley straddled and I clenched my jaw. Fucking Trey. I knew I didn’t trust him.

  Ben put his hand out slowly, close to Beasley’s nose and I watched the dog loosen his grip even more. He pulled his jaws from the fucker’s throat and shoved his head towards Ben’s hand, sniffing and I swear to god he wagged his tail, it was small, but it was something.

  I heard the ambulance and fear raced down my spine. I could see a little of Brody in the doorway so I knew they made it to her, no wonder Beasley wouldn’t let us past the steps if she was right inside the door. They must’ve called for an ambulance from inside. I should’ve gone instead of Brody and Striker.

  I didn’t realize I’d said that out loud until Cam’s hand touched my shoulder. “You did the right thing, Jake. If they’d have gotten stuck in there because we can’t get her out, they’re trained. They’ve dealt with injuries before.”

  I nodded, he was right, but I still needed to see her.

  Ben lifted his hand and ran it along Beasley’s head. “You did good boy. Come here.” He stood and backed up before he squatted again and whistled. “Come here.”

  Beasley’s eyes shifted around the yard before he started slowly walking towards Ben. I think every fucking guy was holding his breath at that moment. I’d heard other vehicles arriving, bright lights landing on the yard where I stood, but my eyes stayed trained on Beasley and Ben. Beasley paused and looked back at the house when he was passing me before he turned and ran his nose across my fist hanging clenched at my side.

  I took a deep breath, it seemed he understood we were no longer a threat, but here to help her. He made his way to Ben still keeping his eyes on the yard at large and I took my chance, making my way to the porch stairs. I moved quickly up the stairs, hearing voices behind me, walking through the door, I hit my knees beside Brody who was kneeling beside her completely still body. She lay there, unmoving, covered in blood, it was everywhere, and she was so pale that I was terrified she wasn’t breathing. I grabbed her hand when the paramedics crossed the threshold of the door, but winced when I looked down to see it smeared with blood.

  “What the fuck happened? Why is there so much blood?” I said out loud, asking no one in particular.

  “It looks like she scraped her hands pretty badly and she’s bleeding from those.” Brody spoke up.

  “I’ll need you to step aside, sir, so we can move her onto the stretcher.” Someone said from behind where I knelt.

  Brody wrapped his hand around my bicep and pulled me to stand along with him. “You need to let them do their job.”

  I stood next to Brody, his hand wrapped around the back of my neck. Striker came to stand next to me and surprisingly he slapped his hand against my shoulder, squeezing and letting it lay there.

  I watched as they prepared her and then moved her onto the stretcher. “I’m riding with her.”

  One of the paramedics nodded. “Let’s go.”

  “We’re right behind you brother.” Brody squeezed my neck before dropping his hand.

  I followed behind the paramedics, my gaze finding Ben sitting with Beasley, his hand wrapped tight around his collar while two other paramedics worked to load Trey onto the second stretcher.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  LANIE

  Beep, beep, beep.

  I swung out my arm, intending to shut off the alarm on my phone, but instead my hand banged on something hard.

  Beep, beep, beep.

  I slowly opened my eyes, shutting them immediately when the bright light sent a sharp pain through my head. I lifted my hand, laying against my forehead, but it felt heavy and something on it was scratching my forehead.

  Beep, beep, beep.

  I forced open my eyes, squinting in the bright light as a woman in scrubs jogged in to the room. She stood beside my bed and played with a machine I noticed was attached to a thin tube in my hand.

  She glanced down and smiled sweetly. “Well hello, look who’s finally awake.”

  I blinked slowly, pulling my hand not attached to the machine down from my forehead, noticing it was wrapped completely in bandages, only my fingertips exposed.

  “How are you feeling?”

  How was I feeling? I had no idea. “What happened?” I whispered.

  She cocked her head, a worried expression on her face. “You don’t remember?”

  “No.” I again whispered.

  She nodded. “I’m going to page the doctor to come and talk with you. Okay?”

  I flicked my eyes to the side, seeing the unadorned window was the cause of the brightness by letting the sun in. “Okay.”

  I watched her walk around the bottom of my bed covered in sterile white sheets before leaving the room. My eyes tried to focus, but continued to move around the room, a small television hung on the wall, a pink chair sitting against the wall next to it, and a tray with a water pitcher and a small cup sat beside my bed, untouched.

  The door swung open and my eyes traveled back, landing on Jake and Luke prowling through. Jake came to stand beside my bed and leaned over, running his hand across my forehead.

  “How are you feeling, baby?” He asked softly.

