“Hi, guys. How are you doing?”
Colt shook his head. “After all the shit you've gone through you're asking us if we're okay?”
I smiled and lowered my gaze to the cast on my arm. Delilah had created a tattoo design made up of mine and Six's names and it saddened me to know I would never get the chance to have it on my skin. I would keep the cast as a memento of what could have been if Six hadn't lost his sight on account of my stupidity.
The tattoo was so beautiful. Two intertwined wolves with hearts and stars surrounding them and our names wrapping around them. She had somehow managed to capture both of our personalities in the images. The fact that I had considered him the big bad wolf now made me smile. Hindsight can be so cruel.
So very cruel.
Colt spoke again. “Look, we need to talk to you about something.” I glanced back up and watched as Dee and Colt exchanged furtive glances.
I nodded. “Okay. What's up?”
Colt took a deep breath. I'd never seen him look so nervous. “We were wondering... Tyler kind of has no one now. Zak killed his dad before he took you and now he'll be in prison for a hell of a long time. So...we were thinking...”
I smiled. “I think you should take Tyler in. Look after him. He needs family and friends. He's only nineteen after all.”
Delilah whacked Colt's arm. “See, told you that's what she'd say, dumb-ass.”
He shrugged at her. “Hey, I was just trying to be fair and all.” Turning back to me he leaned forward. “You sure you're okay with it?”
“Absolutely. Tyler helped us all. If it hadn't been for him I think maybe the end of all this would have been very different.”
“Great. Great. I didn't want to just go ahead. You know out of respect.” Colt's cheeks flushed and I was shocked at him appearing so vulnerable.
My friend Ellie appeared in the doorway. She snorted derisively. “Respect? That's a frickin' joke if I ever heard one. I bet you can't even spell the damn word never mind know what it means.” Her voice and choice of words caused a thickening in the atmosphere of the room and I was horrified at her attitude. “If it wasn't for you and your stupid club, Chloe wouldn't have gotten mixed up in all this shit.”
I gasped, absolutely horrified at her outburst. “Eleanor Cassidy. Please stop with the hostility.”
Delilah stood and stepped toward my friend and my heart began to race. The sneer on Dee's face told me all hell was about to break loose. Thankfully, Colt grabbed her arm and shook his head. With apparent reluctance she dropped back into her chair but kept her fierce gaze trained on Ellie.
Ellie turned her stare on me. “Chloe, I'm only speaking the truth. You're my best friend and I hate to see what you go through because of these...these animals.”
I clenched my jaw and anger bubbled up inside of me. She had my best interests at heart but her insults were uncalled for.
Colt stood and held out his hand toward Ellie. “Miss Cassidy? Is that right? Eamon Cassidy's daughter?”
Ellie turned her stare on Colt and to my surprise she shook his hand as her cheeks colored cerise. “That's right. What of it?” She stiffened her back and tilted her chin up with an air of haughtiness.
Colt smiled and rubbed his stubbled chin. “I've spent the odd night at your father's hotel when my wife kicked me out.”
With a distinct note of defiance in her voice she replied, “Sounds to me like your wife is a sensible woman.”
The smile quickly faded from Colt's face and my heart squeezed. He nodded. “She was. Sadly Maria passed away four years ago now.”
Ellie's eyes widened and she swallowed as her cheeks brightened further. “Oh...I'm...I didn't mean...I'm sorry, I—”
Colt held up his hand. “Don't sweat it, Red. You weren't to know.”
In that second my anger at her dissipated, and she turned to face me once more. “Chloe...I think I'll come back later. I'm...sorry for my outburst. Really I am.” She turned and hurried out of the room as quick as her legs would carry her.
Colt watched her retreating form with a grin. “Got yourself a real fireball for a best friend there, CD.” He chuckled and I noticed a glint of amusement in his eyes.
I sighed half in relief that the atmosphere had improved and half at the name he had used for me. “So you're all calling me CD now huh?”
