Page 100 of Vengeance

Claws runs inside in three-inch platform heels, and her chest nearly falls out of her white dress as she stumbles in. “West!”

Her hands shake as she grips his arm, and he knows something happened. “Where is she?”

Flashes of her lying dead somewhere fill his head, and he prays it doesn’t come to fruition. It’s the last thing he can handle right now. No, she has to be alive.

“The hospital. The Slashers grabbed her. Whoever it was saw her leave your place the night before that, and he assumed she was someone who could hurt the club. She took quite a beating. One of the few times our status with the club saved us because they let her go.”

West runs outside and jumps on his bike, racing to the hospital six blocks away. It’s small, and he hurries into the Emergency Department, ignoring protests from staff, and looks in each bay until he finds her.

When he finally spots her, he almost falls to his knees. Diane’s left eye is swollen shut, and she has a swollen cheek bone, busted lip, and various other bruises and scrapes.

“Diane.”

“West?” Diane asks, her speech slightly impaired with her fat lip. “What are you doing here?”

“Claws knew I was looking for you. What the fuck did they do to you?”

The doctor takes a clipboard from her and walks out of the room without a word. Clearly, the club has a reputation here, too.

“They just knocked me around a bunch. You were looking for me?”

Walking to the bed, he takes her hand. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay,” she says. “It was the prospects who roughed me up. When the scary guy with the face scars showed up, he kicked their asses for taking a club bunny. Who knew being a whore would save my life?”

“Don’t say that,” he whispers and kneels beside the bed. “Please don’t say that.”

“We established this a few nights ago. I don’t know whether I should be impressed it took three days to notice I was gone or not.”

Letting out a deep breath, he shakes his head. “I was doing club business the last two nights away from the clubhouse. I would’ve noticed sooner if I was here. How long do you have to stay here?”

“I just signed the discharge papers. I was expecting Claws to show up to give me a ride home. This is all entirely unnecessary, and I don’t have the money to pay for all of it,” Diane says.

West helps her out of bed, and he sees her torn dress in the bag next to the bed. “How bad did they hurt you?”

“Just fists. A couple kicks, but they weren’t too bad. Nothing seems to be broken. They gave me this to wear home,” she says and looks down at thin pants and an ugly gown. “Truthfully, Lex hits harder than they do.”

“Can you ride on a bike?”

She nods. “Yeah, I should be okay.”

He brings her outside and helps lift her onto the seat. She tries telling him where she lives, but he starts the engine to drown her out. Her address doesn’t matter because he’s bringing her back to his place. And if he has his way, she won’t stay anywhere else very often. Especially the goddamned clubhouse.

“West,” she says as he kicks the stand down on his bike right outside his apartment. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

Swinging a leg over, he stands and lifts her off the bike as gently as he can. “I need to know you’re safe.”

“I need a shower. And clothes.”

“I have a shower. And you can wear mine while I work with Claws to have her bring some of yours to us.”

“West-”

“Do I look like I’m taking no for an answer?”

Giving up, she follows him inside, and he pulls out a t-shirt for her to wear after she takes the shower. No words are exchanged, and he sits on the edge of his bed to wait. What he plans to say keeps changing as he runs over it in his mind, and when she steps out of the bathroom wearing just his t-shirt and wet hair, he knows he wants to see this. Every day.

“You look beautiful.”

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