“You’re a lucky punk.” Gunner had barely opened his eyes. Dax was staring down at him, his blue eyes filled with disappointment—and maybe worry? Gunner’s eyes traveled from the bandage on his left shoulder over to the one covering his right side. His wounds were throbbing and every other muscle fiber in his body was screaming out in pain. There was an IV going into his right arm and an oxygen mask covered the lower half of his face. He gripped the mask with his good hand and pulled it down.

“Where’s Tamara?” His voice sounded like he’d swallowed sandpaper, and his throat hurt.

“She’s okay. She got checked out and she’s back at the motel with Randall and Tommy.”

“The motel?” Gunner looked around the room. It was small and there were cabinets and drawers on one side, and what looked like ancient medical equipment filled the rest of the space. The walls looked like they hadn’t had a paint job in decades and the window was covered with a board. “Where are we?”

“Mexico, on the border close to Brownsville. You’ve been asleep for two days.”

“Shit, what happened?”

Dax pulled a folding chair up to the side of the bed and sat down. “How much do you remember?”

Gunner fought through the fog and pain in his head to grasp at his memories. “Tamara and I were on the ferry and we were trying to get to where the kids were. I got shot, I think…a couple of times. I guess I passed out.”

Dax finished the story for him. “We were almost to the boat when we saw this guy come tumbling over the side. I looked up and saw two men on the top deck. One of them had a rifle with a big scope on it and he was pointing it down at the lower deck. We couldn’t see you or Tamara but it was a good guess that you were who he was aiming at. Jimmy took him out. The other guy dropped down on his knees with his hands on his head. He was the captain. Once we were aboard he helped us release the life rafts and we filled them up with everyone on the ferry and here we are. Now, your turn.”

“My turn?”

“Yeah, your turn to tell me what the fuck you were thinking.”

“Is this a hospital?”

“The closest thing they’ve got to one. This is a border town. Not many amenities. Are you stalling?”

“My side hurts. It feels like it’s on fire.”

“Figures, since they had to dig a bullet out of it.”

“I had surgery here? In this place? In Mexico?”

“You would have rather died?”

“No, I’m sorry, no. Thanks.”

“Dealing with the Mexican authorities is one thing. As long as we have enough cash they don’t ask a lot of questions. Dealing with the authorities in Texas would have been a whole different ballgame. If it’s any consolation, Tamara refused to leave until they had the bullet out of you and patched everything else up. She made sure they did it right.”

That was a huge consolation to Gunner, knowing she cared that much. He had been trying to change the subject but his side was killing him. “You think they could give me something for the pain?”

“Enfermera!” Dax called out and a middle-aged Mexican woman in a flowered dress and red apron bustled in.

“¿Sí, señor?”

“Puede mi amigo tiene algo para su dolor?”

“Enseguida, señor.”

“Gracias.” The nurse took a syringe out of her pocket and put something into Gunner’s IV. His body felt warm at once as the medication flowed through his veins.

“Thank you,” he said to the nurse.

She smiled and said, “De nada, señor.”

Dax never failed to amaze Gunner. If he weren’t already his hero, listening to him talk to the Mexican nurse in perfect Spanish would have put him over the top. That’s why it killed him to think Dax was disappointed in him.

“I’m sorry I took off on my own,” Gunner told him. “Billy and I were talking about Eddie and I thought of something. I used to pick up packages from those docks and the night I got arrested, I saw them taking people off a truck. I heard stories that Eddie might be involved in sex trafficking. I just panicked. I was afraid that once he got Tamara out of the country we’d never find her.”

“You’ve kind of got a thing for her, huh?”

“Yeah…but don’t tell Randall or Tommy.”

Dax laughed. “Too late, I think. Listen, kid, I get it. But, if you think you’re going to be a part of the club someday you have to learn a few things. There’s a hierarchy for a reason and you need to learn to respect that.” Gunner was trying not to smile but he was losing the battle. “What are you grinning at?” Dax asked him.

“You’re going to let me be a part of the club someday?”

Dax rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Only if you live that long.” He stood up and said, “Get some rest. Randall’s guys are on their way down with the van, since you won’t be able to ride for a while. They should be here by morning.”

“Are they taking me home?”

Dax shook his head. “No. The Head Hunters held a vote today and they’re at war with Eddie. Their compound is still on lockdown but now all their chapters have been called in and nobody leaves without executive board approval. I need to go home and talk to my brothers and my family in person about all of this. We took those kids and if Eddie gets past the Head Hunters, he’ll be coming for us next. I need to get a vote on how much we want to throw in on this.”

“So…am I going with you?”

Dax smiled. “No, you’re going to need a few weeks of down time at least, if not more. You’re going to be put up at the Head Hunters club while they’re on lockdown and when I get back we’ll make some decisions from there.”

