Just because I'm old, doesn't mean I have to dress like I am none too patiently waiting for death.
That was what she told my mother when she had mistakingly bought her a house dress for Christmas.
I usually found my grandmother in slacks and a blouse, her makeup done, clip-on earrings at her lobes, some giant stone necklace around her throat. She didn't do stiletto-type heels, but she always had a little bit of height under her feet. And her hair was always dyed and curled.
So seeing her in a house dress with only socks on her feet and her gray roots around her forehead, her hair flat and lifeless, yeah, it showed me how unwell she really was.
"I'm sorry, Grams," I said, meaning it, feeling guilt down to my bones. "Moving got a little more... complicated than I thought," I said, and it was somewhat honest.
But I found that she was no longer looking at me. Her full attention was on the giant, hulking, stupidly good-looking man behind my shoulder.
Her keen blue eyes cut to me and a brow lifted. "Those manners of yours need some brushing up, dear."
"Right," I said, shaking my head, feeling way too chastised for a grown woman. "Sorry. Grandma, this is Duke. Duke, this is Patty Weber, my grandmother."
Then my grandmother did the damnedest thing. She held out her hand for him to take and freaking batted her eyes at him.
Duke moved out from behind me, touching my hip in the process and, if he wasn't a racist jackass, I would have found his constant need to touch me incredibly attractive and endearing. He moved beside the bed, taking her hand and giving it a little squeeze.
"Charmed, I'm sure," she said, giving him a saucy little smile and I realized for the first time that my grandmother was a dirty old flirt. I had never seen her with a man save for my grandfather and he died when I was too young to notice such things. But the woman obviously had more flirting skills than I did. "I'm so glad Penny has found herself a nice man. It's not healthy for a girl like her to be alone all the time."
"Grandma, we aren't..." I started to object, but Duke cut me off.
"All those afghans," he said with a conspirative smile that she bought right into.
"Knitting when she should be out dancing and dining and practicing making babies..."
"Grandma!" I shrieked, feeling my cheeks heat up immediately.
Now, granted, it wasn't exactly the first time my grandmother told me I needed to get laid. For an older lady, she was quite keen on the idea of "test driving before you buy" and she believed I should have put aside a lot more time to the art of finding a man. But she generally kept those conversations between the two of us.
"What? We're all adults here," she said, giving me a lip twitch that told me she was embarrassing me on purpose.
I had gone my whole life without having a parent do the 'embarrassing you in front of a new beau' thing. Mostly because I dated very sporadically and also because my parents were too detached to do such a thing.
My grandmother wanted to make up for lost time.
"Grandma, Duke and I are..."
"Very new," Duke interrupted, giving me a brow raise that said he dared me to contradict him.
And, given that my grandmother was sick and seemed tickled to see me with a man, I didn't have the heart to do it. This visit wasn't about me; it was about giving my grandmother whatever she needed to lift her spirits. So even if that meant fibbing a little, I was okay with that.
"So how's your hip feeling?" I asked, eager to turn the conversation.
She rolled her eyes, waving a hand. "They treat you like a bloody invalid when you break a hip, like it is any different than a leg or arm. Suddenly everyone is giving me calm tones like a dog about to be put down."
"I'm sure they're just trying to make you comfortable," I said, moving to sit down by her feet. Duke went to grab the chair from the corner and move it closer, but settled it beside her nightstand so he wasn't too much in her personal space. Not that I thought she would mind him in her personal space; her eyes kept moving over to drink him in. But it was considerate.
Damn him.
"Is it impossible for you to think badly of people?" she asked, shaking her head at me, but smiling.
Little did she know, I was having some pretty bad thoughts about the man in the room. Along with all of his friends.
"I am going to choose to believe that people who go into the medical field do it because they have a genuine urge to help people."
"You obviously have no idea what a doctor's salary is," she said with a smile. "Anyway, my hip is fine. They stuck some pins in me. I'm bionic now."
"Are you still taking the pain..."
"You are not going to visit with me for the first time since Christmas and ask me about pain medicine. I don't care that I am in a care center. Tell me about your man here instead. Better yet, you tell me," she said, turning to Duke.
"Not too much to tell, Patty," he said and her smile went dazzling. "Grew up in Arkansas. Had some differences of opinion with my family so I left. I've worked in construction since I was seventeen..."
"You have the look of a construction worker. They always have the best muscular build," she added and I brought a hand up to rub over my eyes, unbelievably uncomfortable watching my grandmother compliment Duke's muscular build. Granted it was true. I had seen all of those beautiful muscles. But still. "How did you and my little Penny here meet?"
His eyes cut to me then and he gave me a small smile. "She was lost. I gave her directions."
"To your bed, perhaps?" my grandmother pressed.
"Oh my God, stop," I demanded, but there was no use.
The next several hours went the same way.
And I got the pleasure of watching a man I was undeniably attracted to physically but disgusted by mentally charm my grandmother and discreetly get answers to the questions that she refused to answer me about her pain and pain medicine and how she was eating.
When we left late that afternoon, I had all the information I needed to feel better about her care.
