Dash (Blackwings MC Book 1)

by Teagan Brooks

  “Fine. Let’s eat,” I grumbled.

  We finished our dinner in silence. The entire time we were eating, not a soul came or went. It was eerily quiet and I started to get a little freaked out. Where was everyone?

  “I’m going to go knock on Phoenix’s door and see if he is in there.”

  She nodded so I knew she heard me, but she continued to stare off into space. I should have asked her what was wrong and made her talk to me, but I had a strong feeling that something wasn’t right, which meant Reese’s issues would have to wait.

  Phoenix didn’t answer the door when I knocked and it didn’t sound like anyone was in there. I was going to check, but the door was locked.

  I walked down the hallway to see if anyone was around. All the brothers’ doors were closed and no sounds were coming from any of the rooms.

  Once I got back to the common room, Reese was gone. What was with the disappearing act? I was really starting to feel creeped out at this point. I knew I was safe in the clubhouse, or at least I thought I was, but I didn’t particularly like being left all alone, especially when it felt like something was going on.

  On the way back to my room, I decided to knock on Dash’s door. I figured he would be gone just like everyone else, so I jumped back when the door opened, “You scared me!”

  “How did I scare you when you knocked on my door?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.

  “I didn’t expect you to answer. Where is everyone?”

  He looked at me like I’d grown a second head, but then he answered, “Most of the brothers rode out a couple of hours ago. Me and Carbon stayed here with the prospects to watch over you and Reese.”

  I crossed my arms, “How are you watching over me and Reese when this is the first I have seen of you?”

  He smirked at me, “One, I don’t have to see you to hear you scream. Two, I’ve got this,” he held his phone out to me.

  I took it from him and saw four little squares on the screen. One was the common room, one was the front gates, and the other two were each hallway. “So you’ve been watching these for the last few hours?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Then where is Reese?” I challenged.

  “In Carbon’s room.”

  “Oh.” He just took the wind right out of my sails. I don’t know why, but I felt tense and nervous and I really wanted to argue with him. I huffed and turned toward my room. “See ya.”

  I felt his hand circle around my upper arm before I was pulled back to him. “Something the matter, darlin’?” he asked, his mouth far too close to my ear.

  “No, I just wanted to know where everyone was,” I answered shakily.

  “I think you’re looking for a fight.” He placed his mouth right next to my ear, “You need to release some tension, baby?” Oh man, his warm breath felt good on my skin, and he smelled so good, and he… “You want me to help you with that?” Huh? Why was he talking? Oh…

  “What do you mean? How would you do that?”

  He laughed and stepped back from me. “I have many different ways, but this time I was referring to grappling or sparring in the ring. Didn’t you say you had some hand-to-hand training?”

  Oh, goody, goody gumdrops! I loved to get in the ring. I was practically vibrating with energy and my voice came out a lot louder than I intended, “Sounds great! Let’s go!”

  “Hold up, princess. Aren’t you going to change?”

  Was he stupid? “Why would I change clothes? If someone attacks me, they aren’t going to let me change clothes first.” I took a deep breath and hoped I wasn’t making a social faux pas, “Do you need to change clothes, princess?”

  The look on Dash’s face was priceless! I must have gotten that one right. “I was going to go easy on you, but now you’re in for it,” he threatened.

  I smiled to myself. Yeah, we’d see about that. “Bring it on, biker boy.”

  An hour later, Dash was laid out on his back, again, asking, “Where in the hell did you learn to fight like that? Seriously, I haven’t had my ass handed to me in years and you’re a girl!”

  “That’s a bit sexist don’t you think?”

  “It’s not sexist. It’s basic logistics. Men are typically bigger than women. Men generally carry more muscle mass; therefore, are generally stronger than women. In this particular instance, I am most certainly bigger and stronger than you. Regardless of your training, logistically, you shouldn’t be able to take me down, repeatedly.”

