Chapter Seven
Pyro
Almost the entire Breakneck family is waiting here in the parking lot for our new arrivals. The only ones not here are ZZ and the Red Ladies, their watch locations are of the most value when it comes to keeping our town safe, they couldn’t pull away, but our president didn’t hesitate to call the rest of us back.
I check my watch when I hear their bikes in the distance, right on time. I gaze over at our president, still fucking irritated with how he’s treating me. Shit hasn’t been right with us since I took off on my bender, if I didn’t know any better, I would believe the fucker was jealous I was able to dip out without a care.
Akela and Ripley move near me and each wrap an arm around one of mine, careful not to bump my crutches. “How’s the leg?” Rip questions me while the sound of their bikes grows near.
“It’s not too bad,” I tell her, she was right, it’s getting better because I haven’t gone without the crutches in a week.
Who fucking knew, right?
I chuckle. “You were spot on with the crutch bullshit.”
“Good.”
With a roll of my eyes, I question her behavior from last week and feel her body stiffen. “Nothing,” she grumbles and peers over at Akela where she too has hardened.
“I don’t know what the fuck is goin’ on with you people,” I growl, rip away from them and move. “All of you are off your fuckin’ rockers.”
One of the prospects open the gate and in ride our three new members, trailers attached to their fat ladies.
I whistle when they pull in, admiring their rides.
They shut down their bikes, remove their helmets and stand simultaneously.
“Welcome,” Braxxon says, walking up to them and shaking their hands.
I study them as they make their rounds with introductions; I should have been the second one introduced being vice president and all, but Braxxon still has a fucking dildo up his ass. When they finally stand in front of me, and he presents them, I shake their hands. “It’s good to have more help.”
“It’s good to be somewhere busier.” The one named Seneca says with honesty. “Too much time spent working on our bikes.”
I grin. “Fuckin’ lovely creatures though.”
“Thanks,” Krew chuckles. “Old as shit doin’ the same thing day in and day out.”
“It’s gonna be fun seein’ if your reputations are true,” I tell them, adjusting my crutches. “I’m hopin’ they are. We’ve got a bit of a fuckin’ problem here.”
“We’ve heard. I’m glad we can be of help for our Mother Chapter,” he admits. “Got a large family here, yeah?”
I smirk while we gaze around the compound. “We do. A lot of bodies to protect, a town to protect, businesses to run. Our hands are fuckin’ full.”
Braxxon huffs with my words. “Brothers follow me. I’ll show you your quarters so you can unpack, shower, and shit. Tour can be after you settle in.”
“Berry, ZZ’s mom, has been cookin’ up a storm since this morning. You’ll be able to eat soon,” I inform them since our president is fucking rude, they’ve been on the road, he knows how hungry men get from riding all fucking day. “ZZ’s on watch, you’ll meet him later.”
“Gotcha. Alright, catch ya later, man,” Krew says while the other two only nod and turn away.
When they are out of sight, the women begin their whispers.
No doubt excited with the looks of our three new brothers, I’m man enough to admit they aren’t bad looking dudes, but damn, most of these ladies are taken.
I chuckle to myself as I gimp inside the housing building and up the stairs to my room to grab my pain medicine.
A knock sounds at my door a few minutes later, and I holler for whoever it is to come in. No way am I getting off my bed, I want to keep the instant ache in my leg to a minimum.
“You got a minute?” Jinx questions, closing the door behind her.
“Sure, darlin’, have a seat there.” I point to my recliner.
I prop a pillow under my leg and watch her with steady eyes when she sits down in my chair. “What’s up?”
Jinx slumps down, her gaze on my blank walls. “Shit. I feel incredibly stupid right now.”
I frown. “Why?”
She swings her head in my direction, her blue eyes clouded with unshed tears. “I don’t know these men, Pyro.”
Fuck!
We’re fucking idiots, all of us men.
“Do you trust me, Jinx?”
“Honestly? Only a little,” she answers, the truth ringing with her tone. “I feel safe with you, to an extent.”
