Page 23 of Blood Revealed

Finally, he speaks again. It looks like it takes effort. “Brothers coming?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

Veronica takes a bag of something she got out of the refrigerator unit next to the cabinet and hangs it from Sneak’s IV stand. She goes about hooking it up to the IV’s central line. Then she hooks something else in and hands the little black thing off to Sneak. It looks like a buzzer to answer questions on a game show.

“It’s for the morphine,” she says. “Click the button when you need a booster.”

“Morphine?” I ask. “Where the fuck you get morphine?”

She snickers as she cleans up after herself. “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”

Then she leaves us alone.

“Better?” I ask Sneak.

His eyes glaze over. “Shit yeah,” he says. It must take effect pretty fast. But even I know that the side effect of morphine is that shit makes you sleepy as hell.

“Brothers should be here soon,” I say. “Then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

“The women?” he asks.

“I didn’t ask. I’m assuming they’ll bring ’em in and put the club on lockdown. Trish’ll be fine. Briar Rose’ll have other kids to entertain her. You just concentrate on getting better.”

“Yeah,” he says as his eyes droop closed. He’s out like a light. At least I got to talk with him.

I head back out of the recovery and to the room they’ve provided for me. The bed isn’t as soft as mine at home, but it’s clean. I lie down to rest a bit, and it feels like two seconds later that I wake to loud commotion coming from the hallway as someone pounds on the door. When I get up to open it, Boss and Chaos are standing there, grim looks on their faces.

“C’mon in,” I say, swinging the door open wider and stepping aside. They come in, Chaos closing the door behind him. “You got the club on lockdown?” I ask.

“Not yet. Women got guards and trails, but Duke don’t want to give away that we know what’s goin’ down. He ordered any woman who has a man gone to move up to the compound. We have the brothers charged with protecting the women standing guard to the front and rear gates and we got Tommy and his men doing patrols. Plus, since the fuckup with the Sheriff’s Department and Rodrick, they’ve been scrambling tryin’ to make amends and have patrols goin’ out too. The women are covered, brother,” Boss says.

He wouldn’t have left Elise if he didn’t think she was safe and in good hands, so I have to have faith my brothers have it handled. “Good. So what’s the plan?” I ask.

“Duke’s in talking with Hammer right now,” Chaos answers. “Once they get done, they’ll address all of us. Being VP, Boss has to get going, but he wanted to check with you before he got down to business.”

“I’m good. It’s Sneak who almost bought it. Go… be badass. Drac’s a cool guy. You won’t have trouble with him, either.”

“Good stuff,” Boss says, patting my arm before turning to leave Chaos and me in my room.

“Too much like old times,” my best friend since kindergarten says. And fuck if he’s not right. We had to leave Chicago because of this type of bullshit. My dad got a bullet in the chest and Chaos and I put a bullet in the man who did it. All these rivalries. I’m so damn tired. We try and we try and they just keep pulling us in.

“Too much,” I agree. “How’s Liv?” My little sister is his wife. Sometimes I still scratch my head at how I didn’t see that one coming, but she couldn’t have a better man at her side, even if it took me a while to realize it.

“Scared, but she’s hanging in there. She’s got her girls with her. Elise, Trish, Caity, and Hannah. Not to mention the newer old ladies. She’s more worried about you and me. But I worry about her, about this shit triggering another episode. Even with meds and therapy, that PTSD shit is a bitch.”

Fuck if he ain’t right about that. My sister suffered terrible after her kidnapping by Houdini. Went off the rails. Ran away and got caught in the sights of another crazy motherfucking stalker who abducted her, only to be kidnapped from that douche by Houdini again. It’s no wonder she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. That’s a lot of traumatic stress to try to get over.

“How was Hannah when you left?”

“Nervous. She was okay after talking with you, but all the women are on edge. Especially the likes of Hannah and Brinley since they know exactly who and what we’re dealing with.”

“I never wanted to worry her,” I admit.

“None of us wants to worry the women. But we also can’t keep shit from them, either. They’re stronger than ordinary women. They can hack it.”

He’s right. I just have to trust the process. Isn’t that the saying?

It’s about a half hour later when Duke and Hammer gather all the brothers together. We’re going in under cover of darkness. Hero and Boetcher have to sit this one out, which they’re both pissed about, wanting to get their revenge against the bastard who shot them and Sneak.

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