Chapter Twelve

Ronin sat with his club brothers at the Poke and Tickle bar, holding a royal flush. He didn’t reveal his satisfaction, and let the pile mount up before laying down his winning hand. Groans from Thorn, Lincoln, and Ghost erupted and they all threw in their cards while he pulled the pot toward his side of the table.

“You fucker,” Ghost muttered.

Ronin grinned. “Don’t hate that I’m at least ten times better than you at poker.”

Ghost flipped him off.

“Just for that, you can buy the next round,” Lincoln said.

Ronin shrugged. “Sure. I’ll treat all you paupers.”

“Fuck you,” Thorn muttered. “But, yes, I am a pauper and Daddy wants some tequila.”

A round of groans filtered around the table.

“Never, ever call yourself Daddy again,” Ghost remarked with a shudder. “Just too fucking weird.”

Thorn laughed just as Ronin’s phone buzzed. He picked it up to glance at the number.

“Excuse me, I have to take this.” He rose and headed outside, putting the call through. “Yeah?”

“Hey,” Mac from the White Death MC greeted. “You know that girl you wanted me to look into? The one at that boot camp gym?”

“Yeah. Did you find something?”

“A call came through the police,” Mac replied. “The place was shot up from a drive-by. One dead.”

Ronin went still as he tried to comprehend what he’d just heard. “Was it her?”

“No, some dude named Darby Monroe was killed. A female was taken to the hospital, but they didn’t list her name. Probably to protect her.”

“Which hospital?”

“Memorial General.”

“Thanks, Mac.”

He hung up and sprinted to his bike. Fuck his winnings, he needed to get to Keres immediately, and he didn’t even question why. Nor did he question how he knew it was her since he still didn’t know her full name. She seemed to be a ghost, but he was determined to catch her and learn her secrets.

Revving the engine, he sped off toward the city. Speeding, it didn’t take him that long to get to the hospital, less than an hour had passed since Mac had called him. Out of habit, he parked in a camera dead zone and rushed into the ER. The place swarmed with people, from doctors and nurses to family members and even a few waiting to be seen. Keres wasn’t among that group, so he stepped up to the check-in station.

“I’m looking for a woman who was brought in from the drive-by shooting,” he said.

The young woman looked him up and down, interest in her gaze. In the past he would’ve used her to get to where he wanted or what he needed, but that was before Keres. A picture of her against the wall with her legs wrapped around him crashed through his mind, and that was not the distraction he needed now.

Damn it! When did she take up residence in my head?

“Her name?”

“Keres.”

“Last?”

“Fuck,” he muttered. “Never mind.”

He turned away and stepped out of the hospital, walking away to try to sort out his thoughts. To put her back into the box he needed her to be in, but even her memory demanded to be front and foremost in his thoughts.

Some scaffolding caught his attention, so he started walking in that direction. The hospital had construction underway, and because it was late at night, no one was working. Ronin glanced around before backing up and melting into the shadows. Wasn’t hard to find a way in and he kept his senses on high alert as he made his way further into the hospital. Luckily, the halls were nearly empty because of the work going on. Following the signs for the ER, he walked confidently past an orderly who was wiping down rolling hospital beds. Ronin struck quickly, wrapping a hand around the man’s mouth and pinching hard on his carotid artery. Ten seconds later, the young man fainted.

“Sorry,” he muttered to the unconscious man. “I don’t have time for a proper disguise.”

He placed the man on one of the beds and quickly stripped him. Taking the scrubs into the restroom, he put them on top of his own clothes and clipped the badge to his chest. Everything was a little snug, but he didn’t care. He left the man in the corridor and moved quickly to the ER department. A set of police officers guarded one medical bay and he knew she was there. He grabbed hold of a rolling blood pressure cart and made his way in.

“Time to check her vitals,” he said to the cops, and they nodded, stepping aside so he could enter the draped examining bay.

Fucking imbeciles.

Keres lay on the hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling. Unmoving. Unblinking. She was almost comatose with pain etched into her defeated look. It broke his heart. He stepped closer and turned her chin toward him, waiting for the sign of recognition in her cerulean gaze, but she never saw him. She was lost.

“Keres, please, baby, look at me.” He kissed her unresponsive mouth. “Come back to me. Keres, come on, I know you can see me.”

He kissed her again, lingering for a moment. Then he felt her move. Only a fraction, but still, movement was better than being catatonic. When he pulled back to look at her once more, confusion filled her beautiful blue eyes as she blinked up at him.

“Why are you here?” she whispered.

“I’m here for you,” he replied softly.

