Chapter 22: Evie

22

EVIE

S ounds were the first thing that registered to me. I could hear several, but they were all unfamiliar to me. I tried to open my eyes but couldn't. Then I unsuccessfully tried to move my arms. When I couldn't move my legs, I started to panic. Something was wrong. I just knew it.

"It's okay, Evie," Irene said. "You're okay."

I felt someone take my hand in theirs as Irene continued talking to me.

"There's a tube in your throat helping you breathe," she said. "Try not to fight it."

As soon as she mentioned the tube in my throat, I became hyperaware of its presence. It was touching all kinds of things that shouldn't be touched, making me want to cough and gag.

"Try to relax, Ms. Sinclair. We're going to take it out," a voice I didn't recognize said.

I had no idea what was going on, but I couldn't relax. Whatever was in my throat had to come out immediately. Somehow, I managed to move my hand to my mouth and yanked the offending tube from the depths of my body. Unfortunately, it did not bring me the relief I thought it would. Instead, it made me cough, which caused pain to explode in my torso. It took me a moment to realize the guttural moans were coming from me.

"Do something!" Irene shouted.

"We're giving her something for pain now," someone said.

What in the hell was going on?

"Irene," I croaked.

"I'm right here, baby," she said. "Try to calm down so you don't hurt yourself. You're in the hospital."

"Hospital," I mumbled.

"Yes, the hospital."

"Edge?"

"He's in the room next door," she said.

"Why?"

"It's okay, honey. Just rest. We're not going anywhere."

"Okay," I said and drifted back into oblivion.

I opened my eyes and immediately closed them when the bright white light pierced my skull.

"Lights," I rasped.

"She's awake!" Irene shouted. "What was that, Evie?"

"Lights. Bright."

I heard shuffling, followed by a click. "Okay," she said. "They're off."

I hesitantly opened one eye to make sure the offending light was gone before I slowly opened both eyes and looked around the room. Irene and two big scary guys were staring at me. I recognized one as Carbon, but I wasn't sure who the other one was.

"Um, what happened? Where's Edge?"

"Oh, honey, we've been so worried about you," Irene said and reached for my hand. That's when I realized she was in a wheelchair.

"What happened?" I repeated and tried to clear my throat. My voice sounded weird, and my throat was really sore.

"Do you want some water?" Carbon asked. At my nod, he brought the straw to my lips. Those first sips of water were amazing.

"Thank you," I sighed. "Now, will one of you please tell me what happened? And where the hell Edge is?"

"Snarl showed up at the diner and shot everyone there, including you and Edge," Carbon said.

I closed my eyes at his words. "No," I whispered. "No, no, no."

"Everyone's okay," Irene quickly added. "Well, they will be. Edge is in the room next door."

"What about Snarl?"

"He's dead," Carbon said. "Dice took him out."

"Please thank him for me." The relief I felt was overwhelming, and tears started to stream down my face.

"You can thank him yourself," Carbon said.

I turned my head toward the door to see Dice entering my room. He came directly to me and took my hand. "It's so fucking good to see you awake and talking."

"Thank you," I said softly.

"You don't need to thank me. I did what anyone else would've done," he said.

"She was thanking you for Snarl," Irene clarified.

"Oh," Dice said. "Um, you're welcome."

"What did you think I was thanking you for?" I asked.

"Saving you," Irene answered for him. "You stopped breathing, and he did CPR until the paramedics got there."

"Dice," I whispered and squeezed his hand. "Thank you."

He blew out a slow breath. "I'm just glad you're doing better. You gave us quite a scare."

"Okay, will one of you please tell me everything that happened?"

"I will," Dice said and pulled up a chair. As I listened to him talk, parts of that morning started to come back to me. I remembered seeing Snarl staring at me through the front window, and I remembered telling Edge not to go after him. And then I remembered Snarl standing over me and yelling at me.

"I need to talk to Phoenix," I blurted when he finished.

"Is something wrong?" Dice asked.

"No, I just really need to talk to him."

"Okay, we'll get him for you."

Phoenix appeared moments later. I looked around the room and hesitated. I didn't want to be rude, but I needed to speak to Phoenix privately.

He seemed to understand what I was thinking. "Can y'all give us a minute?"

He waited until the room was clear to ask, "What's going on, Evie?"

I had intended to maintain my composure, but I burst into tears the moment I opened my mouth. "This is all my fault."

"What do you mean?"

