JoJo (S.H.E Book 2)

by Christine Michelle

  Steel smiled down at me. “He’s fine. Guys took him back to the clubhouse to recuperate since his place is a crime scene and those bastards burned his cabin.”

  “He kept me safe,” I told Steel something he probably already knew.

  “I know he did, babe. That’s why he’s at the clubhouse resting. He’ll have a place there for the future if he wants it too.” That made me smile.

  “Good, he’s been a bit lost since his brother died. I think he could use some more brothers.” Steel smiled down at me.

  “Babe, you’re lying in a hospital bed, and worried about making sure someone is looking out for Gregg?”

  “It’s keeping me from asking the question I’m afraid to have answered,” I admitted. He ran his hand over the hair that was plastered to my head with dirt and sweat.

  “I heard the heartbeat a while ago. It was still going strong, but they’re bringing an ultrasound down from maternity to check soon. You had a dislocated shoulder, took a shot to the leg, and babe, they finally found your bike after we talked to Gregg. You moved damn near 8 miles on those short little legs, up and down mountains to get to Gregg’s spot from where you dumped that bike.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I’m surprised they stuck with you that long. That was a hell of a hike to do with the shoulder fucked up too.”

  “I had to,” I told him.

  “I know you did, babe. I’m real fuckin’ proud of you too. You took care of yourself and our baby.”

  I shook my head. “Never should have been out there,” I admitted, hating myself for being selfish enough to attempt a ride after Steel had pointed out the dangers.

  “Don’t. Do not blame yourself. You never would have laid that bike down if someone hadn’t been gunning for you.” I nodded my head, but I still carried a heavy burden of guilt, and if anything happened to my baby, I knew that guilt would eat at my soul in a way I wouldn’t be able to come back from.

  “Once they do the ultrasound, am I able to go home?”

  “No. They want to keep you overnight, at least.” He pointed to the IV attached to my hand. “They’re pumping you full of fluids, plus they already gave you some blood. They assured me they took every precaution to make sure it was safe for you, but you lost enough out there that they didn’t want you becoming anemic or having other issues.”

  “It’s okay, I know how bad my leg was,” I told him. I didn’t actually, but I had guessed. “Well, I knew it was bleeding a lot anyway. What did they say about it?”

  “It went all the way through the calf muscle. You’ll probably need a little physical therapy once everything heals up just to make sure you’re working the muscle properly. You should be just fine though.” He glanced at my shoulder. “That was a different story. They had to put it back in place, but they want to keep an eye on it too. Doc said you will definitely need physical therapy for that when it heals a bit in order to make sure you’ll maintain full range of motion with it.”

  I groaned not liking the all over body physical therapy implications. “That sounds like it’s going to suck,” I whined. He chuckled.

  “Yeah, babe. I bet it will.”

  A knock at the door halted our conversation as a woman wheeled a machine into the room. “Dr. Mac is right behind me,” she explained as she plugged in the machine and ignored us while going about her business of getting it set up. It didn’t take the doctor long to join us, and when he did, he showed us the baby and that everything looked perfect. We still weren’t able to tell the sex of the baby, but it was okay, because I knew it would be a boy.

  “I took a detour, because I realized I was being followed,” I explained to Steel once the nurse and doctor left us assured that the baby was just fine. “I didn’t want to lead them to MiMi and Grant just in case.”

  “I know, babe.”

  “I fucked up though. Forgot that damn road was a dead end.”

  Steel’s jaw ticked at that admission, but he didn’t say anything to admonish me. “You did good today, let’s just leave it at that, yeah?”

  Another knock at the door pulled our attention just in time to see Keys come in followed by Quickshot. She ran right to the side of my bed that wasn’t already occupied by my giant of a husband. “Oh my God, I was so worried about you. When we heard the first call come in over the scanner I nearly died,” she said. Then she grimaced. “Oh sweet Jesus, that came out all wrong. You almost died,” she hissed out at the end.