Gunner wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Randall obviously didn’t like him and Tommy didn’t either, but Tamara would be there, and despite her being the reason Randall and Tommy hated him, the idea of being that close to her thrilled him. He was worried about Billy and Patty, though. Eddie had proven time and again that no one was off limits. As if reading his mind Dax said:

“Oh, Randall is offering protection to your friends Billy and Patty as well. Just be warned that when they went to pick up your friend Patty she wasn’t too happy. They took her out of that bar of hers kicking and screaming and from what I hear, she’s been giving them a hell of a time on the compound.”

Gunner laughed. “That sounds like a normal day where Patty is concerned. Billy and I can calm her down. What happened to the ferry?”

“It burned up.”

“Did the Coast Guard show up?”

“I imagine they did,” Dax said. “We were long gone by then. Whoever is the registered owner of the ferry will have some hard questions to answer.”

“Eddie?”

Dax shrugged. “I doubt he’s stupid enough to have it registered in his name. But he did lose a hell of a lot of money today and maybe some perverted customers. This war between him and the Head Hunters is going to be a blood bath.”

“I’m sorry. I never should have called you that night.”

Dax shook his head again. “Did you hear nothing I said at all? Brothers back each other up, no matter what. You call, we come.”

“But I’m not technically a brother.”

Dax reached into his pocket and took out his wallet. He pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Gunner. Gunner held it in his good hand and stared at it. At the top it said, “Father: Adonis Marshall.” Underneath was Dax’s name and next to it was a huge number that started with 99.999. Gunner’s name was below that with the same numbers next to it. Gunner was still staring at it, absorbing what it meant when Dax said, “You’re undeniably my brother, and Doc Marshall’s son. That makes you part of the club by default. When this mess out here is cleared up you can decide if you want to start as a hang-around and work towards patching in or not, that’ll be up to you. But you’ll always be my brother so you call, I come. Don’t think it doesn’t mean I won’t kick your ass later for being a stupid punk.”

Gunner smiled. Everyone, even Billy, had made fun of him for wearing that old vest his whole life, but it turned out that it was his connection to the only thing he ever really wanted…a family.

* * *

The next time Gunner woke up, Billy was sitting at his bedside. “Getting a little sick of this attention-seeking bullshit.”

Gunner laughed and then winced at how much his side hurt. “Me too, man…You okay?”

“My dick didn’t freeze off, but it was touch and go there for a while. It’s the one thing I think might make me snap and kill you.”

Gunner chuckled again and then said, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Always being there no matter how stupid my ideas are.”

“You do have a lot of stupid ideas.”

“In my defense, I did try to leave you behind on this one.”

“That was your stupidest idea yet. Who would have called Dax and made sure he knew where to find you? Who would have lifted your big ass off that ferry and into the life boat?”

“You did that?”

“No, Cody did. But I had to listen to him about how heavy you were.”

Gunner laughed again and then he said, “I didn’t think Cody even liked me.”

Billy shook his head. “He doesn’t. He was only doing what Dax told him to. I think he would have rather tossed you in the ocean.”

“Thanks, man, you always know exactly what to say to cheer me up.” Gunner laughed. “Have you seen Tamara?”

“Not since they finished patching you up and Randall made her go to the motel to get some sleep. She was fussing all over you before that. She made her brother take off his shirt in the rescue boat and she tore it up and used it to stop your bleeding. Then she stood by and supervised everything they did to you here. She didn’t want to leave but Randall pressured her into it. I don’t think they like you any more than Cody does.” He smiled.

“So hard to believe,” Gunner said. “People usually love me.”

“Right…speaking of people that love you, or not…do you remember that biker from the bar, the one you got in the fight with that started this whole mess? Heard he goes by the name of 8Ball. He’s from the Brownsville chapter of the Head Hunters.”

He remembered him well. He’d kicked Gunner’s ass with very little effort, and that wasn’t easy to do. Of course, Gunner liked to believe that it was because he was drunk at the time and the guy’s girlfriend had just done an excellent job of emptying his balls. “Yeah, I remember him.”

“Well, according to Tommy, he’s one of the guys bringing the van up to pick you up.”

“Fuck, that should be fun.”

Billy nodded. “Life’s a laugh a minute with you around. I hear I have to go with you and be locked down. This is all a bit surreal.”

Gunner turned serious as he said, “I’m really sorry about all of this. I never planned on getting us sucked into the middle of a war with Eddie Munster.”

“I know,” Billy said. “I might be really pissed if I had a life or anything I was missing out on.” They sat there quietly for a few minutes and then Gunner said,

“Were the kids all okay?”

Billy nodded. “They were cold and hungry and terrified, but they were all alive. Last I heard, Dax was talking to some cop in Massachusetts who was arranging for a cop in Texas to pick them up somewhere and get them home. These women and kids weren’t junkies and runaways. They’d been snatched off the streets. Dax must have some serious clout with the cops to be able to walk away from this, no questions asked.”

