26. Switch

26

SWITCH

" T hen we're all set," King says. "In two hours, we leave for the docks. Usual formation. Two vans. One decoy. The weapons will have been unloaded by the time we get there. Spark and Halo, the two of you finalize the route we're taking, and the rest of you get some food."

He slaps the table of polished wood, and the sound ricochets through my head. About ten minutes ago, Niro began to blur around the edges. The window behind him started to fucking sparkle so bright, I could barely look at it.

Saliva pools in my mouth as that metallic tang takes over again.

I take the opportunity to hustle to the medic room and grab a container of heavy-duty painkillers, the kind of illegal black-market meds you can't get over the counter, and pop two into my mouth before dipping my head to the faucet to suck in some water.

Sweat forms at my brow, and I grip the edge of the counter tightly.

"BAT," I mutter. "Fucking breathe."

I leave the water running and place my fingers beneath the flow until it is cold.

Then I grab two palmfuls and splash it over my face repeatedly.

"Fuck. Not now."

I grab two paper towels from the stack and dry myself off. Unable to do much else, I turn off the light, stumble to the medical bed, climb on, and close my eyes.

Everything narrows to the pulling at my temples. To the agony crashing through my skull. To the flashes of white light I still see behind my eyes in the darkness.

Swallowing over and over, I refuse to give in to the urge to be sick.

Mind over matter. That's all this is. I can will myself better.

Which is a fucking joke because I know I can't.

What's that famous saying? Healer, heal thyself.

If it were that simple, I would have been better months ago.

I don't know how Sophia has gotten herself to the frame of mind where she can accept being as she is, even as she works to improve. When we returned from shopping, she pushed us both to do our rehab exercises.

I feel the weight of my recovery.

Sleep feels like an impossible task, but I keep my eyes closed in the hope the meds and the dark will take the edge off.

Memories of Sophia talking to me while I was at the rehab center come to me, and I grab my phone out of my pocket.

Squinting, I dial her number, but I get her voicemail.

"Hey, it's Sophia. Sorry I'm not around to take your call, but if you leave a message, I'll get back to you soon."

I hang up.

Then dial again.

I don't expect her to answer, but just hearing her voice brings me calm.

This time, I leave a message. "Was just thinking of you. Hope you're having a good night with the girls, Sparrow."

This time when I close my eyes, I manage to fall asleep.

I'm not sure how much later it is when the door to the medical room bursts open, and the lights flick on, rousing me from the sleep of the dead.

"You good for tonight?" Vex asks when he sees me lying on the medical bed. He eyes the painkillers still out on the counter with the lid off.

Concern radiates from him.

As I rub my hand over my face, I realize that only the dregs of a headache remain. "I'm good."

I flex my fingers in and out. My hand felt tight during target practice. Maybe tight isn't quite the right word, but my fingers don't seem to have the mobility I expect from them. It felt the same when I tried to stitch Clutch's thigh.

But my fingers are the least of my problems.

"I'm fine."

Vex crosses his arms. "Man, you look anything but fine."

"So, I had a headache. I took care of it. I'm good."

"If at any point tonight you don't feel good, you get the fuck out of there. And I'm telling King you're riding in the van with me. Not on a bike."

"Fuck you. I'm going?—"

"Nowhere. You're going nowhere if you can't safely ride. So don't be a prick and make me worry about your ass."

I shake my head.

"We'll tell King it makes sense for you to be available to help people as we drive in the event of trouble or some shit. I don't know. I'll wing it and make something up."

"Fine."

Vex takes the painkillers and puts the lid on. He reaches up into the cupboard where two other containers sit. "I'm gonna take these as a precaution. You need one, you come get them from me."

I know what he's doing. The meds are strong. And the effect they have, powerful. "My gut says I should tell you I'm fine and to leave them. But, yeah, perhaps you should. Once every four hours. No more than eight a day."

Vex nods. "Got it."

"Now that we've gotten this out of the way, there's something you need to come see."

When we step out of the medical room, we see Halo and Bates.

"You guys should come see this too," Vex says.

"What should we see?" Halo asks.

The rest of the men are in the kitchen. "Perfect," Vex says. "I got something for us to bet on."

King glances at Vex. "We're leaving."

Vex chuckles. "Yeah. But I promise you're gonna want to see this."

He hurries to his cupboard off the back of the kitchen with the meds, then brings out his largest laptop. He recently told me it's an old beast of a thing that's cumbersome but he loves because it never crashes.

"So, I got an alert that there were people in Switch's yard and just checked in. You wanna place bets on whether your old lady is the best shot?"

When he turns the screen on, the video is paused as all the old ladies stand around the table Vex told me Niro built for me to place all my weapons on when I'm target shooting.

Niro laughs. "I feel like I have insider knowledge ‘cause I work with them all on their target practice."

"You should know, Cat and Sophia did some test runs," Vex says. "I saw Sophia gesture to her eye then move her hands in and out from one another, so I'm guessing she has some depth perception issues. But from the trial runs, once she adjusted for her vision, she was sharp."

Clutch puts twenty bucks on the counter. "Gotta take Gwen even though I know she can't shoot for shit because I know one of you bastards will tell her I didn't bet on her if I don't."

"Is Vi throwing a switchblade around there?" Bates says, stepping up to the screen to look real close.