  “I’m okay, the baby is okay,” I told her.

  She threw herself at me, jostling my shoulder as she did and causing my to yelp in pain. “Shit!” She jumped back. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I’m just so happy to see you again.” She looked me over and then glanced at Steel. “What can I do?”

  “I need some clean clothes. I feel disgusting right now,” I admitted. I was still covered in dried blood and grime in places.

  “The nurse was supposed to come back and help her wash up, but she needs clothes. Do you think you can stay with her while I go get something?” He asked Keys, but turned to look at Quickshot too. They both agreed. “I’ll be back real soon, babe.” Steel told me as he leaned in to give me a kiss. “Do not get out of that bed while I’m gone.” His words were an order I didn’t intend to ignore. Hell, I wasn’t sure I had it in me to move. My body was worn out and I was beyond tired, despite the involuntary nap I’d already taken.

  Once Steel was gone, I looked beyond my friend to the man who seemed to be standing guard at the door. “Do you know who it was yet?”

  Quick’s fierce scowl told me everything he didn’t seem inclined to divulge, so instead I turned back to my friend, knowing she would know the answer, and daring her to keep it from me.

  “Looks like someone was hired to kill you,” she stated slowly.

  “My brother?” I asked.

  “We don’t know yet. One of the men we have admitted that he was hired to take you out around the same time that someone else was looking for information about some of the women in our club.”

  “Two different jobs then?”

  “Sounds like it. They’re still questioning the three we got, but so far that’s what I know.” I closed my eyes taking in the fact that someone wanted me dead bad enough to try to have me killed. I didn’t even know how to feel about that, especially since the only suspect that came to mind was the last of my blood family.

  “Well, that sucks,” I finally huffed out. “Who were they asking about?”

  “MiMi and a couple of the girls we pulled out of the ring with her when we took out Winter’s Renegades.”

  “Will those bastards never die? Jesus, they’re like cockroaches. We think we have them exterminated, but they keep coming out of the woodwork.”

  Quickshot chuckled. “I don’t think it’s still the club. Whoever is behind this has been pulling the strings of his puppets for a while now.”

  “Do you think it’s that Reardon guy?” I asked.

  Quick nodded. “He did send a message that he’d be coming for the boy. Stands to reason the boy would be stashed with one of the women of the club.”

  “Where are MiMi and Grant now?”

  “They’re at the clubhouse under lockdown right now,” Keys answered me. “MiMi was none too happy about that either until Dane explained that it wasn’t about her, and that she had a little boy to look after now that meant more than her pride.” Keys smiled at me then. “He was madder than a wet hen.”

  I laughed and so did Quickshot. Keys just couldn’t help the down home southern girl she was. I closed my eyes for a minute, thinking on everything and before I knew it, someone was shaking my shoulder. “We need to get you cleaned up, Cynthia-Jo,” the voice called out to me.

  “I know you see she’s asleep,” my best friend’s caustic warning bellowed out into the room. “She was awake for all that time and you couldn’t be bothered to help her clean up. Now that she’s finally getting some rest you want to come disturb her?” I opened my eyes to see Keys escorting the woman
from the room. “Nuh-uh. You carry your ass out of here, and get us someone who knows what the hell they’re doing.” I wanted to laugh but the pain slicing through my shoulder made it sound more like a hiss of air instead.

  “My shoulder hurts,” I admitted out loud.

  “Probably because that dumb bitch just shook you to try to wake you. I know she could see you had a sling on that arm. What the hell she was thinking, I do not know.”

  “What’s going on?” My husband asked as he came in through still open door of my room to Keys ranting about the woman who had just been in here. Keys recapped what had just happened and Steel turned right back around and marched out of my room. A very small part of me wanted to get up and follow to see what he was doing, but the rest of me was too tired to care enough to try.

  “Someone might want to make sure he doesn’t get thrown out.”

