“Yeah, I’m good. Enforcer came to get me so we can try and figure out why Dani and I are having these uneasy feelings, that’s all. How are you? Sorry this is not turning into a fun party night.”
“Don’t worry ’bout it, this is what I’m used to. And the party vibe was starting to freak me out a little bit anyway.”
Enforcer’s head snaps back as he eyes Benji, who returns his own stare, not backing down. Great, now we have to see who pisses more in the litter box.
“Okay, guys, let’s save this shit for another time. Step away from each other and let’s find the group, okay?”
Benji is first to break eye contact as he turns his head to look my way when I’m done speaking. He stares at me for a bit then nods and walks past me, I’m guessing toward where everyone else is. Watching Enforcer, something is bothering him and he doesn’t make me wait for it.
“Hey, Storm, did the feelings of being watch start before or after Halo showed up? No, don’t think about it, just give me your answer.”
“It was happening to me before I even met him. I can’t speak for Dani. I don’t know why you have such a hard-on for him, Enforcer. He’s a damaged soul just trying to wander his way through what’s left of his life after our country used him, then literally threw him into the streets with no guidance or assistance. I’m not sure of all of his injuries but his gait is off, so something is up with either his legs, hips, or back; maybe all of them, who the hell knows. Here’s something for you to chew on. Remember when you first showed interest in Taz and everyone was against you because she’s so pure of heart and soul while you are, well, you. We all gave you a chance and you proved you are worth our sister. Try to pass that forward because I trulybelieve he was brought here for some reason. Give him a chance, Enforcer.”
With that I turn and walk away from him. Making my way to the crowd, I see Benji is standing by Dani while she talks a mile a minute to him. I know he’s listening to her but his eyes are on me, making sure I’m okay. I give a quiet thanks to whoever thought to bring him to me—no, us—because I just know he’s got our backs. Hours later, after our meeting of the minds that got us absolutely nowhere, which was followed by the barbecue, which as usual had tons of food and games then dessert, Dani and I are finally heading home. Benji came with Avalanche so he was still at the party when we left because Dani was getting one of her horrific headaches, which usually turns to a migraine. I want to get her home so she can take her medication and get some ice on her head while lying in her darkened bedroom.
As I pull in front of our cabin, I feel instantly that something is way off. I notice our porch light is off, which it never is, so that has me reaching to the waistband of my jeans, grabbing my gun. Dani is out, her head leaning against the passenger window. I know I should wake her for backup, but I have seen how bad these headaches are for her, so I quietly open my door and then push the locks down, and just as quietly shut the SUV door. Making my way to the porch, my eyes are shifting back and forth as my ears are on high alert. It’s a pretty quiet night, though that’s not saying a lot since we are in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I mean, I can hear the animals out in the barns but not a peep here. I take the stairs two at a time and when I get to the front door, it’s slightly open, which has the hair on the back of my head stand up. I know we closed it after setting the alarm. And why didn’t the alarm go off alerting Raven. I take a step back, pull my cell phone out of my back pocket, open up the running text for all my club sisters, and type inS.O.S @ homeand hit send. Pushing the phone in my back pocket, Iraise my gun and slowly push the door open with my foot. With no power it’s dark as shit, which doesn’t help my nerves, but I don’t have a choice so I move forward. Reaching the corner of the foyer, I grab the portable flashlight, turning it on. What I see has me gasping loudly. Someone’s torn the shit out of everything we own. The sectional pillows are cut to shit, pictures are off the walls sliced, the table and chairs broken. The cabinets are all open, dishes smashed and all over the floor. Shifting the flashlight to the left to look down the hallway, I can’t believe it. Same shit. Everything torn apart or slashed. I hear gravel so I turn and move quickly out the door to the porch. Dani is standing next to our vehicle, confused as hell. Cars, trucks, and SUVs are flooding the front of our house. Shadow runs toward me, grabbing and then shaking me.
“What the fuck, DOTTIE? You know not to walk into a compromised building without backup. You didn’t know if someone was waiting inside to fuck you, Dani, or both of you up, especially if there were more than one of them. I told you when this was built, it’s too far from the main house. How the hell did someone penetrate this place and no alarm was sounded? Raven, get your ass over here, check out the alarm and pad. Figure out why nothing happened. What is wrong with Dani, she looks totally smashed.”
Turning, I see Dani is barely able to stand up. Heartbreaker and Duchess rush to her side to hold her up. I push Shadow out of the way and rush down to my twin. When I reach her, she starts screaming that something is wrong. Pulling her into me, she feels like she’s on fire. Looking around, I see Avalanche with his guys and Benji standing by the truck.
“Avalanche, we need to get her to the hospital. Can you please drive us?”
He doesn’t answer, just runs up to us, gently lifts Dani, and rushes back to his truck. When I follow and go to get in, Benjiis there behind me. Once I’m in, he slams my door, running around, jumping in, and slamming the door. Dani is between us with her weight leaning on me. He reaches over, putting his fingers to her neck, I’m guessing checking her pulse.