I can work with it. “First off, I want to tell you all three of those men come very highly recommended, they’re safe for you to be around. Secondly, what do you need from us to make you feel safe?”
She turns her head to look at my blank walls again, it bothers me, so I ask why she does it, and she turns her attention back to me with an answer. “I hate eye contact. You can read too many emotions and unspoken words through a person’s eyes.”
“Probably shouldn’t be friends with Storm then,” I chuckle, trying to lighten her somber mood.
“Don’t I know it.”
I pull my phone from my pocket and shoot ZZ a single text for him to pick up a new lock for Jinx’s room, one where she can lock herself in and out. He doesn’t question her need for a new lock; he gets it. Storm has a history with men, he’s used to random requests from the girls when it comes to safety.
“ZZ’s gonna pick you up a new lock for your room,” I tell her tossing my phone onto my bedside table. “One you can use a key to lock your door from both sides.”
I hear her take a steady breath. “Thank you.”
“No worries, darlin. You can stay here for a few hours if you want,” I offer. “I’m gonna rest my leg, maybe take a nap, there’s a couple of books on the shelf behind the chair,” I tell her as I scoot down on my bed and reposition the pillow under my leg.
“You honestly don’t mind?”
“No, a book is quiet, I’ll be able to rest while you read. No worries.”
I grab the spare pillow and throw it over my face, so the light doesn’t keep me awake, and she can read. “Can you wake me when they call for dinner?”
The chair squeaks and I hear her footsteps walk around the chair to the bookshelf, the pillow hiding my smirk.
“Of course,” she replies a few seconds later.
“Thanks, darlin’.”
∞∞∞
There are more than a couple of books on his bookshelf; he made it sound as if there were two or three, there are about a hundred. I scan my pointer finger along all the titles; his books range from learning materials to novels, there are even a few encyclopediae.
I’m impressed.
I choose a warn down romance novel.
When I sit back down and flip to the first page, there’s an inscription on the inside.
My heart will forever beat for you.
The written words warn down from time.
I wonder if this novel was passed down from family members or if Pyro is a secret romantic and he found this little gem.
I feel as if I’m an invader to the person who wrote the inscription, so I close the novel and drop it in my lap.
I doubt I could read right now anyway, my nerves shot from the new arrivals.
The other women were going crazy over their looks, while I was struggling to breathe. I haven’t had a panic attack in months, but their arrival almost brought one to light. I don’t care if they are good looking and easy on the eyes, they’re still strangers to me.
A buzzing against my thigh startles me.
My phone.
It’s Piper wondering where I am.
I text her back I’m hanging out in Pyro’s room reading a book while he sleeps.
It’s only a partial lie, he is sleeping, and I do have a book in my lap.
It should bother me more for lying to the one person I trust the most in Breakneck, but it doesn’t.
I believe Pyro enjoys my company as much as I enjoy his.
We don’t expect anything from one another, and we’ve cleared the air when he confessed how he’s fighting a battle of emotions while I’m battling my own set of demons too. It may be a different kind of mental war than mine, but a war all the same.
Piper texts me back asking if I’m okay, and I say yes; because at this very moment, I am. Even though I’m still in the process of giving Pyro my trust, I do trust him to keep me safe when it counts.
I do breathe a little more comfortable with the realization my trust is growing towards people other than Piper and Sniper. I know it means I’m getting healthier with the mental part of my healing.
Another text comes in from a person who has never texted me.
ZZ.
He asks to meet him at my door in a few minutes.
I grab the book from my lap, walk it back to Pyro’s bookshelf and tiptoe out of the room.
“Hey,” ZZ mumbles when I reach him. “I’m a little tired, darlin’; let's get your lock changed, yeah?”
“You don’t have to change it right this second,” I tell him. “You can get some rest first, or I can do it myself.”
He scrubs his face with his free hand. “No. I’ll feel better doin’ it myself.”
I lean against the wall when he takes his knife out to open the package. “Okay.”
The silence is deafening, so I pick a topic I know he won’t mind talking about; his adoption. “Are you excited to be a dad again?”
