So I keep my mouth shut. General says Law has a chance to pull through. That he could still make it. I’ve got to hope he does, and then our deal can stick. I’ll worry about all the other bullshit between now and then at another time.
Now I’ve got to lock my shit down. All of us. The small group that knows the truth. We need to walk out of here with sorrow on our faces and hearts and nothing more. No hints of possibilities to change in the future.
And I have to lie and tell a woman that she’s all alone in the world now. That she has no one. All because of the club she was born into.
I exit the room and go out to find her. Not a single person follows, knowing this ain’t for show. I find her easily. Helping. Fucking Christ, she’s always helping this damn club in one way or another. Pushing a vamp off a taken brother, cooking a meal for a sick person, or just watching the kids so couples can have a break. Now she’s playing nurse. She might have gone to school for physical therapy, but she’s got the basics. Not too hard to put a bandage on something or wipe blood off something else.
The clubhouse is wrecked. Might take a few weeks before we get back up and running. We took a major hit. Casper’s already on the horn, calling in other sister chapters for aid. Bulldog said brothers are coming in from all areas to help. No questions asked. No favors requested. Just doing what Hounds do best: standing beside a brother in need.
I get close to her before I speak. Flint must have called in everyone once the place was secure. While I was out trying to rescue someone and instead watched a mentor fall.
“Ruby.”
“What?” she barks at me but barely gives me attention. She’s stressed. She won’t say it, but I see it. This is her entire life—her family. Her salvation. Everything and everyone in here means something to her. Having it destroyed like this is freaking her out, but she’s locking it down.
I’ve been watching her for a while. Did tons of research on her. Even hacked into old computer surveillance from when she would sit with her mom as she went through chemo before she died. She puts on a brave face, but she’s hurting. She used to cry when she sat with her mom, but then one day she just stopped and smiled and helped. Since that day, that’s been her go-to. Instead of breaking, she fakes it. Instead of crumbling, she stands tall. I don’t know if she ever lets it go or not, but when she’s around others, she holds her shit together.
“We need to talk.”
“A bit busy if you can’t tell.”
“Won’t take long.”
She pauses and looks back at me, searching my face. I’m not sure what she sees, but something must have shown for her to give me a nod. Turning back, she smiles at the brother she’s helping, wrapping the last of the gauze around a knife wound to his forearm and taping it down. “Get over to General in about five minutes. He should have time for you then.”
General put the entire clubhouse common room on triage duty. He set up small areas for everything and anything. Milly seems to have taken the worst of it, and he already had an ambulance come and get her after he stabilized her with the aid he could do here. He has a few brothers watching her at the hospital now as she goes through surgery to patch the bullet wounds.
The rest of the boys who got shot were sent to the hospital too. Small lacerations and the like are being treated here by General first and then heading to the hospital. He doesn’t want to chance a brother dying from blood loss if it comes to it. He also wants to make sure he can see everyone and get a read on them. If he goes to the hospital, he’ll just get one patient and have to trust the others to take care of his men. General might not be into inflicting pain unless it’s in the bedroom, as some of us are, but he’ll be damned if he allows another doctor to aid his brothers without him first giving them a cursory look.
Standing, Ruby turns and looks at me, waiting for me to speak. But we have too many eyes on us still. I feel it. I know we’re being watched. By those who know the truth and those who are still in the dark, like she is.
“Come on.”
I walk out the back. A quick glance over my shoulder shows she’s following. I walk past the debris that’s everywhere. The dead suits have already been removed by brothers. Cops aren’t coming, but we don’t want the kids to be any more traumatized. The guys we have on the force are doing what they can to help, not put us under red tape. They keep out of our area out of respect for those wounded, leaving us to handle our business. We just need some time to assess before we let unknowns walk in. They have a job to do, and we don’t want to cause bad blood. Which is why, when Bulldog spoke to the chief of police earlier, he was able to get a few hours of leeway from them.
I lead her to the rear of the compound, an area Ruby knows well. It was her mom’s special place, a small area with twinkle lights around a swinging bench hidden in the forest. It was for Special K to have some peace while she dealt with her cancer, but never too far from her love, from Law.
The brothers have used this spot for a few alone moments too. There’s just something special about it that makes the rest of the world sink away, and you can feel as if it’s just you and nature, and nothing can hurt you.
And while I want that for her, I know I’m about to ruin the spot for her. A spot she’s always felt close to. With the smoke still in the air from what went down and the broken glass from the twinkle lights that must have gotten hit by stray bullets, this place is no longer the heaven I was hoping for.
“So, what’s up?” She walks around me and sits on the swing. Surprisingly, it’s still intact. She rocks slowly as her toes slide across the ground. “You talk to Dad? My cell service is shitty right now, and I haven’t seen him at the clubhouse. Iexpect he’s at the hospital watching over his boys. Figured I’d go there next to give him a break.”
I shake my head. “You can’t.”
She stops swinging and looks up at me as I stand just in front of her. “Can’t what? Go to the hospital? I might not be family to everyone here, but I’m pretty sure they allow visitors.”
“You can’t talk to your dad.”
She raises an eyebrow and smirks. “Why?” She thinks I’m messing with her. She expects everything to be fine. If a Hound is hurt, family is notified first. She knows this. But she was never told. No one said anything. Not till now.
“He took a hit. Fell from the second-story landing trying to rescue Milly’s kid.”
Her face slowly falls. “What are you saying, Koop?”
“Your dad… he’s dead.”
Chapter 16—Ruby