  Quickshot was out the door in a flash while Keys made her way back over to me with the bag my husband had handed off to her on his way back out. “I can help get you cleaned up,” she informed me then.

  “I can handle that,” a woman called out from the door. I knew who it was, but the surprise I felt at hearing her voice here couldn’t be hidden. “I guess I deserved that,” she told me as she moved closer to the side of my bed. “Keys, they need you back at the clubhouse. We have some leads that only you or Quick can follow.”

  Keys turned to me, ignoring the fact that our president had just given her orders. I nodded my head, and then she turned to leave. “Call if you need anything,” she said before heading off after her boyfriend and my husband.

  Angel Girl set about getting a basic sponge bath ready for me. “I don’t know what I would have done today if you had been…” she cut herself off from saying the actual word. If I had been killed. “I’m an idiot. Even after I figured out what my issue was with you, after we talked about it and you were so gracious, I still let everything affect how I treated you. All the shit that went down with Sweet and the baby,” she started and then swiped at a tear falling freely down her cheek. “I thought when he was trying to get Quickshot to discourage a relationship between you and Steel that he was right. I didn’t want anyone else linking our two clubs together. The more that happens the more chance we have at shit going wrong later on. We’re not like the men. We don’t have chapters all over the country that women can disappear to if shit goes badly here, and the stubborn ass men aren’t going to move to get away from a woman.”

  I laughed. “That’s exactly how I ended up meeting my husband, Angel girl.” She laughed too seeing the flaw in her own logic.

  “Well, damn. I guess that’s true.”

  “I understand where you’re coming from though. I get it. I get all of it. You can’t make yourself right with things that you’re still trying to work through,” I reminded her.

  “Stop.” Her commanding tone would normally rub me the wrong way, but this time, I did just that and listened. “Don’t do that. Don’t justify away my actions, because I was being an ass, and there’s no way around that. You were even there to welcome us home when I brought my husband’s baby to the house after her mom signed her over.” She swiped at her face again, and then proceeded to start wiping the warm wash cloth she’d prepared across my face. I moaned at the gentle touch, and the thought I’d finally be free of the grime coating my body.

  “I’m sorry, because I wasn’t there for you when you needed all of us. We could have dealt with your brother and forced his hand a long time ago, and we didn’t.” She sighed. “I should have been there for you when your dad passed, and I wasn’t. I don’t blame you for not being in my wedding.”

  “Angel,” I started, but she just waved my words away as she rung out the wash cloth and moved down to my neck and ears.

  “You need to hear this, and I need to say it. I’m so damn sorry, JoJo. I’ve been insensitive and downright bitchy to you for no reason. That ends. Today. Besides,” she grinned at me then as she stopped wiping the dirt from my collar bone that she’d exposed by pulling the ugly hospital gown I was wearing down. “Our kids are going to be the best of friends, so we need to get on board with that now.”

  “Our kids?”

  “Yeah,” she smiled. “This one,” she stated while patting my belly gently, LeLi, and this one too,” she explained as she patted her own belly.

  I just grinned at her. “I knew it!”

  “Yeah, Sweet told me you were the reason he brought those tests home.”

  “Have you seen a doctor?”

  “Not yet,” she told me. I glanced to the side and saw that the ultrasound machine was still in the room.

  “Maybe someone needs to go get my doc again,” I suggested only to hear Angel Girl squeal.

  “Do you think they’d do it?”

  “One way to find out,” I told her.

  The minute Steel came back in the room Angel stood. “Do you mind?” She asked.

  “Hell no, I don’t mind. Tell them to wheel another bed in here if they need to.” She giggled and all but ran out of the room.

  “What was that all about?” Steel asked as he came and perched himself on the side of my bed.

  “I tipped my head in the direction of the ultrasound machine. “She’s going to grab my Dr. Mac to see if he’ll come fire up the machine and take a look in her tummy.”

  “I thought she couldn’t get pregnant?”