Six
It seemed that us CoSMiC guys were making some kind of habit of waking up in hospitals. It was no surprise that I had my own damn room. It should've had the CoSMiC logo on the frickin' door.
The bandage on my head was itching like crazy and I was desperate to relieve that, but a nurse had been in when I had woken and had told me to try and avoid scratching the stitches at all costs. Can't even scratch my own goddamn head when I want. Sheesh!
She told me that the doctor would come and explain everything which puzzled me. What did he need to explain? Some psycho bastard had shot me and I wound up in the hospital.
She must have seen the confusion in my face. She smiled warmly. “There are things he'll need to discuss with you. You've been in a medically induced coma for a while now and there have been tests carried out while you've been sleeping.”
Her attempts at explaining didn't really help and I was getting more irritated by the second. The bandage covered my right eye too which was damned frustrating seeing as the vision in the left was a little blurry, apparently on account of the head trauma. I could see but it was like I was drunk or something. If only that was the damn issue. At least that way I would've had fun getting this way. I couldn't wait to get the damn bandage off and get back to normal.
Whatever normal was.
I think I'd been awake maybe around an hour or so when the doc had come to explain the reason for me being in there. He babbled on about comas and surgery, bullet fragments and stitches. I listened but all I could think about was Chloe.
“Can you tell me anything about the girl who was brought in with me? Chloe Meyer... Is she okay? She was...kind of dazed. Like she wasn't really there. I just want to know she's okay. She doesn't have to come see me. I guess she won't want to but—”
“Mr. Navarro she's fine. She visited you a couple of times actually. Obviously, I can't discuss her case with you in detail but...I can tell you that she had some trauma induced confusion to begin with, but she is absolutely fine now. I do, however, need to speak to you about another matter. A serious, life-changing matter.”
Oh great. I can tell I'm not gonna like this. “Yeah? What's that?”
He sat on the chair beside my bed. “I'm afraid that you appear to have lost the sight in your right eye.” Fuck. My brow automatically crumpled at his words but it hurt like a bitch. The doc paused and seemed to be allowing his words to sink in.
I opened and closed my mouth several times. “For real? But...how? I don't...” The words just wouldn't come.
He steepled his fingers and rested his chin on them before he continued. “We were hoping that the surgery we carried out would have relieved the build-up of pressure and that once the swelling had subsided your sight would return. However...from further tests we've carried out that appears not to be the case. The damage is too grave although you were very fortunate in that the bullet didn't lodge inside your skull as the damage could have been far worse. Unfortunately, Mr. Navarro... you will probably not regain the sight in the eye which was jolted at the time of the shooting.”
I nodded slowly, letting the news rattle around my sore head as my stomach tightened with anxiety.
“Do I look...does it look fucked up? Am I gonna scare kids and old ladies?”
The doc smiled. “You're healing pretty well externally. There will be some permanent scarring but I feel that is maybe the least of your worries. It may take time for you to adjust. You may need counseling.”
“Hey, I'm a tough cookie. Don't worry about that shit. I got another eye right? This one's okay isn't it?” I pointed at my left, slightly blurry 'good' eye.
“Yes Mr. Navarro, you
r left eye will return to normal very soon. Do you have any questions about what I've told you? Do you need to speak to—”
Then panic struck. “Fuck. The bike? What about riding my bike?”
He seemed amused by my outburst. “You'll need to undergo thorough checking and assessment here while you're in hospital. And then once you're discharged we'll need to report to the DMV but, provided your assessments show that you won't be a danger to yourself or other road users, there is a possibility that you can still ride. Is that your main concern?”
I exhaled in a loud huff. “Fuck yeah. Jeez.” I glanced down to find my hand over my heart where it had begun to race at the thought of losing my bike and my sense of freedom.
A huge wave of relief washed over me and I closed my good eye briefly. If I could still ride I could cope. I could deal. I just had to make sure that I passed those tests. And I had to hope and pray that Chloe would still want me if I looked like some kind of Frankenstein creation.