"Come on," Duke said, opening the door. "We need to get back before it gets dark out. I'll feed you back at the compound."
Right.
The compound.
I had almost forgotten that that was an issue I needed to address.
When Duke got in and we got on the road, I swallowed the discomfort and hedged the subject.
"So when do you think I will be able to head back to my life?"
His eyes cut to mine for a second, something flashing across his eyes like maybe he was reading something into the words that I didn't mean to be there. "Well, I paid up your rent for the next two months just to be safe."
"You... you paid my rent for two months?" I sputtered, shaking my head. "Why?"
"Because I wanted you to be able to keep your apartment. It's not your fault that you got wrapped up in this. One thing though, before you move back in, you are letting me put a padlock on that door. Or fucking ten. Your super is a dick."
"Yeah but..."
"They're back early," Duke interrupted as we pulled up to the compound, parking beside another SUV to find Wolf and Renny there. Wolf's woman, the tiny, tattooed, dark-haired Janie, was there as well.
They had obviously both just gotten back, the men getting bags out of the trunk.
Duke parked and jumped out, club business obviously more important than what we had been discussing.
He was over by them before I could even unclip my belt.
I was just reaching for my door handle when Renny's voice yelled out, loud and worried, "Get down!"
I didn't even get a second to register that before I heard the gunshots.
The sound made my heart wedge into my throat as I did the unthinkable, I froze.
My eyes went to the group.
Duke and Renny ducked low, Duke's eyes on the street.
Janie found herself thrown behind her giant wall of a husband.
That wall, though, it wasn't bulletproof.
And I watched in complete
and utter horror as four bullets sliced into the flesh of his chest and stomach, the impact of each making his body jolt as the red exploded outward.
His body went down slowly and the sound of Janie's screaming was the most horrific sound I had ever heard in my life.
FOURTEEN
Penny
Everything happened in a blur.
I felt myself oddly detached from it all, like I was watching through a TV, not living it myself.
Not more than a minute after the shooting started, the backdoor to the car I was in was wrenched open and Renny and Duke were moving a still conscious Wolf inside. Janie and Renny jumped in the back with him, both pressing down on his wounds, as Duke got into the driver's seat and turned the car so fast I felt my stomach swirl ominously.
Then we were speeding.
I had never been in a car driving so fast in my entire life. My hands planted on the dash as I struggled to breathe through the smell of blood, heady and metallic, filling the car.
"Woman," Wolf's deep voice rumbled and I turned my neck to see him reaching one of his giant hands out to touch Janie's delicate face.
"Don't you fucking dare," she hissed at him, seeming to press her whole body weight into his chest. "You are not going to give me some bullshit last words right now, do you understand me? You are not going to die. That is not even an option. So don't."
"Stubborn," he said, giving her a smile that hurt my soul, his honey eyes taking her in like he would never see her again.
Unexpectedly, I felt tears sting at my eyes, prominent enough to blur my vision as I turned to look at Duke's profile. His eyes cut to me for the barest of seconds and I saw worry flash there.
"No no no no," Janie yelped from the back. "Wake up. Come on. Open your eyes," she demanded and I could hear her tapping his face to try to keep him conscious.
"Next turn, Jstorm," Duke said and reached into his pocket and threw a phone at me. "Get into my contacts and call Lo. Tell her we'll be at Navesink View. Then call Cash and tell him the same and tell him to call Reign."
"I..." I started, fumbling to hold the phone with shaking hands.
"Baby, please," he said and there was so much desperation in his voice that I watched as my fingers scrolled and I found Lo's name and hit dial.
"Duke, what's..."
"Lo, there was a shooting and Wolf was, um, shot. We're on our way to Navesink View."
There was the briefest of pauses. "Janie..." she said, her voice tortured and the call ended.
I scrolled again, finding Cash. "Where the fuck is everyone? There were gunshots and there's blood..." Cash started immediately, voice much more harsh than I had ever heard it before.
"Cash, it's Penny. Wolf was shot. We are almost," I started, then saw us pull up into the parking lot. "We're pulling up to the hospital. I called Lo. Duke said to call you to call..."
"I got it, honey," he said, voice no-nonsense and he ended the call just as Duke screeched to a stop and flew out of the car, running inside.
I watched as Duke, doctors, and nurses came running back out with a gurney. And I watched as Duke and Renny heaved Wolf's massive form out and onto it. And then I watched as a blood-covered Janie ran behind them and they disappeared inside.
Then I looked down at the phone in my hands, doing something I wasn't sure I had done since I was a small child. I prayed. I wasn't even sure what I believed in anymore, but I prayed to whatever higher power might be listening.
Because I had seen something between Wolf and Janie I had never seen in my life before. I saw two people genuinely, fully, completely, world-changing-ly in love with each other.
And while I didn't know much about either of them, I knew down to my bones that a love like that needed to be preserved, that death should not be allowed to separate it so soon.
I didn't even hear my door open.
But I felt a hand on my arm, firm but gentle, like only Duke seemed capable of.
My head turned and I felt for the first time how hard my body was shaking. "Penny, hey," he said as my eyes found his face and the tears started streaming down mercilessly.
