Page 6 of Pike

“To what?”

“Stay.”

“You don’t strike me as the type of guy to beg anyone,” she taunts. Smart girl. Smart girl.

“You’re right. I’m not gonna beg you, Jailbait.” Just as I say the words, the door flies open, and the guys walk in. They look between Feather and me before smiling.

“We interruptin’ somethin’?” Van asks as he wiggles his eyebrows.

“I was just leaving. He needed to be reminded why he still needs certain tubes,” Feather tells them.

“You just dropped by?” Mask asks her.

“He actually requested me. Not sure why.” She glances back over at me. I smile at her and hope she doesn’t leave, but I have a bad feeling she’s going to.

“I need help.”

“You have a nurse,” she reminds me.

“That wasn’t helpin’ me.”

“I didn’t help you either,” she retorts, crossing her arms over her chest. Fuck me, she shouldn’t do that. It draws my goddamn attention.

“You did more than you know.”

“Well, then, my job here is done.”

“I told her she should stick around,” I tell the guys. Mask grunts and Van laughs, but Free nods his head.

“I think I agree. Stick around, Feather.” They move closer, pulling stools or leaning against the wall when Mask speaks.

“We have shit. Not a single reason for you bein’ shot, Pike. I don’t like it.”

“What are you thinkin’?”

“I don’t know, brother. It’s really hard to say at this point. Wrong club, maybe?” Mask suggests. The guys grunt. They don’t agree.

“You don’t think so?” I ask, looking at them.

“No. How the hell do you fuck that up?” Free says, making sense. You can’t really fuck up and go to the wrong clubhouse. It’s clearly marked with our logo.

“I should go,” Feather says once more.

“Nah, you’re good,” I tell her before looking back at the guys. “Random?”

“Why? He didn’t rob you or anything. Doesn’t make sense,” Mask adds. He’s right. It doesn’t make sense. It wasn’t random. Someone was out to prove a point but for what? And who?

“Fuck me. You’re right.”

“Who have we fucked with that would want revenge?”

“Who the hell did I fuck with is the better question.”

“There’s been a lot of robberies that have gone bad. Maybe that’s all it was,” Feather offers. No, he didn’t try to rob me. Just shot and left.

“No. Wasn’t that.”

“How do you know?” she asks.

---