Chloe
Being allowed to walk by myself again meant that I could go home. I had fought the urge to go visit Six before I left and it had taken everything for me to walk out without seeing him, but I had to do it. I couldn't intrude. It would've broken my heart all over again if I he had asked me to leave and I just couldn't go through that.
Colt and Dee picked me up from the hospital and Ellie was at my apartment when we got back. She had brought enough Chinese food to feed an army and so Colt and Dee joined us for the meal.
As we ate we made very light small talk but I could see Ellie making furtive glances at Colt. Something was on her mind.
Eventually, she plucked up the courage to speak. “Colt...I want to apologize again for what I said about your wife at the hospital. I felt terrible when I left and it's plagued me ever since. I really should learn to think before I speak.”
Colt took a swig from his beer bottle and shook his head. “Like I said, Red, don't sweat it. You didn't know. And it's a long time ago that I lost her so it's not as raw as it once was.”
“Well I'm very sorry for your loss.”
He watched her from the opposite side of the table and something unreadable seemed to pass between them. For a moment I felt like Dee and I were intruding by being present and I made a mental note to interrogate Ellie later.
Once Colt and Dee had gone, and Ellie and I had washed the dishes, we sat on my couch—me with my soda thanks to the pain meds and Ellie drinking wine.
“Okay, Ellie, what the hell was that back there with you and Colt?”
She snorted derisively. “What? What back there? I don't know what you mean.”
“You shared a moment.”
She scrunched her brow. “Oh please. Seriously? Come on, Chloe. You know me better than that. I was simply offering my condolences. The guy's wife died.” She took a long glug of her wine.
I shrugged. “If you say so.” I couldn't keep the smirk from my face.
She placed her glass down and regarded me with a stern stare. “What? You think I'm hot for the guy? Is that it?”
I pursed my lips and shrugged again as I drank from my glass.
As Shakespeare might say, the lady carried on protesting a little too much. “Well I can tell you one hundred percent that old guys are not my thing. Okay? And old guy bikers are so far from being my thing that I... Urgh, I can't even believe you'd think that. Jeez. You know my opinion on those people. Shit, Chloe, do you know me at all?”
I know you better than you apparently know yourself, Ellie...
I smiled and topped up her glass.
Considering I had only suffered a broken wrist in the incident, I think forcing me to be pushed around in a chair for weeks had been overkill. Being home and having my independence back was great. The appointments with the psychologist who had been assessing me for PTSD had helped me come to terms with some of what had happened but I had a long way to go.
Colt had told me that he had shot Zak in the leg just as the sick bastard had fired at Six, but that he hadn't shot to kill as he wanted Zak to be held accountable for what he'd done. I was relieved that no one else had died and knowing that my assailant was in prison until his trial, but that there was a very good chance he would get life imprisonment gave me a little peace back. He was a danger to the public and bail had been set so high that no one would be able to afford it. Add to that the fact that Loki's Legion had completely disowned him and had severed all ties to him and his actions meant he had no chance of getting out any time soon, and if for some reason he did get out he'd have nowhere to go.
It still weighed on my heart that I hadn't been to see Six since I had was told they had woken him from his coma. It was maybe a cowardly move but I just couldn't face him. The possibility of rejection was too much to bear. The more I thought everything through, the more all the hopes I'd had of him wanting me back were fading. And somehow it was better to never know than to have him send me away for good.
My wrist was still in a cast but I was told it was healing well. And in the two days I had been home I had figured out ways to get myself dressed without too much hassle. Colt and Dee had been keeping a regular check on me and so had Ellie. Despite my unwillingness to go see Six, Dee was updating me with how he was doing.
I was relieved to know that he handled his loss of sight so well. But the guilt at him being blinded in one eye because of me was just too much to take. I had considered leaving Utah again and moving back home to my mom, but after what had happened I knew she'd cluck around me like a mother hen in her new found matronly way. It was strange how she had been pretty darn useless as a mom when I was growing up, but now that I was an adult she was making up for lost time.
