“Astrid, wait up!”
She practically threw herself out of the car as I rounded to the front of the urgent care. I cursed beneath my breath as I parked the car, hoping to hell on high that shit didn’t get towed. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my gut about this, though. The shock in Astrid’s voice as she talked with her friend told me this hadn’t ever happened before, and with her friend being a stripper, I wasn’t sure what kind of chaos we were walking into.
But nothing prepared me for when we got up to the front desk.
“Josie Raquel, where is she?” Astrid asked.
The nurse looked at the two of us before she came out from around her desk. “You two follow me and quickly.”
Astrid gripped her arm. “Is it that bad?”
The nurse looked up at me and sighed. “Maybe you guys can convince her to go to the hospital, because that’s where she needs to be right now.”
“Fucking hell,” I murmured.
“Take us to her,” Astrid said.
The nurse wove us down an intricate set of hallways before bringing us to a door on the left that sat right by a back exit. I peered out the window to clock where this exit was because I had a feeling I’d have to pull the damn car around to pick her up here. Nothing prepared me for the shriek that came out of Astrid’s mouth when the nurse opened that door, though.
And when I saw her friend sitting there, I blanked.
The last thing I remembered was setting eyes on her hands. Josie’s fucking hands were bruised and bloodied, and a couple of her fingernails had been ripped straight from their beds. And when my memory jogs again, the three of us are in the car speeding to the hospital. I raced across town, making sure I got this woman to the best hospital this town afforded before I carried her inside.
And the second nurses laid eyes on her, it was all hands on deck.
“Set two I.V.’s,” a nurse barked.
“I need her pulse. Get me her heartrate now,” a doctor demanded.
“Oxygen. She’s struggling to breathe.”
“Astrid,” Josie wheezed.
Astrid took her hand. “I’m right here. It’s going to be okay. I’m right here with you, Josie.”
I gripped the white coat of a doctor walking past me and I yanked him to my face. “You admit her now, and you give me the bill. Got it?”
He nodded quickly. “I’ll have you talk with billing. But for now, we have to get her into a room.”
“A private room,” I glowered.
He nodded quickly again. “Of course. Yes.”
I shoved him away and raked my hands through my hair. I walked beside the stretcher they had Josie on while Astrid blinked back her tears as she wiped away her friend’s. Whoever did this to my woman’s best friend was going to die. I didn’t care who it was or what their relation was to anyone in this situation. No one beat on a woman the way Josie had been clearly beat up on.
To be honest, it looked like more than one person had their hands on her.
We flew past all of the E.R. rooms and went straight to the elevator. Up we went, soaring all the way up to the seventh floor where even more nurses were ready to receive Josie. One of them was wiping away the sheer amount of blood still caked on her face. Another nurse checked her teeth, of all things. And as we all swung into a corner room that only had a set-up for one person, I ripped my phone out of my back pocket.
Before dialing Brooks.
“Yep?” he asked when he answered.
“Dude, we got an issue,” I murmured.
I walked off into the corner as Astrid rattled off questions.
“What? Is it my sister? What did you do?” he barked.
I growled. “Would you shut the fuck up about your sister for one second and listen to me?”
He paused. “What’s happened? Astrid’s okay?”
I peered over my shoulder, watching her keep herself together despite her shoulders jumping with unshed tears.
“We’re at the hospital with Josie, and she’s been beat up,” I said.
Shuffling sounded on Brooks’ end. “What hospital are you at?”
“The one closest to the clubhouse. It’s the best one in the area.”
“Where are you going?” Raven asked in the background.
So, I interjected. “No, no, no. I’m at the hospital with them. What I need from you is to figure out what strip club Josie works at and figure out who the fuck did this to her.”
Brooks paused. “Wait, Little Jo’s a stripper?”
I snickered. “Yep. Times change, I guess. I know she works in town, but that’s all I know. We gotta figure out who did this to her, Brooks. She’s really bad off.”
“Do I even want to know how bad?”
“Dude, when I saw her? I blacked out. I’m surprised we got to the hospital, because I don’t even remember driving.”
“Fucking hell,” he hissed.
“Call Cole, or possibly Tanner, and figure it out before the police do. Don’t ask me why, I’ve just… got a really bad feeling about this.”
I heard ticking away on his end of the line before his voice reappeared. “Already shot Tanner a text. I told him to meet me at the clubhouse and we’d go from there. Any way we can narrow down the strip clubs in the area at all?”
I peered over at Josie and studied her as much as I could. Nurses and doctors were still in a frenzied state around her, and Astrid kept wiping away tears while she brushed her fingers through her best friend’s hair. The entire scene made me sick to my stomach, but I saw something that caught my eye.
An orange and yellow paper band wrapped around her wrist.
“She’s got one of those bands around her wrists. You know, the paper ones that clubs sometimes give you? It’s orange and yellow. I don’t know if that helps, but it might be something.”
