Chapter Three
Ransom
“You’re still here.”
I cracked open my eye. “Did you think I was going to leave?”
Luna laid her head back down. “I had hoped.”
I closed my eye and sighed. “I know you got a concussion, Luna, but you might want to get it in your head that I’m not going anywhere.” Did I wish that I was in my bed and not in a hard as rock chair in the hospital? Yes, but I could handle this for a few days while Luna recovered.
“How are you going to find the psycho who is killing my girls if you don’t go anywhere?”
I reached down and lowered the footrest on my chair. “I’ve got a friend coming in today who is going to keep an eye on you and also help me find this guy.”
“You have friends?” Luna laughed.
I opened my eyes and glared at her. “I know you might think it’s hard to believe, but I actually am a nice guy with quite a few friends.”
Luna huffed. “I’ll believe that when I see it.” She reached for the remote to the bed and raised the back ‘til she was in a sitting position. “Which imaginary friend is coming to look after me?”
“Bear. I worked with him at my first department.”
“And he’s just leaving his job to come and help you?” she spat. “Does he know you’ve hit a huge brick wall?”
That mouth on Luna. Jesus Christ. It could make a normal man turn on his heel and run without a backward glance.
Good thing I wasn’t a normal man. I saw what she was hiding behind that sass and temper. What she was hiding was what I wanted.
Luna was complicated, and no one had ever taken the time to look beneath the surface. She was something special, and every other man was too damn blind to see it.
Hell, she tried her darndest to make sure no one could see what she was. The number of times she had told me to fuck off or get lost was in the hundreds.
And for a while, I had.
Two years ago, Luna and I had fallen into bed and stayed there for six months until the world forced its way into our bubble and popped it. Now Luna hated me, and it seemed to be her mission to let the whole world know it.
It probably didn’t help that I had arrested her a month ago, but she had it coming when she stomped on my foot like it was a cockroach.
“Bear doesn’t work for the department anymore. He’s a bounty hunter.”
“Oh.” Luna tipped her head to the side. “So he’s good at hunting people down.”
I nodded. “You got it.” That was exactly why I had called him. He was going to help keep an eye on Luna, but he was also going to help me track down this killer.
“Something you’re not good at. Obviously,” she drawled.
I shook my head and pushed myself up from the chair. “It’s a good thing that sharp tongue of yours doesn’t cut me anymore, Luna.”
“Because I’d hurt your feelings?”
“You in here hurting feelings the day after you got kidnaped?” Pie laughed as he opened the door and stepped into the room.
“Did you bring your pretty girlfriend with you?” she asked.
Pie stepped to the side, and a pretty woman stepped into the room. “I told him I had to come because you weren’t going to eat this hospital food if I had anything to say about it.” She lifted a basket she was holding. “Meg is bringing a cooler later when she comes.”
I had seen her before, but I didn’t know who she was.
“Meg should be sleeping,” Luna muttered. “It’s barely eight o’clock and you guys are here. You’re not keeping biker hours, Bristol.”
“That’s because I keep private chef hours.” She winked and set down the basket. “Pie is learning to wake up with the birds if he wants to have breakfast before I go to work.”
So this was the woman who had managed to capture one of the Devil’s Knights. These guys were tough and rough around the edges, but they all seemed to fall like bricks when the right woman came along.
“You mean I’m going to learn to get up to eat breakfast with you, and then fall into a food coma before eight o’clock,” Pie chuckled.
“Now that sounds like Pie,” Luna snickered. “He was always good at eating ‘til he was ready to burst and then taking a two-hour nap.”
“Don’t be mad at me that I was a proud member of the clean plate club, and you ate like a bird.”
Luna flipped her middle finger at him.
“Someone is feeling feisty this morning.” Luna’s doctor walked in with a smile on his face. “You must have been able to get a good night’s sleep.”
Pie and Bristol moved to the side of the room, and the doctor came to stand at the side of the bed.
“Between the nurses coming in and someone snoring”—Luna shot a glance my way—“I did manage to sleep for a couple of hours.”
“I don’t snore,” I muttered.
“You snore like a damn freight train, Ransom,” Luna shot. “It’s a miracle anyone was able to get some sleep last night.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “You got no proof.”
Luna raised her eyebrow. “That’s what you think.” Luna grabbed her phone from her lap and waved it. “I have all the evidence I need right here.”
“More than feisty,” the doctor chuckled. He sat down at the computer that was crammed in the corner and logged on. “She must really keep you on your toes.”
I glared at Luna who was beaming at the doctor.
The doctor went over everything with Luna for a few minutes while I leaned against the wall, and Pie and Bristol emptied the bag she had brought.
“I’m thinking you should be able to be discharged later today. The only thing that might delay that is if the swelling doesn’t go down enough on your arm, and we won’t be able to cast it.”
Luna’s face fell. “What? Why can’t you just put a cast on? I’m sure the swelling will go down eventually.”
The doctor chuckled. “I know it will, but it doesn’t make sense to cast it today with it still swollen, and then you need to come back in tomorrow to get a new cast because the cast is too big.”
Luna wrinkled her nose. “I got you, but I can tell you the swelling in my arm will go down enough today so you can get those discharge papers moving.”
The doctor shook his head and logged out of the computer. “I like your optimism, Luna, but I won’t start those papers just yet. I’ll be back in after lunch, and we’ll see where you are at then. Deal?”
Luna grunted but nodded. “Whatever you say, Doc.”
Before the doctor was even out of the room, Bristol had a plate filled with food and set it on Luna’s lap.
“That can’t be from the cafeteria,” the doctor muttered. His eyes were glued on the overflowing plate.
Bristol laughed. “Um, no.”
“Bristol’s food runs circles around the hospital food,” Pie scoffed.