No, I needed to stay in Rose Acres and complete my course and then I could maybe consider leaving.
Chapter Forty-Five
Six
Getting used to only having sight in one eye was taking some doing. And it was driving me crazy most of the time. But having said that, I know that if I had to do it all over again I wouldn't hesitate. Not for one second. Am I the only one getting a sense of deja vu here?
Anyway, the fact that Chloe had been avoiding me just fucking hurt. Not because I felt she owed me. But simply because I wanted her to want to see me and she clearly didn't. Dee told me that it was guilt stopping her from visiting. But she had nothing to feel guilty for and that's why I guessed it was more than that. Maybe she couldn't stand the thought of seeing me, period. Maybe she was sticking to the opinion that we were somehow wrong for each other. Hell, even if we were just friends it would have to be enough. It'd be something. I just wanted to see her.
I decided that once I was out of hospital, I was going around to see what the hell was wrong. When the day arrived, I wasn't up to driving yet and so Dee, being the amazing person she is, dropped me just down the block from Chloe's building. I didn't want to look completely useless by getting dropped at the door.
I'm a guy.
We have pride you know.
Once I had walked the short distance, I stared up at her floor and listened to the blood rushing in my ears as panic set in. What if she wouldn't open the door? Shit, what would I do then? Maybe she'd be horrified when she saw me. Or at least when saw my head and my eye patch.
I'd had Dee shave the left side of my head to match the right. Come on, I didn't want to look all odd and shit. And then she had given me a pretty fucking awesome Celtic wolf tattoo on the side of my noggin—the side that didn't have the stitches, obviously. The ink was a kind of throwback to Chloe's insinuation that I was the big bad wolf, even though I was a fucking teddy bear where she was concerned.
I thought I looked pretty cool to be honest. I'd even go so far as to say bad-ass with my long floppy mohawk. But I guess I wasn't everyone's cup of Joe to begin with so my new look was bound to get a strong reaction. I just hoped it was a positive one.
Joking aside, the eye patch wasn't permanent. It was just a temporary measure while my body recovered from the surgery. And
I could grow my hair back in to cover the ink and the bullet scar, if it freaked Chloe out too much. I'd be willing to do whatever it took. But right then I did look like I'd been in a war zone. And I suppose in a way I had when you consider I'd been shot in the head as I ran away from a crazy person.
Six Navarro, you are a grown-ass man so stop acting like a fuckin' pussy. Come on. You can do this. Just walk up to her floor...or...or go in the elevator, that could work too. But just fucking do it.
Mentally pulling up my big-boy panties, I made my way over to the entrance. The same old lady who had been coming out last time I was here, was half way through the door. I expected her to run in the opposite direction when she saw me, but instead the old dear smiled.
She reached out and patted my arm. “Oh hello, young man. You'll be happy to know Chloe is in today. I hope you're feeling better now.” And with that she held the door for me to walk through and wandered off down the road singing some old tune about bluebirds that I didn't recognize.
Go figure.
They say don't judge a book by its cover and I guess that experience right there was proof that some folks don't.
I hit the call button on the elevator and waited. When the doors opened I was greeted by multiples of my horrific reflection, hindered further by the harsh lighting. Jeez. Maybe I should turn right around and go on home. Gritting my teeth with a determination that came from God knows where, I stepped in and hit the button for Chloe's floor.
Once up there, I stood outside her door trying to figure out what the hell I could say to her. And wondering why I hadn't taken Dee's advice and bought her flowers or something. But here I was empty handed, bruised, scarred and battered. Handsome devil I wasn't. But then again I never considered myself good looking anyways. I absently wondered who had repaired the door properly for her, but guessed that Colt or Dee would have had something to do with it.
Six: Company of Sinners MC #2 Page 24