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“As our VP, Shadow knows better.” Steer nudges Shadow’s lifeless body with the toe of his boot. “Or he should.”
Lilly
I know better than to get involved or try to stop the fight, but I can’t stand seeing Z get hurt.
Well, he’s the one doing the hurting. So, I guess I don’t like him in danger of being hurt.
I can’t look away though. It doesn’t seem right.
“He’s got this,” Teller assures me with complete calm.
“I see that.”
“It’s about time someone checked that asshole,” Lala mutters next to me. She sneaks a quick look at Teller, like she’s afraid she’s going to get in trouble for saying something against a brother.
Teller doesn’t acknowledge the comment. Instead, he draws me closer and leans down. “You all right?”
“I’m fine.” I hold up a hand and realize I’m still shaking. “Well, maybe a little freaked.”
He nods. “I’m glad Charlotte’s not here tonight.”
“Yeah, kinda wish I’d stayed home too,” I mutter. The guys close in a circle around Z and Shadow until we can’t see them.
I push forward and Teller pulls me back. “I’m taking you home.”
“I’ll take her,” the kid everyone calls “Prospect” offers.
“No, she’s with me,” Teller insists. He nods to the club girls huddled together by the bar. “Get the van and take them home or wherever, but they need to go.”
“You got it.”
“Teller, I can’t leave. I have to know—”
“Lilly, don’t argue with me.” Teller’s calm, grave tone completely freaks me out, but he seizes my arm and pulls me toward the front door. “Where’s your car?”
The shouting from the fight gets louder and I make another attempt to free myself from Teller’s grasp. “We can’t leave him!”
“Murphy’s got his back. Trust me, Z will be pissed if I don’t get you home.”
Arguing with him seems pointless. He’s got an iron grip and isn’t afraid to use it. Plus, down where I don’t want to acknowledge it, I know he’s right and the last thing I want to do is make Z’s life difficult.
“Z knows how to handle himself, Lilly,” Teller says once we’re on the road.
“What’s going to happen?” I ask.
“To Shadow? For touching you? That beating, for starters. Anything more than that, you don’t need to know.”
I’d be offended or argue that it is my business, but I already understand how the club operates. If Z wants to tell me, he will. It’s not fair to press Teller for information he’s not allowed to share.
“I need to see Chance,” I whisper.
“He’s probably asleep.”
“I know. But I need to see him.”
“Okay,” Teller agrees.
Heidi answers the door in her pajamas and yawns. “What’s going on? Why are you back so early?”
She glances past us and seems to wake right up. “Where’s Blake?”
“At the clubhouse.” Teller leans down and kisses his sister’s cheek. “Kids okay?”
“Everyone’s fine. They went to bed a while ago.” Her gaze swings between us. “Right after you called, Lilly. What’s going on?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to check on Chance.”
Heidi stares me down for a few seconds. “Go ahead.”
They share a few tense words while I rush upstairs.
Z
“That was some fucked-up shit, brother.” Murphy squeezes my shoulder. “You okay?”
“Where’s Lilly?”
“Teller took her home as soon as it went down.” He glances over his shoulder. “Prospect offered to take her, but given the situation, we weren’t comfortable with that.”
“Thank you.” At least I know they always have my back.
He pulls out his phone and taps out a text. “Lettin’ him know you’re okay, so she’s not freaking out.”
“I’ll call her in a bit. Tell him to get his ass back here.”
“You got it.”
“It’s gonna be a long night.”
The club’s doctor shows up. There’s one thing we’re missing upstate—a crooked doctor who shows up to clean up our non-reportable injuries.
Steer and Jigsaw moved Shadow into a side room up front with a cot and some medical supplies, the club’s unofficial exam room. I’ve been in it once or twice myself in the past.
“Z.” Rooster touches my shoulder. “You need to have your leg looked at.”
Funny, with all the adrenaline from the fight I forgot all about the long cut. I glance down. Blood soaks my jeans on either side of where Shadow sliced.
“Fuck.” Now it hurts. “Make sure that asshole’s gonna live first, then send Doc down to my room.”
“Z,” he protests.
“I’m fine.”
“I got him, Rooster,” Murphy says. He butts his big head under my arm and has me lean on him until we get to my room.
“I’m fine.”
“You look like you’re gonna pass out.”
“Fuck you.”
“You kiss your baby momma with that mouth?”
I chuckle as he pushes open my door and helps me into the room. “Every inch of her.”
While I drop into a chair, Murphy searches the bedroom before moving on to the bathroom.
“You could at least shut the door.” I shout.
“Why? You’ve seen my dick before.”
“Which is why I’m asking you to shut the door.”
“I’m not taking a piss, dumbass. I’m looking for something.”
“What the fuck for?”
“Something to clean that with. You want your leg to get infected and fall off? You can’t ride then.”
“When did you get so annoying?”
“I can only find some tiny finger Band-Aids.”
“Sorry, wasn’t planning to get sliced up tonight.”
He stops in the bathroom doorway, shaking a small green bottle at me. “Seriously, Z? Mint-flavored lube? I expect better from you.”
I rumble with laughter, which eases the pain in my leg a bit. “That’s not mine, you dick. It was in the room when I took it.”
He flips the bottle over. “Guess that explains the late-nineties expiration date.”
“Why don’t you give it a taste test? See if it still works.”
He flips me a middle finger and tosses the bottle in the trashcan.
“Go wash your hands after touching that, ya perv.”
He returns and throws a towel to me. “Put some pressure on that before you bleed to death.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumble, wadding up the towel and pressing it down over the cut. “Motherfucker.”
As he’s finishing his search for who-the-hell-knows what, someone knocks on the door. “You think you can get that for me, princess?” I yell.
Before Murphy can get to the door, it opens and Teller slips in.
“You could wait until I say come in.”
“I thought you did.” His scowl deepens. “Are you really busting my balls right now?”
“When would be a better time?”
“The adrenaline drop is making him cranky,” Murphy explains. “You bring some food like I asked? He’s lost a lot of blood.”
Teller pulls a Snickers bar out of his cut and tosses it to me.
“I said food, not candy,” Murphy says.
“My healthy food options were kind of limited at this hour,” Teller says as he flings another Snickers bar at Murphy’s head. He tosses me a granola bar next. “Best I could find.”
“This’ll do. Is Lilly okay?”
Teller shrugs and takes the chair across from me. “She was scared, but she didn’t argue with me when I told her it was time to go. Once I told her you were okay, she calmed down. Didn’t give me any grief about not coming back with me. Warned her it might be a late night.”
“Thanks.”
He sits back and blows ou
t a breath. “First time I’ve been happy Charlotte couldn’t make it down.”
“No kidding.”
“What are you going to do?” Teller asks.
Murphy growls and makes a slashing motion with his hand. “Gut that motherfucker.”
“He’s gotta go,” I agree. “But this can’t look like upstate coming in to clean house. I already probably overstepped by getting between him and Serena.”
“Fuck him,” Teller says. “This club isn’t about that. You had every right.”
“He’s right,” Murphy agrees. “The only ones complaining about it were Shadow and Smoke.”
Teller sits forward. “Smoke needs to go too.”
“One execution at a time, brother.”