  “Yeah, that’s kind of why she’s excited about having those test confirmed.”

  “It’s damn good to see you smile like that Jo,” he told me as he pulled something from behind his back. As soon as the object came into view my heartbeat kicked up a few notches, and I tears welled in my eyes.

  “For me?” I asked reverently.

  “All for you, babe.” He handed over the bouquet of Dum Dums suckers that had been tied off with a pretty little blue ribbon at the base.

  “This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me!”

  “I bet it is. That’s a shit-ton of sugar, babe.”

  I smacked him with the bouquet as we laughed. “Seriously though, maybe go easy on that stash. I don’t want your teeth rotting out of that pretty little mouth of yours.”

  “Yes, sir!” I agreed as I popped one of the suckers out of the bunch, unwrapped it, and stuck it in my mouth. My groan of delight had Steel sitting up a bit straighter and adjusting his crotch.

  “Jesus, babe!”

  “Sowwy,” I managed to get out around a mouth full of root beer flavor. “So good.”

  Chapter 16

  The ride back to the S.H.E. compound from the hospital was mostly silent. I was uncomfortable, mostly due to the fact that I rejected the pain meds they’d offered me at the hospital. I had been assured that they were safe to take with the baby, but I refused. A little bit of pain and discomfort were a small price to pay to make sure my little guy didn’t have any more problems along the way. Yesterday had been a close call, and it helped to put things in perspective for me. There was nothing – and I mean nothing – that would cause me to take chances again while he was still dependent on me to care for him.

  “What’s going on in your head over there?” I finally asked Steel before we pulled into the compound.

  He turned his head so he could see me for a moment and then put his eyes back on the road so he could turn in. “I’m just worried about what’s to come. This guys doesn’t seem like the type to stop until he gets what he wants or gets put down,” he admitted.

  “Then we just have to make sure we find him and put him down,” I told him. It was something I’d been thinking about a lot lately. Reardon was becoming a worse pain in our ass the longer he was out there. He’d been able to slip through our fingers too many times already.

  “I’m guessing since your guys at Redemption Inc., Keys, Quickshot, and all the others we’ve put on him can’t find the bastard that it might be easier said than done.” He had a point there. I was just tired and cranky because I hurt all over. “Sit tight,” S
teel commanded as he hopped out of the truck. I wasn’t about to argue. I’d need help getting out of it since my right leg would be the one to have to bear my weight when I got out. Plus, the truck was so high I’d literally have to jump down to get out of it. He opened my door and reached in to pick me up and then place me gently on my feet beside him so I could lean against his body and have him take the weight from my injured leg.

  “I still think we should have brought a wheelchair home with you for now.”

  I scoffed at the suggestion again, just as I had the first time he’d made it. “No,” I told him as I turned gingerly in an attempt to try to walk to the clubhouse myself. I had a cane that they sent me home with since I couldn’t use crutches due to my shoulder being messed up.

  “Jo,” he called out before stooping and picking me up bridal style. “Let me help you.” His voice held so much frustration that I stopped and really took a look at his face and the worry I now noticed there. “I almost lost you yesterday. Humor me while I baby you until you’re better, okay?”

  How could I argue that? “Fine, but no wheelchair.”

  “Fine, but you will get help when you need it. You heard what the doc said when you were discharged. If you try to overdo it you can set your recovery time back, especially with you being pregnant.”

  “I know.” I traced my fingertip down his jawline to his neck and then leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

  “Damn it, Jo,” he hissed out and then continued to walk with me in his arms until we were in the clubhouse and headed downstairs, where I had claimed one of the newer rooms that had been renovated the last year. I figured if worse came to worse I could stay at the clubhouse and sell my house before I was finished flipping it. That was before Steel though, when I thought I was about to lose everything. I hadn’t actually been back here or to my room since before we all went to Vegas and I got hitched.

  “My room might not be the freshest place,” I let him know as he hauled me down the stairs carefully.