Chapter 20

Silk

I floated out of my drug-induced haze to a world of pain.

“Eagle?”

I needed more of those painkillers, and more sleep. Maybe a week or so worth would do it.

“Shh, honey. Try not to move so much. What do you need?”

That was not Eagle’s deep voice, but my aunt’s.

“Water?”

My throat was dry, making it hard to speak. I wanted to know where Eagle was. If my uncle had injured him, I didn’t care how much my ribs hurt, I would get up and go deal with him. A small, warm hand slid under my shoulders to help me sit up and a cold glass was pressed against my lips. I swallowed down a few mouthfuls before the glass was removed. I tried to lift my arm but Aunt Rose stopped the movement.

“I’ll take it off, just lie back down first.”

Once I was horizontal again, she peeled what turned out to be a wet cloth from my face. I blinked several times to clear my blurry vision and discovered I was in my room at the clubhouse. Of course, I’d been moved from my cabin back to the safety of the club. No matter how much I understood the logic of the move, I was still pissed off at having my freedom taken from me.

And my time with Eagle was also over now. Until he got patched in, I wouldn’t be close to him again. And depending on what Scout believed about how I’d come to be hurt, he may not get patched in. The club could easily blame the three men for my being alone to be hurt. That wouldn’t end well for Eagle, Taz and Mac. Not at all.

I looked over to Aunt Rose. “Where is he?”

She winced. “I’m not entirely sure. Scout and your uncle are not happy with him for leaving you alone like he did. He’s been in charge of your security twice now when you’ve been taken or attacked. The club isn’t going to just let that go, no matter how you feel about it.”

“It wasn’t his fault. Maybe if I talk to Scout? Tell him how I ended up alone?”

My Aunt’s gaze ran over me, seeing way too much.

“You really like this man?”

“I love him. If he had his top rocker, I’d already be his old lady.”

She sighed heavily. “I thought as much. I’ll go get Scout, but I’m not sure you can change what is going to happen. If it hasn’t happened already.”

“How long has it been since the attack?”

“Two days, honey. You’ve woken a few times, but we’ve kept you on pain meds so you could sleep through the worst of the pain.”

Two days later and it still hurt this much? I hated to think how much pain I’d have been in if I hadn’t been drugged up. Aunt Rose left to get Scout and I stared up at the ceiling and tried to plan out what the fuck I was going to say to try to convince him Eagle didn’t need to be beaten.

“Hey there, sugar. You feeling any better?”

I turned to face the club President, a man who’d always been there for me since the day I arrived, fifteen years ago.

“Hey Scout, I’ve been better. I wanted to ask you about Eagle.”

He closed the door and moved to sit in the chair where Aunt Rose had sat earlier.

“Yeah, your aunt told me that. You know I can’t discuss club business with you.”

“You can if it affects me. And any punishment Eagle gets over this will affect me.”

He sighed in much the same way as my aunt had. What was with that?

“He’s failed as your guard twice now, Silk. We can’t let that go. You know that.”

“Are you going to refuse him a top rocker?”

Scout was silent as we stared at each other for a minute or two. “He takes his punishment without complaint, without passing out, he gets a clean slate.”

“Without passing out? What the fuck is the punishment?”

I tried to sit up but Scout held my shoulder down with his large palm.

“That, I won’t tell you. Club business is not any concern of yours. We all know you two are feeling each other, but if he fails this? He’s out and you’ll not be allowed to see him. He needs to atone and prove he’s serious about being part of the club and about being your old man.”

A growl slipped out before I could call it back. I was in the clubhouse and speaking with the President. I needed to stay respectful. But I was struggling.

“Sorry, Scout, but I fail to understand why he needs to atone for anything. He saved me three days ago. If it wasn’t for his instincts and Mac’s alarms, they wouldn’t have found me until it was too late. Those men weren’t going to let me walk away.”

Scout took my hand between his palms. “Don’t growl at me again, girl. And pointing out how close you came to being killed is not going to help your boy. He should have followed you and kept watch the entire time you were out of the house.”

I wanted to growl again, to rant and rave, but the serious, stubborn look on Scout’s face told me all I needed to know. He wasn’t going to change his mind.

“Can you tell me when you plan on delivering this mysterious punishment at least? And what about Taz and Mac?”

“Eagle has chosen to take the punishment for all three of them. Taz and Mac were following his lead on this occasion, so the fault lies with Eagle. And I can’t tell you when, but by the time you’re back on your feet, he will be too. Assuming he passes.”

At that I glared. He was pushing me to a point where I was about to not care I was in the clubhouse.

“I’m not happy with you right now. Really not happy.”

