by Simone Elise
“You have to be fucking kidding me.” Vivien’s eyes narrowed nastily at me immediately.
“Vivien,” I said dryly. “Always a pleasure.”
“How dare you. HOW dare YOU come here!” She sharply shoved me backward.
“What the fuck!”
“You have the cheek to come here after what you did. If you think you and your mutt of a family will get away with this, you’re wrong.”
“Again, WHAT THE FUCK!” I shoved her back. I had no idea what she was talking about, and I really wasn’t in the fucking mood to play a guessing game with her.
“You know what, you stupid club whore!” Fury covered her face, her sharp eyes wanting blood.
Brad’s arm whipped up between us, and he gently held me back.
“Back the fuck off.” Brad stepped in. He wasn’t the gentle, laughable, or friendly Brad right now. His facial expression was hard, his voice dripping with controlled rage.
“Yeah, get someone else to fight your fight. What a surprise,” Vivien snapped, seeming not fussed that Brad was standing there looking like a foaming bulldog ready to bite.
“If you’ve got something to say, spit it out, bitch.” I felt my control over my rage for her boiling over.
“Like you don’t know! Like you have no idea that Sebastian is in here beaten nearly to death because you went and told your father.”
I hadn’t told Dad anything; the less the club knew about their business, the better. But right now she was digging her own grave.
“That’s not on us.”
“As if.”
“Believe it or not Vivien, but I’m sure Sebastian has pissed off more people than just me.”
“Vivien,” An older man in a business suit stood behind her, likely her father.
“You must be one of the Harrison sisters.” He stood at his daughter’s side, forcing a false polite tone.
“Your daughter needs to back the fuck off.” I looked him directly in the eye. I wasn’t scared of him, and he couldn’t intimidate me, especially with the beast standing beside me.
His face clenched, and he took a dominating step forward. “Just let it be known that the Westbrooks don’t back down from a fight. What you did tonight, little girl, will cause a chain of reaction that your tiny whore mind couldn’t possibly wrap around.”
How fucking dare he.
I opened my mouth but was pushed back behind Brad before I could say anything.
“You’re threatening the wrong girl.”
The man laughed sharply. “The threat wasn’t limited to her. It was directed at the lot of you bottom feeders. Now if you’ll excuse us, I have a son to see.”
Brad didn’t say anything. Instead, he let the awful bad-mouthing man walk around us. Vivien made sure to give me a smug expression before following.
Grinding my teeth, I stepped up my pace, heading back in Dad’s direction.
“You’ve got some explaining to do, Abby.” Brad glanced down at me, his eyes still holding anger.
Thanks to Vivien.
“If I said it was nothing, would you believe me?” I looked back up at him.
“No.”
“If I said I was handling it, would you believe me?”
We paused at the waiting room door before entering.
“You don’t need to be handling shit. That’s why you have us. So if you’ve got something, Abby, you bring it to us. Not fucking go behind our back playing Robin Hood.”
Rolling my eyes, I pushed the waiting room door open, ending that conversation.
“Dad’s out,” Kim pounced immediately. “He’s in room four. I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Well, let’s go then.”
She linked her hand with mine, and I followed her back out.
Now I had two bikers to try and avoid. My night was really getting better by the moment.
***
Tubes ran down each of Dad’s arms; I had never seen him look so weak, so pale. He lay there, eyes shut, barely breathing. The only noise in the room was the continual beeping of the monitor to his left.
Kim and I sat on each side of him, both holding one of his hands. His touch was so cold, and all I wanted to do was warm him up.
The doctors had come in and given us a detailed, perhaps over-detailed debrief of Dad’s condition. The only words that really stood out to me were that he was still in bad shape and that they had done all they could.
“You think he can hear us?” Kim glanced across at me, teary-eyed.
I shrugged my shoulders.
I didn’t know.
If anything, I was still in shock. I had never seen Dad like this, and it terrified me.
“You girls want anything?” Reaper’s voice was soft and came from behind us.
Kim wiped her eyes and shook her head.
“No.” I turned to look at him and Brad, who were leaning against the wall. “You two don’t have to stay here, it’s late, and I don’t know about Kim, but I’m not planning on leaving him anytime soon.”
“We’re here for the night.” Reaper’s eyes locked with mine. “Though we do have to give the boys an update.”
I nodded my head and just when he was about to step out, there was a knock on the door.
It quietly opened and Trigger stepped in. His eyes searched the room till they landed on Kim.
“How’s he doing?”
Her face melted with relief, and I couldn’t help but smile gently at her. I knew what she was feeling right now, relief and safety, what I used to feel when my eyes landed on Reaper.
“He’s stable but still in a bad state,” Brad answered for us.
Trigger moved across the room till he was standing beside Kim, and he dropped down to his knees. “I just got back and heard, sorry it took me so long to get here.”
Kim cupped his face with her free hand and smiled. “It’s ok.”
He wiped away a tear that was running down her cheek, and while they shared a romantic moment, I glanced back at Reaper, only to find his eyes zoned in on me.
“I think I need another smoke.” I let go of Dad’s hand and stumbled up to my feet. “And some fresh air.”
