by Kacee Kupser
“Yeah, I got this Pres” he answered without even looking up. He and Irish headed out, going back to the clubhouse to start scouring any video footage they could find.
Following them out, Joker and I found somewhere private to talk. “What do you think brother? Could this have been intentional?” I asked Joker after making sure there was no one else around.
“I don’t know Pres. This seems to be too big of a coincidence with everything that’s going on right now” he responded.
“I agree. Let me know what Techy finds from the surveillance as soon as you know. I don’t care what time it is or where I am.” I was determined we would figure out who the hell this was.
“You got it Beast.”
We headed back into the ER, I was still anxious to know what was going on with my woman. Making my way over to where Brenna’s family was seated, it wasn’t long before a nurse came through the doors. “Family of Brenna O’Reilly?”
Everly and her family stood up, Griff taking Inara from Danielle, who handed her over reluctantly, and we all walked up to the nurse.
“She’s still out, but she’s going to be okay. One of you can come back to see her now, but everyone else will have to wait until we get her up to the ward.”
I turned to her mom to tell her to go in, but she was already shaking her head at me. “She’s my baby, but she’s carrying your baby. You go in there. Just let us know how she is.”
“Thank you Shannon. I’ll come back out as soon as I can and give you an update.”
I turned away from them and followed behind the nurse. She stopped in front of a curtain that was closed off and put her arm out to stop me. I looked down at her expectantly. “Is there something the matter?”
“I just wanted to give you a head’s up. She and the baby are fine, the baby being so small it can survive a lot right now, but she doesn’t look great. We haven’t had time to clean her up from the accident so she’s very bruised and there is blood caked in her hair.”
I appreciated her warning, but I just wanted to get in to see my woman with my own eyes. I gave her a nod and she backed out of my way. When I pushed through the curtain my heartbeat finally started to slow down. I know she wasn’t totally out of the woods yet, but just seeing her lying peacefully in that bed took a huge weight off of my shoulders.
There was a chair beside her bed so I took a seat and picked her hand up in mine. The nurse must have told the doctor I was back here because he came in soon after I sat down. I went to stand up, but he waved me down.
“It’s okay. Stay seated. I’m Dr. Chan, I’ve been looking after your wife.”
I didn’t correct him, but I did stick out my hand to shake his. “Thanks for taking such good care of her doc. What can you tell me?”
He picked up the chart and double checked it before answering me. “Brenna has a head contusion and a possible concussion. We will be taking her to have a CT scan done now to confirm.”
“Okay, that’s not too bad. How come she’s still sleeping?” I just wanted to make sure that they were telling me everything.
He walked over to the IV and pointed to the bag hanging there. “We have her on saline to keep her hydrated and we’ve pumped her full of some powerful pain medication so that she can sleep through some of the pain. When she wakes up her head is going to be sore and the sleep she’s in will help.”
Okay that all made sense. “And the baby? It’s okay?”
Dr. Chan gave me a smile. “Yes, your baby is just fine. We did an internal ultrasound to check it out because there was some minor bleeding. Everything looks great, the baby’s heart beat is nice and strong. We’ll want her to come in every week for the foreseeable future to get checked out, but everything should be fine.”
I picked up Brenna’s hand and gave it a kiss, so thankful that everything would be all right. I let go of her hand and stood up, holding my hand out to shake the doctor’s hand again. “Thank you so much for taking care of my family doc. I really appreciate it.”
“Of course, I’m glad it all has a happy ending. We are going to take her for the CT scan and then move her to the ward. If you could go back to the waiting room, someone will come out to tell you where she is once we get her situated.”
I went back out to the waiting room and let her family know what the doctor told me. Once I knew she was going to be okay I decided to give my mom a call to let her know what was going on. She was shocked that she was going to be a grandmother and that I was in such a serious relationship without telling her, but said she would be down to the hospital right away.
My mom still hadn’t arrived by the time we went up to the ward to check on Bren, so I left Griff in the waiting room so he could show her up when she got there.
It was taking Brenna a long time to wake up and I was getting worried, but Dr. Chan reassured me that it was normal and she would wake up soon.
Chapter 32 – Brenna
My family stayed for quite some time, Inara curling up on the bed beside me. She was normally a very active little girl, but I could tell that she was worried about me. We hadn’t told her about the baby, but she obviously overhead something because as soon as she got on the bed she kissed my belly.
When Beast decided I had had enough he suggested they head home for a rest and come back later with some dinner. I thought that was a great idea; working at the hospital I knew the food for patient’s isn’t the greatest so I’d love whatever they brought. I was actually quite tired as well and could use a nap.
Once they left the only people left in the room were Beast and Everly. Marie had left soon after I woke up, promising to come see me once I was home. She didn’t want to overwhelm me with visitors and I wasn’t going to be in hospital long. If all went well I would be released in the morning.
