Beginning of the Reckoning

by Vera Quinn

  A definite example of that is me not confronting B’s father with her existence. I know I need to grow a backbone and make that call or make a trip to let him know but with the way he treated me I just cannot do that. Dra said what happened between us was a mistake and that it should have never happened. He was more worried about how Callie would react to the situation than he was about how he was making me feel like a piece of crap. I gave him my virginity and he threw it back at me with contempt. I know he couldn’t physically throw it back but the way he handled the whole thing shattered any confidence I had. I come from a long line of strong women. Micah’s and my mom, Sylvia, sowed her wild oats when she was young. She left the ranch she was raised on and went to find the bright lights of the city. She ran straight into a hard-drinking partying biker. She went to his clubhouse and became one of their biker bitches. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around that the woman I knew as mom was a woman that spread her legs for all the bikers at the Rebellions 4 Blood clubhouse. That’s not the way she raised us or the type of life she led when I was growing up. Not that she shied away from telling us the truth about it once it came to light. No, my mom was a proud woman and owned her life no matter what she did. Aunt Deb, my mom’s sister, and the woman that helped raised us is the same way. Her husband cheated on her and then left when my mom returned home pregnant with no man in tow. Aunt Deb gave him a divorce and told him not to let the door hit him in the ass on the way out. I heard that story many times too. My grandpa Harold and grandma Lauren raised two strong women and I am proud to call them family. I know Betsy is only fifteen months old but I hope she has more of those ladies in her than me.

  Andrew “Dra” Draven is a chapter of my life that I wish I could delete but I wouldn’t do that because if I did I wouldn’t have Betsy. Dra is older than me and once he was the man my sister Callie loved. I can’t I understand the dynamic between the two of them. They loved each other and were married but Dra chose his club over my sister by faking his death. He tried to explain he was protecting the Troubled Fathoms MC but that didn’t stop the pain he caused my sister when she was already vulnerable. I don’t know how Callie got through all the things she has had to deal with in her life. The way Dra treated Callie even though he confessed his undying love for her should have been a big red flag to me and it was, but like a fool I ignored it. Dra has this silent brooding thing going on and you mix that with the bad boy tattoo thing he has going on and I was mesmerized by the all too gorgeous biker. When he whispered the dirty things in my ears I was a hot mess. I’d like to say I made Dra work for it but I would flat out be lying. I begged Dra to be with me. Lesson learned. I am not enough for any man. Not a man like Dra and I am woman enough to admit that he is it for me. I won’t settle for anyone else but I don’t have the backbone to fight for the man I want. I don’t even have the nerve to tell him about Betsy. I’m afraid he will think I was trying to trap him and I am not. I just hope when he finds out that he doesn’t hate me but then again it may be what I need to move on with my life. I just don’t want Betsy to be the one getting hurt because that baby owns me and I would kill anyone who threatens her happiness. I look at the wall and it is getting late. I need to try to sleep. It’s not like the thoughts in my head are going to change. I go around and around these thoughts all the time. I always come up with the same conclusion. One day at a time. That’s all I can do, take one day at a time.

  I wake up and I am cold. I ’m so cold that my teeth are chattering and my head feels worse than any hangover I have ever had. It feels like I have been hit with a sledgehammer. I see Hacksaw sitting in a chair beside my bed and he has his head laid on the bed. He can’t be comfortable. I look around the room and it is dark outside. I don’t know what happened. My head is hazy and I am trying to remember and then I remember I was in a closet or a storage room. I was bleeding and then I feel my leg does hurt but it’s kind of a fuzzy pain. I look and see I have an IV in my hand and that must be why I feel the pain but it’s not like it was when I was in the closet or wherever. I try to concentrate but it is hard. I remember shooting at someone following us but it wasn’t Hacksaw I was with it was Rome. Rome was driving my truck, yes, I am sure of it but why was Rome driving my truck and why was I shooting at someone? Then it comes to me. We were taking Tara to the doctor. I remember pushing Tara into the floorboard of my truck and I was shooting out my sliding glass window and then something hit us, and everything went black. The next thing I remember I was in the small dark room. I was bleeding and I found something to put on my leg but things went black after that. I look down at Hacksaw and I know I need to let him know I am awake but I just need a minute to breathe. My mouth is dry and I need another blanket. I reach for Hacksaw’s head but it is too far away. I try to move my leg to get his attention and he raises his head up and when he sees my eyes are open he smiles.

