“I’m guessing it’s not to check my wound, Doc.”I huff but I can’t deny I’m glad to see her face again.
“Well, I ...no, but how are you?Any bleeding?Any fever?”
The shake in her voice does strange things to my testosterone.It yanks at my protective gene, but I shut it down instantly.She shouldn’t be here.She shouldn’t be anywhere near me and my club.It’s too dangerous for a fragile female like her.
“I’m breathing, that’s the main thing.”I look into her eyes again, the lilac of the sky is reflected in them and her pupils are wide.“I repeat, why are you here?”
“I’m worried about someone.”
“I told you I’m fine.”
“Not you ...a woman.She came into the ER today, drugged up to the eyeballs.”
“This is Denver, what do you expect, honey?”
She frowns and folds her arms.Puffs up her chest in a tiny gesture of defiance.“I know what to expect.In the dead of night I see the absolute dregs of society, or did you forget that?”Her attention rakes over my face, takes in the spiderweb tat on my neck, and then the badges on my cut.
I laugh, a gruff sound.There’s an attitude in this one, that’s for sure.She’s as good as just told me I’m the dregs of society.Maybe she has a point.I’m a killer and a thief, and that’s pretty scummy by anyone’s definition.
“What’s this woman got to do with me?”I ask with a sneer.
“She’s in danger.”
“She someone’s old lady?”That could change things.
“What’s that?”She frowns.
I place my hands on the wall beside her head, hemming her in.She smells of petals and sunshine and some sweet perfume that fills my nostrils and replaces the constant aroma of oil and tobacco.It’s not unpleasant, her scent.
“An old lady,” I say.“Is she married to a club brother?”
“No, she’s just a kid from Columbia.No wedding ring.”
I frown.“Go on.”
“She’s been used, as a drug mule.”
Now my interest is awoken.I tip my head and study her.“And why do you think I want to know this information?”
“I know trouble when I see it, and last night I patched up trouble and kept my mouth shut.Figured you owe me one.”
I nod slowly.She has a point.She also has the silkiest hair I’ve ever seen.In this light it is the color of wildfire and frames her pretty face, contrasting against her delicate white skin.
“So, say I owe you one.Then what?”
“She’s in danger, one of the bags of cocaine burst inside her, and now the mafia, or cartel, or goddamn Sopranos, I don’t know, are going to be after her because the authorities know she exists and that’s dangerous for them.”
I smirk.“Sopranos aren’t real, honey.”
Her frown is deep.“She’s a loose end, she says they are coming for her.”
“Who is coming for her?Maybe she did this to herself.Shoved the coke where the sun don’t shine to get rich quick.”
“No, poor soul can’t be more than seventeen, and she’s got this ugly tattoo on her right shoulder.A first I thought it was a dog or a wolf but it’s a hyena.”
“A what?”My belly clenches and my mouth dries.
“A hyena, you know, ugly face, snarly mouth, hackles.”She narrows her eyes at me.