Kim nodded her head. “Do you want me to come?”
“No, stay with Dad; I won’t be long.”
“I’ll come out with ya. It’s too late of a night to be by yourself out there.” Reaper stepped forward, giving me a look that I knew I couldn’t argue with.
Nodding my head, I scooped up my bag and walked out the door he was holding open for me.
Pausing, I looked back, locking my eyes with Brad.
“Can you come too? We should finish that conversation from before.” I didn’t have to add anything else than that for him to know what I was talking about.
Dad was sick. Right now would be a perfect time to strike an attack on his club. I wouldn’t have them going in blind. They needed to know the details, and if Vivien’s dad's threat was serious, then that made it more important that I tell them.
I wished I could have talked it over with Kim first, but right now she couldn’t deal with any more worry or stress. I had to handle it myself.
So I was going to, by telling the two men I trusted everything I knew.
Chapter 64
Abby
“All this time, you said nothing.” Reaper spoke harshly to me. “What the fuck were you thinking, keeping this shit to yourself?”
I had told both of them everything I knew; well, everything Kim and I had known. It was fair to say I was getting the third degree for keeping my mouth shut.
I crossed my arms and stepped out of a nurse’s way as we stood in the passageway outside Dad’s room.
“Keep your voice down or we’ll be thrown out,” I hissed back at him.
He scoffed loudly, but it was Brad’s intense, furious eyes that had me feeling like I was trapped.
“I’m telling you now,” I defended my actions.
“Because your old man is on his fucking death bed and you’re feeling guilty.” Re
aper ripped through me, not caring about my feelings. “You’ve started a shitstorm.”
“No, I found out about a shitstorm.” I corrected him and forced my emotions back. I wouldn’t let Reaper see me scared.
“Do you know who gave the kid the beating?” Brad asked, and I shrugged my shoulders in response.
“He’s a dick of a guy. Sure he has an arm length of people wanting to give him a beating.”
“So while Abby was being threatened, what the fuck were you doing?” Reaper turned to face Brad.
It wasn’t Brad’s fault. The last thing I wanted was to turn brother onto brother.
“There wasn’t much he could do,” I stood up for him.
“Back down Abby, don’t need you defending me.” Brad turned to face Reaper head on. “You got something you wanna say, brother?”
“Just saying if someone was threatening Abby openly in front of me, they wouldn’t be walking out of the hospital but getting a bed instead.”
“Would you two stop it?” I snapped in between them. “Fighting between yourselves does nothing. I wasn’t hurt; it wasn’t a big deal. Now can we just focus on what we do next?”
“Nothing.” Reaper’s eyes flickered back to me. “You do nothing. This is club business now.”
“Oh, really, and how is the club going to handle it when the President is in the hospital and the Vice President is a dickhead?”
Reaper narrowed his eyes at me.
“Not your concern.”
“It is my concern because I have to go to school with these arseholes.”
“The threat will be handled, you don’t have to worry about it.”
“You say that, yet I still don’t believe you.”
“Learn your fucking place!” Reaper roared down at me, taking a dominating step over me. “You don’t get a fucking say. You aren’t a member. We put up with you because of your old man and guess fucking what, right now he’s lying on his back, and the only place you have the right to be is by his fucking side. So back the fuck off and get the fuck in line, Abby.”
My stomach clenched tightly, and tears slowly coated my eyes.
I wrapped my arms around me and let my eyes fall to the ground, staring down at the patterned carpet.
I wished Dad was awake.
I walked around Reaper, and my hand landed on the handle of the door. I slipped back into the room, and by what I caught of Kim and Trigger, I had walked in on a moment.
But I didn’t care.
I couldn’t stay one more moment near Reaper.
I sat in the plastic chair and went back to holding Dad’s hand. If he was awake right now, he would have given Reaper a straight punch to the face for talking to me like that. I wiped away an angry tear and kept my eyes planted on Dad.
I never thought Reaper would speak to me like that. Sure, I had heard him speak to others like that, harshly, his words as sharp as knives. But I hadn’t ever expected him to speak to me like that.
Guess I was as stupid as he made me out to be.
“You ok?” Kim asked.
I didn’t pull my eyes away from Dad. “Fine.”
“You’re crying.”
“I just want Dad to wake up.”
Trigger moved from Kim’s side and whispered something before leaving the room quietly.
“He’ll wake up, Abby; he’s strong, and he won’t let a heart attack take him out.”
I nodded my head, pretending the tears that slid down my cheeks were for Dad and not out of embarrassment.
~
Kim had drifted off to sleep; how, I didn’t know. I still hadn’t been able to take my eyes off Dad. I watched intently, waiting for his chest to rise each time. I knew the next twenty-four hours were important; the doctor had made that part crystal clear.
I just wanted him to wake up.
The door opened quietly.
I squeezed my eyes shut tightly. Please don’t be Reaper.
A hand fell on my shoulder, and my body stiffened immediately.
“You ok?”
I relaxed. It was only Brad. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I twisted to look up at him. “Didn’t think you were still here.”
