Her weight is lifted from my body, and I curl in on myself, arms wrapped around my middle as if to magically stop the agony. My head throbs, and when I try to roll to my back, the room spins.
I try to suck air into my lungs, but the air around me swirls like a vortex, and I’m sucked into the dark void.
20
LYRIC
“Get off of me!”
I shove Peach away from me, and Zombie catches her before she hits the floor. When Lulu found me and my VP in the kitchen, I could tell something was wrong by the frantic look in her eyes. When she told me that Mellie and Peach were fighting, we took off running, ordering her to find Sawbone.
“Take her to the chambers,” I order. “Savvy, gather all her shit and give them to Undertaker. He’ll make it all disappear.”
“No!” Peach screams, struggling against Zombie. “You can’t do this!”
Zombie wraps his hand around her throat and squeezes. “We can do whatever the fuck we want.”
He drags the bitch out of the room, and I whirl around and drop to my knees next to Mellie.
“Hey, baby,” I say, gingerly touching her cheek. “C’mon, wake up for me.”
Her eyes don’t even flutter. I press two fingers to the pulse point on her neck and breathe a sigh of relief when I feel it thump. It’s strong and steady.
“What the hell happened?” I bark, shifting my eyes to Savvy, who’s kneeling on Mellie’s other side.
“Peach ran her mouth,” she replies with a shrug. “Mellie went off.”
“Wait, Mellie started this?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s my girl,” I say proudly. “If she started it, she had reason.”
“Oh, she had reason,” Savvy confirms with a grin. “Your girl’s in here.” She taps Mellie’s temple lightly. “And she’s finding herself a little at a time.”
“I know.” I take a deep breath. “I know.”
“What the fuck?” Sawbone demands when he enters the room with Lulu right behind him.
“I told you,” Lulu grits. “There was a fight.”
“No shit,” the club medic snaps as he lowers himself to the floor and nudges Savvy out of his way. “This isn’t good, Lyric, especially since it hasn’t been that long since she was released from the hospital.”
“No shit,” I say, mimicking him.
“Please tell me that the other girl is dead,” he snarls as he shines a light into Mellie’s eyes to check her pupils.
“She will be,” I assure him. “Zombie is dealing with Peach as we speak.”
“Good. ‘Bout time that bitch got what’s coming to her.”
“Is she gonna be okay?” Patti asks from across the room, where she’s leaning against the wall.
“It’s too early to tell,” Sawbone responds.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I demand.
“It means,” he begins. “Mellie had swelling and bleeding in her brain less than two weeks ago. I don’t know what these new blows to her head are gonna do. Her pupils aren’t dilated, whichis a good sign, but I want her under observation for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”
