“I thought you just woke up. How do you seemingly know more than I do?”
Ink pointed to Dice. “I’ve been awake for an hour, but it took Dice thirty minutes to stop crying tears of joy. He’s the emotional one of our duo. He’s always crying. Hell, that’s how he got his road name.”
Dice shook his head but explained with one word. “Onions.”
“I’ve only been awake for however long it took you to get down here,” Ink said softly. “Dice filled me in while we were waiting.”
“Good. Now I don’t have to be mad about that later,” I teased. “But I do have one question I hope you can answer now.”
“What is this one hopeful question?”
“The people responsible?” I asked.
“Extinguished,” he said simply and released my hand to hold up his extended pinky. “Pinky promise.”
Laughing, I hooked my pinky with his and accepted his word, assuming he meant his club killed the people responsible for attacking him and my daughter. Then I momentarily questioned my sanity.
I stayed with Ink until I needed to go back to check on Ariel and relieve my dad from watch duty. We were taking shifts so someone was always awake watching over her.
“If you want to sit with Ink, I’ll take over your shift,” my mom offered. “Before you try to argue, I got more sleep than you did last night.”
“Thanks, Mom, but there’s no need. He’s going to be discharged this morning, and he’s already let his nurse know to wheel him to Ariel’s room as soon as he’s released.”
“Oh, honey, he can’t stay here. He needs to go home so he can rest and heal.”
“Preaching to the choir, Mom,” I said. “But we both know he’s not going to leave. At least not until she wakes up.”
“We’ll see about that,” she huffed and pulled out her phone to send a voice message. “Hey, Miles. Can you make a reservation for the biggest room at the hotel closest to the hospital? Add on anything you think will make it more comfortable for Ink and whoever might be staying with him. Make it for at least two nights with the option to add additional nights as needed. Ifthat’s not an option, reserve it for a week. Oh, we’d like to check-in as soon as possible, even if that means they need to charge me for an extra day or whatever fee.” She dropped her phone into her purse and looked at me triumphantly. “He can try to argue against me, his mother, and a luxury hotel suite, but he won’t win.”
I knew she was right. I also knew I wouldn’t win when they forced me to leave to shower and rest.
33
INK
“I’m going to get some coffee from the cafeteria,” Presley said. “Do you want anything?”
“Yeah, I could use a cup.”
Presley nodded and left the room.
It had been almost two days since the attack, and Ariel still hadn’t woken up. Presley had been maintaining a brave face, but I knew she couldn’t hold it together much longer.
“Ink?” Ariel croaked.
“Hey, kiddo,” I said calmly, even though she scared the shit out of me. “How are you feeling?”
“My head hurts, and my mouth tastes gross. Where’s Mom?”
“She went downstairs to get some coffee. Do you know where you are?”
“Yeah,” Ariel said, like I was ridiculous for asking. “I’m in the hospital. You know, because those shitheads attacked me.Again. Thanks for handling that, by the way. I’m assuming y’all?—”
“Stop talking, Ariel,” I interrupted and lowered my voice. “You need to be careful what you say.”
“Got it.”
“How do you know what happened?” I asked.
