I couldn’t imagine eating but decided not to argue the point. Instead, I settled on the leather seat, its coolness soothing my aching body. “I’ll bleed all over your dad’s truck,” I murmured.
“Don’t give a shit about that and neither does he. Just rest, baby.”
That was the last I heard before I was out, once again lost to the world.
Chapter 9
MADDOX
“Lock it down,” my pop instructed, his hand at the back of my neck as he stared at me, his gray eyes that matched mine glittering with a rage that mirrored my own. “I know you want to burn this city to the ground right now, but you need to see to your girl. She needs to see your soft right now. The rage? It’ll have its reckoning. But not now. Not today. You get me?”
“I get you,” I ground out, knowing he was right no matter how badly I wanted their blood on my hands right this very moment. “Christ, Pop. Her face. Her fucking perfect skin.” I took a shaky breath, trying to rein myself in. “If she’s lost that spirit of hers….” I trailed off, unable to contemplate the miracle of finding her alive being marred by having her slip through my fingers slowly.
His hand squeezed my neck reflexively. “Claiming a woman, lovin’ her—it’s not just about protecting her from harm. It’s about fighting those demons that’ll be bound to bring her low when she starts comin’ around. That’s a different kind of muscle, Mad. It’s one you haven’t used before. But behind that brute strength of yours is the largest heart I’ve ever known. And you just remember, when it gets rough, you get her through the other side of this? There’s nothing you two can’t overcome.” He stepped away with a final chin lift. “Now you two get gone and drive carefully.”
I nodded once, watching as he strode to my bike, threw a leg over, and lit the motor up. I slid behind the wheel of the Yukon he’d driven down in the event we needed something other than a bike. I regretted like hell he’d been right in that decision.
As I pulled out of the truck stop and onto the freeway onramp, I shot a look back at my girl. She looked so small curled in the back seat, her beautiful face so swollen and black and blue I could barely recognize her. Her bloody clothing presented her ordeal in gory display that would haunt me for the rest of my days.
I fought the urge to pound the steering wheel in a rage that was new and yet already familiar as I sped for home. I hadn’t been there to stop the nightmare she’d been through. I didn’t know how to begin moving past that. I wasn’t sure I ever could.
I pulled over three hours in, trying without success to get her to eat and drink. Her disinterest and energy level worried me. I could barely rouse her enough to take a few sips of the water I offered.
Finally I gave up, focusing instead on getting her home and seen to. As the wife of our prez and a nurse, Scarlet would know what to do.
When we hit Hawthorne city limits, I took what felt like my first real breath. My hometown, the city my club ran, was in my blood and my heart.
Scarlet was waiting outside my apartment building when we pulled up, her red hair piled high on her head, her medical bag on her shoulder. Her green eyes were concerned as I lifted a sleeping Francesca in my arms.
“How long as she been out?” she asked as she followed me up the outer steps to my apartment.
“Most of the drive,” I answered grimly. Scarlet took my keys from me and let us into my place.
My apartment in downtown Hawthorne was a simple one bedroom I’d moved into a few years before. I spent the majority of my time at the club or doing something related, and used the apartment mostly to crash. Now, with Francesca in my arms I felt the strong urge to make my place a home for the first time. I wanted her to help me, to put her mark on the space and on me.
I carried her into my sparsely furnished bedroom, laying her gently on my king-sized bed.
She stirred a bit but didn’t open her eyes.
“Francesca?” Scarlet spoke quietly as she felt her pulse. “My name is Scarlet. I’m a nurse. I’m going to take care of you, okay? I’m going to need to cut away these clothes so I can see where you’re hurt,” she explained as she used her scissors to do exactly that, leaving Francesca in her bra and panties.
I clenched my fists as the horror of Francesca’s ordeal was revealed against her pale skin. Her skin was marred with knife wounds, some deeper and larger than others.
“Fuck,” I bit out, barely containing the roar of fury that longed to escape the confines of my throat.
Scarlet shot me a look over her shoulder, telling me without speaking that if I was going to stay, I’d have to hold it together. I nodded once, biting my lip so hard I tasted blood. I reached down and covered Francesca’s lower half with a blanket, wanting to protect her modesty and keep her warm.
“You poor thing,” Scarlet murmured to my girl. “Bet you gave them hell, didn’t you? You keep fighting, sweet girl. Don’t let them get the best of you. You have us at your back now, Francesca. Don’t worry about a thing.”
That conviction Scarlet spoke to her with made my chest expand with pride for the women of my club. They knew strong when they saw it. As the prez’s old lady, Scarlet was one of the strongest, fiercest, and most compassionate women I knew. And she’d just taken Francesca under her wing.
“Is she okay?” I demanded worriedly when Francesca still hadn’t done much more than shift on the bed.
“She’s dehydrated, exhausted, and traumatized,” Scarlet replied matter-of-factly. “I’m going to start an IV to get her some fluids. I’ll stitch up her wounds and leave a course of pain medicine. That’s the straightforward part, Maddox. After that, hard to say where her head is at. Go easy. Feel out what she needs. That might be space,” she warned, her green eyes turning to me as though sensing I’d take issue with that.
After a moment, I grunted in the affirmative. It was the best I could do. I sat silently by Francesca’s side, holding her hand as Scarlet began stitching her up. I forced myself not to look away as the needle threaded through her perfect skin. I wanted the memory imbedded in my brain when the time for vengeance came.
And that time was coming soon.
