“Jesus,” I hiss under my breath, dropping the machete to the floor with a loud clang. I move toward Toni quick as fuck, grabbing her broken hand in mine gently. “Don’t move it, Ant!” I roar as she tries to pull it away from me.
“It fucking hurts!” She cries, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Well no shit! You just busted your fuckin’ hand on his face!”
“I don’t feel so good, Leo,” she says as I drag my gaze to meet hers. She doesn’t look so good either.
“I’m taking her to the hospital. Grinder take care of this asshole,” I growl, nodding my head at Jimmy.
“So, this is her?” Phoenix says as he strolls over and stands in front of us.
“This is her.”
“I have so many questions for you, but obviously not now. The one thing I will ask before you go, do you care about him?” I’m still pissed at her for what she did but I can’t deny the fact that I want to know her answer.
“We’re talking about this now?” She cries.
“Just answer me,” Phoenix snaps.
“Yes, I care about him. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have risked everything.” My chest squeezes at her admission. Phoenix seems satisfied for the moment so I grab her and lead her out of the basement and up the steps.
“Peaches, get me a rag!” I call out to one of the club girls. She hurries off as I lead Toni toward the door. Peaches rushes over and passes me the rag which I wrap around Toni’s hand. As I do, she’s still swaying slightly, I lift her in my arms and carry her to the truck. I hate being in the cage but there’s no way in hell she can ride the bike like this.
I situate her in the seat and run around climbing in and start the truck.
“You’re gonna be okay, Ant.”
“You called me, Ant,” she says softly as I drive.
“That’s your name isn’t it?”
“It is, but it’s weird hearing you say it.” I glance over as she lays her head back on the seat. Shock sets in as she closes her eyes. I drive as fast as I can to the hospital. Once we’re here, they rush her away from me asking all kinds of questions and talking about surgery.
Walking into the waiting room, I run my hand through my hair and contemplate what I’m doing with this girl. Is she someone I should get mixed up with? What’s going to happen after her father finds out we killed Jimmy? I find myself asking too many questions that I don’t have answers for when Phoenix walks in.
“You okay?”
“Jimmy handled?” I ask. He nods his head. “I don’t know, Prez. Did I just start a fuckin’ war with Edge?”
“What difference does it make? He was a rat in our club, Leo.” I nod my head knowing that but it doesn’t change the facts.
“Even still. I ordered it.”
“Fuck that, brother. You did the right thing. Now tell me about this girl. You keeping her around?”
“Fuck yeah, I am.”
“Does she know that?”
“Hell no. I don’t know what she thinks, Phoenix. She fucked me over too and I don’t know how to handle that part. A part of me wants to rip her ass to shreds and send her home to Daddy but the other part can’t do that.”
“I get it, brother. I do. It’s a tough decision but just know that I’m behind you whatever you choose.”
“Thanks, brother. I appreciate that.”
“Have they told you anything yet?” he asks, changing the subject.
“No. Just some shit about surgery to repair the bone.”
“She really fucked her hand up on his face,” he chuckles.
“Yeah, she did. The girl has heart.”
“That’s a good thing,” he adds. I nod my head before scrubbing a hand over my face.
“The shit with Ascher, you wanna talk about it?” Phoenix turns his head to look at me and sighs.
“You know Ascher. The fucker is always in trouble for something. I just think he met his match with Winnie. She doesn’t back down from a good fight.”
“That all this is?”
“I honestly don’t know. I guess we’ll find out soon enough, yeah?”
I blow out a breath and lean back in my seat trying to clear my head and stop worrying about what’s going on in that OR.
Chapter Twenty-One
Antonia
“When’s she supposed to be wakin’ up?” I hear him ask while my head pounds and nausea rolls through my stomach. It’s this nagging, pulsating feeling through my temple like I’ve been hit in the head. I focus on my breathing, inhaling through my nose, exhaling through my mouth. All I do is focus on this right now, waiting, trying to calm myself down as anxiety starts creeping in.
“I don’t know, Prez. I didn’t really stick around to ask questions. I paid off that fine Latina nurse of hers and made sure she got Ant to me quick and quietly. I saw a couple guys from the Devil’s Ash MC out in the waiting room too when I left, so I don’t think they know she’s gone.” Magnum tells my father, and the more I listen, the more alert I become.
Fuck. What happened? What the fuck happened? The last thing I remember is Leo getting me to the hospital, them doing a blood test and giving me some pain medication, telling me I’d need surgery to set the bone and a couple . . . god, what were they called? Fuck. I can’t remember the name of them, but I do remember they’d help me get my hand sorted.
I manage to open my eyes slowly, blink and gaze down at my right hand which is wrapped in some sort of cloth contraption. If this doesn’t look botched, I don’t know what does. “Ah, she’s wakin’ up.” Magnum tells my father, and his footsteps grow closer.
My father scoffs as a sudden agonizing pain rips through the back of my head. He pulls the back of my hair, jolting me awake. “You have so much explainin’ to do, Antonia.”
My scream comes out of me before I realize what’s happening. He yanks on my hair again, this time the pain not as bad as the first. “Now that you’re here with us, where’s Jimmy? He didn’t check in today.”
I narrow my eyes in on him, “How the fuck am I supposed to know where he is? I’m not his babysitter,” I groggily tell him, fighting to keep my eyes open. Whatever drugs they gave me, they sure as hell weren’t weak.
“Don’t toy with me, little girl. He told me exactly what you were doin’ with Leo, even told me you took him to meet your mother.” His tone shows his disapproval.
“You mean he invited himself, then yeah. How else was I supposed to get shit from him? Isn’t that what you wanted me to get from him? Intel?” I stare at him, realizing I’m tied down to some sort of chair. Then it hits me. I know exactly where I am, in a private room in the middle of his fucking club, where he ties down his enemies and puts on a show for his boys. He only brings those he fully intends on harming here, and yet here I am.
He must see I’ve put it all together by now, “I know you double crossed us, little girl. Daughter or not, you’re going to pay for what you’ve done.”
“How do you know shit?” I ask, and his reply is backhanding me against the face.