Okay, that last thought can get fucked. I’m not some submissive type. I don’t need a man like that. Having him take care of me in his way… was… nice, somewhat. But that doesn’t make him my daddy. I’m not about to be sucking on a bottle or wearing diapers.
Get a fucking clue, woman.
My brain is screaming at me from one side and yelling at me from another. I squeeze the bridge between my nose to quell the headache. I’ve read enough and seen enough to know there’s more than one type of “daddy” out there, but now is not the time to focus on that.
Especially with Abigail, aka Rue, bouncing up with a smile on her face.
“What’s up, peeps?”
“Get fucked.”
I turn at King’s tone behind me and sigh as he joins our little group outside the hospital. Thankfully, it’s just him and not Mad Max or that fucking nurse.
“Already did that. You said never again unless I was willing to vamp it up, and that’s one thing I won’t do.”
Okay, what? My head turns so fast to Abigail that I feel it kink a bit. Her smugness reminds me of my own, but somehow I’ve lost mine over the last few days. Maybe she and I are more alike than I want to admit. And despite me hating everything Jack said, maybe she was right. Maybe I do need to get over a few things.
“Look out!” Nat shouts, then shoves usall apart.
I look at her and then feel things fly by my face. Someone pushes me down to the ground as I look the other way and see a white van with the bay doors open and guns firing. I can’t even scream, the air knocked out of me from the impact.
“Stay down,” Atom orders, and I do, rolling onto my stomach and moving behind one of the large square cement planters that line the hospital entrance.
I look over and see Nat hunkered down two planters over, covering her head with her arms as she takes the bulk of the shots.
Atom fires and starts running to her only to get hit. He moves as if his shoulders are dancing back and forth before he collapses to the ground. Nat screams as she stares at him, and I lose my hearing as a loud ringing takes over.
I look the other way and see both Abigail and King firing back. They seem to be shouting, but I don’t know what they’re saying.
I need to help. I need to do something. Something other than just watching this happen.
Looking back at Nat, I decide I have to save her. She isn’t part of this. She’s just here because of me. Like everyone else.
But a moment later, I see her getting grabbed. I shout, but then I feel arms on me as someone comes up from behind. I elbow them, and they loosen their grip. I wiggle out of their grasp till I get pulled back and backhanded across the face with enough force to push my head to the side. I watch helplessly as Abigail stands, shoots, and then falls.
Not like Atom, though, who’s bleeding out. Or maybe he’s dead already. There’s so much blood under him as he lies on the concrete.
Why isn’t there anyone helping us? Why hasn’t someone come out of the hospital?
Where are the Harley engines that come to the rescue? Where is everyone?
Abigail crawls for cover, dragging herself along the concrete.
King is still shooting, and when Nat and I get pulled into the van, I see him make a break for Atom and pull him inside the hospital.
Once I’m inside the van, it’s like a vacuum. But instead of removing the noise, it all comes back. I hear everything. The screams. The shouts. The shooting.
And Abigail.
Pleading. Begging for King to come back. To help her.
But she can’t see what I can.
She doesn’t know what I know.
That he’s club.
And club looks after club. Period.
