Page 81 of Wild Night
“Protect yourself, Justin.”
“I will, Dad.”
He jerks his chin, then he’s gone. I watch the door shut behind him before I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath, holding it for a moment before I let it out slowly. Only when mybreath is out, I’ve calmed my ass down, and I realize that I’m still alone do I open my eyes.
I expected someone to come inside. The moment alone is nice, but I haven’t even seen Bullet yet. Then something happens. It’s a chaos that I didn’t expect, and due to the fact that I’m stuck in this goddamn bed, with a fucking catheter still in place, I can’t do anything about being in said bed.
This is some serious horseshit.
The door flies open, and I watch both Dakota and Posey dart inside. I open my mouth to ask them what the fuck is going on, but Bullet follows them, slamming the door behind him. He’s out of breath and hacking so much that he can’t even speak.
He holds up his hand, extending his index finger, signaling for me to hold on. Then he shakes his head as he attempts to catch his breath. Dakota is rubbing his back and speaking softly to him, but my focus quickly shifts to Posey. Her eyes are wild as they flick around, her expression clearly panicked, and I start to demand some answers when Bullet begins to speak.
“A nurse came by, said someone was waiting at the nurses’ station for Posey, knew her last name, too. They walked off together, and it struck me as odd, so I followed them a few moments later to see what the hell was going on, but they were already past the nurses’ station and standing at the exit.”
My eyes fly over to Posey, as if to ensure that she’s still standing there unharmed. She gives me a small smile, dipping her chin in a single nod, a silent confirmation that she is indeed okay.
Shifting my attention back to Bullet, I wait for him to continue. “That woman had her hand wrapped around Posey’s arm and was trying to pull her outside. The minute she saw me coming up behind them, she took off, and I did the same. But she jumped into a car, and it sped away.”
“What kind of car?” I snap, thinking that Piggy can maybe track it down somehow.
“Gold, older sedan. I didn’t get a good look. My lungs are shot to shit from that smoke. I couldn’t even get a single plate number. Hell, I didn’t even see the state. It was too fast, and I couldn’t fucking breathe. I’m sorry.”
There’s not a single fucking way I would accept any kind of apology over something he literally could not help and wasn’t expecting. It would be like me falling over myself apologizing for us being nearly blown to fucking pieces.
It wasn’t me who planted the explosives. I don’t need to apologize, and neither does he for this.
“Can Piggy get any footage from this side of the building?” I ask.
Bullet frowns. “From the hospital? Probably not without a warrant.”
He’s probably right. Fuck. Whoever this is, it’s obviously more than one person. There’s a woman involved, too. I have no goddamn clue who it could be, and that shit pisses me off more than the actual acts themselves.
Finding Bullet’s gaze with my own, I jerk my chin in his direction before I speak. “Whoever is behind this shit is going to pay, Bull.”
Bullet nods. The understanding between us is mutual. This motherfucker is going to go down, and we’re going to have a great fucking time taking him there. If he thinks he can play games and hide, he’s sadly mistaken.
It may take me a little time, but the Vicious Reapers are going to discover who this is, and we’re going to enjoy ourselves when the time comes to make him suffer… well, them. Makethemsuffer. Because woman or not, she was trying to hurt my old lady. Fuckthatshit.
POSEY
Bullet makes a phone call, and then Piggy appears to escort us out of Justin’s hospital room. Apparently, they have things to discuss that they don’t want me and Dakota to hear, but I don’t want to be away from him. I’m terrified something is going to happen to him, so when Piggy walks us out, I don’t move past the door.
“You don’t want to sit down in the waiting room?” he asks.
Shaking my head from side to side, I clear my throat, swallowing the lump there before I can speak. “I can’t walk away from him.” My voice is trembling with each word. “I can’t risk something happening.”
Piggy, clearly confused, flicks his gaze from me to Dakota, who also refuses to leave, but instead of giving him no explanation the way I did, she tells him everything that happened. I watch as Piggy switches from relaxed to alert within seconds.
Then he’s on his phone.
I don’t know what’s going on, but I start to tell him that they didn’t want him to do anything about it, but then decide against it. If he wants to get this shit under control, if he wants to find these people and take them down, more power to him.
I expect him to walk away during the phone call, but he doesn’t. He stands in front of us, his eyes never leaving ours, flicking from one of us to the other, as if he wants to ensure that we’re indeed still here and safe.
Whoever is on the other end of the call finally picks up, and he barks into the device. “I want to know who the fuck was in an older gold car at the back exit of the hospital.”
There is a moment of silence, then he growls. It’s a little scary, and I’m intimidated even though it’s not directed toward me. Reaching out for Dakota’s hand, I grip it in mine, and she squeezes. She knows all these people better than I do, so instead of her being on edge, I look over to see that she’s smiling.