ZZ chuckles under his breath. “It’ll be different.”
“I bet it will,” I laugh. “Tea is all grown up.”
“Yeah, but Storm deserves to have the life she wants, and she wants a family, so I’m gonna give my woman what she wants.”
My heart swoons. “The sweetest thing, ZZ.”
“For my Storm, yeah. Where’s Pyro,” he questions, changing the subject.
“Taking a nap. I’m supposed to wake him when dinner is ready.”
He hums to himself for a moment. “You meet the new guys?”
I turn away. “I was introduced.”
“Darlin’, is this why I’m changin’ your lock?”
I say nothing because I don’t want to offend ZZ and his brotherhood.
“My answer then,” he says, no judgment in his voice. “It’s okay, they’ll prove themselves, don’t feel sorry for wantin’ to feel safe, darlin’.”
My body uncoils with his words. “Thank you.”
“I want you to wear your key around your neck for safe keepin’. You got a necklace, or do I gotta get you one from Storm?”
A laugh bubbles up. “I’ve got one. Don’t be taking your ladies jewelry and giving it to other ladies, ZZ,” I chide him. “Storms cool and would understand but it’s still a huge no, no.”
ZZ chuckles. “She can’t tell me no, she’s tried. It doesn’t work.”
“Don’t lie. You can’t tell Storm no,” I snicker. “We know she wears the pants in your relationship.”
ZZ barks out. “Fuck. It seems like it.”
“It’s her illusion to make you believe you’re in charge. It’s what we sneaky women do,” I confess. “Don’t bother confronting her either. We’re pros. Deny, deny, deny.”
“Lady, you kill me,” he laughs again, his tiredness seeping through his voice. “Almost done.”
My laughter fades away. “I do appreciate it, thank you.”
“You’re welcome, darlin’,” he tells me as he hands me my new keys. “Give your spare to Piper, she’ll put it in a safe place.”
I reach out and take the keys. “I will.”
“Try it out.” He motions to my door. “I want to make sure it works before I head up for a nap.”
I nod, do as ZZ orders, and when the key turns with ease, I breathe a little easier. “Thanks again.”
He waves me off with the screwdriver still in his hand. “Later, darlin’.”
“Bye.”
I grab a necklace from my jewelry box, slide the key on, fasten it around my neck, and close and lock my door behind me.
I send Piper a text asking where she is, her reply comes back a second later.
I trudge down the second flight of stairs and to the kitchen where Piper and Storm are helping Berry with dinner.
“Can you put my spare key up?” I ask her when I round the corner and hand it to her when her palm opens up.
“Be right back,” she says.
“Thank you,” I holler at her retreating back.
“She knows, J,” Storm assures me. “You’re too polite.”
I frown. “Am not.”
Berry giggles. “Honey pie, you’re the politest thing in this place.”
“It’s only manners,” I grumble when I sit.
“Whatever help me shuck this corn,” Storm demands, throwing a husk in my face with a laugh.
“Bossy.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I’m getting excited,” she says as she peels corn. “I’m going to be a mom!”
“Calm down dear.” Berry pats her shoulder. “You’ll wake the men.”
When I first met Storm, she was confused about what she wanted in life. She was in a terrible car accident when she was pregnant, and she ended up losing the baby. As if it wasn’t enough heartbreak for her, she discovered children wouldn’t be possible in the future.
She came to terms with not being a mother, and when baby Lana was born, she got a fever for it, and ZZ moved mountains to make her dream come true.
The adoption is her miracle.
“The new guys are fine as hell,” she whispers to me.
“Storm, I can hear you.” Berry chuckles from the sink.
I stiffen. “Looks don’t concern me right now.”
Storm mumbles under her breath. “I’m an idiot, sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
I shuck a few pieces of corn before Berry tasks me with table and chair duty.
I turn on the light of the storage room and drag all the fold up tables and chairs out to the hall.
When I’m in the living room, I move the two recliners to the side and drag the coffee table to the wall. It opens a space big enough for two of the tables to pop up, and leaves room for a walkway.