A tear trailed down her cheek. “Darby’s dead.”

“I know.”

“I wish I had died with him.”

He pushed some of her hair off her face. “Don’t say that.”

She went back to staring into nothing, and that scared him. All he could do was show her just how much he was glad it wasn’t her who had been killed, so he kissed her once more. Keeping it simple, lips to lips.

“Baby, I know you’re hurting,” Ronin whispered against her mouth. “Listen to me. Sometimes you find a person to die for, but there are also people worth living for. So, I’m asking you, Keres, to live for me. Live for Darby. He wouldn’t want you to give up.”

A commotion erupted and Ronin poked his head from the drape opening. The two cops guarding Keres stared down the end of the hallway, hands on the butt of their guns. When the sound of gunfire erupted, Ronin knew he and Keres were out of time. The two cops rushed forward, drawing their weapons.

“Come on, baby, we gotta get out of here.”

He helped her off the bed and then took her hand, rushing from the cubicle but not getting very far as people ran in terror. Instinct told him not to take the obvious exit, that the gunfire might be a red herring. So, he went the way he had come, leading her through a side door and down the corridor where the orderly was still passed out on the bed. Ronin quickly stripped off the scrubs and tossed them onto the unconscious man before taking her hand once more and leading her through the construction area until they were outside.

His bike was in front, and he didn’t want to chance showing Keres while Davorin’s men scoured the hospital for her. Ronin pulled out his phone and called Ghost.

“What’s up?”

“I need you to come get me and Keres at Memorial General in the city. We’re in the back, by the construction. And hurry.”

“On my way.”

The call ended. That’s what he liked about Ghost. No questions asked. Now, he and Keres had to wait. He wrapped her within his arms, afraid of her lifeless stare. He hugged her, as if holding her close would keep her from fading away.

“Why are you here?” she asked in a low, listless voice.

“I heard about the shooting.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m here for you. Davorin’s men are huntin g— ”

“You should’ve let them have me.”

He frowned. “I’m not going to play into your suicide wish.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but a car cruised by and he pulled her further into the shadows, but the flashlight illuminating the dark came too close. He tried going back into the hospital, but he saw one of the Deathmen searching the torn-up site. He could see the tattoos seared into their forearms. The assholes were like cockroaches. Where there was one, there were a hundred more. Ronin knew they couldn’t stay there and wait for Ghost.

When the car went by, he grabbed hold of Keres’s hand and hurried from the shadows, keeping low as he led them to another spot to hide until their ride showed up. On the other side of the parking lot were dark medical offices. Moving from car to car, staying low, pausing when a car cruised by or a group of Deathmen walking and shining their flashlight in the murky darkness.

Once they made it across the lot, he led her around to the back, where the dumpsters and staff parking was located. Then he pulled out his phone.

“I’m almost there,” Ghost said as he picked up the call.

“Change of plans,” Ronin muttered. “There are some medical buildings behind the hospital. We’re in the back near the dumpsters.”

“Gotcha. Should be there in five minutes.”

The call ended and Ronin slid his phone back into his pocket. He glanced at Keres.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she replied stiffly. “I’m alive, aren’t I?”

“Are you? Back there you gave some fatalistic answers.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “What do you want me to say? That I wish it had been me instead of Darby? Because yes. He lost his life because I wanted Davorin to suffer. If we had followed his suggestion, we could’ve sniped the asshole and Darby wouldn’t be in the fucking morgue!”

“Don’t cheapen his memory with guilt. Darby was adult enough to know and realize what he was doing, and the consequences that went with those decisions.”

She sighed and wrapped her arms around her waist and turned away from him. “I know. We talked about that a lot. Still, I feel so alone.”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest. “You’re not alone. Not anymore. If you believe nothing else, have that be the one thing you do.”

She didn’t say anything after that, but she also didn’t try to leave the circle of his arms. He rubbed her arms up and down. Five minutes later, a nondescript silver sedan with no lights on pulled into the area where they were hiding. Ronin stepped from the shadows, Keres held firmly at his side, and waited until the vehicle came to a stop. He helped her into the back seat before sliding into the passenger side.

“I’m going to need someone to pick up my bike,” he told Ghost. “But wait till the excitement dies down.”

“What the hell happened?”

Ronin glanced at Keres, who stared out the side window. “This is Keres. Her friend was killed tonight, and I think the shooter came to the hospital to tie up loose ends.”

“Where do you want me to drop her off?”

“She’s coming to the clubhouse. She needs protection.”

“Fair enough,” Ghost said, leaving the hospital behind them.