  “Yet I did, so ha!” Dash reached out, grabbed my ankle, and yanked. I landed on top of him so we were chest to chest. The next thing I knew, he had us rolled over with my arms pinned to the ground by his big hands.

  He looked down at me and ordered, “I’m sure you know a variety of ways to get out of this and any other time I would love for you to show me, but right now, don’t you dare move.” I was about to ask him why, when his lips crashed down onto mine. He was kissing me. He. Was. Kissing. Me. Crap, crap, crap. I didn’t know what to do. His tongue was licking at my lips. I opened my mouth to speak, but his tongue slid into my mouth before words could escape. Oh, I liked that. I decided I would just do what he did. I slid my tongue into his mouth and he groaned. That must have been a good sound because he started kissing me with more intensity. Yes, I liked this, a lot.

  He moved his hands to my hair while my arms circled around his neck of their own accord. He continued to kiss me, lightly biting my lower lip from time to time. He groaned again and pressed his body harder into mine. One of his hands slid down my body to my butt. He gave it a squeeze, then tilted my hips up toward him. He tugged on my hair, making my back arch and ground his hips into mine. I was completely lost in him and how amazing he felt like this.

  Suddenly, Dash pushed back and jumped to his feet. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and had the other hand held out to me. “Ember, get your ass up. Now.” Then, I heard it. The unmistakable rumble of multiple Harleys getting progressively louder.

  I quickly got to my feet. “I’ll, uh, just head back to my room.”

  He ran his hand through his dark hair and looked down at his feet, “Yeah. That’s probably best.”

  “Listen, Dash…”

  He cut me off. “Just go, Ember.”

  And so I did. I went back to my room, confused, a little hurt, and more unsure of myself than I’d ever been.

  CHAPTER 13

  Dash

  Fuck. Duke was missing and there I was, making out with my president’s daughter, when I was supposed to be watching over her and her friend. What the fuck was I thinking? Actually, I wasn’t thinking. I had wanted to fuck her from the moment I first saw her. Spending time with her had only increased that desire. I had her under me, I saw an opportunity, and I took it.

  I hated to do it, but I had to send her back to her room, or really, anywhere away from me so I could get my dick under control before Phoenix got here and strung me up by my balls for having my hands on his baby girl.

  I couldn’t help myself though. She was so damn beautiful. The way she was looking up at me with those big blue eyes, her mouth slightly parted in surprise from me pulling her down to the mat, but it was the way she took me down time and time again today that completely obliterated the last little bit of self-restraint that I had.

  Fuck, thinking about her wasn’t helping my dick behave.

  Trying to focus on anything other than her, I made my way into the clubhouse. I met a fuming Phoenix and a group of disgruntled brothers in the common room. “You find him?”

  “Fuck no! It’s like he just vanished. Byte is going to try to ping his cell phone. If that doesn’t give us anything, I’m going to have to call his sister.”

  Shit. Duke didn’t like for his sister to be upset. He went out of his way to keep her from worrying about anything. I’m not sure what it was, but something happened in the past that resulted in her emotional stability being fragile at best and Duke becoming über protective of her.

 
“Everything okay here while we were out?” Phoenix asked.

  “Yep. Reese is hanging out with Carbon and Ember is in her room. Prospects didn’t find anything when they were searching the grounds. I sent them to make some food. Figured you would be hungry when you got back.”

  “Thanks, brother. I’m going to my office for a bit. Byte, try to locate the cell phone and get back to me ASAP.”

  “Already on it, Prez.”

  ***

  It was early, really early, but most of the brothers were up. With Duke missing, I couldn’t sleep; I’m guessing the same was true for the others as well. I had just swallowed the last of my breakfast when Phoenix rounded the corner, “Church now!”