“Need a hand?”
I nearly jump out of my skin when Fox, one of the new arrivals offers to help. “I…,” I stammer. “Sure.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he says to me when he opens the table legs and flips it up to a standing position.
I don’t say anything in return; my palms sweat, my heart beats rapidly in my chest. When my lips begin to go numb, I know a panic attack is on its way.
“You okay,” Fox questions coming closer towards me. “Maybe you need to sit.”
I pull away when he tries to guide me to the couch. “Please… don’t… don’t touch me.”
I barely see him back away through my blurred vision.
“I’m gonna go grab one of the ladies for you.”
I try to shake my head, I do, but my body is seized up and no longer under my control. I know one of two things are about to happen; my entire body is about to lock up, or I’m going to pass out.
I try to catch myself when I fall, but my body gives way, and it does me no good.
“Jinx!” someone hollers as everything goes black.
∞∞∞
Sniper and Pyro’s loud voices are all I hear through the foggy haze in my ears when I bring my hand up to the back of my head and pull it back; there’s a little blood.
“Can you stop yelling please?”
The entire room goes quiet when I speak up.
“Thanks,” I grumble when I’m finally able to sit up. “I believe my head calls for some stitches.”
“What the fuck happened,” Sniper questions me.
I hold a shaky hand up in the air when my vision straightens. “I knocked my head when I passed out. It’s no one’s fault. Can someone get Ripley, please?”
“She needs to go to a hospital,” Pyro growls to the room, it’s only then I realize the entire living room is full of people.
“No, I don’t,” I groan. “I would love some privacy though.”
“I’m not fuckin’ leavin’,” Pyro grits through his teeth. “Where the hell is Ripley?”
“Right here,” she grumbles pushing through the crowd with her medic bag. “There isn’t shit to do. I was sleeping.”
“Clear the room, please,” I beg them.
The couch dips when Ripley sits next to me. “Turn a little, J.” My head pounds with the slight movement, a groan escapes my lips, and Sniper and Pyro’s attention snaps back to mine.
I hiss when Ripley moves my hair away from the laceration. “Stings,” I admit.
She drops my hair and puts on some gloves. “You do need stitches. Tell Braxxon my supplies are running low. I’ll require more of everything, even the meds.”
“Will do. Do you have painkillers for her?” Pyro questions Ripley.
“Not for the headaches she’ll have for a few days.”
“She can use a few of mine,” he mumbles more to himself. “I’ll be right back, darlin’.”
I don’t know who he’s telling he’ll be back, so I don’t say anything in return.
“I’m going to numb the area,” Ripley warns. “It’ll sting.”
Piper drops down to the floor and takes my hand in hers. “Squeeze it if you need too.”
I try to laugh, but the pain in my head sears to a new level when I do. “Crap.”
“Ready, Jinx?” Ripley asks, drawing my attention away from the pounding in my skull.
“Do it.”
As the needle pricks through the cut, I close my eyes with a small hiss.
“Breathe. It’ll be numb in a moment.”
“What did I hit,” I ask with my eyes still closed.
“I believe you hit the coffee table corner,” Piper whispers to me. “Pretty hard, babe. I heard it from the other room.”
“Oh. It’s going numb Ripley.”
“Good, you won’t feel the second prick then,” she tells me. “Here’s the second prick.”
“You’re right, I can’t.”
“Piper can I get you to hold her hair, so I don’t have to shave her near the wound?”
Piper lets go of my hand and stands. “Of course.”
“Thank you, P,” I mumble. “I’m feeling a little wheezy.”
“She needs a hospital,” Sniper growls.
“She’ll be fine, Sniper. It’s a head wound. She’s bound to be out of it for a while. If she still has a headache in a few days, then yes, she’ll need to go to the hospital. I’ll check her pupil dilation when I’m done stitching her up to make sure.”
“Fine,” he grumbles.
“Sniper I’m going to be okay,” I assure him when I open my eyes.
