“Understood. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I told him before I hung up the phone.
With Maverick and Q’ following behind me, I pulled back on the highway and pushed the throttle forward. I couldn’t stop thinking about Wren, and the way that she looked at me when we were standing in her driveway. Until that moment, I hadn’t been sure how she truly felt about me, but seeing her standing there, pleading with me to come back to her… I knew. And knowing I felt the same way about her, I was even more determined to get to her. I sped through traffic, weaving through the cars that lined the street. Even though Gonzalez was there to keep an eye on things, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking the worst, and by the time we pulled into the hotel parking lot, I was on the brink of losing it. As soon as I parked my bike, I headed over to Gonzalez. He was standing under the stairway smoking a cigarette, and he hadn’t changed a bit since the last time I’d seen him. His hair was slicked back, and he was wearing his cut with his handgun noticeably tucked away at his side.
“Long time no see, brother,” he smirked. “Yo, Maverick, good to see you, man.”
I had no intention of wasting time with small talk, so I looked over at the door behind him and asked, “Is that the room?”
“Yeah, it’s been pretty quiet for the last few minutes,” Gonzalez told me. “This guy’s a real asshole, if you ask me.”
I nodded and made my way over to the door. I took a deep breath and knocked. When I heard a commotion inside, I covered the keyhole so he couldn’t see me standing there. After several seconds, Michael called out, “What do you want?”
“Room service. Got you some extra towels,” I answered. With one good shove, I could’ve knocked the door down, but I didn’t want to frighten Wyatt. I had to be patient. As soon as the door opened, I reached in and grabbed Michael by the throat, lifting him off the ground as I hauled him outside. He tried to fight against my hold, but then, I reared back and slammed my fist into his gut, completely knocking the breath out of him. He barreled over as I shoved him towards Maverick. “Hold on to him,” I ordered as I walked into the hotel room, quickly searching for Wren and Wyatt.
At first the room looked empty. The bottle of bourbon was resting on the table next to the bed, and the TV was blaring with some old war movie. After checking the bathroom, I was about to go back outside when I finally saw him. Wyatt was crouched down in the corner, partly hidden by the window drapes, and he was cautiously cradling his arm in his lap. My gut twisted into knots when I caught sight of the swelling and bruising forming on his obviously broken wrist. I couldn’t take it. Seeing him look so damn scared, all balled up in that corner took me right back to that godforsaken barn. All the hell I’d been through came rushing back to me, and I wanted to scream for it to stop. I didn’t want to remember, didn’t want to think about how I’d spent night after night terrified out there in that fucking barn. I loathed that feeling of being weak and scared and so fucking alone. I wanted those feelings gone, to stay forgotten. But there sat Wyatt, feeling exactly the same way I’d felt all those years ago. Rage coursed through my veins, and I had to fight the urge to slam my fist through the wall. I took a deep breath trying to push back the anger, knowing the last thing I needed to do was scare him even more. He didn’t even notice me standing there as he stared down at his arm.
“Wyatt?” I called out to him.
His head quickly lifted, exposing more cuts and bruises on his face, and when his eyes met mine, tears began to roll down his cheeks. “Stitch! You came! I knew you’d come,” he cried.
He tried to stand, but grimaced with pain when his arm shifted to the side. Before he had a chance to try again, I rushed over to him and picked him up off the floor, carefully sitting him down on the bed next to me. I glanced down at his arm and asked, “Your dad do that to you?”
“Yeah… it hurts,” he cried. “I tried to get away from him so I could get back to Momma. But, he grabbed me and held on real tight. I think he broke it,” Wyatt whimpered. “I want my momma.”
When he mentioned Wren, my gut twisted with worry. “Do you know where your momma is, Wyatt?”
“N-no,” his voice trembled as the tears continued to pool in his eyes. “I’m scared something happened to her, Griffin. What if my daddy hurt her?”
“She’s going to be fine. I’m going to make sure of it,” I promised. Fuck. If she wasn’t with them, then where the hell was she? There was only one person that knew, and he was outside with Maverick. Before I could get my hands on Michael, I needed to get Wyatt to the hospital. “I want you to wait here for just a minute. I’m going to see what we can do about your arm. Okay?”
“No!” he cried. “Please don’t leave me.”
“I’m not leaving you. I’ll stay right here in the room, okay? I’ll stand at the doorway… it won’t take long,” I told him.