  “Sugar, you’re awake. Let me get the nurse.” Hacksaw stan ds up and he takes a step closer to me and bends down and kisses my head. I try not to move but even his slight touch hurts but his words make it all worth it. “Don’t ever scare the hell out of me like that again. I thought I had lost you without telling you that I love you.” Hacksaw pulls his head back and looks at me and I see the emotion in his eyes. “I love you, Joy, and I am never letting you go.”

  “I love you, too,” I try to get it out, but I’m not sure he can understand me through my chattering teeth.

  “Why are you talking like that? You said you loved me, right?” I see the concern and then he kisses my head again.

  “Yes, I do,” I answer Hacksaw.

  “I’ve got to get the nurse, you are burning up.” Hacksaw steps away from me and goes to my door and starts yelling. “Somebody get the hell in here! This woman is burning up!” I want to tell Hacksaw not to yell so loud but I can’t get it out. I see a man and a woman walk in and then the dark is back and I can’t hear or see anything.

  They pushed me out of J oy’s room and they have been in there for over half an hour and I am at my wits end. I knew something was wrong the way her skin felt so hot and her teeth were chattering but I didn’t know it could be serious. I am pacing and someone better come out here soon or I am going to tear this place apart.

  “Hacksaw, is everything alright?” Bourbon walks up behind me. I didn’t even hear him approach me. “Joy was talking to me and she went out. I think she had a fever , but they pushed me out of there and they haven’t come out to tell me anything,” I tell him. “How are the others? I haven’t left to check on anyone and I haven’t gotten an update.”

  “Tara lost the baby and when she woke up they had to give her a sedative to put her back out. Rome woke up from surgery and he should be out of here in a couple of days but when Tara’s doctor told him that she miscarried he lost his shit and they gave him a sedative too. Joey is being released now and Gully is still being looked at, something about his back. They are waiting for a specialist to come in and look at him. I think it is more of a precaution.” I am glad everyone is out of the woods medically, but I can’t even begin to understand the pain that Rome and Tara must be going through. “There was only one Possessed Blood Souls left alive. Devil is questioning him back at the clubhouse. They torched the building.” Bourbon is looking around to make sure no one is listening. He lowers his voice even more. “Chief’s clubhouse was hit but they were ready. I haven’t gotten another update on that situation yet.” I nod my head in understanding. I see a man walking out of the elevator and walk to the nurse’s station. The man is tall and the only word to describe it is huge, but he looks like a man with a purpose and he puts all my senses on alert. I watch him. I am pacing the hall but my eyes stay on the man. Bourbon notices me watching the man and stiffens. I don’t know what I am expecting out of the man but when he talks to the nurse she points to us. I know something is up and so does Bourbon. The man approaches me and Bourbon but stops a little way from us.

  “I have some information on the shootings this morning. At least I thin
k I do. The nurse said you were some of the people that came in.” I don’t like this man already. “Who are you and what do you have?” I don’t have the time to be patient. I want to know what is going on with my woman. The man starts to put his hands in his pockets.

  “You need to keep those hands where I can see them and not make any sudden moves or I will end you right here.” The man stiffens as I say it. “I don’t know you and our family has been attacked today so I don’t have a lot of trust right now and I am not taking any chances. I’m sure you can understand.” The man drops his hands but smiles.

  “I ca n understand that,” he tells me, but he sticks his hand out to me to shake but I just look at him, so he takes his hand back. Bourbon moves on the other side of the man. “Look. I am not here to cause any problems. I am trying to help. Let me start over. My name is Gentry Wilde and I am from Florida. I’ve rode a long way to get here.” Florida is where that Lisa woman and Becky were from.

