“Ice,” she said finally, her eyes darting to mine before she let go of me.
“I’ll see you soon, princess,” I said in relief as Mel plucked Rebel off my lap.
I barely remembered to grab my keys and wallet as I rushed out of the room before she could change her mind. I stopped outside the door where Rebel couldn’t see me, and waited for a minute, then started walking again when I didn’t hear her start to fuss. Success.
“You’re good with her,” Amy said a few moments later as she led me to her car.
“I do my best,” I replied ruefully, climbing in and buckling up. “Not sure how well I’m actually doing.”
“We all think that,” Amy mused, turning the car on.
“You have kids?” I asked in surprise as she whipped the car around and started down the driveway.
“Just a son,” she said, smiling at the boys who opened the gate for us. “He lives up in Portland.”
“He’s not a biker, then?” I said dryly, relaxing back into my seat.
“Oh, he is.” She smiled, pulling out onto the road. “He’s just not an Ace.”
“That must be a relief,” I blurted without thinking, snapping my mouth shut when Amy raised an eyebrow.
“Not really,” she said. “He was beaten in an alleyway once.”
“Oh, no,” I murmured.
“Patrick and the boys took care of it,” she said softly, glancing at me before focusing back on the road. “But if he’d been wearing a cut, he probably wouldn’t have been attacked in the first place.”
“Maybe,” I murmured, staring out my window.
“Bad things happen to everyone,” Amy said a few minutes later as she pulled into the hospital parking lot. “But the protection of the Aces prevents them from happening far more often than it causes them. Remember that.”
I nodded, thinking about the way the men had said goodbye to their wives less than an hour before. I wished I had asked Will to stay, but I was terrified that he would have said no. That would have been infinitely worse than facing this alone.
“Let’s get you fixed up,” Amy said as we got out of the car. “Once you get that hard cast on, you can show Will who’s boss.”
Chapter 18
Will
I only made it an hour before I signaled the guys to pull off the highway.
My chest had felt tight since the moment I’d caught a glimpse in my rearview of Molly racing out of the clubhouse to watch me leave, and the farther away we got, the worse it was. When we’d finally hit Oakridge I’d known, but it had taken me a bit more time to get my head straight.
I wanted to catch the fuckers that killed Duncan. The urge was almost painful in its intensity, and the thought of walking away made my fingers twitchy and my skin tingle. It went beyond a little payback. I had to know that they were no longer on this earth, not only because they’d killed Dunc and had beat the hell out of Molly, but because they’d seen her vulnerable and scared. They’d made her that way. They didn’t get to live. It was as simple as that.
“What’s goin’ on?” Dragon asked as I shut my bike off. “You good?”
I shook my head and ripped my helmet off in frustration. “Can’t do it,” I croaked, scratching at my beard.
“What?” my dad asked, pulling off his shades. “Can’t do what?”
“Can’t go with you.”
“You alright?” Hulk asked as I wiped the sweat from my forehead.
“Molly’s havin’ surgery today,” I said, tapping my helmet against my knee. “I shouldn’t have left her.” It was the first time in years I’d backed out of a job. The words tasted like gravel in my mouth, but my chest felt instantly lighter once they were out.
The worried frown on my dad’s face morphed into a look of relief.
“Fuckin’ took you long enough,” Hulk joked, shaking his head.
“What?” I asked in confusion, looking around the group.
“Man, you fucked it up last time,” Dragon grumbled, leaning back on his bike. “Been takin’ runs you didn’t have to, leavin’ your girl for some fucked up reason that you’re not coppin’ to.”
“I was doin’ my job,” I ground out.
“Son,” my dad said, taking a pack of smokes from his pocket and lighting one before he continued. “You been racin’ toward some shit and I can’t even see where you’re headed. Takin’ blame for shit that woulda happened one way or another.”
He’d said it before, taken me aside and told me that the shit that happened a few years ago hadn’t been my fault, but it hadn’t been true then and it wasn’t now. I wasn’t going to argue with him, though. That wasn’t what this was about.
“Molly’s havin’ a hard time,” I said instead, changing the subject.
“It was Brenna or one of the kids?” Dragon said quietly as he held out a hand to bum a cigarette off my dad. “Wouldn’t have left, either.”