Eric
We walked into Slash’s room and I froze when I saw how he looked. Bandages around his head, leg in a cast, two black eyes, a cut on his cheekbone that took stitches to close. And that was just what I could see with the blanket pulled up to his chest. Monitors beeped everywhere, filling the room with sound. There was a sensor on one of his fingers, an IV in his arm, a blood pressure cuff and a lot of other things I didn’t recognize. He even had a bag of piss hanging off the bed since he couldn’t get up to take care of it himself. Like some sort of old man.
I couldn’t see straight, I was so furious. Spike led me further into the room to stand by Slash’s bed. He had to since I couldn’t move on my own. Rage froze me in place.
“Hey,” Slash whispered, trying to open his eyes.
Spike cleared his throat. “Don’t bother tryin’, man. You look like a raccoon with those eyes.”
“I wasn’t trying to see you. I wanted to see if my nurse is half as cute as she sounds.” We all laughed, except for Slash. He tried, but I saw his face screw up in pain when he did. Spike patted his arm.
“Go easy, man. It’s all right. We’re here with you.”
“How are you feeling?” Joe asked. He was one of my most trusted guys behind Slash and Spike. He was with Slash the night before, and his bruised knuckles showed how hard he fought.
“I’ve been better. Not in the mood for a party, if that’s what you mean.” He winced again, and I watched him press the button for the nurse. “I know it’s been more than four hours since I got my pain meds. Fuck, it was still dark outside.”
“Take it easy, brother. Breathe as calmly as you can.” I put a hand on his good leg to remind him I was with him. “You get yourself all pissed off, you’ll feel worse.”
He took a shaky breath. “I can’t believe they caught us like they did.”
“You didn’t know. It’s not like you walked into it looking for a fight.”
“No, but I should have been able to defend myself. I feel like a fucking loser.”
“They jumped you, man. They were going for you especially. You didn’t have a chance.” I heard anger in Joe’s voice, and I knew how he felt. It was hard enough just picturing what might have happened. I couldn’t imagine actually remembering it. “I only wish I could have jumped in to help you sooner.”
“You did everything you could, brother,” Slash murmured. “I remember seeing you beating the shit out of the one dude who tried to stomp on me. You got him good.”
“Yeah.” Joe shook out his right hand, where the knuckles were scabbed and swollen. “I got him.”
“Eric. I wanna talk to Eric alone for a minute, if that’s okay.”
I looked up at the guys and shrugged. I didn’t know what he had to say any more than they did. They left, with Spike throwing me a warning look before he followed them. I wondered what it meant.
I sat down next to him and squeezed his hand. “Hey, brother. I’m gonna get back at those sons of bitches for you. Wait and see.”
“I know you will,” he said. “But I don’t want you to get yourself killed over it.”
“Killed? You know me. I’m too stupid to die.” I tried to make a joke, but it sounded flat even as I said it.
“Come on, man. This is you and me. You don’t have to pretend in front of me. I know how fucked up this all is. And I don’t want you doing anything stupid.”
“I wouldn’t be stupid. I don’t like people making it sound like I’m stupid.”
“I don’t mean you’re stupid, okay?” He winced, trying to get comfortable. I felt bad for getting him worked up.
“I’m sorry. Just relax,” I muttered. “It’s not worth working yourself up over.”
He let out a long, pained sigh. “I only meant I know you, and I know how much you already wanted revenge on Gareth. It was all I could think about the whole time I was here. You, trying to get revenge. How much I wanted to tell you not to try.”
“Why wouldn’t I try?”
“’Cuz if you go into this and don’t think about it first, you’ll walk right into whatever he has waiting for you.”
I felt a cold chill. “You think he would do that?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him. I mean, he had us followed by his guys. You think that was a coincidence? Nah. They knew we were gonna be there, and they went right for us. They didn’t even look surprised to see us, and I know sure as shit we were surprised to see them. We didn’t do anything to them. It was a set-up. They jumped us.”
“Fuck.” It was all I could say to sum up how I felt. I didn’t know what to do.
“If you go for him, you have to be smart. You have to give it thought, the way he does.”
“Any ideas?”
He sighed and stared at the ceiling. “Some of last night’s a little fuzzy for me…”
“They said you have a concussion.”
“Right, wouldn’t be surprised. That’s why my head’s fucking killing me.” He pressed the call bell for the nurse. “Fucking nurses. I could be dying in here and they would be out there drinking their fucking coffee and giggling over some stupid shit. Anyway, I talked to a couple of people at the club. One of them was talking to the other one about an auction coming up.”
I almost felt my attention pick up. “Okay.”
“What happened when you went to the auction on Friday?”
“Nothing. That’s the pain in the ass. I didn’t see anything that led to him—he wasn’t even there. His old lady was.”
“Hmm. So he doesn’t wanna be too close to it. Makes sense. Well, from what I heard, it’s not just virgin auctions he’s into.”
I felt a little sick. “What else?”
“Underage.”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to fist pump or throw up. “You gotta be kidding.”
“Nope. He wants girls younger than eighteen. The younger the better, from what the guys at the club were saying.”
“Holy shit. And they talk about it like it’s normal?”
“I know. We’re talking some sick fuckers, man.”
