Page 7 of Jett

“Goddamn it, Grim. I want you both back at this fucking clubhouse now.”

“She’s too shaken up.”

“Put her on the phone.”

I take a deep breath to prevent chewing him out and walk down the hall to my bathroom. Raine has finished throwing up, and is now sitting against the wall, wearing only her jeans and a plain nude bra. I might’ve stared, had she not been red-faced and trembling as mascara runs down her cheeks.

“Hey, you doin’ alright?”

She looks at me as if she’s only seeing me for the first time. Her gaze darts from the hem of my shirt, to my shoulders, and finally to the centre of my chest. I’m covered in blood and brain matter too. It’s just not as noticeable because I ain’t wearing white. I strip off my shirt. Something I don’t think about until she’s staring at the scars that eat away the left side of my torso. “Prez wants to talk to you.”

I hold out the phone, and she tears her eyes away from me to stare at the offending object in my hands. I don’t move closer, but I hit speaker before she takes the phone from me. “Hello?”

“Raine? Darlin’. Talk to me.”

She closes her eyes and sniffs back her tears. “I’m ... I’m so scared, Jett.”

“Shit. Listen, Grim’s gonna bring you back to the clubhouse. Okay, baby? You do everything he tells you. We’re going into lockdown until we find the men who did this.”

“But Grim already—”

“Don’t say another fucking word,” I snap, stepping closer. “Not over the phone.”

“He’s right, darlin’.”

“I don’t want to leave here.” Her voice is small and frightened, but she speaks into the phone as if she were whispering into Jett’s ear. “Please, please don’t make me leave. I don’t want to go out there after what happened.”

“I know, but the clubhouse is the safest place for you right now.”

“Please don’t make me leave tonight, Jett.”

He sighs. “I tell you what, you put Grim back on the phone for me. I’ll see you real soon. We’re gonna make sure you’re safe, Raine.”

“Okay.” With shaking hands, she passes the phone. I take it and turn it off speaker in case Prez says anything incriminating. It’d be just like that bastard to chew me out about my little crush while Raine is sitting half-naked in my bathroom.

“How’s she doin’?”

“She’s in shock. She needs a shower, a hot meal, and to be kept quiet and safe right now. What she doesn’t need is to be dragged across the city on the back of a bike and taken to a rowdy clubhouse where she’ll likely just go back to serving those fuckers drinks.”

He takes a long inhalation through his nose. “You gonna do that? Keep her quiet and safe?”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means she’s off-limits, to you and everyone else in this motherfuckin’ club.”

“But not you, right?”

“I’d be very careful what you say next, Grimmy-boy.”

“She’s scared out of her fuckin’ mind, Prez. You’ll forgive me if I’m not paying my dues right now. I got a halfway-to-hysterical bitch in my bathroom, naked and curled into a corner.”

“Naked. What the fuck you mean, naked?”

“We’ll be there at first light, Prez. Sleep tight.” I end the call and toss my phone on the vanity. I don’t give a shit if it smashes—anything to stop him ringing again. I glance at Raine. She’s still huddled against the wall and shaking like a leaf. Blood crusts between her breasts and I figure that might not be what set her off but it sure as shit isn’t helping. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“I-I ... I’ve never seen a man die before. I came really close once, but it wasn’t messy like this. The blood ... there was so much ... you fired and his head just kind of popped.”

“You’re gonna drive yourself mad thinking about it. It’s done, babe. Nothing we can do now, but you should know he was a bad man. He had a message for Prez, and it would’ve been written in your blood. You got me?”

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