  I blinked my eyes slowly, confused as to why I was here and he was here, calling me baby. My eyes moved past him to land on Luke standing with his hands braced on the footboard at the bottom of my bed, his face awash with concern.

  “Lanie?”

  I moved my gaze back to Jake, noticing the grey under his eyes telling me he hadn’t slept. “You look tired.”

  He closed his eyes and laid his hands along the rail attached to the sides of my bed, hanging his head. The door once again pushed open, this time bringing a doctor and the same nurse who’d been in before, walking through.

  “Ms. Jones,” The doctor’s voice sounded raspy, almost like he’d sm
oked a lot over the years. He was older, his hair white, lines around his mouth and eyes, and reminded me of a grandfather. He made his way around the bed to stand beside me across from Jake. “I’m Doctor Baker. How are you feeling today?”

  I rolled my lips together and tried to assess how I was feeling, but I couldn’t feel much, except pain in my head. “My head hurts.” I reached up to run my bandaged hand across my forehead. “Why does my head hurt?”

  He tilted his head, lips pursed. “Can you tell me what you remember?”

  I glanced over at Jake who was listening closely, watching me. “Not much. I remember I went to a wedding.” I looked back at the doctor, tilting my lips in a small smile. “It was beautiful, a sunset wedding.”

  Doctor Baker smiled. “That sounds beautiful.” He gestured to continue. “What do you remember after that?”

  Images of being pressed against the wall, Jake’s body tight against mine, his hands gripping my hips, his mouth on mine, then on my neck flashed through my mind. I felt my face getting hot and turned my eyes towards Jake.

  He grinned, but whispered. “How about after that?”

  I moved my head slowly in a nod before moving my eyes back to Doctor Baker who was also grinning now. I blinked slowly, embarrassed, but trying to concentrate on what I did after that. I frowned, it was like my brain was on fast forward.

  “I remember strange things.” I admitted.

  “Can you explain that?”

  “I remember falling on the steps.” I paused seeing flashes of Beasley. “I remember Beasley running by me, I called his name, but he didn’t stop, he jumped down the steps.” I frowned. “That’s weird because he’s kind of a couch potato, he definitely doesn’t run.”

  Dr. Baker chuckled and I shifted back to looking at Jake when he spoke. “Beasley was protecting you, Lanie.”

  I looked back at Dr. Baker. “He’s a really sweet dog.”

  His eyes widened, but a small smile remained on his face. “Sweet is not how he’s been described to me.”

  I wrinkled my forehead, frowning. “Why? How was he described?”

  “He’s being called a hero.”

  “A hero?” I whispered, trying to concentrate on remembering more.

  “Lanie,” Dr. Baker called my attention back to himself. “I think your memory will come back in time, maybe not completely, but that’s not always a bad thing in these situations.”

  “What situations?”

  “I’ll let these young men explain that to you, but in the mean time talk to me about the pain you’re having.”

  I reached up again and touched my forehead. “It’s along the side of my head, across my forehead.”

  He nodded, reaching out to turn my head gently towards him. He lifted a bandage that I hadn’t realized was on my head and felt around some. “Do you have a headache?”

  “Not really.”

  He smiled. “That’s good. The pain you’re experiencing is coming from a cut along your temple that had to be stitched. When you fell, you must’ve caught your head against the corner or edge of the step, causing a pretty deep cut, but we stitched it and it should heal just fine.” He paused before continuing. “We ran some scans and you have a concussion, which is not a surprise all things considered.” I didn’t know what it meant when he said all things considered, but I didn’t ask. “We’re going to keep you here today yet, aiming to discharge you either later today or tomorrow morning.”

  He reached down and picked up my hand, nodding to the other one as well. “Your hands are cut and scraped. We cleaned those and bandaged them. I’d like you to keep that up even after you’re discharged to give them time to heal.” He looked up and nodded at Jake. “I’m sure your young man won’t mind helping you bandage them.”

  “My what?” I asked, but he was already moving on.

  “We’re giving you pain medicine through an I.V. right now, but I can have the nurse remove that if you’d like and switch to oral medication.”

  “Okay.” I agreed.

  “Do you have any questions for me?”

  I moved my head slowly back and forth across the pillow. “No, I don’t think so.”

  He started around the bed, tapping my foot as he passed. “Okay then, I’ll be in to check on you later today and hopefully we’ll be able to get you home.”

  I watched the door close behind him and rolled my eyes to Luke, still standing quietly at the end of the bed. “What happened to me?”

  Sadness moved across his expression. He glanced at Jake who nodded before Luke walked up to stand beside him, closer to me. “You were attacked last night at your home.”