The bastard had the gall to smirk at me. “I get that, sugar. I really do. But you’re important to all of us here at the club and any man who wants you for his old lady better be strong enough, and brave enough, to stand up for you.”

With that he stood, kissed the top of my head and turned to leave.

“I’ll send your aunt back in with some food. You need to start eating now that you’re awake.”

I stayed silent as he left my room. What could I say? There was nothing I could do to prevent what was going to happen to Eagle, if it hadn’t already gone down. Fuck! I wanted to throw things, vent some of this anger and frustration, but even raising my hand slowly had my ribs letting me know they didn’t like the plan. No way did I have the ability to trash my room. And what good would it do anyway? Scout had condoned whatever the fuck was going to happen, and no one could over-ride that.

Minutes later, it wasn’t my aunt that came in but my uncle.

“Hey darlin’, good to see you really awake.”

“Really awake? As opposed to what? Pretend awake?”

Yeah, I was being a bitch but just at the moment I really didn’t care. Uncle Clint clearly didn’t take my tone to heart as he chuckled and came to sit by me with a bowl of mac and cheese.

“You’ve been in and out of it for days. We’ve gotten a little soup into you, along with pain meds, but you weren’t with it enough to have a conversation. Or to bitch anyone out.”

“Don’t suppose you could talk to Scout?”

His expression grew serious. “Eagle knows he deserves what he’s going to get. There’s nothing you can do to change that course.”

“It’s bullshit. You know it is. We were at the cabin for a full week with no sign of anyone. Want someone to blame? Blame me. What’s the only way they could have known where I was?”

He winced and moved in the chair. “They put a tracker on your phone.”

“So who’s at fault? Me. I’m the stupid one who kept my phone without even thinking to check it over. I had it turned off until that morning. I’m sure if I asked one of the boys to look over it, they would have found the tracker. But I didn’t even think about it. And before you say they should have, they didn’t know that Antonio had taken my phone from me in the first place.”

He filled a spoon with the gooey mac and cheese. “Well, I sure as shit ain’t letting you go through what he’s about to go through, so just accept the beating you already got as punishment and shut up and eat.”

Shaking my head, I accepted defeat and opened my mouth to be fed like a fucking toddler. How long did it take for ribs to heal again? I think Eagle had said something about it being three to five weeks. Fuck. I probably wouldn’t see him again until after I was healed.

It was going to be a long fucking month without seeing him every day. Especially knowing he was going to be hurt. At least he had Taz and Mac. I knew without a doubt both of those men would take care of him.

Eagle

“Are you fucking nuts?”

I glanced over to Taz after I threw back a shot of whiskey.

“Why should all three of us go down for this? I was in charge, and I fucked up. Club rules. I’ll survive it, then we’ll all patch in and it’ll all be behind us. And I’ll get the girl.”

Mac shook his head at me. “You know we’re more than capable of handling our own punishment? There is no need for you to take on three times what you should have to.”

I laughed. “Read between the lines, brother. This shit has nothing to do with what happened up on that mountain and you know it. Sure, the club’s pissed Silk got hurt. But they’re more pissed that a prospect has come in and taken a Daughter of the Club for himself. Just because we haven’t stepped over any public line, everyone knows what’s going on between us. Scout and Bulldog, along with everyone else, know full well the moment I get my top rocker, I’ll be claiming that woman. This beat down? It’s more about me proving I’m willing to step up for Silk. And I am. Fuck, I’m a Marine! These boys won’t break me.”

“Well, at least half these boys are ex-military so they may well fucking break at least some of you.”

“Taz, you’re not funny, man.”

“Wasn’t trying to be, mate.”

He put another shot in front of me and I threw it back. Hopefully with my mind half-buzzed I’d not feel the blows so much.

“That’s enough. Don’t want you falling down drunk before they even land a punch. And whatever they manage to break, we’ll take care of you, ‘k?”

“Yeah, I know, Mac. Fuck, wish it was Silk but she’s going to be flat out trying to get better herself for a good while yet. Last thing she needs is to know I’m fucked up too.”

Mac gave me a nod. “She knows. That girl’s spent too long around the club. No way she didn’t work out you’ve got some pain coming your way.”

Taz took over. “Knowing Silk, she’s tried to convince them to leave you alone.”

“I did see Rose come down and send Scout up there yesterday. I didn’t even think of her trying to save my ass.”

Fuck, she was one in a million. I had to survive this shit for her. A whisper of sound alerted me to someone coming up from the basement, and I froze, waiting for what I knew was coming.

“You ready, Eagle?”

I took a deep breath, held each of my brothers’ gazes for a moment then turned to stand, facing Scout.

“Yeah, let’s get this shit over with. Just to be clear, Mac and Taz are clear of punishment right?”

