“Fuck,” Levi said, more to himself than Zack. “That sucks. How old is she?”

“I think she was like twenty-five when it happened. She was living out-of-state somewhere, going to school. The old man brought her home and hired nurses to take care of her around the clock when the hospital said there was nothing else they could do for her.”

“Was he an Invader?”

Zack shook his head. “No, he wasn’t affiliated. He customized bikes for a living. He worked out of Johnson’s place in Memphis quite a bit. GM rallied the club to help him out financially a few times with her medical bills, so that’s how we know them.”

“He worked for Spider Johnson’s dad?”

“Not really for him. He had his own business but Johnson rented him space in his shop when he needed access to some of the more expensive tools and things he didn’t have.”

The wheels in Levi’s head were spinning so quickly that he could hardly keep up with them. Too many coincidences. “Shit,” he said out loud. “I was thinking this was Cheney, but what if it wasn’t? What if it was someone else that wanted revenge?”

Zack furrowed his brow. “Johnson? As far as I know, that guy didn’t even like his son.”

“But the mother did, right?”

“Yeah. She never gave up on the piece of crap. She was even still trying to defend him after he almost killed his father. But still…Matthew Bledsoe died in that accident too.”

Levi knew it didn’t make sense. First of all, why cut his dad’s brake line and not his and second, Zack was right…why would Bledsoe put himself right in the path of the bike? “Yeah…now I’m really confused.”

“Tell you what, GM was pretty close to the old man too. I’ll go by and see him today and see if there’s anything he can tell me, and I’ll keep you posted.”

“Thanks, Zack. I’m sorry to even ask you to get involved in this…but I need to know.”

“No problem. Try not to let it drive you crazy, though. Just getting past the grief has to be hell.”

“You lost your father not too long ago too, right?”

Zack made a face that was a cross between a sneer and a smile. “Yeah, but that was so not the same thing. Anyways, I’ll be in touch soon.”

Levi thanked him again and then headed for the clubhouse to see what kind of shit Cheney had for him that day. When he got there, Cheney was in a meeting with someone else, so he sat down at the bar and had a drink with Mickey.

“How are you doing, kid?”

“I’m hanging in,” he told Mickey.

“When you have a chance, bring your bike out to me. I’ve got everything salvageable from Mac’s bike cleaned up and ready to go.”

Levi smiled. It was really nice of Mickey to do all of that. “Thanks, Mickey.”

“Happy to do it.”

“Levi!” Jackie D bellowed at him from across the room. Levi finished what was in his glass and tried not to roll his eyes as he turned around. “Cheney’s ready to see you now.”

“Wish me luck, Mickey,” Levi said, softly.

“You in trouble, kid?”

“Nah,” he said as he stood up off the stool. “Not yet, anyways.”

Mickey laughed as he walked away. When he stepped into the office, Jackie D closed the door behind him. “Have a seat, Levi,” Cheney said. “Good job last night, by the way.”

Levi nodded and mumbled a “Thanks.”

“So, we have this small-time dealer that spreads love around the city for us. He got himself into some trouble a few days ago and he’s hiding out from the cops. We can’t keep him here— we don’t want to invite the law into the clubhouse. I need you to put him up for a week or so, until we can get him out of town.”

“Put him up?” Levi asked, hoping that he misunderstood what Cheney was telling him.

“Yeah, the cops would have no reason to look for him at your place. He’s a chill guy, you might like him.”

“I don’t want some meth dealer living in my apartment.”

Cheney rolled his eyes and said, “You know, you get more and more like your old man all the time. Why do you fucking want to argue about everything like maybe I’m giving you a fucking choice?”

“I choose not to live in the clubhouse because I want my private life and this life to be separate,” he said. “Taking a drug dealer home doesn’t work for me.”

“Again,” Cheney said, lowering his voice. “I ain’t giving you a choice. You’ll go pick him up and take him to your place and keep it on the D.L. until we get him the hell out of here. If this asshole goes to jail for attempted murder, no telling what he’ll tell the fucking D.A. to try and get a deal.”

“Attempted murder?”

“Claims he was having a spat with the old lady that got out of hand. He shot her.”

Fuck! Cheney was talking about the guy that shot Zoe. His thoughts were racing…should he tell Cheney…or should he deal with this asshole himself? That thought was just way too tempting to pass up. “Okay. Where do I pick him up?”

Chaney and Jackie looked at each other. “That was a quick about-face,” Jackie said.

“Like Cheney said, I don’t have a choice, so why argue?”

“Well, good,” Cheney said. “Glad to know you’re capable of getting it.” He handed him a piece of paper with an address on it. “He’s holed up there for now. He’ll be expecting you by four.”

Levi looked at the clock on the wall. It was just after two. That should give him time to stop by and see Zoe on his way. He smiled and tucked the paper in his pocket. This was going to be fun.

* * *

Levi stood in the doorway of the hospital room, watching Zoe sleep. He’d run into her grandparents in the lobby and shamefully, he was glad that they were on their way out. Her grandmother greeted him warmly and made a big deal over the little bouquet of flowers he’d stopped and bought on his way over. Her grandfather said hello, but then just gave him the hard stare.

He had been standing there for a full two or three minutes when her eyelashes fluttered open. Her dark eyes landed on his face and he saw her skin flush, almost like she was embarrassed. “Hey,” she said, in a raspy voice, trying to push herself up into a sitting position.

