Page 9 of Barker

I step forward. “You listen here, you scummy son of a bitch. She’s going now, and you know what, she’s not coming back. Annistyn is too damn classy for this nasty-ass place you call a business. Give her the check you owe her and we will get out of here,” I tell him. Jeff glares at me, but eventually pulls out his wallet and hands me a wad of one-hundred-dollar bills. I take it, then grab Annistyn’s hand and pull her outside with me.

When I turn around, she’s crying. Mascara runs down her beautiful face and a part of me just wants to pull her into my arms. I hold out the wad of money Jeff gave me. “If this doesn’t cover what he owes you, then I’ll give you the rest,” I tell her.

Annistyn slaps my hand away. “What have you done?” she cries out. “I needed that job. I had to have that job!” Annistyn turns around and takes off toward the building, but Talon drops her belongings on the ground and wraps his arms around her waist. “Let me go!” she bellows, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t confused right now.

“Annistyn, calm down. Barker is right. Your dad needs you right now. Let’s worry about the damn job later.” Annistyn calms down and walks to the other side of the parking lot. I’m guessing she’s collecting herself.

I walk toward Talon and hand him the money. He nods and zips the money up in her bag. “I was honestly just trying to help. She can have the job at the clubhouse. I’ll make sure she’s making what she makes here. Why does she need so much money anyway?”

Talon sighs as he watches Annistyn pacing the asphalt. “She’s paying her way through nursing school. She’s on her last year. Her dad has health insurance, but it only covers eighty percent of the costs. That twenty percent adds up like crazy. She was barely making it with this job. We just found out the other day that they raised his dialysis treatments by almost fifty dollars a treatment, and he has to go three times a week.”

Damn, I had no idea Annistyn’s life was like this. I couldn’t have even guessed it. “I can get her more money. Listen, I’ll make sure that whatever tips I get on the nights that she’s working go to her. I’ll sneak them in somehow. I’ll also make sure she’s got a spot for every race I hold, but I’ll make sure she’s against the one most likely to lose. If she needs more than that, I can talk to Brayzen. I’m sure he could use another waitress. I’ll make sure she has the money.”

Talon nods. “I’ll sneak my tips in too.” We are both scheming when Annistyn walks back over and points to Talon’s bike. I really wanted her to ride with me, but she’s comfortable with Talon, so I grab her bag and strap it onto my bike behind me. I’m not sure what I just did or why I did it. I don’t do girlfriends or any of that knight in shining armor stuff, but damn if I didn’t feel the need to rush in and save Annistyn. It’s just she can never know it, because she’ll get the wrong idea.

Nine

Annistyn

I’m still fuming as I wrap my arms around Talon and he drives us to the hospital with Barker right behind us. I’m grateful that I get to see my dad and check on him, but I’m angry that I don’t have my much-needed job now. I’m going to have to grovel to get that back now, and Jeff is going to eat that up. That’s if he’s even willing to let me in the door after how Barker talked to him. Once we got outside, I had to get away to keep from punching him. It had been the next thing on my list, but levelheaded Talon knew exactly where my mind was heading, so he had whispered for me to cool off. Looking back, he was right, but at that moment I kind of wanted to punch him too for that comment.

The panic starts to weave into my mind and I have to remind myself that right now, as important as my job is… my dad is more important. I need to be there for him because I know Jerick isn’t about to show up. So, I guess in a way, I owe Barker my gratitude.

Talon parks us and I’m immediately off the bike and racing toward the front doors as fast as I can, when I hear Barker call my name from behind. I spin around and he’s jogging toward me. When he reaches me, he shrugs out of his leather MC coat and hands it to me. “Hospitals are always so damn cold, plus I’m sure you don’t want everyone staring.”

I look down and see I’m still in my work uniform, which actually looks pretty slutty. For a moment I hesitate. My mind runs through the number of times a guy has offered me his coat when I’m cold… zero! Barker seems so different right now from the man I assumed he was at the race. Maybe, my first impression was wrong. I grab his coat and slip it on. “Thank you,” I tell him. Then realize how cold it is outside and the fact that he’s got a long ride before he gets home. “Aren’t you going to get cold heading back?”

“I’m not leaving. I’m going to be in the waiting room and if I can’t handle that cold, then I definitely don’t need my ass on a bike,” he says with a chuckle.

I nod and before I think twice about it, I say, “I’m sorry too about how I acted back there. That job… I hate it but it’s a necessary evil right now.”

“I get that.” There’s something about the look in his stormy gray eyes that makes me think he really does get it. I nod and then turn around to head inside the hospital. “Annistyn,” Barker calls. I turn back around. “I hope he’s okay.”

I give him a smile and rush inside. The lady at the front recognizes me and buzzes me in. Once I reach the curtain to his section, I take a deep breath to prepare myself. I’m not sure what he’ll look like or how bad anything is yet, but he needs me to put on my brave face right now. When I pull back the curtain, I see my dad lying there and the heart monitor is showing a steady rhythm. He opens his eyes at the sound of my heels. “My Annistyn girl, what are you doing here?” My father has always been a big man, tall, stalky, nothing but muscle from working in construction all of his life. His midnight black hair has started to turn silver over the last few years. Lines are etched into his Italian olive skin but dark circles encompass his bright hazel eyes.

“They called and told me you were rushed here by the ambulance. What happened? Are you okay?” I ask him while taking my first deep breath, because at least he’s alert. My eyes dart back and forth between him and the heart monitor and I wonder just how crazy mine would be if you put that monitor on me.

“I told them not to call and worry you,” he grumbles.

I take a seat beside his bed. “Well, that’s just tough. They know to call me regardless.” My dad finally explains that he was having chest pains, so the nurse called the ambulance for him. The doctor came in later and said that everything looked as normal as it could be for someone in his condition, but he did change some of his medicines. Once we were discharged, I had a small panic attack when I remembered I didn’t have my car to get my dad back to his place. Luckily, Talon thought ahead and when I walk out, Vienna is sitting with Talon and Barker.

Vienna stands up and walks over to my dad. “Looking good, Mr. Tarantino.”

“You know it,” my dad jokes with her.

Vienna smirks at him. “So, was all this just a ploy to make me jealous with all these nurses in here?”

My dad taps his finger to his chin like he’s thinking. “Well, it might have started out that way, but after I got here, I realized that none of them could hold a candle to you.”

“Oh, well in that case,” she says, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She heads out to get her car while Talon pushes my dad’s wheelchair out to the front.

While we’re standing there Barker leans over. The smell of the mint gum on his breath hits my nose. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay.” He gives me a questioning look. “I am really.” Once we get Dad back to his place and settled, we head back out. “Well, thank you guys for coming to help out.”

“Girl, you know I’ll always be there!” Vienna rushes over and hugs me before telling everyone good night and heading for her car to leave. That’s when I notice my car parked in a spot a few down from hers.

“My car?”

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