I told him everything that happened with Randall, just like I told Edge, but then I told him the rest of it. "They told me I had to do it. They said they would pass me around their clubhouse and then kill me if I didn't. I knew they were making me do it to keep their own hands clean, but I didn't want them to get away with it. I asked Snarl to hand me a knife so his prints would be on the murder weapon. Knowing he was left-handed, I used my left hand to slit Randall's throat and dropped the knife to the left of the body. Thinking that would be enough evidence to prove they did it, I packed my shit and ran. I made an anonymous phone call to the police and told them what happened, but that obviously didn't turn out the way I thought."

"You are not the one at fault here. You did what was necessary for survival. I'm sorry you had to go through something like that, but I must admit, that was a clever fucking plan you came up with."

"Thanks, I think."

Phoenix chuckled. "Thank you for telling me the truth. I'll be honest and tell you we'd already figured that part out, but I truly appreciate your honesty."

"You're not mad?"

"Of course not. Like I said, you did what you had to do to survive. And frankly, it would've been foolish of you to tell us the truth when you first met us. That's not something you share with people until you know you can trust them, and that takes time. Muzzle and Snarl fucked up when they decided to make innocent people collateral damage in their quest for revenge. Since those innocent people are my people, this is now my problem, not yours. You worry about getting better, and we'll take care of the rest."

"I still feel responsible."

"That's because you're a good person. Trust me when I tell you that no one blames you for what happened."

"Thank you," I said sincerely. "For everything."

He smiled kindly. "You're welcome. I'll come back to check on you a little later." He started to leave but turned back to me. "The police will want to get a statement from you now that you're awake. Tell them the version of the story where Muzzle and Snarl killed your roommate. You ran because they threatened you, and Snarl came after you because you turned them in to the police. Make sure you don't say anything about Muzzle being behind the break-in at the diner. You got there after the assailant was gone and don't know who was responsible."

"Got it," I said. The thought of having to talk to the police did not sit well with me, but I knew it couldn't be avoided.

Before I could get myself too worked up about talking to the cops, Irene returned to the room with Carbon pushing her wheelchair and the man I didn't know following along behind them.

"Who are you?" I blurted.

He came over to my bed and extended his hand to me. "I'm Duke, Reese's husband."

"Oh," I said and pointed between the two men. "So, how did I end up with you two as my bodyguards?"

Carbon grinned and gestured to Duke with his thumb. "I don't know why he's here, but I'm the biggest and the scariest."

I laughed and immediately groaned. "Crap, that hurts."

"I'll call for the nurse," Irene said. "I'm sure you can have something for pain."

"Okay," I sighed. I knew the medicine would make me sleepy, and I'd just woken up after being out for days, but the pain seemed to be getting worse by the second.

"It's okay. We'll be here when you wake up," Irene assured me.

"You haven't left, have you?"

"Nope, and I'm not going to until you do."

"Do we know when that will be?"

"They haven't said, but I'd guess at least a few more days."

"What about the diner?" It sounded like none of us would be able to return to work anytime soon.

"It's just going to have to stay closed for a few weeks. I'm going to have some overdue repairs done while we're closed."

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Nope. We'll have none of that."

"Okay, okay," I acquiesced. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"Do what?"

"Take care of each other." From what they had told me, it sounded like we were all going to need help for a while.

"Phoenix took care of that. There's a vacant house on their farm that's big enough for all of us and a few people to help out," Irene explained.

The nurse came in with my pain medicine before I could ask anything else. She asked me a bunch of questions that I thought were absurd but answered anyway. Then she checked my incisions and all the tubes and wires connected to me. By the time she finished, I was exhausted, uncomfortable, and drowsy.

"Tell Edge I love him," I mumbled before I drifted off to sleep.

Two days later, Edge and I were discharged from the hospital. They were going to let him go the day before, but Phoenix told his doctors he wouldn't leave until I did, so they kept him an extra day.

As soon as they said I could leave, I was ready to go. Despite him being in the room next door, I hadn't seen Edge since the shooting and was anxious to see how he was for myself.

"When are we leaving?" I asked Carbon as he packed up my room. Even though I didn't bring anything to the hospital, there was plenty to take home.

"Later tonight. I'm not sure of the exact time."

"What? Why?" I asked and grimaced from the pain caused by my body tensing.

Carbon whirled around with a look of concern on his face. "You okay?"

I took a few slow breaths before I answered him. "I'm good. I just…I'm ready to go home, and I want to see Edge."

"We're leaving at night as a safety precaution. We have no reason to think that anyone has been watching the hospital, but just in case someone is, we're leaving after dark and through a different exit."

