My thumb traces the tear marks down her cheek. “What if I don’t want to go back without you?”
She looks shocked but recovers quickly with a flourish of her head. “Then you’re going to be really fucking disappointed, there’s not a chance I’ll ever go back to the club.”
“All I’ve ever known is the club, it’s been my life for the last twenty-seven years, but it’s not the same as it was. Everything’s gone to shit, Steely. I love bikes and I always will do, but there’s nothing left there for me anymore, my pop has lost his way, and Jacques? He needs a fresh new start. College or somethin’.”
I let the words hang between us. The door opens and the same cop from before comes in and assesses the situation. Keeley shifts beside me, making my hand drop from her face.
“Sorry to interupt, but there’s guys here from your club and they’re causing quite the scene trying to get to you both.”
Keeley tenses and grabs my hand. “They’re coming for me.”
I push off the bed and walk toward the cop. “How many are here?”
“Around seven.”
I nod and worry my lip, they won’t do anything in such a public place, but what if they want revenge on Keeley for killing Taz?
I point to the cop. “You stay in here with her, you let anyone in and I’ll be back for you.”
Keeley tries to shuffle out of the bed. “The hell with that! I’m not staying here like a sitting duck.”
I push her back down on the bed. “You’ll stay here, I’m not askin’.”
A fire flickers behind her eyes but she nods once. I take one last look at her and make my way out of the door, eyeing the cop as I walk past him. I don’t need to ask where my brothers are, I hear them before I see them around the corner. I turn, facing them head on.
“Bear!” Jacques pulls me into a man hug and claps me on the back. “I thought you were six feet under!”
I pull away and look into his eyes. “You called them down here?”
“Where the fuck is she, Bear?” Pres growls, walking toward us.
My shoulder screams out as I undo the sling, ready to put him down if I need to. “She’s none of your business anymore, you washed your hands of her, remember?”
He squares up to me. “She’s my fuckin’ daughter and as far as I’m aware, I’m still president of this club! You’ll step aside and let me see my daughter.”
There’s nothing about his statement or his demeanor that says he’s here to hurt her. I eye the other brothers standing behind him; Jacques, my pop, Jojo, JT, Grim and Smiler. I scrub a hand down my face in relief, none of these brothers would do anything to a woman, not on purpose anyway.
I sigh. “She’s in a bad way, Pres. She-”
“She can speak for herself.”
My skin bristles at her raspy voice, and I hear the collective growls and hisses from my brothers at the sight of Keeley, bruises marring her beautiful skin.
“Keeley…” Pres breathes out and his face turns into a picture of rage as he punches the hallway wall. “Fuck!” He shouts.
Two cops run toward us and he puts up his hands. “No problem here.”
They eye us all but don’t turn away.
“Bear, you better start fuckin’ talkin’ before these guys take me away in cuffs.”
His chest heaves up and down and I take Keeley’s wheelchair off the terrified looking nurse. I eye the two cops standing with hands ready to grab their guns at any sign of trouble and tip my head to them. “How about we take this somewhere private?”
“There’s a room just up here,” Keeley sighs out.
I turn my back to Pres against my better judgement, and start wheeling Keeley away from the stares of them all.
“I can talk for myself.”
“I know that but the situation needed defusing. You’re either real stupid for coming out here or real brave.”
“We’ll go with both,” she quips.
Her lip curls up and I shake my head at her ability to make jokes at a time like this.
I’m putting on a brave front, but all I want to do is find somewhere to hide until this all blows over. Everyone looked furious when I rolled up, the only thing stopping them from doing something to me was the two cops who turned up at the right time. In the past hour, I’d found out that Hunter was alive, that he still really cared for me even after nearly four years, and that my feelings for him haven’t diminished any either. And on top of that, I’m just about to face my dad again for the first time since he eighty-sixed me from the club, his house, my work, the whole fucking area I only ever knew.
Hunter wheels me into the room the cops took my statement in and Hernandez and Daniels stand out in the hallway, giving me a look that says they’re not going anywhere if I need them.
He takes us into the far corner and chooses to stand next to me. My fingers grip my knee as my dad files in but he tried to stop the other guys from following him in. “This is a private matter.”
“The hell it is! This is club business, we all were fuckin’ interrogated, not just you!” Grim sneers.
My brow furrows, what is he talking about?