I huff and cross my arms, ignoring the pain it puts on the bruise my seat belt left across my sternum. Pain I can live with—means I’m alive. What I can’t live with is the waiting. Waiting on someone to release me. Waiting on my dad to find me. Waiting on anyone to tell me anything. They keep treating me like a victim. Sure, I got run off the road. Sure, I was the one driving and got a bump on my head. That doesn’t mean I can’t also walk and talk like a normal person.
The curtain gets pushed back, and Dad walks in, flanked by Casper and Kooper. I glare at the latter and ignore the other. One pisses me off because he’s breathing; the other just makes me mad at how he pretended like I was crazy at the crash site. Fine, okay, I get it. I went wild. I spoke out loud about things that are only discussed behind closeddoors. But can you blame me? I was attacked! I demand answers.
“Ruby girl, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Dad. Airbag did most of the damage. Nothing’s broken on me, but I don’t know about the car.”
“The boys took your car to the shop. We’ll get it fixed up, and you’ll be back on the road soon.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I won’t say it out loud, but having a car is the closest I get to real freedom. I want a bike, but my dad will never go for it, so I settle for riding bitch with him or any of the brothers ballsy enough to give me a lift. But even then, it comes with an end in mind. With a car, I get to decide when I stop. I make the decision on how far I go. It’s all on me. No one else.
“Tell me what happened.” It’s a request from the president, not from my dad. There’s a difference in him. I get it. Grew up with it. I understand it better than most. He was Dad when he saw me, but now he’s the president of the Hounds of the Reaper MC. He needs to know the details to end threats against his people and their properties.
“We were going back to our apartment. Abigail was going to spend the night with me and Nat before she went home. We came from Chains’ place, drove by the clubhouse, then headed out. I watched all the streets and saw nothing out of the ordinary till a car cut me off and gunned it for Izzy’s. I tried to push their car off the road, but we got caught up, and I was the one who went spiraling off the side like a damn rookie.” I look away with a glare. All that talk about being capable, and I can’t even get on top of one little car race. Pathetic.
I might hate myself more than I do everyone else right now. They might treat me as fragile, which I see as worse than death, but I’m the one who got us into this mess. If I had swerved instead of going in for the kill, I might have been able to get a different outcome, one that would have put them in the hospital with me watching my dad ream their ass. Instead, I get Tweedledee and Tweedledum watching on as my dad treats me like a fucking prospect who knows nothing about anything. At least that’s how it feels. Sure, all he did was ask. But I swear I hear it in the tone. See it in the look. I’ve disappointed him somehow. He won’t say it, will maybe even deny it, but I feel it. I know I did.
“You get a description of the vehicle?”
I sigh and look back at him with a shake of my head. “Black SUV with the plates removed. Tinted windows, too, so no clue if it was a man or woman.”
He looks at Kooper. “Matches your description.”
My unofficial stalker nods in agreement. Glad I was able to corroborate what he said.Not.
“Boss.” Domino pokes his head into the curtained-off area. Guy’s decent enough to give me a nod. “Looking good, Ruby.”
I snort. “Thanks.”
He grins, and his boyish charm has me giving him a small smile in return before rolling my eyes and resting my head back on the pillow to stare at the ceiling. For a hospital that screams “cleanliness in all things,” there sure are a lot of stains up there. I guess some things are harder to clean than others.
“You got something to say, Domino, or you just checking in on my girl?” Dad asks, and I can hear the slight warning in his clipped words. He might never say it out loud, but me dating a club member is off the table. And them being interested isn’t even a possibility in my dad’s eyes.
“Both. Bulldog is pulling up.”
“Shit,” I say at the same time as Kooper. I stare at him for a second before turning back to my dad, who’s nodding at our assessment.
“I’ll get General to release you. Have a brother drive you and your friends home. I’ll get the car to you tomorrow or some type of wheels if it needs more work than that. Charge your phone, ’cause I’ll be calling once I know you’re home safe.” Dad comes around the bed, leans down, and kisses my forehead like he has ever since I can remember. It makes me feel special, even more so knowing that after Mom died, I’m the only one in his life he shows an ounce of affection toward. Even if those moments seem few and far between sometimes.
Dad leaves, following Domino, and Casper trails behind them, squeezing my leg as he goes. I guess it’s his way of checking in on me. I give him a small smile, already over my anger issues. They come and go pretty quickly. I can get riled up real fast, but then I also come off it just as quick. I like to think I’m special like that, but apparently it’s a typical woman thing. Or at least that’s what my doctor and every man who’s ever tried to date me has said.
“Why are you still here, Koop?” I don’t know if he hates that I shorten his club name or not, but no other woman does it, and I like to think it annoys him. A little jab I get away with—at least for now. I know his brothers call himthat, too, but for them, it’s out of respect. There is zero respect when I do it.
He tilts his head and studies me. I don’t like having this much attention from him or anyone else. It’s like I’m under a freaking microscope, and he’s learning shit about me thatIdon’t even know yet.
“What?” I squawk just to get a reaction from him, but he gives me nothing other than more head tilting.
“Whatever,” I mutter and look away as I rest my head back once again. I stare at the off-white curtain that’s blocking my view to whoever or whatever is on the other side of it. Could be a wall for all I know. What I do know is it’s more interesting than having a man who you despise on most days because of the lack of freedom he represents staring at you.
I’ve got nothing against Kooper. Well, he’s an asshole. Always has been ever since he joined the club. At least to me, anyway. I don’t know much about him. Maybe I could have gotten along with him. Found common ground or some shit. But that was before he took the babysitting job my dad gave him. Before he started tracking me and making me feel like the cage I pretend isn’t there is clear to be seen.
“He ain’t disappointed.”
“What?”
He says it again, just as normal as can be, but his words hit closer to what I’m feeling than I’ll admit. No one has ever called me out on my own issues before. No one has seen them. It feels strange that he would.
“Law doesn’t care if you didn’t get the description of the vehicle or the driver. Doesn’t even care about thedamage to your car or what happened to Izzy and Princess. He only cares that you’re still here.”
