Hank glared at Eli until he shut up with a sigh.
“Please don’t ever procreate,” Hank told him.
“I think I’ll go,” I told the men. “Daughtry was pissed at me and now there’s Kale.”
“That might be best,” Hank told me as he glanced through the glass and saw Terra sitting on Kale’s lap. He glanced at Neva who was cradling the baby. “Looks like things have calmed down in there, so if you’ll just take her to her mama…”
“Nope,” Grady shook his head. “Terra doesn’t want her in there. Germs.”
“Will you stay and help them?” I asked Neva. “I’m going to go for a drive and clear my head.”
“Yeah,” Neva glanced at Eli uncomfortably and then back at me with a smile. “Talk when we get home?”
“Yeah,” I told her. “We’ll talk then.”
With my head down, I hurried to my car praying I made it there without anyone seeing the tears streaming down my cheeks.
10.
DAUGHTRY
“I’m okay, brother,” I told Kale for the thousandth time since they’d moved me to a room. “I’m fuzzy headed about what happened, but it seems to be coming back in flashes. Something happened that I was fucking pissed about, but I just can’t put my finger on it.”
“Jamie said you weren’t acting like yourself or at least she didn’t think that’s how you normally acted around women,” Clem explained. “So, you were probably confused like the nurse said. That doesn’t explain how you broke your fucking hand, though.”
Just then, a vision of Jamie’s wide eyes as I stared down at her flashed in my mind. She was pressed against the lockers in the men’s changing room at work and she looked terrified. I shook my head, not sure what I had done to scare her, but then I remembered pain as I punched the same locker. More than once. Where was Jamie when that happened? Did I hurt her?
“Is Jamie okay?” I whispered.
“She looked kind of shaken up, but that could have been due to Kale,” Bird explained. “He had a spell and she said she hurt you. He went a little serial killer-ish for a minute and growled a bit.”
“Yeah, I remember,” Kale winced. “I need to apologize for that.”
“You scared her?” I growled at him. Then, with another flash, I could hear her screaming my name. But the only image I could remember was her wide eyes against the locker. “Bird, Clem, go find her. Check on her.”
“What?” Clem asked me. “Right now?”
“I think I hurt her,” I admitted quietly. “Go find her and make sure she’s okay.”
“Fuck,” Clem whispered as he spun around and started to walk out of my hospital room. I wanted so badly to go with him so I could see for myself that Jamie was really okay.
“Wait. I’ll go,” Kale said as he stood up. “I need to apologize.”
“Make sure she’s alright. I think I fucked up bad. She was screaming,” I whispered. “Please.”
“You love her,” Terra said softly. “Oh, Daughtry.”
“No,” I shook my head at Terra. “It’s not like that. We’ve been, well, together every night for about a month now. Since the cookout. That’s all it is.”
“You’ve spent every night with her since then?” Kale asked me. “Goddammit, Daughtry. That’s something. You’re not just fucking if it’s every night.”
“She was going on a date, not because she wanted to but because Neva forced the issue. Jamie didn’t want to go, but she was torn because she thought she wasn’t enough for you,” Eli spoke up from the doorway. “You got pissed at her and you had words. You were shitty with her and then you started punching shit and yelling. Now she’s locked up in her shop with the music blaring and I’m not sure she’s okay. I looked past it for as long as I could, Daughtry - I really tried. She’s a grown woman; she told me to butt out of it a month ago and I did. And you are my brother, man. I’ve known you for years. But you treated my sister like a fucking whore today.”
“No,” I shook my head. “I would never…”
“She fucking cried, Daughtry.” Eli growled. “She was with Wyatt for five fucking years and didn’t shed a tear at his funeral, not even when they handed her son the flag instead of her because they weren’t married. She raised his kids, but Wyatt treated her like she wasn’t good enough for him to fucking marry her and now you’re fucking her, but she’s not good enough for you to make it real. Tonight, she cried for you.”
“Eli, I…”
“I know this club is all about family, but I’ve got to protect the one I was born with just like I’d protect any one of you. I’d bleed for her the same way I’d bleed for you and I thought you’d do the same. I’m sorry, but I’m done. I can’t be part of something that hurts my sister the way you have or scares her the way the two of you did.” Eli took his cut off and carefully folded it. He gently laid it across the foot of my bed before he turned around and walked out. I saw him nod at Terra on his way out the door. I glanced at my brother and Kale looked stunned as he reached down to wipe the tears off his baby’s head from where they had fallen off her mother’s cheeks.
“Fuck!” I roared. I tried to sit up, but I was still woozy from whatever the hell had happened to me earlier. I was hooked up to an IV and not even half an hour ago, they’d shot me up with some painkiller that was so strong I couldn’t even tell I had hands, let alone a broken one. I knew I couldn’t walk to the car, much less get to Jamie. I couldn’t explain myself to a man I considered my brother and who had been my friend for more than 20 years.
My life was out of control, and I was the one that had driven it off that cliff.
“You fix it, Kale, and you fix it all. Her, Eli, everything. I don’t know what happened with Daughtry and that woman or what you did to scare her. Even if both of you were out of your fucking head, that’s not an excuse. We don’t treat women like they’re disposable. Ever. And even if you couldn’t control your emotions and that’s what scared her, your brothers stood around and let it fucking happen, then they let her drive off all alone.” Terra used her free hand and wiped her eyes. “I brought our baby into a building full of fucking sick people so I could take care of you and your brother. I’ll sit right fucking here with him until you bring me Jamie and Eli, Kale. You have to make this right. Eli is our family and Jamie will be someday, if we’re lucky. Bring them to me so we can make this right.”
“Terr,” Kale whispered to his wife but she shook her head. Kale leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and then turned around and walked out of my hospital room without another word.
I heard Hank mutter as he walked out the door, “And we have our next Martha, gentlemen.”
The hell of it was, I agreed with him and I heard my brothers agree with him, too.
◆◆◆
JAMIE
I reached up and brushed the hair out of my eyes and then swiped more tears away before I put my hand back down and grabbed the wrench I was using to tighten the bolts on the pulley I had just installed on my Sportster.