“Jacques is the one who took me, do you really expect me to trust you?” She cries and tucks her head between her knees.
My jaw clenches. “And he’s not stopped beating himself up since, he thought the club wanted you back, that your pop wanted you home.” She looks up, searching my face. “I wanna beat his ass and I will, but I do believe he didn’t know what your uncle had planned. And I can promise on my life that you’re safe now, you’re always safe when I’m around.”
She blanches as she looks over at her Uncle. “I killed him,” she says deadpan.
Her lips turn up at the corners. There’s the Keeley I used to know, the fighter I know she still is.
“If you hadn’t, I sure as hell would’ve ripped him apart when I came in here,” I grit out, and close my eyes to calm the raging inferno inside me.
“Why did you come after me, Hunter?”
I clear my throat. “It wasn’t even a decision.” My hand twitches and I dig my fingers into my palm to stop myself from touching her face. “When I heard that your Uncle had roped Jacques into doing his dirty work earlier tonight, I saw red. Your uncle told him he’d get him his cut if he went somewhere with him, said your pop wanted you and you just needed a little nudge in the right direction to come back.” I shake my head. “He’s just a kid, he really didn’t know what he was doing.”
Her face screws up. “He knew exactly what he was doing! He still took me against my own free will, drugged me, tied me up and stuck me in the back of a van for hours, then willingly handed me over to that psychopath!”
Her voice rises and cracks as she finishes her sentence. I hang my head, there’s nothing I can say against that. Hell, it makes me want to walk out there and give him what he deserves but I can’t say if I was in his position I would’ve done any different, prospects do as they’re told no questions asked, that’s just club life.
“Keeley, we need to get you out of here. Can you walk?” She doesn’t move, just stares at me. “Steely?”
Her bottom lip wobbles. “Please don’t call me that.”
Whatever we once had, the protectiveness I once felt for her, is still there but I don’t think she feels the same way. How can I expect her to? I abandoned her.
With shaky hands, she zips up the hoodie and winces as she tries to push herself up the wall into a standing position. I try to help her but she holds out a hand. “Don’t touch me! Please.”
I grit my teeth as I watch her limp three steps and then stop. I have a primal need to sweep her into my arms and carry her out of here, but I stop myself before I freak her out. She shuffles against the wall toward the door again with a determined expression on her face. Shit! There’s three of us and only one bike. I remember Taz’s bike and the cage outside and rush back in the room for his keys. Finding them in a front pocket, I take a moment to stare at his face, the rage and anger making me want to take it all out on him, but he got what was coming to him already.
I walk back beside Keeley noticing she has a sheen of sweat across her forehead and I swallow, just watching her sway from the effort has me on high alert. She stops, a bloodied hand braced on the wall, eyes closed, and I catch her in my arms as she falls, wincing slightly as my knuckles ache at the movement. I pick up her fragile body and curl it into my own, ignoring the smell that seeps from her.
I walk outside and I’m just about to tell Jacques that we need to get rid of Taz’s body, when I hear sirens in the distance. He spins around and gawps at me holding Keeley’s body.
“Jacques, go!” I shout.
He shakes his head. “No, you haven’t done anything wrong. If anyone’s staying, it’s me.”
He squares his shoulders off and for the first time in his life, I see a man standing before me but I still won’t let him go down for this. “As far as they know, you ain’t done nothin’ wrong either, got it?”
Flashing lights come around the corner and I take a deep breath, pulling my face into a neutral expression, the face I use for the cops. All three cars skid to a stop and six officers jump out and point their guns at us.
“Stop right where you are and put your hands up!”
Put my hands up? Are they being fuckin’ serious? I look down at Keeley, she’s looking paler by the second. I continue to walk toward them not caring about my safety. “She needs medical help.”
“Stop right where you are!” One of them shouts.
I raise my voice as loud as I can. “I’m not the enemy here. My… friend needs medical help!”
The cops eye each other and one nods at another. “Do you have any weapons on your person right now?”
I shake my head, no. “We don’t have time for this, she needs help!”
Their incompetence is making me angry so I start walking forward again.
“Take one more step and I shoot!” The one nearest to me shouts.
I narrow my eyes at him. “This girl is dying and you’re all just standing there watching! Just fuckin’ do something!”