“I gave Reaper a spray for talking to you like that.” He dropped to his knees beside me. His voice deepened as he tried to speak quietly.
“I don’t care.” I cared a fucking lot.
“Shouldn’t have gone down like that.”
“I don’t care.” I kept my eyes on Dad’s rising chest.
“Abby,” his voice softened, and he gently turned my head to look at him. “I care, and I’m sure as hell your old man would have cared.”
I stared back at him, keeping my eyes empty of emotion. “I don’t care.”
I kept saying it, but that still didn’t mean I meant it.
Reaper’s words had whipped across me, and it hurt; it still hurt.
“Your old man being sick puts a lot of pressure on him. He walked away from a President patch; he never wanted the responsibility of it again. Suddenly he has it fucking dumped on him, and the safety of the President’s daughters is on the top of his list.”
“Don’t make excuses for him.” I turned my head back on to Dad. “Anyway, I don’t care.”
Brad’s leather crackled as he moved. “He’ll wake up.” He still had his hand on my shoulder, and when he didn’t lift it, I was glad.
Because right now I was scared of losing my dad.
“I hope so.” My voice was barely above a whisper. Tears filled my eyes for the second time tonight. “The last time we spoke, I was yelling at him.”
“Most of Roach’s conversations involve yelling.”
“But I started it.” I glanced away from Dad, meeting Brad’s smooth, kind eyes. “I can’t even remember what it was about.”
Brad ran a hand through his messy black hair and sighed slowly before he did something I hadn’t expected. He dipped his head, locking his eyes with mine. “Stop beating yourself up.” He cupped my cheek. “And fucking stop crying because it doesn’t suit you.” He wiped away a tear with his thumb.
I smiled weakly. “When did you become so soft?”
A smirk spread across his lips, “Can’t stop the charm when a pretty girl is involved.”
I didn’t know what I could call the feeling that engulfed me hearing that, but it was something that softened me and stopped my stomach swirling with nerves, and somehow, it gave me some relief.
Chapter 65
Abby
It had been twenty-six hours since Dad had come out of surgery, and he still hadn’t woken up.
“You girls need to go home, shower, get some sleep, and come back. You heard the doctor, it could be days before he wakes up,” Trigger attempted to reason with us.
The boys had left and came back this morning.
I hadn’t acknowledged Reaper, even though his presence in this room was causing me to suffocate.
“Trigger has a point, Abby,” Brad backed him up.
Kim had gotten a few broken hours of sleep last night. I couldn’t. The chair was uncomfortable.
I was too busy watching the nurse check Dad to look at them. But I would bet they were giving us a pleading smile to go with their convincing words.
“I’m fine,” I said, clipping my words. I didn’t want to talk to them. I was tired and angry.
“So am I.” Kim gave them her answer.
“You know,” the nurse turned to look at us, “I could arrange for another bed to be brought in here and perhaps if the girls really don’t want to leave, you could bring them a change of clothes. There is a full en-suite to the left, you both are more than welcome to use it.”
I blinked continually at her. Why hadn’t we thought of that?
“I like her idea better.” Kim said and twisted in her seat. “Could you organize someone to bring our clothes up? Cherry or Red could do it.”
There was a heavy sigh behind us. “Better than nothing,” Trigger muttered. “We’ll organize it.”
&
nbsp; “Abby, I need to speak to you.”
I didn’t need to turn around to know who was speaking to me. I knew that voice better than I knew my own.
“I’m not leaving Dad.”
“It will only take a minute, I promise.”
“Your promises don’t mean shit.”
Tension started to fill the air, and I was sure everyone was feeling it.
“Go, Abby. I’ll come get you if Dad moves or opens his eyes,” Kim said, trying to defuse the tension.
“Fine.” I dragged the plastic chair back and stood up, walking past him and out the room.
What could he possibly have to say to me? Yell at me some more?
He followed me out, closing the door behind him.
“Wanna walk with me to the waiting room?” His voice was softer, kinder. I glanced at him and he sure as hell looked a lot less stressed compared to last night.
He might have calmed down, but that didn’t mean I had. He had hurt my feelings, and I felt like a damn two-year-old admitting it.
“What do you want, Reaper?”
“You normally call me Kade.”
“You hate your first name.” I crossed my arms and kept stride with him.
He lightly grabbed my arm. “Not when you say it.”
It was like I was dealing with a completely different person compared to last night.
“What do you want?” I pressed when we entered the empty waiting room.
He sighed. “I need you to go see this Sebastian kid.”
“Thought it was club business now.”
“Abby.” He growled my name, using it as more of a warning. “Don’t be difficult.”
“You know what, Reaper? Maybe that is what I want to be, after how you spoke to me last night.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“No, you didn’t, and I don’t want to hear it now.”
“Really? Because it sounds like you’re holding onto it.”
“Maybe I just don’t like being spoken to like a piece of shit.”
“If you weren’t being so difficult, I wouldn’t have had to pull you in line.”
“And what line is that? The line of a President’s daughter? Am I only allowed to talk when spoken to?”
“Abby, stop it; you’re being stupid.” Annoyance flickered across his eyes.