  We all dutifully followed him into the room and took our seats. Phoenix didn’t even bother to sit down. “After Byte was unable to get a location from Duke’s cell phone, I called Duke’s sister late last night. She hadn’t heard from him, but said she would call if she did hear anything.” He paused and looked to the floor. “She called just now. She got a call from Cedar Valley Regional Hospital a few minutes ago. Duke’s there and he’s in bad shape. Before you ask, I don’t know how bad or what happened. She’s a mess of course. She asked that only Dash and I come to the hospital right now. We’re going to take a cage, pick her up, and go now. Until I know more, travel in pairs and stay vigilant. Badger, watch over Ember and her friend.”

  Two hours later, the three of us were sitting in a private waiting room in the bowels of the hospital.

  Harper was barely holding herself together. “They only take you in these private rooms if it’s really bad. He’s either dead or they think he is going to be very soon.”

  She was right, but I didn’t want to believe it. Denial was the name of my game. “You don’t know that, Harper. There are a number of reasons they would bring us back here. Let’s try to not jump to any conclusions before we talk to someone who knows what’s going on.”

  Easier said than done. Three torturously long hours later, two people in blue scrubs walked into the waiting room. “Are you the family of John Wayne Jackson?” Any other time I would have laughed my ass off. The fucker better pull through because I couldn’t wait to give him shit about his name. John fucking Wayne. The Duke. Ha!

  Harper’s pleading voice brought me back to the present, “...just tell me if my brother is alive. You can explain it all after. Just tell me if he is alive!”

  Phoenix had his arm around her shoulder for comfort and I’m sure to help hold her up. The older doctor looked to Harper with kind eyes, “I’m sorry, ma’am. Yes, your brother is still alive. The next 24 hours will be very critical, but if he makes it through that, his chance of survival significantly increases.”

  She visibly sagged with relief, “What happened to him?”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know the details of what happened or how his injuries came to be, but I can go over his injuries with you and what we did to treat them. May I speak freely in front of these two gentlemen?”

  “Yes, of course, they’re his family, too. Please tell us.”

  He cleared his throat, “Mr. Jackson was brought into the ED unconscious. He incurred significant trauma to his head which caused intracranial bleeding and swelling. To prevent irreparable damage to the brain tissues, we took him into emergency surgery to stop the bleeding, remove the blood, and relieve the pressure. He is currently in a medically induced coma which we will attempt to bring him out of sometime in the next few days, barring any unforeseen complications. He has a tube down his throat to help him breathe and it will stay there until we wake him.”

  “When can I see him?”

  “He’ll be moved from the recovery room to the ICU within the next hour. As soon as he is in his new room, you can go see him. First, my colleague will go over the rest of his injuries.”

  Harper fell against Phoenix and wailed, “There’s more?”

  The other physician began to speak, “I’m Dr. Glassman, a trauma surgeon here at Cedar Valley. Mr. Jackson also had eight stab wounds, four on each side of his torso. Both of his lungs were punctured. We repaired a laceration to his liver and his colon, removed his spleen, and closed the other three stab wounds that miraculously managed to miss anything vital. I will be monitoring him closely for the next 24 hours to watch for any signs of further bleeding. We have him on strong antibiotics and will be giving him some blood to help replenish what he lost.”

  Harper completely lost it. She was sobbing uncontrollably and clinging to Phoenix for dear life. I looked at the trauma surgeon and asked, “Have the police been notified?”

  He nodded, “Yes. It’s hospital policy to report these types of injuries to the authorities. Since no one was here for them to speak with, the detective left his card with one of the nurses. He also said he would be back later this morning to see if the family had been found.”

  “Where did they find Duke, I mean John?”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to that. I was paged to the ED and we were taking him into surgery within minutes of getting the call. I’m sure the detective can answer that for you. I will say that the stab wounds appeared to be intentionally placed.”

  “What exactly does that mean?”

  “Well, multiple stab wounds are usually all over the place, with some vertical, some horizontal, or some diagonal. Mr. Jackson had four vertical stab wounds evenly spaced down the left side of his torso and the right side mirrored the left. I’ve never seen anything like it. I can’t say for sure, but I would guess that he was already unconscious when they occurred because the wounds are very straight and clean, no tissue tearing or jagged edges, which are commonly seen when one is trying to fight off or escape their attacker.”

