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Even with Smokey’s warning, I find myself startled by the sight of Yagger looking frail in his hospital bed. His usually golden skin is abnormally pale. His eyes are glassy when he looks at us. I need to lean close to hear him speak. He’s on hardcore pain medicines. I can’t tell how much of his frailty is from the pills versus the bullets and blood loss.
The attack seems both fresh and a faded memory. I’ve lived a lifetime since then, finding and claiming my woman. The shit at the clinic also feels forever ago. I’ve lost my sense of time. However, everything remains raw like the unhealed wounds on Yagger’s body.
“I think I get why Ruin is so wired,” I tell Goose after Yagger dozes off and Smokey asks for a few minutes to ready himself to walk back to the vehicle. “If we got hit right now, we’d have nearly no one to fight.”
“I’m ready to rumble this very fucking second.”
“Fine, it’d be you, me, Tomcat.”
“Armor and Ruin are ready to ride, too. Eagle looked fine when I saw him out with Irina and the baby.”
“I feel like maybe we should be nervous.”
“I’m not doing it,” Goose replies stubbornly. “We need to believe we’re indestructible. That’s how we faced problems in the past. With zero fear, we rode into danger and fucked people up.”
“How can you be so badass in the face of danger yet scared of a little thing like Coco?”
Goose grits her teeth. “Eat shit, Walla Walla.”
“I want you to be happy.”
“No, you want me to entertain your girlfriend’s bestie.”
Leaning down, I press my forehead against hers and stare into her angry, blue eyes. “This isn’t you. You don’t get squirrely about your feelings. You survived your shitty parents. You’ve faced stone-cold killers without flinching. You’ve broken plenty of hearts and disappointed people before. I refuse to believe you can’t sort things out with this woman.”
“I don’t want her.”
“Okay.”
“Is that what you want me to say?”
“I want you to be Goose, not this flaky bitch.”
Goose punches me in the arm, and I hear Smokey snicker. I rub where I’ll soon have a bruise.
Wishing we were somewhere appropriate for a wrestling match, I grumble, “You didn’t pull that punch,”
“Oh, I did.”
“If we were home right now, I’d pin you to the ground and make you eat dirt.”
Goose snorts. “You dream big, Walla Walla. All those huge, unattainable fantasies.”
“You’re jealous,” I say and wag my finger in her face. “That’s what this is about. First of Armor, now of me.”
Goose loses her smile and looks ready to hit me again. “Leave me alone.”
“Sure, babe,” I say and ruffle her hair. “I don’t want to set off this newer, softer side of you.”
Goose remains pissed at me even after I return with a wheelchair for Smokey.
“I don’t know,” he says, letting his ego make decisions rather his brain.
“If I ever get hurt, I’ll expect you to push me around. This is so I can guilt you down the road.”
Smokey glances at Yagger. I see him falling into the same trap I was just minutes ago. The Steel Berserkers Motorcycle Club is on its back foot. We feel ready to fail. The sky is falling!
While there’s no denying Yagger’s in a bad way, the rest of us can handle our enemies. Nomad got shot in the foot, but I can still imagine him tearing apart any threat. In the past, Dice has kicked ass through terrible hangovers. I don’t believe his current vertigo would stop him in a pinch. Smokey can shoot and throw punches without needing to run. Hobo’s banged up, but he’ll go berserk on any threat.
