Page 48 of Friar
She shot me a disbelieving look.“You’re asking me if I’m okay?When you’ve got a bullet hole in your shoulder from protecting me?”
“Baby okay?”I clarified, my hand moving instinctively toward her stomach.
Her expression softened marginally.“Baby’s fine.Moving around like crazy, actually.At least, I think that’s what I’m feeling.Strong, like their dad.”
Yeah.My baby.The paternity test had come back proving I was the biological father of our child.And shortly after, Nugget had approached me saying he was relieved.Hell, I had been too.
By the time we reached the clubhouse, Dr.Kestral’s temporary bandage was already soaked through with fresh blood.The compound was on high alert, Prospects and hang-arounds stationed at the gates with weapons visible.Word had spread fast.
Beast called Church immediately, not in the chapel but in the main room of the clubhouse.The bullet-riddled diner had spooked him enough that he wanted everyone in the same space, watching each other’s backs.Club members gathered around tables, the mood somber and electric with tension.
“Tasha was there,” Beast announced, though everyone already knew.“Hawk saw her, confirmed it.She had at least two shooters with her, maybe more.”
“How did she know we’d be at Rusty’s?”Snake asked, voicing the question that hung heavy in the air.“We decided on that location less than twelve hours ago.”
A thick silence fell over the room.The implication was clear and devastating.For Tasha to have known where we’d be, someone had told her.Someone with access to our plans, our movements.Someone inside.
“We have a leak,” Beast said, his voice dangerously quiet.“Someone told Tasha where to find us today.Someone told her about the barbecue.Someone’s been feeding her information about our security, our movements, our plans.”
Eyes darted around the room, brothers eyeing one another with newfound suspicion.Decades of trust and brotherhood suddenly called into question by an invisible, insidious betrayal.
“Who knew about Rusty’s?”Forge demanded, his voice hard as he scanned the faces around him.“Who knew we’d be there this morning?”
“Everyone in this room,” Beast replied grimly.“Plus the Prospects on gate duty, and any old ladies who might have overheard.Don’t think any of the whores would have known, unless a brother told them.”
The weight of suspicion settled over us like a toxic cloud.These were my brothers, men I’d trusted with my life countless times.The thought that one of them might have endangered Cheri, might have been responsible for the bullet in my shoulder, was almost too much to process through the haze of pain and blood loss.
Dr.Kestral approached, medical supplies in hand.“I need to take care of that shoulder properly,” he said, nodding toward a back room.“Before you lose more blood or infection sets in.”
I started to protest, unwilling to leave the discussion, but Cheri’s hand on my arm stopped me.“Please,” she whispered, her eyes imploring.“Let him fix you.”
The naked fear in her gaze was impossible to refuse.I nodded, allowing her and Dr.Kestral to lead me toward one of the back rooms the club kept for medical emergencies too sensitive for hospitals.If Cheri hadn’t been poisoned before, she’d have gone to the same room.As we moved away, I heard Beast continuing, his voice hard with controlled fury.
“Until we find the leak, trust no one.No Prospects, no hang-arounds, no club girls.Information stays locked down tight.”
The door closed behind us, muffling the ongoing discussion.Dr.Kestral immediately set to work, cutting away my ruined shirt to fully expose the wound.The local anesthetic he injected around the injury site was a blessed relief, dulling the sharp edges of pain to a manageable throb.
Cheri sat beside me, holding my right hand as Dr.Kestral cleaned, stitched, and bandaged.Her fingers were still stained with my blood, the red now dried to a rusty brown in the creases of her knuckles and under her nails.She’d held onto me so tightly, as if afraid I might disappear if she broke contact.
“You could have died,” she said suddenly, her voice barely audible.“That bullet was meant for me, and you took it.”
“Better me than you,” I replied simply, squeezing her hand.“Always.”
Tears welled in her eyes, spilling over to track down cheeks already streaked with dirt and blood.“I can’t lose you, Friar.Not now.Not ever.”
I pulled her closer with my good arm, pressing my forehead against hers.“I won’t let her hurt you or our baby.Whatever it takes, whoever I have to go through, even if it’s one of our own.”
Dr.Kestral worked silently, giving us the illusion of privacy as he finished bandaging my shoulder.Through the closed door, I could hear raised voices as accusations and defenses were thrown back and forth.The club was fracturing under the weight of betrayal, brother turning against brother in a desperate search for the traitor in our midst.
Cheri’s hand found its way to my face, her palm warm against my cheek as she looked into my eyes.In her gaze, I saw fear and determination in equal measure, the same cocktail of emotions churning through my own blood.We were in this together now, surrounded by danger from without and betrayal from within.
“We’ll find who did this,” I promised her.“Both Tasha and whoever’s been helping her.And when we do…” I let the sentence hang unfinished, but Cheri nodded, understanding.
When we did, there would be no mercy, no second chances.Only justice, served in blood… the only currency that mattered when someone threatened what was mine.
Chapter Eighteen
Friar