Something about the way his voice changed at the end made me ask, "What kind of exit?"

He sighed. "It's the one the morgue uses when they come to pick up a body."

"Oh, well, okay then," I stammered.

"I know it sounds weird, but it's well concealed, for obvious reasons, and the chances of anyone monitoring that exit are very slim."

"I get it."

"And like I said, Phoenix is being extremely cautious. Our club has never been attacked like this before."

"That does not make me feel better," I said dryly.

"Don't get me wrong. We've had our fair share of incidents, but we've never had this many with critical injuries before. None of us like it when our people get hurt, so we're going to do whatever we can to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"I appreciate everything you guys are doing, and I'm truly sorry for my part in all of this."

He stopped what he was doing and turned to face me. "I'm going to ignore that because I know Phoenix told you to stop apologizing, but I would like to make a suggestion."

"Suggest away."

"You seem to be carrying a lot of guilt. I've seen what that can do to people when it's not dealt with. My wife is a licensed clinical therapist. If you want help to process all of this, give her a call. Most of us have been in her office at one point or another."

"Even you?"

He laughed. "I live with her, so I don't have to go to her office. Actually, neither do you. She'll come to you."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." And I would. Considering everything I'd been through, I probably needed therapy.

When Duke and Irene returned from the cafeteria, there was nothing left to do but wait, and it felt like the time passed at a snail's pace. Finally, when it was almost eleven o'clock, Carbon announced it was time to leave.

"It's been eighty-four years," I said in an old lady voice.

Irene laughed while Duke and Carbon had matching looks of confusion.

"It's from a movie," I explained. "It's not important. Let's go."

Surprisingly, I was able to get out of bed and into the wheelchair with little assistance.

"Take it easy, and let them help you," Irene said. "You don't want to overdo it."

"I know, but I'm so ready to get out of here, and I'm dying to see Edge." I realized what I said immediately and slapped my hand over my mouth. "Sorry, that was a poor choice of words."

Irene chuckled. "We know what you meant."

I was almost bursting with excitement as Duke and Carbon pushed our wheelchairs down the hall.

"How much would I have to pay you to get you to run?"

Carbon laughed. "We're trying to not draw attention to ourselves, remember?"

"I never would've pegged you for a rule follower."

"No one pegs me. Ever."

"Oh," I groaned and crossed my arms over my stomach. "Don't make me laugh."

"You started it," Irene pointed out.

We came to a stop in front of a sketchy looking elevator. "This doesn't seem safe."

"It's fine," Carbon assured me. "I used this elevator when I took your stuff down to the car."

"Just because you didn't get hurt doesn't mean it's safe."

"Do you have a fear of elevators?"

"No, I have a fear of falling elevators, but only when I think about it. And, well, I thought about it."

Irene leaned closer to me and whispered, "I think the pain pills have a different effect on you than the IV medicine."

"I think you might be right," I whispered back. "I feel a little loopy."

"You're acting a little loopy."

Between Irene and the pain pills, I didn't realize we'd gotten on and off the elevator until we were rolling down the basement hallway. "I don't think I like it down here. It feels creepy."

"We're almost there," Carbon said.

Moments later, we were outside in a small alcove surrounded by brick walls on three sides. One black SUV was parked in the loading area with two more idling behind it at the curb.

Phoenix opened the rear door, and Carbon pushed my wheelchair as close to the vehicle as possible. "Do you need help getting in?"

"I want to say no, but the truth is probably yes."

Ever so gently, Carbon scooped me up like a small child and placed me in my seat. I opened my mouth to thank him, but the words disappeared when I saw Edge sitting in the seat beside me. "Edge!" I gasped and practically fell into him.

"Evie," he breathed as his arms circled around me. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you, too. I hated not being able to see you." We'd been able to talk on the phone a handful of times, but seeing him settled something inside me.

Carbon got in and took his seat in the row behind us. "Ready when you are, Prez."

"Wait!" I blurted. "Where's Irene?"

"I'm right here," she said from the front seat.

"If we're all riding together, what's with the other SUVs?"

"It's another layer of protection. We'll pull out together, change positions a few times on the road, and turn in different directions. If anyone was trying to follow us, they won't know which vehicle to follow," Carbon explained.

"That's clever," I said, followed by a yawn. "Sorry, the pain medicine makes me sleepy."

"If you're tired, go to sleep," Edge said. "I'll wake you when we get there."

I was already closing my eyes by the time he finished his sentence.