“He’s my brother,” Gunner said, unable to control the smile on his face.

“For real?”

Gunner nodded. “Yeah. The DNA test came back. We have the same father.”

“Wow…I wonder how…?” Billy stopped himself but Gunner knew what he was thinking.

“How my mom knew?”

Billy nodded. “Sorry, but…well, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. Maybe he was the only one she didn’t use protection with, or something. Or maybe it was just the fact that her little Puerto Rican baby had bright blue eyes. He must have believed her or he wouldn’t have left the vest behind.”

“Aren’t you pissed at him, though, for leaving you behind?”

“I guess, but I’m grateful to him too. If not for that vest I never would have found out that I have a brother.”

“So now that you know…” Before Billy could finish his sentence the door to the room was pushed open. Gunner’s heart instantly sped up at the sight of Tamara. She was wearing a strapless yellow cotton sundress that stopped just below her knees. Her pretty hair hung soft and straight around her freshly scrubbed face. She was perfect, except for the ugly bruise that covered the left side of her face and ended in a small cut alongside her sexy lips. Gunner’s chest hurt as the anger welled up inside of him. If the man that had done that to her wasn’t already dead, he could kill him right then with his bare hands.

“Hey,” she said. “Am I interrupting?”

Billy stood up. “Nope, I was just taking off. There’s a bottle of Patron and a doe-eyed señorita waiting for me out front.”

Gunner lifted his good hand and Billy bumped his knuckles. “Thank you.”

“No problem, punk. I’m glad you didn’t get yourself dead.”

Gunner and Tamara watched him leave and then she turned back to Gunner and said, “I’m glad you didn’t get yourself dead too. Thank you for coming after me.”

“It was the least I could do, since I started all of this.”

Tamara had a sly smile on her face as she said, “I thought this all started with your fight in the barn that night, but I heard an interesting story today.” Gunner thought he was long past the ability to blush but he felt his face heat up. Tamara went on, “Mary Beth, really? She’s a skank. My dad insists that his guys respect their women. Sharing never happens. But in the Brownsville chapter that kind of nasty stuff goes on all the time. I’ve heard that Mary Beth has been poked by every member of that club from hang-around to retired patch.” She gave a dramatic shudder.

Gunner’s face was burning up then. “I was really drunk.”

She rolled her eyes but she was smiling. “Likely story. So, she gave you her famous BJ, huh?”

He wasn’t sure what to say. He’d never talked to a woman he had feelings for about having sex with another woman. Then again, he’d never had feelings for a woman the way he did Tamara. “It’s famous, huh? I wasn’t that impressed.” He chuckled nervously.

“Oh, you weren’t, were you? You’re not getting excited just thinking about it?” Tamara laid her hand on top of his covers, right over his cock. His body felt like it was on fire and he felt all the blood rushing from his head to fill the space underneath her warm hand. “You are getting excited.”

He had to clear his throat before he could speak. “Um…trust me, it has nothing to do with…what did you say her name was?”

She laughed and gave his hardening cock a little squeeze. “Good answer. How much pain are you in right now?”

Gunner’s mouth was completely dry as he said, “I honestly can’t feel anything other than your hand.”

She giggled again. “You’re good.”

“Uh, no…you’re good.”

“How about I lock that door and show you just how good I am?”

“There’s nothing on this earth I’d like for you to do more right now.”

She squeezed him again, and he had to suck in a breath as she got up and went over to lock the door. She flipped the deadbolt and walked back over to the bed. She started to pull his covers back but he stopped her. Putting his hand on the side of her face that wasn’t bruised up, he pulled her down to him. He hated that her beautiful face was bruised. He hated what they had done to her, and he hated that he had anything to do with what happened. The guilt overwhelmed him again and with his lips hovering just over hers he said, “I’m so sorry they hurt you.”

She stared at him for a long time with her eyes filling with tears. He didn’t know what to do. He’d been trying to relieve himself of his own guilt and he’d made her feel bad all over again. He cursed his big mouth and the fact that he could never just keep it shut, especially when she dissolved into a torrent of tears. Her body felt limp in his arm, like all her strength was in the tears she was crying. Gunner used his good arm to pull her up onto the bed with him and she curled into his side. He wondered what they had done to her that she wasn’t talking about, but he was afraid that bringing it up might do more harm than good. Fucking women he had down to a science. Talking to them, not so much. He convinced himself to keep his mouth shut and just hold her because whatever he said would probably make it all worse. Her body was wracked with sobs and the sound of them tore through him like a knife. As he lay there and held her, so many things ran through his head, but mainly, that this whole thing was his fault. All of it. People were dead because of him and his shitty decisions. Gunner realized in that moment that while he was busy fucking and partying every night and proving what a badass he was in the ring on the weekends, he’d forgotten to do one very important thing…grow the fuck up.