  “Just tell what you’re here for,” Bourbon says. “Lisa Becker was my foster sister. I’ve known her since she was two years old and Crystal and Tim took me in from the streets. That girl has been causing havoc since she was young, and my search has led me here,” Gentry tells us. Now he has my attention.

  “Why do you think Lisa has caused us any trouble?” I keep my eyes trained on this man to see if he is lying. “I was south of the border on a case when Crystal contacted me about Becky’s death. I couldn’t drop what I was doing because it was time sensitive, so it took me a while to get back to the States. By the time I was back in Florida, Lisa had already bilked her parents out of over a hundred thousand dollars. She got another thirty thousand from Patricia and Dave Flowers, Becky’s parents and Becky had left her a twenty- thousand-dollar life insurance policy. Lisa is nothing but a user and she will milk whoever she can, for every dime she can. Crystal contacted me yesterday that Lisa was flying out of the country tonight.” I am trying to understand everything this man is saying.

  “Why should we believe anything you say? Why would you want to help us?” Bourbon asks the questions running through my mind. “ I am not trying to help you. I am helping Crystal and Tim. They are good people whose only sin is having hearts too big. They love Lisa beyond reason. They took children in when they found out that Crystal couldn’t have children. Some of the children like me were fostered and some they just took in from the streets and found homes for them. Lisa, they adopted, and she has been a handful,” Gentry tells us.

  “If she is such a handful then why doesn’t she have a record? We searched and nothing.” I question the man. “Maybe you are looking under the wrong name. Can we sit down? This is going to take a few minutes to explain.” I look back at Joy’s door and no one has come out. I point to the room across from us. We walk in and I sit so I can keep an eye on Joy’s door. Bourbon doesn’t sit, he stands by the doorway. Gentry sits across from me. We have the room to ourselves but he keeps his voice low.

  “Go on,” I say. “Lisa Becker used to be Lisa Black.” I look at Bourbon and he looks at me. “Crystal and Tim did not adopt Lisa until she was a teenager. They wanted to let her have the decisions if they adopted her or not. They loved her even if she decided to not let them adopt her. When she agreed, they changed her last name from Black and had all her records sealed. Her name had already changed once from Linden. I don’t know the particulars of that case. Crystal and Tim did not want to share and I haven’t been able to get the answers. They paid a mint for that but they were going to give her the life she deserved and they gave her chance after chance.” How could this woman fly under the radar like this? “Look, believe me or not. I am here to follow the leads to Lisa and try to help Becky’s parents get their daughter’s things.”

  “What’s your connection to Becky and which Black? You two have something going on?” Bourbon asks him. Gentry laughs. “No, Becky was a good girl and innocent in all this. She and her parents are hardworking people that Lisa used, and I like them. I just want to see justice for whatever happened to Becky. I think there might be more to it than what the cops and Lisa are saying. Trent Black was the name I was given, and he is in Texas, which is where I am going from here if I don’t get any leads here.” Gentry has a look of concern in his eyes and if he is lying, he is damn good at it. If I am right, Trent is Driller, but I am not asking Bourbon right now.

  “You said that Lisa’s mom contacted you yesterday that Lisa was leaving the country. Where is she going?” I ask Gentry. “Crystal said she and a male companion were flying into Canada for business and they were borrowing a private jet from one of Tim’s colleagues. That’s why Lisa called was to get Crystal to get the okay to use the jet.” I raise my eyebrow at Gentry. I know doctors make money but to own their own jet seems extreme.

  “Is the doctor doing more than healing people?” I know Gentry gets my meaning. Insurance scams and doctors writing fake prescriptions is a million dollar a year scam, if not more.

  “Crystal and Tim are both independently wealthy and have been all their lives . They come from old money on both sides of their families. They both went into the medical profession to make a difference in the world. I told you they are good people and that is the reason why Lisa can use them.” Gentry hesitates and then goes on. “But even Crystal couldn’t ignore Lisa’s odd behavior after Becky’s death. She went back to Florida for the funeral and started working Crystal and Tim for money which is normal, but the money she got from Becky’s parents was probably their life savings. None of them could understand how Becky could afford an insurance policy even though it wasn’t much or how Lisa got the insurance company to pay out before the case was closed on Becky’s death. That’s not normal procedure.” He’s right.