  “Attacked?” I tried to remember that and then a thought occurred to me. “Was it the same person who broke into my house before?”

  Jake nodded slowly. “Yeah it was.”

  I looked specifically at Luke. “Did you catch him?”

  He smiled. “Actually, Beasley did that for me. You must’ve been able to open the door and Beasley got out. He had him pinned to the ground when we got there.”

  “Wow.” I whispered. “Where is he now?”

  “Beasley?” Jake asked and I nodded. “He’s with Ben.”

  “Ben?” I was actually feeling more confused than I had before.

  Jake must’ve noticed. “How about we talk about it later?”

  “Okay.” I agreed, my eyes feeling heavy.

  Jake leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead and I thought I heard him say, “Get some sleep baby,” but I couldn’t be sure, as sleep overwhelmed me.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  JAKE

  “She doesn’t fucking remember.” I paced the conference room at my brothers’ office, having left the hospital and Lanie’s side when Paige arrived. I’d been there all night in that horribly uncomfortable chair and I needed a break. I also needed to figure out what was next because there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to be with Lanie now.

  “That might be a good thing.” Cam suggested.

  I flopped down in an empty seat next to Chris, stretched my legs out in front of me and rubbed my hands across my face. “Yeah, maybe.”

  “I had the mess cleaned at her house so when she gets to go home, she’s not faced with that.” Cam said.

  I ran my hands to the back of my neck, a damn headache brewing. “Thanks man.”

  “Julie’s gone.” Striker spoke up and sadly I hadn’t even realized he was in the room.

  My eyes went wide. “Gone?”

  “Yep gone.”

  I threw my arms out to the side. “How can she just be gone?”

  Cam sighed. “She’s probably hiding out.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “You think she had something to do with the attack.”

  “Absolutely.” Luke said.

  I turned my head to meet his gaze. “She knew Trey?”

  Cam and Luke exchanged a look that did nothing but piss me off. “What? Just tell me.”

  “Trey’s talking.” Cam started. “We have him in custody.”

  “What does that mean?” I raked my hand through my hair in frustration.

  “It means there’s only so much I can tell you because it’s an open investigation now, but he was a prospect for the Black Widows MC and apparently Lanie was his assignment.”

  I cocked my head. “Assignment?”

  “According to him he was given orders to go after Lanie, at first to date her, but then it became more to intimidate her.”

  “Because?”

  “Shit.” Cam rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes finding Luke. I watched Luke give him a small nod of his head before he continued talking. “Jake, this information cannot leave this room. You cannot even tell Lanie what I’m going to tell you.” He leaned forward, angling his body more towards where I sat and gestured between himself and Luke. “It would mean our jobs.”

  I nodded, sitting up straighter, resting my elbows on the table in front of me. “It won’t. I give you my word.”

  I’ve alwa
ys been a hothead, unafraid of most things, the first one to jump in headfirst to anything, but I was also a man of my word and my brothers knew that if I gave my word, it was as good as done.

  Cam leaned forward, mirroring my pose, his face serious. “Julie has a step-brother and that man is the President of the Black Widow’s.”

  “A step-brother?” I made a face of confusion. “She never mentioned a brother.”

  “I’m guessing they’re not close, I doubt they ever were, but they’re both users and they’ve recently needed each other. According to Trey, Julie asked her brother to help her with the situation involving you and in return she was to get them close enough to take out Luke, who has been a thorn in their side for a long time.”

  I turned my head towards Luke. “Why?”

  “Because their Vice President is the one I’ve had in custody more times than I can count and arrested for beating the hell out of his girlfriend. She didn’t even have to report it, a witness saw him doing it because he’s so arrogant he did it in public. They believe they’re above the law, I disagree, so we’ve been battling for years.”

  “So Julie figured out where we’d be, bought some time by having her fuck buddy provoke me and Luke gets shot.” I surmised.

  Luke smiled. “But not dead, which I’m sure has pissed off a lot of Widows recently.”

  “That doesn’t explain the Lanie stuff.”

  “Jake.” Cam looked incredulous. “You realize Julie wants you and has proven she’ll do just about anything to get you?”

  I glared at him. “Yeah, I realize she’s bat shit crazy, if that’s what you’re asking, Cam.”

  “Obviously her first plan was to just get Lanie out of the way by having her date someone else, but that didn’t work, so she amped up her game. Striker saw her leaving the wedding and followed her back to the clubhouse where the MC is housed. He went back around when we were finishing up at Lanie’s house and she’s gone.”

  My eyebrows drew together. “She was at the wedding?”