“Hey.” He walked all the way into the room. Zoe was looking at the flowers then so he said, “It’s not much…I don’t know a lot about flowers…”

She smiled. “They’re nice,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Sure. I’ll just stick them in this vase.” He put the flowers with another bunch of them in a vase on the bedside table and then turned back to her. “How are you feeling?”

“Honestly?” He nodded and she said, “Like shit.”

He chuckled. “You look good.”

She reached up and brushed her hair off her forehead with her fingers and said, “Liar. But, thank you. Have a seat.”

He sat down and for several seconds they sat in uncomfortable silence. Seeing her in person made his mind go back to his latest dream. He finally broke the silence by saying, “That guy…Patrick…what does he want?”

She looked even more embarrassed then. “I told you, Levi, it doesn’t matter.”

“I think it does. What’s to stop him from coming back? He was making threats against your grandparents that day too, wasn’t he?”

“He won’t follow through with that. I’ll take care of him.”

Levi cocked an eyebrow. “You’ll take care of him…how?”

“I’m sorry, I really don’t want to be rude, but I just don’t see how this is any of your business, Levi.”

“Maybe it’s not, but I’m still going to worry about you. Why don’t you just tell me and maybe I can help?”

“I owe him some money,” she said. “Some drugs I was carrying for him went missing. They were stolen from me…and that made me responsible for the money.”

“How responsible?”

“A thousand dollars’ worth,” she said. “But I’ll have it, soon.”

“And you think you’ll just pay him and he’ll go away?” She nodded and he asked, “How long have you been on the streets?”

“Don’t make fun of me. I know Patrick. I can handle him.”

“I’m not making fun of you, Zoe, but damn it, he shot you.”

“He was trying to shoot you.”

Levi laughed. “Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. My point is that he’s dangerous. Zoe, I work with these kinds of guys every day. Greed is what drives them and they’ll do anything to satisfy that greed. If he is not in jail…or dead…you are not going to be safe.”

“I’m not sure why you care so much,” she said, almost in a whisper.

“Neither am I,” he said, truthfully. “But I do. I feel stupid just saying this out loud, Zoe…but I think you and I found each other only because Krissy wanted us to.”

“You think your dead girlfriend…” He winced when she emphasized the word “dead” and she said, “I’m sorry. But, you think she is somehow guiding us toward each other…Why?”

“Maybe because she thought I’d need someone to help me through this…or she thought you needed someone to help with what you’re going through, I don’t know. I know it sounds crazy. Krissy was really perceptive, and really good with people. Maybe she sensed something when you touched her that night…on a level that we don’t understand…Shit. You’re probably thinking I need to have a psych consult while I’m here, aren’t you?”

She smiled. “No…Actually, Levi, I’m a little bit relieved.”

“Relieved?”

“The coincidences and the dreams I’ve been having…”

“Dreams? What kind of dreams?”

Her face went from light red to scarlet as she said, “Just…um…you know, dreams that you’re in, and sometimes Krissy.”

Levi was about to ask her to go into more detail just as a nurse walked into the room. “It’s time for your medication, honey. Are you sure you don’t want the morphine? I heard you moaning a little in your sleep.”

Zoe smiled. “No, Brenda, it’s okay. I’ll just take the antibiotic and the Tylenol, thanks.”

“Okay, honey. I’ll be right back with it.” Levi waited until the nurse was gone and he said:

“I’ve never been shot, but I can’t imagine two days post-bullet-removal that you’d be ready to forego the heavy-hitter pain meds.”

“I’ve been foregoing them as long as I’ve been alert. They snuck them in after surgery when I was too groggy to realize it. I don’t want to risk having to go through withdrawal again. That was a bitch, to say the least.”

“Well, you’re a better woman than me.”

She laughed. “Good to know.” Levi looked at his watch and sighed.

“I have to get going. I have a job to do. Maybe I can come by tomorrow, if you don’t mind?”

“I wouldn’t mind,” she said, “but I’m really hoping they’ll release me from this place in the morning.”

“I could come see you at your grandparents’ house.”

She looked like she was biting the inside of her cheek as she said, “I’m not sure that would be a great idea.”

“Why not? Nana loves me.”

She giggled. “I guess I’ll give you that, but Nana’s the easy one. It’s Papa Bear you have to worry about.”

Levi stood up and waved a palm at her. “Give me a little time, I’ll have him texting me, asking me to come over and hang out.”

She laughed again. “I’d love to see that.” He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. He got a whiff of her hair and realized that it smelled just the same as it had in his dreams. He shivered as he stood back up. For a few seconds their eyes locked into one another’s and at last he cleared his throat and said:

“Get some rest, I’ll see you soon.” He started to walk out and before he got to the door she said:

“Levi?” He turned back toward her. She looked like she had tears swimming in her eyes as she said, “Thank you. I don’t have many friends—any, really. I appreciate you taking time out to come and see me. The flowers were really nice too.”

“No problem. You have a friend now, okay?”

“Okay.” He fought the urge to go back over to the bed and really kiss her. It was still too soon, but at least now he knew she was having some strange dreams too. He’d like to explore that further, as soon as he took care of Patrick, his new red-headed roommate.