Everly came up to the side of my bed and sat in the chair beside me, gently running her fingers through my hair, avoiding my wound. “You look tired. Go ahead and have a nap. We’ll be here when you wake up.”
Beast came up behind Ev and nodded at me. “Everly is right Baby Girl. Go ahead and have a nap. You probably need it and we aren’t going anywhere.”
Obviously my body was just waiting for permission to give in to my need for sleep. This time I don’t remember dreaming at all. I closed my eyes and the next thing I knew I was waking up to the delicious smell of my favourite food, my mom’s lasagne. It had me waking with a smile on my face.
“There’s my beautiful girl. How you doing sweetie?” My mom was sitting beside me setting up food for not just me, but everyone in the room. When I took a look around I saw that Everly and Joker were here, as well as Griff, the rest of my family and of course Beast.
“Wow, what’s everyone doing here?” If it was night time already then I slept all day, obviously I needed it because I felt so much better than when I woke up the first time.
My dad came up on the other side of the bed and sat in the chair that was now there. “We all wanted to see how you were doing and decided to bring you dinner. They weren’t going to let us all in here, but your sister called Cody and he got it all arranged. He’ll be here later, once his shift is over.”
God I loved these people. Still not sure why Griff is here, but if the look on Danielle’s face whenever she looks at him is any indication something might be going on there. I’d leave that puzzle for another day.
Once mom had finished dishing out dinner she sat down beside dad, leaving that side of the bed free for Beast to sit down. “Hey Bren, how you doing baby?”
I smiled at him. I loved waking up and seeing him, even if I was in the hospital when that happened. “I’m feeling okay thanks. My head is sore, but not anything I can’t handle.”
I tried to sit up a little higher on the bed so that I was in a more comfortable position to eat. I flinched at the movement, causing Beast to jump up and give me a hand. “I got you babe. You good?”
“Yeah, that’s perfect, thank you.” I started to cut into my lasagne, the smell making m
y mouth water. My mom made the best lasagne I had ever had and she knew I always want it when I don’t feel well.
Partway through dinner there was a knock on the door and before anyone could say come in Cody burst through the door, followed by a quiet Ethan. “Hello my love. How are you feeling?”
He pushed his way in front of Beast, leaning over the bed and gently pulling me into a hug. I couldn’t wrap my arms around him, because my hands were full of my cutlery, so I just grinned over his shoulder at Ethan who was standing there waiting his turn and silently laughing at his husband.
Cody pushed away and looked down at me. “Well, you are looking pretty damn good doll. Not sure what all the fuss was about.” He gave me a wink and backed away from the bed, walking over to my parents to greet them.
Ethan took Cody’s place, actually excusing himself before walking in front of Beast. He leaned in to give me a hug, whispering in my ear “He was worried sick about you sweetie. We both were. I’m glad you’re okay.”
Giving me a kiss on the cheek he backed away and went over to where Cody was talking to my parents. He gave my mom a kiss and took a plate of the lasagne she had set aside for them. She loved her boys, as she called them. She treated them like they were her own.
“Oh mamma, your famous lasagne. Brenna should have minor car accidents more often if this is what we get.” Ethan joked.
Beast growled beside me and I turned to him with a smile and put my hand out for his. He took his eyes off of Ethan and grabbed my hand. “He’s just joking Gray. He would never actually want anything to happen to me.”
Overhearing us Ethan responded, “oh goodness NO. I would never want anything to happen to our Bren. We love her, but we love her mamma and her mamma’s lasagne is famous so any chance we get to eat it we get excited.”
Still not looking happy Beast gave him a nod and went back to eating his food one handed, keeping hold of my hand. It made it difficult for me to eat, but if he needed the contact I was okay with that.
Once everyone had finished their meal my family started to head out, every one of them stopping at my bedside to give me a hug before they left. Griff started to leave, but was stopped by Beast “Prospect.”
He stopped in the doorway with Inara in his arms. “Just walking them to their car and seeing them off. I’ll be back to sit outside once they are safely away.”
Looking over at Beast he gave Griff a nod and watched him leave. Once we were alone he came over to me in the bed and put his arms underneath me, gently lifting me up and moving me over in the bed so that he could get in beside me. “Gray, there isn’t a lot of room in this bed.”
Once he got himself settled he pulled me over so that I was lying on top of his chest. “It’s all good Baby Girl. You can just lie on top of me and use me as your pillow. I’m not spending another night without being in bed beside you.”
I got myself settled in and wrapped my arm around him, squeezing him to me. “I love you Grayson.” I couldn’t look up to see his reaction, I was freaking out about what he was thinking, but I couldn’t hold it in any longer. This accident was an eye opener and I didn’t want to waste any more time holding in my feelings. I know we hadn’t been together long at all, really only a couple of weeks, but I couldn’t imagine my life without him and I needed him to know that.