"I'm sorry," I said, swatting the wetness away. "They're your friends. I have no business..." I said, shaking my head.
"Alright," Duke said, moving inward enough to grab me and drag me down. As soon as my feet hit the ground, he had me against his chest, one arm around my hips, the other hand sifting through my hair. "It's okay. He's tough. He'll get through this."
"He was unconscious," I added, blinking hard to try to stop the tears. I needed to get it together. These were his people and I had no business taking comfort from him when he needed it from me.
"I know. But that happens when you lose a lot of blood. They'll take him in, pop out the bullets, and stitch him right back up. He'll be one-wording Janie in a matter of hours."
"Duke," Renny called and it was enough to make me break away from Duke. Renny was standing in the open emergency room door, hands and forearms and shirt blood-stained. "Janie," he added and Duke nodded, reaching down to grab my hand and pulling me inside with him.
I understood what that meant the second we walked inside and the tiny scrap of a woman was shrieking at the security guard that was blocking her from being able to follow her husband.
"Listen, Miss. I need you to calm down," the guard tried, obviously sympathetic, but having his orders.
"I need you to shut up and get the fuck out of my way!"
"Janie," Renny tried, reaching out to touch her, but she yanked her hand away.
"No," she hissed. "No. You don't get to try to be all calm and tell me everything is going to be okay. I need to see him. Do you understand me? I need to see him. He can't..." she started, her voice catching on a sob.
My hand dropped Duke's and I moved forward, doing something that wasn't particularly characteristic of me, but there were times when even my usual aversion to touchy-feely-ness slipped. Watching and listening to a woman break down about her husband being shot four times? Yeah, that was one of those times. My arms went around her and she sank into me, her body shaking as she cried silently against me for a long moment.
"Gotta be fucking kidding me," Duke said, sounding pissed.
My head turned and I saw a tall, moderately attractive man walking up in a cheap suit. I knew very little about such things, but everything about him seemed to scream cop to me.
Janie snapped up, pulling away from me.
"Get the fuck out of here, Lloyd," Janie growled at him, no less intimidating with tears running down her cheeks.
Janie seemed like the kind of woman I would want to be if the world ended. She was small, but tough. And everything about her seemed to scream grit and capability. She would outlive the freaking cockroaches.
"Janie, this is standard..."
"Take your standard procedure and shove it up your fucking ass. My husband has four bullets in his chest and you're coming in here to interrogate me? Fuck you, asshole," she seethed, charging toward him.
"Easy there, Janie. I don't want to have to lock you up for assault while your husband is in the hospital."
Janie's face went a mask of pure, blind rage. "You take me to jail, I swear to Christ I will blow up..."
The rest of her sentence was cut off because Renny was suddenly behind her. One arm went around her small waist, yanking her back and off her feet as his other hand clamped down over her mouth.
"Blow up like a Thanksgiving balloon," he quickly covered. "Prison food is full of fat, you know," he added as Janie tried to wrestle away and speak through the gag.
"What is going on here?" Lo's very authoritative voice asked, clear as a bell, as she walked up, chin lifted, every molecule in her body tense as her eyes moved over Janie then landed and stayed on the Lloyd guy. "Detective Lloyd, I know you have taken sensitivity classes as part of your training. Is your memory so bad that you don't realize that interrogating a woman five minutes after her husband was wheeled into the hospital might perhaps be in bad taste?"
Lloyd seemed to sigh out a breath, looking up at the ceiling for a second like he was looking for strength. "Lo, you are not needed here. This has nothing to do with you. You weren't even there."
"No, but you have three other people standing here who were there and yet you immediately singled out Janie. Why don't you take their statements while I calm Janie down."
"By 'calm her down', do you mean coach her in what to say?" Lloyd pressed, his attitude clearly not helping the situation.
"Oh, Lloyd," Lo said, giving him a condescending smile. "If you think a single one of my people could possibly need coaching on how to talk to a police officer, then you don't know the first thing about how Hailstorm operates. Renny, let her go," she said and Renny lowered her down on the floor. "Come on, Jstorm, let's talk to the nurses instead of scream at them," she said, obviously knowing the woman well.
"Alright," Lloyd said, obviously annoyed at the turn of events. "Let me guess. None of you saw anything," Lloyd said, not even bothering to pull out his notepad.
"Black car, blackout windows, no plates," Renny answered immediately, surprising me. I don't know why, but I had expected them to lie.
"Really? That's all you got? Right now, I have cops at the compound again looking for evidence."
"Fucking good," Renny said with a shrug. "This shit needs to stop. Fat lot of good law enforcement has done so far on this."
"Maybe we would do better if you didn't bring your arms trade bullshit into our town."
Arms trade?
Arms?
As in... firearms?
They sold guns?
That almost seemed... tame to what I had been expecting. I don't know exactly what I had been picturing but drugs and hired murders had come to mind a time or two.
"Allegedly," Lo called over her shoulder, giving me a wink when my eyes caught hers.
"You," Lloyd said, looking at me and I felt myself start.
Duke (The Henchmen MC Book 5) Page 14