Sixteen
Jarrett
Dad and I just finished locking down the last hauler when my phone rings. He’s a stickler about checking every piece of equipment before anyone on the crew takes off with part of his engines. It’s one of the reasons I have to stay back until morning, so we could load everything properly. I’m so damn tired, but I debate driving back to Hope Town tonight just to spend the last few sleeping hours with Gin. I don’t really want to wait for morning to head back to her.
I answer my phone, surprised to hear from my cousin. “What’s up, Caleb?”
“Hey, I don’t want to freak you out, but I think you’re going to want to get back to Hope Town.”
My stomach hits my feet. “What’s wrong?”
Dad must notice the panic in my voice, because he stops working to listen to my conversation.
“It’s Gin.”
“What the fuck happened?”
“She’s okay, man. I mean, I think she’ll be okay. Maddox just called and said they were taking her by ambulance to the hospital. I don’t know the full story, just that she’s unconscious.”
“Fuck!” I scream, running toward my Harley. “I’m on my way.”
“What’s going on, son?” Dad runs after me as I hang up.
“It’s Gineva. I need to get back. They’re taking her to the hospital.”
“You’re not driving.” He grabs my arm. “Get in my truck and I’ll take you.”
“But—”
“Arch!” he yells to his second-in-command. “Finish up the check. I’m taking Jarrett to Hope Town.”
***
We pull up to Grady Memorial Hospital in record time. When the rush of what is happening leaves my body, I’m going to ask Dad how many laws he broke to get us here so fast. Caleb and Liam are waiting by the curb when we pull up, and I jump out before we even come to a complete stop.
“How is she?”
“She’s getting an MRI right now, but she’s breathing on her own, so just try to relax.” Lee tries to calm me down, but until I know what the fuck is happening, I will be doing no such thing.
I follow them to the waiting room, only to falter when I get there. The room is full to the brim. Axel and his entire family. Greg, Beck, and Asher. All their wives and kids. Sway is in the corner, being calmed by Davey, and Honor is tucked in next to Izzy, her face a picture of concern. But what puts ice in my veins is the look on Maddox Locke’s face. A frantic Emmy is trying to calm him down, but I see the pulse pounding in his corded neck and his black eyes cut me with an angry stare.
“Outside. Now,” is all he says to me, and panic fills my head.
“Mad, you need to fill us all in on what the hell happened back at Sway’s.” Axel demands from his side of the room. “We respected that you waited for Jarrett to get here, but you need to let us know what happened. We’re a fucking team.”
“Christ.” He scans the room, finding no strangers amongst the crowd. “I’m sorry, Jarrett. This is my fault.”
The room erupts in a burst of “What the fuck?” and “How can you say that?”
“Let me talk!” he bellows, silencing the room. “Gineva came to see me earlier this week. She needed me to help her figure out who was stealing money from Sway.”
Sway gasps, but it’s Axel whose face completely changes. “She was the kid? The one I brought to your office?”
This is making no sense at all.
Maddox gives a curt nod, and Nate curses.
“I told her I’d take care of it. To let me handle it,” Maddox says. “I put cameras in the salon, and when I slipped in one afternoon and found the gun in Amy’s purse, I pulled all the bullets.”
“Someone pulled a gun on her?” I shout.
The room erupts again, but Maddox keeps talking. “We’ve been in touch, but I didn’t give her any information because I had it under control. I was just waiting to collect enough surveillance to have the girl arrested. I never imagined she would be in there last night and that Gin would go in like that. Fuck!” His fists ball into knots. “I told her I had it handled.”
“You did, sweetheart.” Emmy tries to soothe him. “You saw it happening on the surveillance and got over there in time to save her.”
“What if I hadn’t looked? What if she had checked her gun? That crazy bitch tried to unload the entire magazine before she realized it was empty. Gin would have been fucking dead,” he seethes through clenched teeth.
I fold over at the waist, unable to hear another word about how my girl could have been murdered tonight had Maddox not been there to save her.
“Mr. Dean?”
“Yeah?” My dad, Caleb, and I all respond at the same time.
The doctor scans the three of us before smiling. “Does she call one of you Juice?”
“Thank fuck.” Knowing that she’s well enough to call me that gives me the smallest amount of relief.
The room fills with messages of concern to pass along, but I don’t even give them a chance to finish their thoughts. I’m following the doctor, anxious to see my girl.
“How is she?”
“Well, she was good enough to sign a paper insisting you have access to her medical information.” The doctor laughs. “That girl is a spitfire.”
“You have no fu—flipping clue.” Relief that my Gin is good enough to gripe up a storm has my feet back on solid ground. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She has a small concussion, and I’m concerned she hit her head again so soon after the last one. But for such a tiny thing, she’s amazingly strong. We’re going to send you home with a checklist of what to look for in case she needs to be brought back. But otherwise, she’s just banged up good.” She leads me to Gin’s room, and all her other words fall away.
Gin is sitting up in bed, a nasty bruise already forming on her forehead and cheek.
“How fast did you drive to get here?” She looks at the clock on the wall, and I know right then that my feisty girl will be just fine.