Chapter 16

Ariana

16

My senses are dulled, but I can still hear their voices, albeit they sound like I'm in an echo chamber. I feel like a heap of jelly. A helmet is being secured on my head and I am helped onto the back of someone's bike. I register Kendric's voice as he tells me to hold on.

"Hold on tight, baby, do not let go, no matter what," he says.

My eyes are closed. I understand what he needs me to do, and I know it's for my own good, so I muster enough strength to keep my arms locked around his waist. I breathe him in as the Harley roars back to life. The cold wind blows in my face as they race down the road. Gradually, I fully come to.

Blessed be the self-preservation instinct, for it's keeping me upright in the saddle as we swerve left and right down the streets of Everton. I'm finally back in the city, though I'd expected Agent Masterson to be taking me there in his car, expected to be safely arriving in Everton with him. That was a pretty lie, he told. For a brief second, I actually thought this hot mess had an end.

"Where are we?" I ask when we pull up behind a cluster of two-level buildings on the southeast side of Everton.

"It's a private clinic," Kendric says, waiting for me to get off the bike first. "How are you feeling?"

"Can you stand up?" Raylan rushes over, having already parked his bike next to us and Sky.

I shake my head slowly. "I don't know what's going on; I feel weird."

"It's okay," Raylan replies and scoops me up in his arms.

"He's here," Sky says.

We all turn to see a man jump out of his car and rush toward the building, briefly glancing both ways before crossing the street to get over to us. "This had better be serious," he says, fumbling through his pockets until he finds a set of keys.

"We wouldn't have called you otherwise, John," Sky says to him. "She damn near passed out. There's something wrong with her."

John stills upon seeing me, upon recognizing me. "Oh, shit. That's Ariana David. I knew it! I knew you three sons of bitches had something to do with it!"

"Leave the berating for later, Papa John. She needs your help," Raylan says.

An hour later, I'm feeling better.

I have an IV pumping me full of glucose and vitamins. Sky, Kendric, and Raylan are in the waiting room after John asked for some privacy while he gives me a full checkup. To my surprise, he even asks me to do one of those quick drugstore pregnancy tests. I laugh, but I still do it. I'm too weak, too scared, about everything, even to consider disobeying a private practice doctor who got out of bed in the middle of the night in order to take care of me.

I'm lying in bed, resting and recovering next to a big ass jug of cold water. My senses have almost fully returned, and I'm able to process the events that brought me to this place.

"How are they treating you?" John asks in a low voice, constantly glancing back at the door, likely fearful that they might overhear him.

"They've been nothing but good to me, I swear." I'm also feeling terribly guilty after what happened with Masterson. "They saved my life tonight …"

"Good. I'm glad to hear that."

"Please, don't tell anyone I'm here," I tell him.

As John shakes his head, I notice the salt-and-pepper in his short, curly hair. The creases around his eyes. The slight sag of his jaw, which he masks with a neatly trimmed beard. He's somewhere in his late fifties, but his green eyes are sharp and knowing. "I won't. The Steel Knights saved my life, too. I owe them a debt I doubt I will ever be able to fully repay," he says. "It just pisses me off that they had to resort to kidnapping, Miss David."

"A federal agent picked me off the side of the road. An actual federal agent who then tried to kill me," I reply bluntly. "I will take my chances with the Steel Knights any given day, Doc."

He stills, staring at me for a brief moment before proceeding to look over my chart, nodding slowly as he revisits his notes and conclusions. "You're going to be okay," John says. "You were dehydrated. Plus, the emotional stress, given what you've just been through. Were you fully unconscious at any point?"

"I'm not sure. If I was, it wasn't too long. Maybe a few seconds," I say, then slowly glance around. "Is this your clinic?"

"No, I don't own it. But I run it. It's partially funded by the Steel Knights, actually," he chuckles softly. "And don't ask me why I won't speak out in their favor anywhere, including in the press. You have no idea what the Black Hand is capable of once they set their sights on someone they perceive as their enemy."

"Oh, but I kind of do," I reply with a heavy sigh. "It's why we're here tonight."

"I'm so sorry," John says, compassionately covering my hand with his. "Well, the good news is that you can walk out of here tonight. This IV should have you back on your feet in a few minutes. I see the bag is almost empty, and the color is already back in your cheeks."