“She can’t go to sleep for a while, and when she does, she’ll need to be woke up every two hours or so,” Ripley instructs, and I tense up.
“We’ll have a sleepover, J,” Piper assures me. “It’ll be okay.”
“There, all done,” Ripley announces snapping off her gloves. “Let’s check your pupils now.”
I twist around in my seat when she pulls out her small flashlight and turns it on. “Follow the light.”
After a minute of doing as she orders, my head is about to explode.
“She’s good, I don’t even think she has a concussion, but she would need to visit the hospital to be one hundred percent sure,” Ripley says when Pyro crutches back into the room. “I’m going back to bed.”
“Thank you, Ripley.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Take this, darlin’. It’s a thousand milligrams, it’ll knock your pain right out,” Pyro says and instructs me to open my palm a second later. “Shit. I forgot a drink.”
“I’ll get her water,” Piper offers.
“Thank you,” I grunt through the pain and open my hand for Pyro to drop the pills into my palm.
“You’ll be good in about half an hour, darlin,” he chuckles. “Have you ever taken codeine before?”
“When I had my wisdom teeth removed when I was a teenager.”
“Here.” Piper hands me the bottle of water already uncapped.
“Thank you.”
I take one of the pills and hand her back the water. “Thirty minutes, huh?”
“Yeah,” Pyro grunts. “You gonna be okay, darlin’?”
I smile. “In about thirty minutes or so.” I joke.
“You guys give us the room for a minute, will ya?” he asks the group.
When the living room clears out, he crutches the rest of the way to the couch and sits down next to me. “You wanna tell me what happened?”
I lean back against the couch, and when it puts pressure on my head, I lean forward. “Panic attack and I passed out.”
“What made you have a panic attack,” he grits.
“It’s stupid. Fox came in and offered to help set up tables, and seconds later, I had a panic attack,” I mumble. “I’m really getting sick of them.”
“I’ll have Brax give them a heads up.” He stands. “You can’t be havin’ any more of these on our watch when it can be avoided.”
I snatch his hand. “Don’t,” I beg.
Pyro puts his free hand on top of mine. “He won’t give them details, darlin’, he’ll only tell them to keep their distance, and you’re workin’ through some stuff.”
“I’m working through some stuff alright,” I grumble when he releases my hand.
“You want some ice for your head?”
“That’d be great.”
“Be right back.”
He’s back moments later, crutching his way to me with an ice pack in his hand. “Here.”
I take the pack from his hand and mumble my thanks when he sits back down next to me.
“Did I wake you from your nap?”
“All the screamin’ did when you passed out. You had the entire house worryin’, Shortcake.”
“I’m sorry.”
He leans back. “Don’t be.”
“My therapist comes tomorrow, and if I don’t already have a headache when she’s here, I’ll get one. I don’t wanna deal with her when I have a head injury,” I grumble. “Can you ask Brax if I can reschedule?”
Pyro chuckles. “I’ll reschedule it.”
“You don’t have to ask his permission?”
His green eyes cloud over in anger. “I’m the VP.,” he growls in frustration. “I can make calls too, darlin’.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Fuck. I know. I’m on edge.”
I grab the pillow from the side of the couch and put it on my lap for comfort. “I believe we all are.”
“Agreed.”
“I have a question for you.” I gulp away my nerves. “There was a romance novel on your shelf with an inscription, looked pretty old. Did you inherit it?”
“They were my mom’s.” he shrugs. “I’ve read most of them though.”
“It felt personal, so I didn’t even read a word after I read the inscription.”
“You should have. I offered them up for a reason, darlin’.”
I shift in my seat, the pill kicking in. “I know. I probably should eat something. I’m feeling a little unsteady.”
“I’ll have the girls bring you some food. Why don’t you go up to your room and relax?”
That’s probably for the best. The entire housing building is going to fill up soon when dinner is ready, one panic attack is all I can handle right now. “Okay.”
“Don’t fall asleep though. I’d be shitty if you let anything happen to yourself,” he orders.
“I won’t.”
“Alright, darlin’.”
∞∞∞