Brooks paused. “Is there a pattern on the band? Or are the colors swirled together?”
I took a step toward them and squinted. “Pattern. It’s checkered.”
“I know exactly where that is,” he said without hesitation, “I’ll start there and call you as I find shit out.”
“Thanks, man. I’ll let Astrid know.”
“And Porter?”
I swallowed hard. “Yep?”
“Thank you for being there for them.”
I grinned. “I always will be. Now, let’s figure out who the fuck did this to her.”
I hung up the phone call and turned around to see two male nurses pivoting Josie’s hospital bed. And before I thought through my actions, I lunged at the moving bed and halted it with my own two hands. I glared at the men who stared me down, but it was Astrid who placed her soft hand on my forearm.
“They’ve got her on pain medication. She’s okay for now. Look down, she’s sleeping.”
I dropped my eyes to Josie’s face and I wanted to vomit. She was barely recognizable. I hadn’t seen the girl in ages, but damn it, no one deserved something like this. I drew in a deep breath and released the bed, watching as the two male nurses whisked her away.
Then, I wrapped my arm around Astrid’s waist and pulled her close.
“What the hell happened to her?” she asked breathlessly. “Just the other day, she was telling me how safe she felt in her club. How the owners really kept shit above board. What in the world happened?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. But right now? We can’t take any chances.”
She looked up at me. “What do you mean?”
I peered down at her. “I mean, I’m not so sure that this was a random attack.”
Her eyes widened. “You think the Black Flags did this to her? Why? What gives you that impression?”
I shook my head slowly. “Just my gut.”
She laid her head against my chest. “I feel like we’re just sitting ducks here.”
I kissed the top of her head. “Because we are. Hospitals aren’t nearly as guarded as they need to be. And I think that when they’re done running their tests, we need to get her out of here and get her back to the clubhouse. Cole can clean her up the rest of the way, and once she’s gotten some sleep maybe she can shed some light on what happened.”
“I don’t know, Porter. I think she’s still better off here.”
I sighed. “Well, let’s just see what happens. Okay?”
The rest of the day dragged by, but the night was even longer. Astrid was slumped over in a chair while holding Josie’s hand and I was perched out the window, peering down into the darkness. It was odd that I hadn’t heard from Brooks yet, and I started to get worried. The doctors ran all sorts of tests and did all sorts of imaging, only to come back with the only piece of news that settled my gut:
Every injury Josie sustained was mostly topical.
She had a couple of fractured ribs, but they couldn’t do anything about that. Rest and sleep was the only treatment for something like that, and I wanted Josie at the clubhouse to recuperate. I wanted her under lock and key, safe from the world until we could track down and slaughter whoever the fuck thought they were big and bad enough to get away with beating up on a woman like that.
Then, I saw movement in the shadows near the alleyway.
“Astrid,” I whispered.
She groaned as the movement happened again.
“Astrid, wake up,” I hissed.
She yawned. “What?”
“Come here. I see something.”
She groaned. “Porter, quit being paranoid.”
But then, the figure emerged.
Not only did the figure emerge into the light, though, but they stared right up at the window. Right up into my eyes as I glared down at them. I stood to my feet and watched as the hooded figure kept his gaze turned up toward the window. And while I couldn’t see their eyes, I knew damn good and well we were being watched.
So, I took matters into my own hands and pulled out my cell phone.
“What are you doing?” Astrid asked.
I peeked over my shoulder as I held my cell phone to my ear. “I know you won’t believe me, but we’re being watched. I’m getting us out of here.”
She rushed over to me. “Wait, are you being serious right now?”
I nodded. “Look out the window. Down at the alleyway. You’ll see.”
And when she did as I asked, tears rushed her eyes.
“Get us out of here,” she murmured.
Cole groaned as he picked up the phone. “Hey, you good?”
I peeked back out the window. “No, we’re not good. I need you to place one of your phone calls.”
He groaned. “What for?”
“It’s a long story, but I’m in the hospital with Astrid’s best friend, Josie.”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Brooks called me earlier and told me about that. Said to possibly expect you guys heading here after the hospital.”
“I need you to call and have us discharged immediately. Do whatever it is you do.”
He paused. “What’s wrong?”
I watched the hooded figure fade back into the shadows. “We’re being watched, Cole. In the hospital. Whoever did this to Josie knows where we are. We aren’t safe here.”
He shuffled around on the other end of the line. “Give me five minutes to get my voice clear and I’ll have you guys out of there. I’ll come get you myself. What exit do you want me at?”
“There’s an exit on the west side of the building. We’re right by the elevator that takes us down there. We need out of here and quickly.”
“On it.”
I hung up the phone with Cole and slid my phone back into my pocket. And with a minute or so to spare, a nurse came in and started the discharge paperwork for Josie. I saw the displeased expression on the nurse’s face. I knew she wasn’t a fan of whatever orders she had been given. But thirty minutes later, we were free to go and headed down the elevator with Josie in my arms.