  “Thank you, doctor. Both of you,” I said as I extended my hand to one then the other. Those words weren’t enough. Duke was one of my closest friends and these two men likely just saved his life.

  They both nodded and turned to Harper, “Do any of you have any other questions?”

  Harper was still somewhat hysterical so Phoenix answered, “I can’t think of anything right now. Can she see him now?”

  “I’ll go check and see if he has been moved to his room. If not, it shouldn’t be much longer.” Phoenix shook their hands while I tried to comfort Harper.

  As soon as we were alone, Phoenix asked, “What the fuck, brother? Eight damn stab wounds? Strategically placed? Who would have done this? Shit! We should have asked if he had his cut on.” He was pacing back and forth, hands tugging on his hair.

  “We can ask for his belongings if they aren’t in his room when he gets there. You know he was wearing it. You think somebody took it off of him?”

  “They would have had to in order to stab him like they did. Fuck man, we gotta find that and his damn bike. But first, I want a brother in or outside his room at all times and we’re going to move Harper to the clubhouse.”

  Harper’s head shot up. “No. I am not moving into the clubhouse,” she vehemently stated.

  “Sweetheart, we don’t know what happened to your brother other than somebody attacked him and damn near killed him. He would want us to make sure you are safe,” Phoenix explained softly.

  “Then put a tail on me, post one of your boys at my house, but I am not moving into the clubhouse.”

  Phoenix sighed and ran his hand down his face. “Will you give me two weeks? You can stay in Duke’s room and you can come to the hospital as much as you want. If we haven’t taken care of this within two weeks, you can go home and I’ll put a man on you.”

  She huffed and gritted out, “Fine. Two weeks and no more.”

  “Agreed. Good to see you with a little backbone, Harper,” Phoenix told her.

  She blushed and turned away from us. “Yeah, I’ve been working on it.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Ember

  I woke to an empty room. I guess Reese stayed in Carbon’s room last night. I was hoping she would have come back to the room before I fell asleep. I wante
d to talk to her about what happened with Dash. I needed to talk to her about what happened with Dash.

  When I went out to get breakfast, there were several bikers scattered around the room, but there seemed to be a quiet tension in the air. A quick glance around the room revealed no Reese, but Carbon was at a table in the very back corner. I made my way over to him. “Hey, have you seen Reese this morning?”

  “Yeah, she’s in my room sleeping. You need something?” he answered without taking his eyes off of his food.

  “No, I just wanted to check on her since she wasn’t there when I fell asleep last night or when I woke up this morning.”

  “She’ll be all right,” he said casually.

  “Why do you say that? Did something happen?”

  Carbon looked shocked, “You don’t know?”

  “Know what?” I almost yelled.

  “About Duke,” he said, as if I should know what he meant.

  “What about Duke?”

  “He was missing.”

  Was Carbon only capable of uttering one sentence at a time? I inhaled deeply and tried to keep my tone from showing my frustration, “Was missing. So he’s not now?”

  “No, he’s in the hospital right now, fighting for his life.”

  “What?!?” I screeched.

  “Yeah, Reese heard about him missing last night and was pretty upset, so she came to hang out in my room. She gets like that when things like this happen because of what happened to our family.” I had no idea what happened to their family but it wasn’t the time to ask. “Early this morning, Duke’s sister called to tell Phoenix that Duke was at the hospital having emergency surgery. They said it was bad, but I don’t know any more than that. When Reese found out, she cried herself to sleep in my room.”

  “Oh, wow, um, maybe I’ll just go check on her,” I hesitantly suggested. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to go into Carbon’s room. These bikers had a lot of rules and I hadn’t learned them all yet.

  “Nah, let her sleep. She’ll come out and talk when she’s ready. If you try to push her, she will shut down and I’ve seen that shit last for months before.”