“Bren look at me.” Beast tried to get me to lift my chin and look up at him, but it wasn’t easy from the position we were in. I just shook my head and squeezed him tighter. “Baby, look at me.”
I turned my eyes up towards him only to see him smiling at me. “I love you too Bren.”
I started shaking my head at him, I didn’t want him to just say it because I said it. “You don’t just have to say that Beast.”
Beast sat up and rolled me underneath him. He looked down at me, resting his forehead to mine. “Brenna O’Reilly, how many times do I have to tell you I’m in this? I’m not just in this because you are the sexiest woman I have ever seen, or because you are carrying my baby. I’m in this because I love you. I love holding you in my arms as we sleep at night, I love taking care of you in the morning and making you breakfast, I love just spending time with you.”
Every time he said why he loved me my smile got bigger and bigger. “You love me that much, huh?”
“You better believe it baby. There are going to be some changes too. We need to pick a place to live, you choose. Your house, my house, or hell we can sell them both and start from scratch.”
I started to giggle underneath him. He’d lost his mind and I loved it! “You’re crazy. We’re spending every night together as it is, why do we have to change what’s working?”
He pulled away from me with a look of determination on his face. “Bren, you don’t get it yet do you? I’m not going anywhere. There’s no point in keeping two houses so you pick which one you like more or we can start to look for a new one.”
“Okay Grayson. Whatever you say.” I loved when he got all bossy. If he wanted us to live together I sure as hell wasn’t going to argue with him, I’d save that for when I wanted to get my way.
Chapter 33 – Beast
Convincing Brenna that we were going to live together was a lot easier than I expected it to be. I wasn’t sure I could trust it, but for now I’d take what I could get.
We fell asleep in the tiny hospital bed, only to be woken up multiple times during the night by nurses checking Brenna’s vital signs. They weren’t too happy about me being in the bed with Bren, but they smartly didn’t say anything. I’m sure they knew they weren’t getting me out.
When the doctor came around the next morning on his rounds he let us know that Bren was doing great and was free to go home. Since my truck was out of commission and in the custody of the police department, one of the boys would be bringing a cage to pick us up and take us back to the clubhouse.
Once I got Brenna back to my room to lay down I called church and had all of the brothers in for a meeting to go over whatever information they were able to gather through the night.
Banging the gavel on the table I called everyone to order. “All right Techy, what’cha got for me brother?”
Looking up from his laptop Techy gave me a nod. “All right brothers, if you could all please look up to the screen. I have some footage from about five minutes before the hit and run until there was no longer any CCTV coverage.”
He hit some buttons on his laptop, starting up the video. It showed the black Dodge Ram that Griff described driving in from the south side of town and pulling over a block from the intersection. Once the light turned green, allowing me to drive through the intersection, the truck started driving, heading for the intersection, accelerating through the red light. Once they had hit us they immediately backed up and drove away, heading towards the north side of town. The cameras followed them for 15 miles and then the footage abruptly stopped.
Seeing it from the outside was almost as bad as being there. “Okay, so we know which direction they came from, which way they went and that it was intentional. Anything else you could get out of the video footage?”
Techy hit a few more buttons and a picture came up on the screen. “I was able to zoom in on the truck as it drove away. There was a driver and a passenger, both appearing male. When I focus in on them, they have masks covering their faces, but they also seem to be wearing kuttes.”
That gave me pause. We didn’t have any rival MCs in the area. As far as I knew the only other club within miles was the Cursed Bastards. “What can you tell me about their kuttes? Is it a club we know?”
He pulled up another picture on the screen, but it was so blurry it was hard to make out any detail. The Cursed Bastards kuttes had a grinning skull as part of their design. This kutte had a full skeleton, not just the skull. I look around the room and see all of the brothers focusing on the screen. “Does anyone recognize the kutte?”
Irish was the only one to speak up. “I’ve never seen it before, but I sent it out to some of my contacts and
as far as we can tell the kutte belongs to the Ruthless Rebels MC.”
Techy filled in the gaps. He’d obviously been busy. “They are based out of a small town on the border of Nevada. They are into drug running and as far as we can tell they are looking to change their route up to Canada. Cutting through our territory would save them a significant amount of time.”
I mulled this information over. Now that we knew who had been in our territory taunting us it was time to put an end to it and them. It was one thing when they were messing with our businesses, but it was another when they start messing with our families. That was a declaration of war.
“Joker, Irish, you guys got anything on their whereabouts?” I looked at my VP and SAA expectantly. Irish is a former Ranger so his tracking skills are a cut above everyone else’s at the table.
“Afraid not Pres. We have men out scouring the area where the cameras lost them and have put the word out that we want information.” Joker responded.