The doctor sighed. “I was hoping you would tell me it was from the cafeteria, even though I knew that wasn’t possible.” He pasted a smile on his face. “Enjoy your breakfast, Luna.” He stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
“I think you might have broken the doc’s heart, Bristol,” Luna laughed. She moved forward to sit up, and I reached for the remote to raise the back of the bed.
“I can tell you that having to eat cafeteria food after seeing what you’re eating is definitely heartbreaking,” I muttered. I was going to end up eating right next to the doc while we gnawed on stale bagels and dry cereal.
“I made extras,” Bristol chirped. “I honestly made enough to feed a small army.” She bent over and pulled out another plate. “You’re not allergic to anything, are you?” she asked me.
I was going to get to eat the same thing as Luna. Holy hell. “Uh, only if you put penicillin in your eggs.”
Bristol wrinkled her nose. “Um, no.” She pulled out a large ball of aluminum foil and peeled back the layers. “I don’t think that really goes with a bacon, egg, and pepperjack cheese biscuit.” She shrugged and laid it on the plate. “But what do I know.” She grabbed a cup filled with fruit and held out the plate to me. “Penicillin free just for you.”
Even knowing I should tell her I didn’t need it, I grabbed the plate. Just from the looks of Luna’s plate, it was clear that this was the type of food only a fool would turn down.
I sat down in the chair and balanced the plate on my knees. “You don’t even know my name, doll, but I can tell you, if Pie ever decides it’s over between the two of you, I’ll be next in line.”
“I’m pretty sure you’ll have to get in line behind me,” Luna muttered around a mouthful of sandwich. “I don’t hit Bristol’s way, but this sandwich could make a monk look a different way.”
I took a bite of the sandwich and instantly agreed with Luna. “Oh, shit,” I mumbled. “This is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.”
“Dude,” Pie laughed. “I know exactly what you mean. Everything Bristol makes is better than the last thing she made.”
Luna and I shoved our faces full while Bristol emptied the rest of her bag in the corner, and Pie dragged in a cooler.
“You did hear that I can very possibly go home today, right?” Luna asked.
Bristol waved her hand at Luna. “You’re not going anywhere today. I broke my arm when I was seventeen, and the swelling didn’t go down for four days.”
“You had to sit in the hospital for four days?” Pie asked.
Bristol shook her head. “No. My mom kept me at home until the swelling went down and then took me to the doctor. She knew what they were going to tell her, so she waited for the swelling to do down.”
“Was your mom a nurse or something?” I asked.
“Or something,” Bristol mumbled. “And you know, if you do go home today, I can just take this to the clubhouse, or you can take it home with you, so you don’t have to cook.” Bristol clicked her tongue. “None of this is going to go to waste.”
My phone buzzed, and I balled up the empty foil from the sandwich. “Well, I volunteer as tribute if you need someone to take extras home.” I pulled out my phone and swiped on the message from Bear.
I’m here, fucker.
I chuckled and tapped out my response. About time. Though it really had only been less than twenty-four hours since I had asked Bear for his help.
“It’s a party in here, huh?” King walked into the room with Meg at his side.
“I feel like this is a joke in the making. What do you get with two bikers and a cop in a room together?” Meg joked.
“Add in a bounty hunter and make it even more entertaining.” I shoved my phone in my pocket and stood.
“Come again?” Lo growled. “Did you just say bounty hunter?”
“I don’t know if I packed enough food for a bounty hunter,” Bristol mumbled. She looked down at the empty cooler and frowned.
“What do you need a bounty hunter for?” Pie asked.
“Because Ransom can’t seem to do his job, so he had to call in for reinforcements,” Luna sang.
Pie raised his shoulders and quirked the corner of his mouth. “I mean, that does sound right.”
It was the truth, but whenever Luna said it, it sounded like I was incompetent, when in reality, there was nothing wrong with me needing assistance. Hell, I was surprised that the chief hadn’t already called in the big guns to help find the serial killer.
“Whatever it takes to catch this psychopath, yeah?” Meg chirped. “I mean, if this bounty hunter can find this guy, I’m all for it.”
At least I had Meg backing me.
“You shouldn’t feel bad about not being able to do your job, Detective Ransom.” Meg smiled wide. “We all know you tried your best.”
And there went the feeling of Meg having my back.
Pie scoffed, and King shook his head.
“Damn,” Luna laughed. “You had me thinking that you were all about Ransom for a second, Meg.”
“Then BAM! You can’t do your job.” Pie doubled over laughing and rested his hands on his knees. “That was classic.”
Meg smirked. “I mean, I didn’t mean to say that, but I did so I’m going to own it.” She pointed her finger at me. “But just know we know that you really tried.”
And now I felt like a five-year-old getting a pat on the head even though I had fucked up. “Bear is just helping. This is still my investigation.”
“Right, right,” Bristol muttered. “You are totally still in control.”
I didn’t even know this chick and she was roasting me. She really did belong to the Devil’s Knights. She fit right in.
I needed to get out of here before I had zero confidence left. “I’ll just be outside for a while if you need me.”
Meg frowned and tipped her head to the side. “You really need to get out of here because I could roast you so hard right now.” She shooed her hands at me. “Run along, little detective.”
King choked on his laugh, and Pie tipped his head back to look at the ceiling.
“This is why you’re the OG ol’ lady,” Pie wheezed.
“Shoo, shoo,” Meg sang.
“I’ll catch up with you before we leave,” King called to me. At least he wasn’t treating me like I was incompetent. “Or if you’d rather me just talk to Bear, that will be fine.”
I growled. “I am in charge.” I strutted out of the room and pulled the door shut behind me.
And that was the way it was going to stay.
I was in charge, and I was going to be the one to figure out who was stalking and killing the women of Sultry Knights.
You could bet your last dollar on that.