“Almost everyone has left for the night. McKelle, we need to talk to Rogue. He’ll know what to do.” She reached into her back pocket for her phone. “I’ll text Jazzy.”
“No. You can’t say anything.” I rested my hand on hers before she could fire off a text. “You know how bad it’s been between me and Cruz. We’re back together, but everything is more complicated because of what I have with Ryatt.”
I tried to tamp down the tumble of nerves in my belly, but anything I did would have repercussions. Stay silent and Ryatt could be killed. Speak up and I could endanger Cruz because he left this with me—his cut—so he could find Ryatt.
“Cruz told me to wait here until I heard from him. I’m so scared. It makes everything we fought over seem so trivial now.” I traced the Heller devil on the back of Cruz’s cut. “This means everything to him. I thought it meant more than I do, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t mean more than Ryatt.”
My throat thickened with anxiety and fear. “Cruz knows a guy,” I said. “But Kane doesn’t have loyalty to Cruz.” Kane’s sister Hayley, the name I hated to even think, would probably love to see Cruz choked with his own severed nuts.
“Kane?” Kiss chewed on her thumbnail.
“Do you know him?” She probably did. Kiss had been deep in her addiction before Blue. “He’s a user.”
“If it’s a guy that lives over in Shady Valley, then I know him. I’ve partied at his place. Why does Cruz think Kane knows where Ryatt is?”
“Because the Kings run a lot of drugs through his parties. Cruz stopped hanging around with him a few months ago. Cruz trusts him, but I don’t. Please, just tell me everything will be okay.”
“Everything will be okay.” Her voice quavered. I didn’t believe it any more coming from her than I did hearing it in my own head.
A rapid knock sounded on the door. “McKelle? Can I come in?”
“That’s Levi,” I said. Something was wrong. She’d never be here at the MC this late, not unless she’d heard from Romeo.
I scrambled off the bed and opened the door. “Did you hear from Romeo?”
She nodded. “I thought they’d beat me here.” Levi held Rosie in one arm and pulled a rolling suitcase with the other. “I don’t know how much help I’ll be.” She handed Rosie to Kiss. “Will you hold her while I get set up?”
Kiss’s eyes widened, she nodded, and gently tucked Rosie against her chest.
Levi rolled the suitcase to the corner, dropped it flat on the floor, and unzipped the closure. “If it’s a gunshot wound, he’s going to the hospital.” She reached behind her head and tightened her ponytail. “My mom has everything in here that she’d have in the emergency room except the machines.” Levi kept talking while she organized the supplies.
This couldn’t be good. My chest tightened as I tried to draw in breath. “Who?” I whispered, knowing no matter what name she said I was going to feel it. Kings wanted Ryatt, but Cruz had gone to Kane’s. He’d left me his cut, and he was asking questions about Ryatt.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Didn’t Cruz text you?”
I shook my head. “Who’s hurt?” I asked again.
“Ryatt, but Cruz and Romeo are with him. They’re bringing him in the hearse.”
I’d braced for her to say his name, I’d been expecting the worst, but I’d been holding onto a glimmer of hope. “What about Cruz?”
“As far as I know, Ryatt is the only one hurt.”
Kiss held the baby with one arm and my hand with the other. “How bad?”
It had to be bad if he couldn’t ride his motorcycle.
“I don’t know,” Levi said. “I can handle anything but gunshots. I’m not digging around for a bullet.”
“Oh, god.” I was going to throw up.
Levi stood, led me to the edge of the bed, and sat me down. “Sorry. I forget that you’re new to this. I know you’re scared, but Romeo wouldn’t bring Ryatt to the MC unless he knew I could treat him. I don’t know how bad it is, but if his life was in danger, trust me, Romeo would take him to the hospital, regardless of the risks.
“My mom has put more stitches into Hellers than Vera Wang has put in wedding dresses,” she continued. “I worked right beside her, always assisting. Rogue and Bullet carry the scars of my stitches. Don’t even get me started on Dozer.”
“Ryatt’s not a fighter.” He was irreverently funny and unabashedly honest about his faults. He’d threatened to become a level five clinger, but I was the one who’d become attached.
“No, but he’s a Heller,” Levi said. “He just doesn’t have the patch yet.”
