“Outside,” Copper said when he saw Zach. He and Rocket followed Zach back out the way he came in.
“What are they saying about Mav?” Zach asked.
Copper pulled out a cigarette and shoved it between his lips. “Not a fucking word,” he said, throwing Zach a pissed off glare. “They took him for a bunch of scans. We’ll know when they know or some shit like that.” He inhaled and flew a long stream of smoke into the sky. “Fuck. Fuck!”
An elderly woman being wheeled in to the hospital in a chair shot Copper a disapproving glare.
“Gimme one of those fuckers.” Zach held his hand out to Copper. “We got guys on clean up?”
Copper handed him a cigarette and his lighter. “Yeah, guys are gonna torch the place. Mav said something about a girl being held prisoner, so we’re gonna search for her first.”
Zach couldn’t have been more shocked if Mav came walking out the door dancing a jig. “Seriously? Think he was delirious?”
Copper shrugged. “Fuck if I know. While the nurses were moving him to a bed he kept mumbling some shit about someone named Stephanie. Then he grabbed my hand, looked me straight in the eye, and begged me to save her. Last thing we need is some kidnapped teenager all up in our business, but I can’t let the girl burn to death either, can I?”
Rocket shook his head. “Shit,” was all he said.
They headed back inside and an hour later were told Mav was asking for them. Copper’s phone rang just as a nurse in hot pink scrubs came to retrieve them. Rocket had gone off in search of caffeination, so Zach made his way in by himself.
“Hey, brother,” he said when he reached the bed.
Mav turned and grabbed Zach’s arm with his left hand. The right one was bandaged from wrist to elbow where Shark burned off the Handlers’ brand. “You find her? The girl?”
“Shit, Mav, you look like hell. What did the docs say?”
Mav shook his head and squeezed Zach’s arm with a surprising amount of strength. “The girl.”
“All right, man, calm down. Cop is sending men to look for her. We’ll get her.”
Sagging against the pillow, Mav licked his chapped lips and nodded. “She’ll need help.”
“We’re on it, brother. Just worry about doing what you gotta do to get sprung from this joint. Now what’d the doc say?”
“Broken ribs, bruised all to fuck, infection in my arm.” He lifted his bandaged arm and grimaced. “It’s fucking gone, Z.”
“Don’t worry about that now, Mav. We’ll work it out.”
“How’s LJ?”
“Fucked up. He’s home now, though. I’m sure he’ll be in tomorrow.”
Zach stayed with Maverick until Copper and Rocket joined, then took off to meet Toni back at the clubhouse.
As he drove the truck back to the clubhouse he couldn’t help but replay the night’s events over and over.
And with each passing mile the part that stuck in his brain the most was Toni selflessly offering herself up to Shark in exchange for Mav.
By the time he reached the clubhouse he’d gone from irked, to mad, to fucking furious.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Well, I think that’s the last of ’em,” Shell said as she capped the tube of antibiotic ointment and sank to the bed next to Toni. “Looks like you went three rounds with an angry cat and lost, but I don’t think any of them need stitches.”
“I feel like I should be making a pussy joke right now, but I got nothing.”
Shell giggled. “I’ll excuse you just this once since it’s late, you had a traumatic night, and you’re scratched to shit, but you owe me one pussy joke.”
“Got it. Hey, thanks for doing this, hon.” Toni rotated her arm back and forth. They’d decided to only put bandages on the deepest of the cuts, so she had about three or four on each arm and one on her neck. The few lines on her face were unattractive, but superficial and already scabbing over.
“No problem.” Shell had been in the rec room of the clubhouse when Toni returned, watching infomercials and drinking coffee, unable to sleep. She hadn’t said it was because she was waiting up for Copper specifically, but she didn’t have to. It was written all over her face. “So how are you really?”
Toni sighed and flopped back on the bed, her feet still on the floor. “I’m not sure. Kinda feel numb right now. I’ll probably lose my shit at some point. Wanna place a bet on when it will happen?”
Squeezing Toni’s hand, Shell shook her head. “You feel free to break down whenever you need to. If that man of yours isn’t around to catch your fall, you can always cry on my shoulders. They may be small, but trust me, they can hold a lot of weight.”
Her man. Reminding Shell that Zach wasn’t her man would be fruitless. “I may take you up on that.”