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“You’re kicking me out?” I spent the past twelve hours sleeping in a hard ass chair at her side and she didn’t even want me here.
“No.” She tried to readjust her position and let loose a string of swear words that would make a Ranger blush. “I’m saying that if you’re here out of obligation or guilt, I’m not interested.”
“I’m here because hearing you’d been hurt took about a decade off my life. I thought for sure I was about to hear that . . .”
I couldn’t even finish the thought, it was too hard. To fucking hard to think about.
“I’m fine, Savior. Just a few scrapes and bruises.”
“And a fractured ulna and radius. Sorry to tell you, Pixie, but you don’t look fine.”
She fluffed her tangled short hair with her good hand and stuck out her lips in that way chicks loved to do when they took selfies. “You mean I’m not giving Teddy a run for her money?”
“You know you’re beautiful, Mandy. But you’ve got one eye almost swollen shut and the best part of you is covered in a cast and bandages. Kind of dims the beauty.” She was stunning and had no damn idea. It was a shame she didn’t have people in her life constantly telling her how amazing she was.
“Yeah well, you try taking who knows how many boot kicks to the body and let’s see how pretty you look.”
“Shit, Mandy. I’m going to kill those fuckers.”
“Get in line. I get the first hit, maybe the first ten.” Her expression sobered. “What can I do?”
I stood and dropped a kiss to her hair. “Get some rest. I’m going to let the guys know what’s going on and see what else we can find out.”
She nodded but she had already checked out, her gaze focused on a fixed point on the wall, glazed over.
“Mandy?”
She blinked and looked up at me. “Yeah?”
“It’s not obligation or responsibility or even guilt. Ammo will always be one of us, which means so will you.”
I found Teddy and Jana in the waiting room with three large bags filled with crap. “Hey ladies, she’s awake, grouchy and in need of female company.”
“Perfect.” Jana tried to stand and I went to help her. “Thanks, this baby is screwing up my center of gravity.”
“Should either of you be here with all these germs?”
Teddy scowled at me and poked me in the center of the chest. “We’ll be fine, Savior. You go do whatever you need to get those dark shadows out of your eyes. Mandy might not know it yet, but she needs you.”
I nodded and walked them to the elevator, Teddy’s words ringing in my head on a loop. Despite what she’d said, I had a feeling I needed Mandy even more.
***
“It was Roadkill MC. Mandy saw the fucking patches before they stomped on her.” Now that I was free of the hospital and watchful eyes, my rage was on full fucking display. What they did to her wasn’t right. That’s not how you treat women, especially innocent women. “Some bitch she used to hang with back in the day owes them a lot of money.”
Cross sat in his spot at the head of the table, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. “You’re sure Mandy doesn’t owe this money to them for something?”
His implication was clear and the only reason I didn’t leap over the table and wrap my hands around his fucking neck was because he was my brother. My Prez.
“I’m damn sure.” I sighed, trying to figure out how much to tell without breaking Mandy’s confidence. “She knew this
woman as a kid, when Ammo was re-upped before he even got stateside. She had no money and no way to get any.” I didn’t want to tell them, but I needed my club right now. Mandy was . . . fuck if I knew, but she was something to me and I needed everybody’s help to keep her safe. So I told them about the card counting and about that bitch Krissy. All of it.
“Card counting? That little bitty thing with the short blond hair?” Lasso’s wide smile was filled with disbelief. “As a kid?”
“A teenager, fifteen to seventeen I think, before she left for school.” Cross still stared at me and I stared back. “We should have been looking out for her back then. If we’d done what the fuck we were supposed to, she wouldn’t be in this shit today.”
He knew I was right even if he didn’t like being called out like that.