I can't help but smile. "Thank you, Doc. For everything." I pause and give him a troubled look. "Wait, what's the bad news?"

"I don't know if it is bad news. That's entirely up to you," he says. "Your quick bloodwork is fine. You're just missing some minerals, but the IV should've taken care of that by now."

"Okay. But there's something else. I can tell."

"You're pregnant." He waits for my reaction.

But it never comes. I'm still. I'm speechless. The words hit me and they get filtered through my brain. I can almost feel the wheels turning, the reality of the situation suddenly taking a turn for the—what, exactly? The worst? Better?

I'm pregnant.

"You're still very early on," John adds. "But there are some hormonal changes happening that were detected by the pregnancy test."

"Can we keep it between us?"

He nods once. "You're my patient tonight, Miss David. The doctor-patient privilege applies, and it supersedes any cordial relationship between the Steel Knights and me."

I give myself a moment to breathe—in and out. Tonight has been too much from the moment Sky, Kendric, and Raylan came into my room and told me they wanted me to be theirs. It's ending on an even stranger note, and I need time to process everything.

Where does my father fit into all of this? He reached out to the FBI, Masterson said. But did he know a Black Hand operative would heed his call? Did he know that Masterson would make such a horrifying executive decision? And how involved is my father with the Black Hand? I doubt he knows the kind of monsters he's gotten in bed with. I can't fathom him consciously doing this. To me, his daughter. No, it doesn't make sense. That would make him a monster, too.

"Are you all right?" John asks me.

"Yeah, sorry, a lot to think about," I reply.

"I'll let you rest. As I said, this stays between us," he says. "Do you want me to send them in? They're restless out there, worried sick about you."

I give him a soft smile. "Yeah, let them in."

"They care about you, Ariana," John says, almost laughing. "Those crazy sons of bitches. The trouble they get themselves in. Don't judge them too harshly, okay? They really do mean well."

"I see that now."

I'm left on my own for about a minute. Just enough time to let me spiral back into my thoughts. I'm pregnant. Obviously, the guys can't know. Not yet, anyway. One of them is the father. My face is burning. I don't know who the father is. Kendric. Sky. It could be either one.

We never used protection. We never even considered it or thought about it. Everything about us has been feral, deliciously feral in reckless abandonment. But now, I'm with child, and it puts my whole life onto a different set of tracks.

"How are you doing?" Sky asks as he's first through the door.

All I can do is smile. "Much better, thank you. The doctor said I was dehydrated. I'm going to be okay."

"Yeah, he told us," he replies and comes closer, approaching my bedside with reasonable caution while his dark gaze scans my face. "Do you think you can walk now?"

"The IV gave me everything I needed. I'll be fine. Let me guess, we're not going back to the clubhouse."

Kendric shakes his head as he and Raylan also come in. I take a moment to fully look at them, to admire their broad shoulders and protectively fierce looks. They look so hot in those tight jeans and black leather jackets, tattoos slipping in and out of their shirts. My fingertips tingle with want and need.

It feels like it's been a while since we've been at ease with one another. I only wish it didn't take an attempt on my life to bring us back together. "They're going to raid it soon," Kendric says. "We've already put the word out. The members are doing their part, getting as much as they can out of that place before the guns go in."

"I'm so sorry."

"For the umpteenth time, Ariana, stop apologizing," Raylan says. "We're responsible. And we're going to resolve this. I promise."

"How?" I ask.

"I have a place we can go," Raylan replies. "It's remote and safe. Out of sight and far enough away from the city. You'll stay there while we start moving things around. The Black Hand is officially coming after us."

"What does that mean?"

"It sets some things in motion," Sky answers the question. "Things we didn't want to happen, but we prepared for either way. A war is coming, Ariana."

War.

Such a terrible word. Such an ugly fate for a city like Everton to sink into. It doesn't seem fair, not after everything that its people have gone through—and I'm not talking about the upper middle class I was raised in. I'm talking about the many others I was never truly aware of. The Paulies and the Spikes, the Shilohs and the Mannys, the faces that the media rarely talks about while painting the prettiest picture of my father.

A war is coming, and I am in the middle of it.