Page 13 of Viking

Viking

Istay propped up againstthe side of the van, a little mermaid sleeping soundly in my lap thanks to some chemical help. When she stirs, I stroke her hair, and she quickly falls back to sleep. My ass is numb, my back aches, and I need a fucking stiff drink and to stretch my legs, so I bang on the side of the van to get Prospect’s attention.

“We gotta think about pulling over for the night, finding somewhere to lay our heads. We ain’t gonna make it home with everyone intact if we keep ridin’. Besides, my ass is killing me.”

“We’re almost at Fayetteville, Prez. You want me to radio Rat? Have him signal the brothers.”

“Fayetteville? They got that cheap place off I-95, yeah?”

“Yep, we stayed there on our last ride up to the New York Charter. Before Niko took over.”

“Sounds good. Have Blue and Gator ride on ahead,” I say. “Let’s make sure there’s no surprises waiting for us.”

The last thing we need is someone reporting a bunch of bikers hauling a comatose, underage girl into a shitty motel.

“Will do, Prez.”

He dials Rat and the two carry on a conversation that I tune out. I glance down at the girl. She couldn’t be older than sixteen—if that. Her hair is crisp from saltwater and sand burrows under my nails as I stroke her scalp. The poor thing is red raw, baked from the sun, and her dress is in tatters, but it looks like a nightgown from the fucking 1800s.

“Where the hell did you come from, little siren?”

***

ICLIMB INTO THE BEDbeside her sleeping form. I couldn’t take the risk of her waking in the middle of the night and trying to slit my goddamn throat again, so I tore up the sheet and tied her to the head and foot of the bed.

She didn’t make a peep the entire time, and I figured it was due to sheer exhaustion because we’d been on the road a good ten hours already. I try to rouse her to eat or take in some fluids, but she never stirred. We just need to get her home to the compound where CJ can take a look at her. Blue’s woman is a registered nurse at the hospital up in Savannah, and she’s our resident doc cleaning us up when we roll in with gunshot wounds or other injuries. CJ will know what the hell to do with her.

I grab my phone from the nightstand and text Blue, telling him to make sure CJ is waiting for us with an IV and anything else she thinks we might need to patch up the little mermaid, and then I set my phone down and fall asleep.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Viking

By the time we rollinto the clubhouse, the bitch isn’t looking too crash hot. She seems to be running a fever, and she’s tossing and turning in my lap. I wait until the van comes to a complete stop, and then I heft her in my arms and climb out, heading to the clubhouse. Calamity Jane meets us at the entrance.

“Holy shit, Blue wasn’t kidding about this girl needing help,” CJ says.

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