“On it,” Gabby said and dashed out of the room.
I stood back against the wall as the nurses rushed around the girls. One of them approached the unknown girl’s bed andstopped short. She inhaled sharply and brought her hand to her mouth. “Is that Ariel?”
“We don’t know who she is,” I said. “We found her with the other two and brought her with us.”
“I think that’s Ariel,” she said quietly, as if she didn’t want to believe it. “Excuse me.” She’d barely stepped away from the beds when I heard her shout, “Presley! Come here! Hurry!”
“What’s going on?” someone, presumably Presley, asked.
“Three girls were just brought in. They think they were drugged at a party, and I think one of them is Ariel.”
“What? Where is she?”
“Right over there,” the nurse said.
Moments later, a frantic woman burst through the curtain and looked at the girl in the bed. Her eyes widened in shock, and she stumbled back a step, so I reached out to steady her. In those few seconds, she processed more than I would have thought possible. She went from frantic to furious.
“Who the fuck are you?” she screamed and launched herself at me, hitting me with each question. “Why is my daughter wearing your clothes? And why is she unconscious? What did you do to her?”
She shoved me hard enough to make me stumble back, putting a few feet between us. Glaring at me with eyes full of rage, her voice changed to a deep and demonic tone. “I will kill you!”
Then she charged.
I braced for impact from the beautiful demon rushing toward me, and I was kind of looking forward to it.
Patch swooped in and wrapped her in a bear hug, pulling her away from me. “Presley!” he yelled. “Stop! He saved her!”
“What?” she asked, fighting to free herself.
“Listen!” Patch bellowed, causing Presley to still. “He found her with the other girls. He carried her out of the party andbrought her to the hospital. She’s wearing his shirt because hers was gone when he got there,” Patch explained. “He’s the good guy.”
It was like a switch flipped. She sagged in Patch’s arms and started sobbing. Gabby appeared with a chair and pushed it beside Ariel’s bed. “Have a seat, Presley. We’ll tell you what we know.”
She nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Then she looked at me. “I’m sorry for attacking you. Thank you for helping my daughter.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “No apology necessary.” I wanted to say more, but I knew it wasn’t the time to tell her how much I enjoyed her mama bear routine.
“What happened?” she asked.
“We don’t know a lot,” I told her. “Raven called her brother from the party and said they needed help. When we got there, all three girls were passed out. Raven was in a closet, Blaze was on the floor, and your daughter was on the bed. There was a guy on top of her, unzipping her jeans. Her shirt was already off.”
She nodded slowly and audibly swallowed. “Where’s the guy?”
I looked at Phoenix before I answered. He nodded once and brushed his finger across his lips, letting me know I could tell her while not telling her.
“He suffered some minor injuries and is currently being monitored at a friend’s place,” I said quietly.
She glanced at my cut as a small grin appeared on her face. “If I can be of assistance with his injuries, I’m happy to oblige.”
Annabelle smiled and stepped into Presley’s line of sight. “Hi,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Annabelle, Blaze’s mother and Raven’s grandmother. And this is my daughter, Ember, who is Raven’s mother. This is my husband Phoenix,my son Flint, and my son-in-law Dash. We’re sorry to meet you under these circumstances, but we’re not sorry to meet you.”
“Hello, everyone. I’m Presley, and this is my daughter, Ariel.” She turned to me. “And you are?”
“Oh, uh, Ink. My name’s Ink,” I stammered.Smooth. Fucking smooth.
“Ink?” she asked.
“My given name is Isaac, but I prefer Ink.”
