Page 16 of Thor
She got that funny look on her face again.The one that said there was something she wasn’t telling me.“That makes me your old lady.We’ve talked this over ten ways to Sunday.Not happening.”
She was right.We’d talked this in circles that went nowhere, so I dropped the subject for now.She finished getting dressed, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to straighten it.I liked it all mussed up, but I had a feeling she didn’t want to hear that with Ace standing on the other side of the door.
“Do I look okay?”
“Good enough to eat.”
She rolled her eyes.“Not what I need to hear right now.”
“Okay then.You look like a woman who had been well and truly fucked and enjoyed every minute of it.”
She let out an exasperated snort.“That’s not what I meant.I don’t want all your brothers to know I go for quickies in a hospital bed.”
I raised one brow.“They’re not dumb.I doubt they think we closed the door so we could discuss grocery shopping lists.”
“True.”She wrinkled her nose.Adorable.Yup.I was doomed.She needed to have my cut on her.And soon.Before I had to kill some asshole for looking at her sideways.
Another knock sounded on the door, louder this time.I slanted a look at Janet.“You ready?”
She nodded.“Yeah.”
I raised my voice.“Come on in.”
The door opened and Ace stood framed in the doorway.He swept a quick look from me to Janet and back again before stepping inside and approaching my bedside.“How you feeling?”
“Like someone shoved a knife in my side, but you should see the other guy.”
“Yeah.One ain’t talking, but the cops caught up to the other guy.Stupid enough to let the security camera get a full-on face view.Seems he’s a regular at the station.”
“Rival gang?”We generally didn’t have issues with other MCs unless they tried to muscle in on our territory.We weren’t one percenters, but we weren’t above bending a few rules if it kept our turf safe.
Ace didn’t answer immediately, slanting a pointed look at Janet.
She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder.“I should be going.”
She knew the rules about club business.We didn’t discuss it in front of anyone but patched in members, and occasionally the prospects if they needed to know something.Definitely not the wives or girlfriends.It was as much for their protection as anything.What you didn’t know, you couldn’t be expected to tell anyone.Like the cops.Or an attorney.Or a judge.Or a member of a fucking rival club stupid enough to touch one of our women.
Ace dipped his head in acknowledgement.“Thanks again for looking out for our boy.”
She dropped a quick kiss on my forehead and headed for the door.“No problem.I’m kind of fond of him myself.”She pulled the door closed behind her.
I turned my attention back to Ace.“What’s the scoop?”
“Not a rival gang.A couple of low-life guns for hire.The one survivor swears he has no idea who hired them, or if you were the intended target or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.The dead guy was the main contact, and he’s not talking.”
I snorted.“So, what you’re saying is that I killed the wrong guy?”
“Kind of looks that way.The survivor swears he wasn’t the one who knifed you, so they charged him with aggravated assault and let him out on bail.The only good side is since he fingered his partner as the one with the knife, you’re definitely off the hook on any kind of charges.Given his testimony that it wasn’t your knife, it’s cut and dried self-defense.”
My hands went to the bulky bandage on my side.“The gaping hole in my side wasn’t enough?So now what?”
Ace shrugged.“As soon as the doctor clears you, we get you back to the clubhouse.Shadow is checking online to see if he can find anything but so far, it’s crickets.Unless you can think of a reason why someone would go to that much trouble to off you, we got nothing.It’s starting to look like you really were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you need to be extra careful until we know that for sure.”
I rolled my eyes.“Yeah.I have a feeling Janet’s going to make sure of that.”
“You two serious or what?You haven’t got your cut on her.”
I rolled my eyes.“I’m working on it.She’s stubborn as shit.”
