Who is this guy? How did Clyde end up hooking up with a guy like this? Rocco nodded. “Yeah.” He moved towards the car and unlocked the door. He slid into the back seat. Rocco pressed his back against the leather seats and said, “Do you know where we’re going?”
The driver met eyes with him through the rearview mirror. “Clyde told me that I’m bringing you back to the Chasing Spirits Motorcycle Club.” The driver moved his hands over the steering wheel and swung the car into traffic. “He sounded kind of panicked. I’ve never been to a motorcycle club before, is it true what they say?”
Rocco rolled his eyes and said, “It depends on what you’ve heard ‘them’ saying.”
The driver moved deeper into the city. The late evening Chicago traffic was beginning to pick up, and other drivers on the road were in no mood to wait. Car horns blared, and the guy ahead of him stuck his head out of the window.
“Come on, move it!”
Rocco redirected his attention to the driver and said, “It’s as rough as you make it. My club used to be a bit more… gentle. They weren’t like this before.” Although, Meish might not have turned on me if I hadn’t brought Hailey into the picture to start with. Rocco shook his head. The good memories he had of Meish would have to become a permanent part of the past. It was one thing to wreak a little hell to get your way throughout the city before, but the things that Becca and Hailey have been through were a part of something much darker that Rocco had never seen before.
Rocco shook his head. “You’ve just gotta find the right club. I don’t know if this scene is for me anymore.”
The driver nodded and said, “Clyde seems less enthused about the whole deal these days,” he chuckled and said, “he acts like someone’s holding a gun to his head. I’d just quit and move onto something new if I were him.”
Rocco snorted. You could certainly try to quit the Chasing Spirits before, but Meish isn’t in a place to accept resignations. Rocco lowered his eyes to the floor of the sedan. The lining on the floor was the expensive kind of lining that Rocco remembered seeing in a couple of Meish’s luxury cars.
The driver whipped the car into a narrow alleyway, and Rocco recognized the backs of the signs that hung off of the buildings in the area. They were approaching the back of the Chasing Spirits Motorcycle Club. Rocco inhaled, and wrapped his fingers around the door handle.
The car came to a stop just outside of the back entrance. The driver whipped his head around and said, “Good luck in there. I hope that work’s not too bad.”
Rocco nodded his thanks to the driver and opened the car door. He slid out of the car and his shoe immediately hit a dense puddle of water that had been sitting inside of a pothole. Rocco waved goodbye and stuck his hands in his pockets as he hurried towards the back entrance of the club.
Rocco leaned against an off white, metal door. The sound of music thumping throughout the building could be heard faintly. Rocco reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Clyde’s number and pressed it to his ear. Rocco’s heart sank when his ears were met with, “You’ve reached Clyde Schuster. I’ll give you a call back when I have an opportunity.” The line disconnected and Rocco threw his fists against the door.
His hand flew to the door handle, but when he jiggled it, the door stayed in place. I don’t have my keys to the club!
“Shit!” Rocco threw his foot against the door as hard as he could. A burst of pain shot through this right foot and a new rush of rage flowed through his body. “Fuck!”
His back pocket began to hum with a phone call. Rocco reached into his pocket and held his phone to his ear. “Clyde?!”
“I had to get to the bathroom. What’s up? Have you made it into town yet?”
“I’m at the back entrance of the club. I don’t have keys to get in.”
“I’ll let you in, I’ll be at the back entrance in a few minutes. Rocco, when you get in, you need to head straight for the spare room. Hailey is in there, I’ll be at the front desk.”
Rocco nodded and within moments, Clyde pulled the door open. Clyde stepped to the side as Rocco rushed in, and he said, “Be quick!”
Rocco nodded and rushed into the halls. The music that played in the lounge rooms on the other side of the club echoed throughout the club. Rocco hurried towards the spare room. Clyde’s hand shot out and landed on his shoulder. “Rocco,” he whispered, “here.” Clyde lifted up his shirt and pulled a small pistol off of his waist. He set it in the middle of Rocco’s palm and said, “I know that you didn’t have a chance to get yours. Be careful leaving the city.”
Rocco closed his fingers around the gun and said, “Thanks, Clyde.” Rocco turned his gaze to the door that waited down the hall. His feet propelled him forward, and he twisted the lock on the other side of the door.
Rocco pushed the door open to reveal Hailey’s crumpled form. She was slouched against one of the walls, her head lolled to the side as if it were going to disconnect and roll off her shoulders. Rocco looked over his shoulder before rushing forward. “Hailey!” He hissed.
Hailey weakly lifted her head and her eyes widened. “Rocco! You actually came.”
“Of course.” He slipped his arm underneath her arms and they moved towards the door. “You need to get moving, Clyde risked his neck to help me get you out of here.” Rocco moved forward and Hailey nodded. She paused and straightened her legs. She snatched a hair tie off of her wrist and twisted her hair into a low bun that rested at the base of her neck.
Hailey followed Rocco into the hall. She kept her head low as he led her through another hallway that led to the back entrance. The last time that I went through this back door, Rocco dragged me in with the help of some of the goons from the club. Hailey inhaled, and followed him outside.
