I still feel fucking… on edge.
I don’t know what it is, whether Angel is going to walk out of that shower and finally tell me her story or if the building is about to be bombed but the jittery feeling in my gut has never been wrong.
Whatever it is, I need to lock Angel down hard.
The water finally cuts off and I wait about thirty seconds before I try the bathroom door.
It’s locked.
“Angel, what’s going on in there?”
Her voice is soft through the door but I hear her well enough. “Can I… have one of your shirts? I’ve been sleeping in them and… I mean, it’s fine—“
“Open the door, sweetness. Let me get you in bed.”
She shuffles around in the bathroom for a second and then she opens the door, standing there in one of my towels and looking like she’s been beaten within an inch of her life.
All of the air leaves the fucking room.
She fidgets a little and looks like she’s going to fucking cry. “Sorry. I should have grabbed something before I went in there but… I want one that smells like you. Fuck, I’m sorry.”
I swear to fucking God, if she says sorry to me again I’m going to lose my fucking mind.
But first, “I’m going to hunt down whoever the fuck did this to you and I’m going to kill him in the worst fucking way.”
Her lip trembles and a little giggle bursts outta her, one with a hysterical edge to it. “They’re dead. They’re already dead and I’m probably never going to sleep again without hearing them… die.”
Well then.
Maybe the drug dealer ain’t so fucking bad.
Except now we have a whole new set of fucking nightmares to contend with. “Here’s my shirt, sweetness, let’s get you comfortable.”
I tug a clean shirt over her head gently and try not to look at the mess her ribs are in. There’s gotta be some breaks in there, it must be fucking killing her to breathe.
I’m back to wanting to kill the drug dealer, I needed those deaths myself because where the fuck am I gonna put this rage now that’s pumping through my fucking veins?
My phone buzzes as I help her between my sheets, the little gasps coming out of her make me wanna fucking die. There’s a text from King, church is starting and my ass has to be there.
Non-negotiable.
I take a deep breath and I try to force some fucking gentle tones out of myself. “I’ve gotta get to church and deal with some club shit. I’m gonna grab Cole to be on the door to keep an eye out for you, we’ll keep it locked but I trust him. Just lay down and rest until I get back. Then we can… talk about what the hell happened.”
She bites her lip, looking like she’s gonna fucking cry again.
I can’t handle that shit. “Angel, what the hell is wrong? What do you need?”
She swallows and when she speaks her voice is thready. “I need my bag. It’s in my locker back at The Boulevard. I just realized it’s still there and… I really need it.”
My eyes narrow at her. “Why? What’s in there that’s so fucking important?”
She swallows again. “My money.”
Jesus fucking Christ. “Angel, it’ll be fine there overnight. If anything fucking happens to it, I’ll sort it out. Just lay down and rest.”
She wraps her arms around herself and whispers, “There’s almost two hundred thousand in the bag. I need it here, with me.”
She very suddenly has my full fucking attention. She’s a fucking pro at getting it. “What the fuck did you just say? You have two hundred g’s in that busted ass fucking bag?”
She nods.
Well fuck me.
I stare down at her and try to find my fucking brain but… why the fuck does she have all that fucking money on her?
There’s a thump at the door. “Church! King said hurry your ass up!”
I stand up and try to sound calm and not at all threatening when I say, “I’ll get one of the boys to go get it for you now. I’ll be back as soon as I can, Angel, and then we’re talking about it. We’re talking about everything, you hear?”
She nods again, the tears still brimming in her eyes and I duck down to kiss her before I go. It’s barely a kiss thanks to her busted lip but she manages a smile when I straighten up.
Two. Hundred. Fucking. Grand.
Sitting in a shitty bag inside a locker at The Boulevard, fuck me. Fuck me, this girl just keeps throwing me fucking curve balls and I have no fucking clue what to make of it.
I text Cole to get him moving for the money and then when I get outside of my room I find Axe already waiting.
He looks even fucking worse than Angel.
“Man, is she okay?”
I nod and gently clap him on the shoulder. “She’s alive. I’m gonna need to hear exactly what went down but it can wait. Has Keely got a look at you yet?”
He shakes his head. “I’ll live, I’m more fucking worried about her. She’s a fucking good woman, Tomi, you need to hold onto her. She just—she saw what the hell was happening and she just stood the hell up. I’ve seen grown fucking men with less backbone.”
Fuck.
I clap him on the shoulder again and leave him there to watch the door until Cole gets back with the fucking bag.
Two hundred grand.
When I get to the chapel I’m the last Callaghan there, but it’s only my blood and, fuck, Thorn waiting for me to arrive. Speck’s sitting with Rue looking like death warmed up but he’s alive so I’ll count it as a fucking win.
King is looking fucking thunderous but he jerks his head at the door, signalling me to shut it as I walk in. “What do you need to tell us?”
Thorn runs a hand down his face and grunts like he’s in pain. “I’m not here in an official capacity.”
King shrugs, he’d obviously guessed as much but Thorn looks like he’s getting ready to fall on his own sword and this week has been a fucking clusterfuck so I don’t blame him.
“Look… I still can’t tell you jack fucking shit about Posey and the rest of her family. But I can tell you that getting them involved… fuck, it was a bad move. They’re looking into shit.”
“Yeah, well, we’ve just had half the fucking Chaos Demons roll into our town so my guess is they’re already looking into our shit,” Hawk snaps, and Rue frowns. This’ll be killing him, he can’t take people questioning Posey. It gets him all twitchy and trigger happy.
Thorn shakes his head. “I don’t share custody with that cunt Grimm. I’m not telling you who I do share her with but lemme just say that they’ve killed a lot of people to keep Grimm away from her. They take out any threats that show up on her doorstep. And this… wasn’t a good fucking idea.”
Rue manages to keep his cool but fuck knows how. “We didn’t involve them. Poe called her sister, not us. Fuck, how exactly are we calling some bitch we don’t know?”
Thorn’s lip curls but I cut in because I don’t want to sit around here fucking gossiping when I could be with Angel. “What’s done is done. Is there any new intel or are you just here to fucking run your mouth about what went down?”
Thorn glares at me and then slides a folder over to King. “Yeah, I have a whole list of fucking sins against the club and against you, Tomi, thanks to that stripper that was taken.”