Before Cole pulled up.
“Get in, and hurry. I saw two bikes headed in the opposite direction. I think I know who was watching you,” he said.
I slid Josie into the backseat. “Astrid, get in with her. I’ll ride up front with Cole.”
The fact that he even mentioned bikes told me everything I needed to know, and I quickly pulled my phone out to call Brooks.
But when my ass touched the passenger’s seat of Cole’s car, a phone call from Brooks came rushing through.
“Tell me you have something,” I said as we pulled away from the hospital.
“I’ve got more than something. I know who beat up Josie. We need church. You with Cole?”
I nodded. “We’re heading back to the clubhouse. I’ve got Astrid with me. Josie will need a room.”
“She can have mine!” Archer yelled in the background.
I furrowed my brow. “You with the rest of the guts?”
“Yep. We’re already here. You guys keep your wits about you and get back here, though. We have a lot of talking to do.”
I hung up the phone. “Cole?”
He cleared his throat. “Yep?”
I looked over at him. “Step on it. We need to get back, and fast.”
We raced through town and didn’t once stop until we pulled up to the clubhouse. Brooks was the first to greet us on the porch before he leapt off, charging for the backseats. I slid out and watched Brooks embrace his sister before we all helped Josie out of the car.
And one by one, I watched the guys’ jaws drop open at the sight of her.
“Jesus fuck,” Brooks whispered.
“What in the ever-loving hell?” Tanner murmured.
“Put her in Archer’s room, Brooks,” Cole said with command, “and Archer, can you get my suitcases out from beneath my bed and drag them in there? I’m gonna need every tool in my belt to get her back in working order.”
“I don’t wanna…” Josie murmured.
She groaned in pain and I halted everything so she could speak.
“What was that?” Astrid asked.
Josie opened her eyes for the first time and tears mixed with blood streaked her cheeks.
“I don’t wanna… be… a burden,” she choked out.
Astrid kissed her cheeks and wiped away her tears. “You’ll never be anything near that, okay? Cole’s gonna take very good care of you, and I’m not leaving your side. I promise, okay?”
Josie sniffled. “Why did they do this to me?”
Astrid cried. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out, okay? I swear we will.”
Archer held out his arms. “I can take her. Let me get her in the room. You and Brooks really need to talk. You guys can fill us in later.”
I passed Josie off to Archer and there was a look behind his eyes that I couldn’t interpret. I mean, I saw him blinking back tears like most of the other men in the clubhouse. But there was something else as well. I didn’t have time to parse through it, though. I had way too much I needed to be filled in on, apparently.
And after watching Cole, Archer, and the girls disappear down the hallway, the rest of us got together in the living room.
Before Brooks spoke. “So, I backtracked to the dance club that Josie was at. The one that gives out those orange-and-yellow checkered bands? It’s a new dance club called Ecstasy, but they don’t do stripping.”
I furrowed my brow. “All right, so where does Josie work?”
Brooks pointed at me. “That’s where it gets interesting. It didn’t take much describing of Josie’s features to trigger the bartender’s memory. Apparently, Josie and a few of her co-workers go to Ecstasy frequently to wind down because that place is owned by the same people who own the strip club she works at. Or at least they used to own it.”
Finn walked over toward us. “What do you mean, used to?”
Tanner parted the circle and stood beside me. “Who were the original owners?”
Brooks held up his hand. “Just let me finish. The owners of both Ecstasy and the strip club—which is called Karma, by the way—are retirees. They came this way from the East Coast to try and have the kind of retirement they wanted, and it was the wife’s dream to own a club and the husband’s dream to own a strip joint.”
“Some couple,” I said with a chuckle.
Brooks grinned, but it faded quickly. “I was able to talk with them, and they told me a very interesting story about how four men in black leather jackets came into their office last week, dropped a bag full of cash on their desk, and told them it was the down payment for their strip club. Said they wanted to buy the damn thing off them.”
I blinked. “How much was the down payment for?”
Brooks eyed me hotly. “Four hundred grand.”
Finn whistled lowly. “Holy shit, that’s a serious down payment.”
Brooks linked his fingers behind his head. “I had Tanner quickly pull public records of that place, and from the square footage of the strip club and where it’s located, four hundred grand is about half the payment of buying out the building altogether. These ‘guys in black leather jackets’ are paying well above market price for that shit.”
I blinked. “You don’t think…?”
Tanner sighed. “Actually, we know. Tell them about the footage, Brooks.”
All of us fell silent as Brooks chewed on the inside of his cheek. And when I saw his face redden with frustration, I didn’t even have to hear the words to know it was true.
“The Black Flags have taken over Karma, and that’s who did such a number on Josie,” he said.
And I knew, then and there, I’d be able to keep my promise to Astrid.
Because I’d slaughter every single one of them without batting a fucking eyelash.