The cool wind and the small trickle of rain that was beginning had hardly brushed her cheeks before Rocco’s mangled yell rang throughout the air. Hailey whipped her head towards him in time to see him desperately moving backwards.
Meish lumbered forward and cracked his knuckles. “Are you kidding me, Rocco? You don’t have the balls to tell me that you want her back? You couldn’t come to my face.”
Rocco’s hand flew to his chest where Meish had thrown his fist before. His chest ached and he inhaled a painful breath. Rocco jumped to his feet and said, “Fuck off, Meish. I’m done with the club, I’m done with the game. I just want to get out of here.”
Hailey’s eyes nervously darted from Rocco’s steely expression to the snarl that was forming on Meish’s lips.
“Seriously, Rocco? Do you think that I’d just sit back and watch you leave the club? It doesn’t work that way.”
“Get the fuck out of my way, Meish,” Rocco growled.
Meish’s expression melted into a sneer so fierce that Hailey was certain that Rocco would have spat on him and it wouldn’t have elicited a physical response that compared to this.
Meish reached behind him and pulled out a pistol. He raised it, and it sat in the air between them. Hailey’s head swirled as Meish said, “It was never going to be so easy that I just let you get away.”
“Then, what do you want?” Rocco asked, his hand slid towards his waist and he narrowed his eyes.
Hailey blinked the rain drops out of her eyes, the water burned as it pelted her face and skin. Her mouth fell open as Meish’s arm pivoted and the barrel of the gun was aimed at Hailey.
“W-what are you doing?” Hailey’s hands flew in front of her stomach and she narrowed her eyes as she watched Meish’s eyes roll over her.
“I should have done this before, could have saved me an assload of trouble.” Meish said, he pressed his finger against the trigger.
A bone chilling scream was ripped from Hailey’s chest and her arms flew out in front of her. Rocco’s shoes slipped against the slick pavement beneath his feet. There was a burst of light as Rocco threw himself in front of Hailey. The bones in Hailey’s knees popped and she fell to the floor.
Meish chuckled and scraped h
is foot against the pavement. He slipped his gun into his waistband.
Hailey’s fingers were bright red with Rocco’s blood. With wide eyes she slid herself out from underneath him. A few feet away, Meish leered with at her with a lusty look in his eye. Hailey pressed her hands against Rocco’s body, until she felt the cold steel of what she hoped to be a pistol.
Please, please. Hailey whipped the gun off of his waistband and pointed towards Meish’s chest. Meish’s eyes widened and he said, “What the hell are you doing?!”
Hailey jumped to her feet and pointed the gun at Meish. She narrowed her eyes and said, “You’re not going to hurt anyone else.”
“Hailey, you better watch your-”
The bullet sailed through the air and landed in between the folds of Meish’s chest cavity. A thin stream of blood gushed out of his chest, and he fell to the ground. Hailey watched as Meish’s blood was collected with the rainwater that rushed through the alleyway. It poured down the drain with the rest of the water. She whipped her head towards Rocco and screeched, “Rocco!”
Hailey’s knees connected with the pavement and she jammed her index finger into the crook of Rocco’s neck. A faint pulse throbbed underneath her fingertips and Hailey screeched, “Clyde! Clyde! Clyde, please!”
She pressed her palms into the bullet hole on his arm, and Rocco groaned weakly. Hailey turned towards the door and screamed, “Clyde! Clyde!”
Rocco’s blood slid through the cracks in between her fingertips, and Clyde burst through the door.
“Hailey, what’s—Rocco!”
“Meish shot him,” Hailey said, she forced her palms into Rocco’s arms and swiveled her head towards Clyde. “I don’t know what to do, he’s bleeding out!”
“I’ll call an ambulance!” Clyde slid his cell phone out of his back pocket and pressed his phone to his ear.
Clyde’s distressed yells turned into a low mumble as Hailey leaned over Rocco. Tears blurred her vision, and the bright red color of Rocco’s blood was the only thing that broke through the murky picture.
“Rocco, Rocco, come on, please. Hold on.”
Chapter 27
A thin veil of pain hung over his limbs. It seeped into the spaces between his joints. The muscles in his lower back cried out in pain. It spread up the length of Rocco’s spine, and settled into his right arm.
A soft groan escaped his lips as his eyes fluttered open. He winced, the bright, white fluorescent lights felt like having tiny, bright knives stabbed into each eye. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, and forced himself to try again. Come on. He lifted one eyelid, the murky mixture of bright white lights, and the smell of menthol hit him at once.
Rocco opened the other eye and narrowed his eyes until the lights felt more like a dim source of brightness. The first shape to fully materialize in front of him was the long, glass tubes that were behind the screen above him.
Hospital lighting. Rocco groaned and turned his head slightly to the left of him. There was a small, coral colored chair beside him. A magazine had been abandoned in the middle of the seat, and the rest of the room was vacant as well. He pushed his elbows back against the sheets.
“Shit,” he mumbled. A sharp pain shot through his right arm and his eyes settled on the bandages that covered his forearm. In a whirlwind of flashes, he remembered the way that Meish lifted his gun and aimed it towards Hailey. He vaguely remembered the sound of the ambulance’s whine and Hailey’s panicked sobs as he faded out of consciousness.