“Move your ass, Avalanche, her pulse is dropping. Dottie, can you shift so she’s able to lie down. I’ll shift off this seat best I can so we can get her feet up also. How long until we get there, Avalanche?”
“Goin’ as fast as I can, so probably under ten or fifteen minutes. Best I can do, man. Try to keep her stable, both of you back there.”
Looking down at my twin sister, it hits me that I can’t lose her because without her I’ll lose a part of myself. I feel the tears rolling down my cheeks then almost wet myself when a huge hand reaches over, grabbing mine, squeezing it tightly. When he pulls his arm back, I watch it move until it’s next to his body. My eyes climb up a broad chest to a thick neck then onto his face. That old saying about eyes being the door to a person’s soul is beyond true with what I’m seeing. It looks like he is feeling my pain as if it is his own. I can still feel the warmth of his hand and deep down inside, I wish he would have kept hold of my hand. Neither of us says a word, but our eyes never leave the other’s. Well, until Avalanche takes a sharp right turn and yells that he’s coming up to the emergency room entrance.
Before the truck even stops, Benji throws the door open, jumps out, stumbles a bit, then reaches in grabbing Dani, pulling her out and into his arms. He turns, stumbling and running into the emergency room, screaming for assistance. I’m out and moving around the truck as Avalanche throws it into park, shuts it off, and also jumps out. By the time I make it in, he’s placing Dani on a covered hospital gurney that they immediately start wheeling down another hallway. We all follow until a nurse turns, looking at us, and asks if we are all family. Withouthesitation I say, “Yes, we are family.” She then asks me how and I partially tell the truth. That Dani is my twin, which is apparent. I then tell her Avalanche is our brother and Benji is my fiancé. Satisfied she turns, motioning for us to follow her. When we go through double doors, she points out a waiting area with chairs, tables, and loungers. She tells us to get comfortable and as soon as she has an update, she’ll make sure someone comes to talk to us. With that she’s gone. I take a seat facing the doors, plopping down while keeping my eyes on those doors.
My heart starts pounding, as the waiting game for news about my twin begins.
SEVEN
HALO
BENJI
The emergency room waiting area is filling up quickly as everyone arrives, waiting on word about Dani. Sitting beside Dottie is both heaven and hell. It’s great because, shit, I’m sitting next to Dottie, but it sucks because it took me like five whole minutes to get up the nerve to take her hand in mine when she was crying, shaking, and just all out in pure agony about her twin. I know what I think it is but refuse to open my mouth, as I don’t know who to trust or who not to. When I was a POW, all of us prisoners would go through what Dani is going through about once or twice a month. The guards would laugh their asses off as we would not be able to hold anything down or in our stomach. As time went by it got worse, as one by one guys were dying. It took Doc a bit to figure it out, but we were being slowly poisoned. After he put it together, he watched and it happened after we would eat the meat, who knew what kind it fuckin’ was ’cause it tasted horrible. I mean, half the time it had maggots in it, but when you are slowly starving to death you eat whatever is put in front of you. Until we stopped eating the meat and no one got sick. Doc told us to fake it and that’s what we did and it worked. The longer we did it the stronger we became, so yeah, I get what Dani is feeling.
Feeling Dottie squeeze my hand extremely hard; I look down at her to see her eyes looking forward at something, as she goes to stand up but seems to fall back. Quickly I get to my feet, pulling her up, and putting my hand cautiously around her waist to steady her. I can feel like a hundred eyes on me, but fuck them. This woman needs someone to take her side and for some reason the gods have put me here. I know these people don’t trust me and I get it, but that doesn’t matter right now. What truly is important is helping Dottie get through this and praying Dani is going to be okay.
“Family for, um, Dani Smith?”
Hearing Dottie clearing her throat to speak, I raise my hand motioning to her.
“Over here, this woman is her sister.”
Two doctors and what looks like a cop walk over to us, as all of the Devil’s Handmaidens present do the same. On the other side of Dottie is all of the women. Shadow, who seems to be struggling like me with the human touch, is trying to stand off to the side a little bit, probably wanting distance, though Squirt is almost attached to her hip. The doctor looks around then back at Dottie, who’s wiping her eyes. Before he can say a word, she nods.
“Yeah, Doc, this is her family too. Just tell me what you found out, please. I’m going crazy with worry. Is my twin going to be okay?”
He turns to the woman doctor, who gives him the slightest nod. Taking that in, he turns and looks down at Dottie.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Drake Northwood and we are treating your sister for some kind of poisoning. Um, well, Miss Smith, we are currently pumping your sister’s stomach to remove all of the poison she ingested. Once we are done with that, then we’ll see where she’s at. Right now Dani is as comfortable as we can makeher at the moment. If I may ask, does your sister do drugs or drink excessively?”