I tapped my fingers on the arm of the chair, thinking. I couldn’t let emotion, or the way Gareth made me sick, get in my way. “What if I find a girl who looks young? Maybe I could get her to pretend like she’s underage and she wants to be in the auction.”
A smile. “Good thinking.”
“I’d have to get her wired up, but I don’t think that’ll be an issue. Hell, I can have her record it on her phone, even. It should work.”
“All you have to do is find a girl willing to do it.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem once I offer money.” It would work. It had to work. If I couldn’t take the fucker down by blowing his brains out, I’d clue the police in to what he was doing in his spare time to make a little cash.
The thought of cash made me think of Michelle. I wondered what she was doing, how she felt. The longer I was away from her, the worse I felt about holding out on her. She needed the money. I shouldn’t have held it over her head.
Slash picked up on the way I went silent. “What’s up, man? You all right?”
“Yeah.” I sighed, and decided to give him the rundown on what happened at the auction.
“Thirty grand? Are you fucking kidding me? You have that kind of money laying around?”
“Sure I do. That’s not the issue.”
“Was she any good? I can’t believe you paid for a virgin. Oh, shit. I can’t laugh. It hurts too much.”
I decided to let him have his fun, seeing the condition he was in. Anybody else would have felt my fist. He’d felt enough of that to last for a while.
“Yeah, she was. She really was. So there’s your answer.”
“Hot?”
“You don’t even know.”
“Lucky prick. I guess that’s what you were doing when I called you last night.”
“Honestly, no.” I felt like such an ass for ignoring him.
“Oh, right. You probably kicked her out the minute you woke up yesterday morning.” He grinned.
“No, that’s not true either.”
“What? Wait, what? Is it the pain meds? You mean you actually let a woman hang around?” He laughed again, and winced again.
“That’s what you get for laughing at me, asshole.” I stood up. “Careful I don’t draw a bunch of dick pictures all over your cast. Anyway, yeah, she’s still at my house. She’s pretty cool.”
“Whew. Pretty cool. That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said about a woman. Send me an invite to the wedding.”
“At the rate you’re going, I won’t send you an invite to watch me shit. I’ll let it slide since you’re hurt.” But I smiled, and I knew he could hear in my voice that I wasn’t really pissed.
The door opened, and a nurse walked in. She was older, heavyset, in a pair of scrubs with cats all over them. I got a good idea about her just from looking at her for a split second.
“How are we feeling?” Slash was right—she had a sexy voice. Funny how that worked sometimes.
I leaned down to mutter in Slash’s ear. “Hey, by the way. What we were talking about before? She’s totally as hot as she sounds.” That would teach him. I heard him flirting with her when I left the room, and managed to keep from laughing until I got to the hall.
When I saw the looks on the faces of my guys, though, the laugh died. “Everybody lay low for a while,” I said. “They know we’ll be here at the hospital, so don’t leave alone. Leave in pairs, at least, if not all together. Same thing with coming here. If they’re stalking us, we have to keep our eyes open. I’m gonna go to the clubhouse and check on things there.”
“I thought you said we shouldn’t go out alone,” one of the guys pointed out.
“Let them try to follow me,” I growled.
###
I was fine all the way to the clubhouse, and everything seemed okay there. Two of my members caught up in the fight with Gareth’s guys were there, and I talked to them about what happened. Their story matched up with what I heard at the hospital. I poured out drinks for us and we toasted. I promised myself as I did that I was gonna find a way to take the son of a bitch down.
It was good to have a drink and relax. I had been way too stressed out since Friday night, thanks to Michelle. More like thanks to me, I thought. I had to stop pretending like it was her fault. It was mine. I was the one who made her stay, even though I knew she didn’t want to. She didn’t deserve it.
I decided that when I went home, I’d tell her she could go. I’d call up the bank in the morning and have the money wired right to her bank account. Or she could go to the bank with me if it made her feel better.
I didn’t wanna let her go, but it was the only fair thing to do.
Suzie walked in and gave me a hug. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” she said.
“I’m fine. You know it’ll take more than somebody like Gareth to take me down,” I said, winking. She was maybe one of the only women besides Michelle I would bother talking to. A sweet girl, maybe a little dim, but she had a good heart.
“I heard you telling the others that they have to be safe, in case somebody follows them. You think that’s true?”
“That we should watch our backs? Hell yeah, I do. Who knows what they’re thinking.”
“I’m glad they weren’t, like, waiting for you outside your house or something. You know, since you’d go to the hospital as soon as you heard about Slash.”
I nodded, and was just gonna get up and go to my office before I thought about what she said. Waiting for me outside my house.
I ran to the office and pulled out the receipt I got at the auction. Michelle Adams. It even had her address on it—not safe, of course, if one of the girls ended up with a stalker. But right then and there, I didn’t care. I needed to get to her, fast.
I went back out to where a few of the guys sat at the bar. “I need one or two of you with me now.” I didn’t stop to tell them why. I was too busy feeling sick. Joe and Pete, two of my most trusted men, followed me out.
If I knew her at all, she would have left the house as soon as I did. She would have gone to her mother. What was the easiest way to get to me? To go after her. Gareth had to know by then that I bought her. Fuck, what was I thinking, leaving her alone? And she asked to go with me, too.
I couldn’t waste time blaming myself. Not when I had to get to her before anybody else did.