Scout shook his head a little. “Yeah, you crazy fucker. You’re taking all the hits on this one.” Scout looked over my shoulder. “You two stay up here. Either of you try to get downstairs, it’s not going to end well for you. I’m leaving six men up here to keep guard on the clubhouse, and to make sure you don’t try anything.”

He rattled off the names, but I wasn’t listening. I was too busy taking in each of the men who stood behind Scout. The ones who were going to be laying into me real soon. Looked to be about a dozen men. I should probably be grateful Scout hadn’t called in the whole fucking club.

With a head tilt from Scout, we were off toward the basement. I hadn’t been down there before, but could take a guess at what I’d find there. I rolled my shoulders as we marched down the stairs. It rather felt like I was heading to the gallows. I glanced at the men around me. They looked serious, but not ‘I’m about to kill someone’ serious. Thankfully.

I was led into a room with Scout, Bulldog, Keys, Arrow and Nitro. The hierarchy of the club were all here. Fuck. The others stayed out in the hallway and the door was closed. There was a single bulb hanging in the center of the space. I was surrounded by concrete, and the floor had a drain in the center. Yeah, only one reason they had this room. I winced. This shit was going to hurt like a motherfucker.

“You know why you’re here?”

Scout’s voice was deeper than usual, and a little more gravelly.

“Twice, I’ve been in charge of Silk’s security when she’s been taken or hurt. I also suspect this is more about the fact you all know that I want her for my old lady.”

Because they knew full well it didn’t matter how closely Silk was being watched, the mob would have gotten to her eventually. And that first time was on them, not me. If they’d told me sooner who was after her, I’d have been by her side, not standing out in front of the damn shop. The shit at the cabin was on me, though. I’d been kicking my own ass from the moment it happened. We’d all gotten complacent after a full week with no sign of anyone.

Bulldog stepped forward with a growl. “You ain’t good enough for our girl.”

“She’s no girl, and I may not be good enough, but thankfully, she doesn’t seem to care. Once I’m patched in, and have claimed her, you better stop withholding information from me that I need to make sure she’s always protected. If I had known who was after her earlier, I would have had someone standing beside her twenty-four/seven, instead of just me at the door of the shop. And tell me, did you get word that they were coming after her again this last week?”

Bulldog’s expression tightened and his fists clenched.

“Yeah, I thought so. If you’d given me a heads-up, she wouldn’t have been allowed to leave the damn cabin at all, let alone by herself. You tied my hands behind my back, and now you’re fucking pissed I didn’t keep her safe. Don’t you think that information would have been fucking helpful? You think I like that she’s lying up there with fucked-up ribs and face because I wasn’t there? And if my instincts hadn’t kicked in, if me and my boys didn’t have the skills we had Silk wouldn’t by lying upstairs at all, would she? She’d be fucking dead. All because you assholes didn’t want to share club business with a fucking prospect. If anyone deserves a beat down over this shit, it’s you five. Not me.”

I paused to roll my shoulders and take a deep breath. I was angry and spouting off, but I wasn’t about to be put through this shit for something I didn’t fucking do.

“And you all know it. So, like I said before, I suspect this has more to do with me proving my worth to have Silk once you see fit to give me my top rocker. Tell me, am I allowed to fight back, or am I supposed to stand here and take the licks without raising so much as a finger?”

Scout spoke up again. “You can fight back. No killing anyone. I know you Marines are trained well, but I don’t want anyone dying here today. Nor do I want half my club out with fucking broken bones. We still need to deal with Sabella, and can’t do that with a bunch of crippled men. After this is over, we’ll discuss changing what we tell prospects in the future, especially when it comes to security issues.”

With a nod, I fell back into a fighter’s stance. Naturally, Bulldog was the first one to come at me with a fist flying toward my jaw. I jerked out of the way and delivered a blow to his stomach.

“Told you I’d only let you get that one free shot in.”

Bulldog wheezed and stumbled back, but it only took him a moment to collect himself and come back at me. This time it wasn’t just him. Obviously, the others had been waiting for Bulldog to start things. I caught sight of Scout moving to open the door as the other four all came at me at once. Every one of these bastards was big and they all knew how to pack a punch. I did what I could to avoid hits and throw out a few of my own, but it was useless, and before long I was pinned up against the wall, my arms being held against the rough concrete as the men all took their turns at me. I got a few good kicks in, taking down a couple of the lower-ranked members. Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep it up. Not with my upper body taking blow after blow.

The third time I turned my head to spit out a mouthful of blood, my head swam and black spots invaded. Fuck. I was going to pass out. I tried every mental trick I knew to stay alert, to block out the pain. Then Bulldog filled my vision and this time, there was no avoiding his fist. My head jerked to the side and stars filled my vision before it went black.