  “How do you know so much and what led you here?” I ask. “I’ve been following Lisa’s money trail. I’m a private investigator by profession and Lisa is leaving a trail a child could follow. She has book smarts but when it comes to common sense, not so much. I also got a call about an hour ago from Tom Denton that his jet left the airport with Lisa and three men. The flight manifest says they are landing in Quebec. Do you have any idea who she is traveling with?” Gentry is trying to get information. I don’t have any, or none I am sharing anyway.

  “How long are you going to be in town?” I ask and then go on. “I have a couple of people who may need to talk to you.” I know Devil will be paying him a visit, but I don’t need to give that information away just yet. “How did you know that we were who you needed to talk to?”

  “I stopped by Lisa and Becky’s apartment. I am boxing Becky’s personal belongings up. I have a moving company coming day after tomorrow to ship her things to Patricia and Dave’s in Florida. They gave me Becky’s keys, so I could get in and take care of everything. There was this guy named Sarge there looking around. He told me I could contact some of the Feral Steel MC here because you had some trouble and I figured that Lisa had to be involved since this guy was searching Lisa’s apartment.” I didn’t know Sarge was here. I wonder if Devil does. Gentry is turning out to be more help than I thought. I see the doctor walk out of Joy’s room.

  “Don’t leave town,” I tell Gentry and then look at Bourbon. “I need to go. Can you take care of this?” Then I walk up to the doctor without waiting for an answer. “Ms. Davidson is resting quietly now. Her fever spiked and caused her to have a seizure. There’s some infection around the gunshot wound on her leg so we are giving her intravenous antibiotics. She will need to be here while those are administered. The hematoma on the back of her head is massive and is swelling so we are watching that. She is going to have one heck of a headache for a while. We are watching for nausea, maybe blurred vision, or dizziness. She needs to only get up with help. We don’t want her injuring herself further. Ms. Davidson is going to be watched carefully.” The doctor is waiting for my reaction. I understand what he has said but I am waiting for him to tell me that my woman is going to be alright.

  “Is Joy going to be alright?” Th
e doctor smiles at me and then responds. “We are doing everything we can to make sure her prognosis is positive but only time will tell. You can go back in as soon as the nurses give you the go ahead. Any other questions?” the doctor asks.

  “Do you know how long she is going to be here?” I ask the one question he didn’t touch on. “The antibiotic treatment is three days and if she has had no more episodes or seizures and the hematoma goes down then maybe four days. I don’t want to send her home and have Ms. Davidson need to return for further treatment. It’s better to be on the safe side. Does that make sense?” The doctor starts to leave but I stop him.

  “Thank you for everything you’ve done,” I tell him. He smiles at me and walks away. I walk back over to where Bourbon is standing and I see that Gentry has left. “What do you think his angle is?” I ask Bourbon. “I don’t know but I texted Devil and Chief with what he told us. We need to get our hands on those adoption papers that Gentry was talking about because if it is true then Driller has a daughter and this situation just took a turn for the worse,” Bourbon tells me. “I’m going back to Tara’s room and I will check in on Rome. Slick has been waiting for him to wake up.” Bourbon turns and walks away and I am still watching Joy’s door and it finally opens and two nurses come out. I walk over and go back in through the door they just came out of. I see Joy in the bed sleeping and she looks almost as pale as the white sheets. I walk over and pull a chair next to her bed and sit down. I pick up her hand and bring it to my lips and kiss it. Her skin is cool now. Not burning hot like before. I should put her hand back but I can’t. I need to touch her. I need Joy to know even in her sleep that I am here and I am not going to be going anywhere. Where Joy is, is exactly where I am going to be. I love this woman and I am not letting her get away from me. Now I am just waiting for her to open her eyes and tell me she loves me again. I need it like I need my next breath.