Always watching me.
And I let the darkness take me back to the only place I felt any peace at all.
CHAPTER FIVE
GUNNER
“You find anything?”
My eyes locked on Maggie when I answered Bear. “No.” I breathed heavily through my nose before pulling my stare from Maggie and focused on Bear. “But I will.”
Bear ran his hand along his beard. “Where the fuck are they hiding him?”
I put my hands on my hips and shook my head. “Been everywhere, man. Pulled every fucking marker I had owed to me, but nobody knows anything. He just disappeared off the grid.”
Bear dropped his head, his stare pointed at the ground. I glanced back at Maggie. She looked so fucking small in that bed and her face, goddamn, her face was a mess, bruised and swollen. I clenched my fists at my sides and allowed the hate for that bastard to course like fire through my veins.
I felt a hand squeeze my shoulder and tore my eyes from Maggie to once again settle on Bear. “You good?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
He dropped his hand and crossed his arms over his chest. “We’ll find him.”
I only nodded. I would find him, but I had every intention of doing it without the club at my back. They were my brothers, the place I landed when my life exploded years ago, and I knew better than anyone how hard Bear has worked to clean up the club. How hard he’s worked to make it legit so we weren’t always looking over our shoulders and doing shit that only brought more nightmares than most of us already had. I couldn’t sacrifice the club for this. I wouldn’t. This was my fight. A fight that started years ago, and one I had to finish.
And I had to finish it alone.
The door pushed open from behind Bear, and my gaze slid over to watch Luke Dimarco walk through. His stride was relaxed, but his face was filled with absolute rage. He stopped beside Bear and glanced at Maggie before his eyes flicked to mine and stayed.
“How is she?”
“I just got here myself,” I answered.
Bear leaned in to our circle and lowered his voice. “She woke up, but it wasn’t for long, and she seemed really confused.”
“Bear.”
His head shot up, and he scanned the room until his eyes landed on Becs. I followed his stare when she nodded at Maggie whose eyes were once again fluttering open. I breathed deeply and shoved down the wave of emotions threatening to spill over if I allowed them.
Stepping around me and heading toward the bed, Luke pulled a chair close and sat down. He reached out and gently pulled her hand into his, only able to hold her fingers because of the cast that wrapped around her hand and thumb. “Hey, sweetheart. How are you feeling?”
His words were soft, but I heard the venom in his tone. It was easy to recognize something in someone else that I was also feeling.
“Okay,” she said quietly, and her voice made my gut twist.
“Do you feel like talking?” he inquired gently.
Her eyes flicked toward Becs who reached out and laid her hand over Maggie’s, careful of the sling, and smiled sweetly. They’d gotten close, I knew that, but I hadn’t realized just how close until right now when I saw Maggie reach to her for comfort.
“I’ll try.” Maggie answered.
I crossed my arms over my chest and stood next to Bear, bracing for what I may hear, knowing it had the potential to turn me into someone I didn’t want to be.
“Can you tell me what you remember?” Luke asked.
“I, umm, I…” She blushed and looked down toward her lap.
“You were at my wedding?” Luke prompted, and she glanced up, nodding her head slowly. He smiled. “I’m glad you were there. I just wish you’d been sitting with everyone else.”