King nudges him out of the way. "Don't go getting a boner. We're not waiting to leave while you jerk off over it."

"Fuck," Spark mutters. "Might as well burn the twenty. We all know Cat's gonna take it. I'll take Iris for the exact same reason Clutch is taking Gwen."

Everyone puts their twenty down, as do I. I guess this is why Sophia didn't answer her phone.

"I hope they haven't been drinking," Saint says.

"Ari gets drunk at the smell of liquor. Glad I got a sitter for the whole night." Halo unfolds a twenty.

Vex presses Play, and we watch the shootout unfold. Catalina holds up three fingers, and it looks like she's teeing up rules. Gwen whispers something to Rae, who laughs, and I see King smile at his twin sister and old lady getting along.

He was always so obsessed with the idea of the club. What it stood for. Never thought I'd see him settled down, loyal to an old lady, but I like it.

Iris goes first and totally misses.

"Fuck," Spark curses. "I told her that stance of hers was gonna get her into trouble."

Niro grins. "You give her feedback like that in bed too?"

I can't help but laugh when Spark nails Niro's shoulder with his fist.

Rae goes next and punches the air when she manages one can with her three shots.

"Color me surprised, Duchess," King says. "Don't doubt her courage but figured her aim had just been lucky in the past."

Catalina makes sure the safety is on in between every round and takes the gun with her when she goes to line the cans back up.

Briar goes next and hits two.

"Atta girl," Saint says. "Gonna tell her she can get the bookshelves she wants in her little library for that."

Vi raises her arm too high, and Catalina lowers it. Whatever Vi says makes Catalina go stand behind Vi to help her aim.

"Our girls are hot," Niro says.

"That they are," Bates concurs.

"Together, they're even hotter," Vex says.

Both Bates and Niro look at him with the same glare, and I can't help but laugh. "Not up for fueling Vex's threesome fantasy?" I say.

"Fuck you," Niro says, but there's no menace in it.

With Catalina's help, Vi gets two. They high-five each other when they are done.

Gwen gets none and Clutch groans. "Made me feel better knowing she carries a gun. Now I'm terrified she can't shoot it."

"She normally does a lot better," Niro says.

"Thank fuck," Clutch says.

Ari goes next, and she's clearly squeamish about holding the gun, but with the encouragement of the other women, she picks it up and fires a bullet off into the woods.

"What kind of stance is that, frog boy?" Saint asks Halo.

"The kind of stance that fired the bullet that killed my half-brother. She can miss every single shot from today on, because she hit when it mattered." Halo looks to me. "Ari doesn't know that. Decided she'd been through enough and didn't want his death on her conscience."

"Would have made the same call," I say as Ari misses her other two shots.

"She's fucking cute holding that gun though," Halo says. "Might take her to the range so I can witness it up close."

Finally, it's Sophia's turn. I barely have time to lean forward before she hits all three cans without breaking a sweat.

Catalina looks at Sophia and says something, then throws her arm over her shoulder. I don't need to hear the words to know Catalina is suggesting she's found someone like her.

I glance at Niro, who winks like we have the special ones. A part of me thinks he's right. I married Sophia before I really knew anything about her because I knew I could protect her. I know what's currently in Sophia's heart. What she doesn't see is that in coming into herself, she has the potential to be formidable.

And, honestly, I love it.

In hindsight, having a woman like Ari or Briar or Iris might have been more than I was really ready for.

Catalina goes next and expectedly hits all three. Niro whoops loudly.

"Split pot," Vex declares, then divides the bills between me and Niro.

"Told you I should have just set fire to that twenty," Clutch grumbles.

King laughs. "I'm gonna tell my sister you said that."

"So, in summary, during a crisis, we should all hide behind Cat and Soph," Niro says, folding his cash.

I shove my cash in my pocket, knowing full well I intend to give it to Soph. After all, she earned it. "I'll drink to that."

"Let's get ready to ride," Halo says.

One by one, people leave the kitchen, Vex takes his laptop back into his tech cupboard. But King continues to stare at the spot where the laptop had been.

"I saw the way you looked at Sophia," King says, without looking up at me.

"Saw the way you smiled when your sister whispered something to your old lady. So?"

"She really means that much to you?"

"She does."

King nods. "I never gave much thought to what it would look like when we'd all settle down. But I remember when Mom was still here, and she and the other old ladies would hang out and do shit together. Made life easier for the men."

"Made it easier for them to cheat." I look around the kitchen. "I haven't seen many club girls of late."

King shakes his head. "There are some. But the ones who wanted the top patches are gone."

"Penny," I say, pulling the name out of the deepest recesses of my mind.

"Wondered if you might ask about her. I told her to stay the fuck away."

"Why?"

King laughs. "Because I was worried she'd try some entrapment-type shit on you while you had no memory. Didn't want her spinning some yarn that you had proposed the night before and now couldn't remember like some shitty rom-com."

I focus on pulling Penny into memory. She was a favorite of mine. But not more than a friend with benefits. "I remember her. Things are coming into focus more."

"Let's keep it that way. I put the club before a brother the other day. That wasn't right. I need to know you're fully back in before we leave tonight. Not one foot in, one foot out."

I look at King. "I'm in. I believe in the man I was before. He steered me here."

He squeezes my shoulder, and I follow him into the night.