Meish shot me. Rocco narrowed his eyes. He actually shot me. But, what happened then? I don’t suppose he rushed me to the hospital too. Rocco turned his head and looked towards the open doorway. A couple of nurses hurried by, with clipboards tucked into their arms. Rocco wrinkled his nose and sat back against his pillows.
If a doctor doesn’t come in here and tell me when I can leave I’m going to lose it. A bubble of panic spread in his chest and Rocco’s eyes flew around the room. He challenged himself to swing his legs on the other side of the bed but he couldn’t lift his legs off of the bed.
Rocco’s hands flew all over his lower body, he pulled the thin hospital blanket back and screeched, “Nurse! I need a nurse! Somebody get me out of here, I can’t feel my legs!”
The sound of footsteps moving across the linoleum was prompt. A nurse with jet black hair and piercings in her nose and ears flew into the room. She winced as her hand smacked against the doorframe and she hurried over to his bedside. “Sir, what’s wrong? Are you in pain?”
Rocco’s eyes flickered from the gunshot wound on his arm to the distressed lines that had appeared near the nurse’s mouth. “I need some information.”
The nurse blinked and said, “Sir, are you having a problem?”
“I can hardly move my fucking legs without feeling like death, and I want to know when I can leave. I’m not staying in a hospital-”
The nurse’s cheeks burned bright red and she walked around to the other side of the bed. She wrapped her fingers around the chart that rested on the edge and said, “You have a gunshot wound.”
“No shit,” Rocco retorted.
The nurse flicked her eyes up towards him and said, “I’ve seen some pretty distressed people after an injury like yours, but that girlfriend of yours has her work cut out for her.”
Rocco blinked and leaned forward as he repeated, “Girlfriend?”
The nurse chuckled and said, “I know that you bumped your head kind of hard when you fell from the force of the gunshot, but I hope that you didn’t forget about the cute young woman that sat by your bedside all night.”
Hailey. “Hailey was here? Where did she go?”
“One of the other attending nurses got her to go and get something to eat. She’s been worried sick, she told one of us that she was pregnant and we got her into an ultrasound a little bit ago.”
“Hailey had an ultrasound?”
The nurse nodded. “That’s right. She was worried about the baby after all of the excitement with those biker thugs,” the nurse patted Rocco on the leg and he breathed a sigh of relief at being able to feel the gentle pressure on his lower leg.
The nurse smiled and said, “The baby is fine, by the way. Once you’re all healed up, you’ve got parenthood to look forward to.”
As if on cue, the beginning of a migraine roared behind Rocco’s eyes. He sighed and said, “Yeah, yeah, that’s right.”
“I’m Victoria. If you need anything, just buzz and Nurse Victoria will come running.” The disdainful expression that she wore earlier faded away and Victoria smiled. “I’ll let your lady know that you’re awake.”
Rocco relaxed into the pillows and stretched his legs out. He looked like a giant in the modest sized hospital bed. He fell back against the pillows and turned his eyes towards the ceiling. The baby is alright. Clyde and Hailey figured things out. Rocco raised his hand and set it on top of the middle of his chest. His heart fluttered underneath his palm, and he couldn’t remember the last time that he’d felt this vulnerable. I don’t think that I’ve felt like this much of a baby since Mariah’s death. He remembered then how he couldn’t believe the way that he’d just fallen into Clyde’s arms.
Footsteps approaching the doorway pulled Rocco out of his thoughts. Hailey stood in the doorway with an apple and a bagel in her hands. She smiled sheepishly and hurried over to the side of the bed. A thin, dark grey t-shirt clung to her lower belly. The top of the shirt curved around her full breasts, which Rocco got a glimpse of as she leaned over to set her food on his end table.
“You’re awake,” she breathed. Hailey crossed one leg over the other and reached over. She squeezed his hand and said, “You’re so strong, I can’t believe that you’re already awake.”
Rocco shook his head. “It feels like I’ve been asleep for three years.”
Hailey pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear and said, “You’ve been out for a little over a day. Anyone would after losing as much blood as you did. Clyde and I were so relieved when
we found out that you were going to be okay.”
Rocco knitted his eyebrows together and asked, “What happened? I don’t remember anything after Meish took a shot at you.”
Hailey sighed and lowered her eyes. She sat back against the coral chair and grabbed her bagel off of the end table. She took a bite and considered her words as she chewed. Hailey swallowed and said, “Meish hit you with the bullet, and you passed out almost instantly. I… panicked, and fumbled for your gun.”
Her voice cracked as she went on. “I tried to remember everything that you taught me, but I was so furious that I just pointed and shot.” Hailey lifted her eyes and tears spilled over her eyelids. “Rocco, I killed Meish. I know that he did some awful stuff to the both of us but I know that you might have thought of him as family at one point.” She curled her fingers into a small fist and rested her fist in between her breasts. “My father thinks of his guys like family, and he wouldn’t be able to look at anyone who tried to hurt any of his men,” Hailey’s voice was thick with tears. She dragged the back of her hand across her cheeks and said, “He’s dead.”
His Promise Page 20