Page 136 of Bloom: Part 2

I clamped my eyes shut and tried to concentrate on my breathing. I always had the worst luck. Why? Why couldn’t things go all right for a change? Tears burned against my eyelids.

Logan, I’m sorry. I tried.

Bishop picked me up like I weighed nothing. His arm pressed against the bruised ribs on my right side, the excruciating pain making my vision go white. When I came to, I lay in the back of a van, trussed up like the Thanksgiving turkey Jamie had made.

Bishop drove off into the night. I tried to sit up, but he took a corner too fast, and I was flung against the metal side of the van. I slumped back down, the taste of copper in my mouth from biting down on my tongue.

After a few minutes, he slowed. I used the opportunity to inch forward. “Why are you doing this?” I asked. “Why did you come to Smoky Vale?”

“What do you think?”

“For Logan.”

He huffed with laughter. “He really thought we forgot about everything he did to us? Others might have forgotten, but not me. I was there from the beginning, when everything was good. Then he ruined it.”

“How did you know where to find me?”

“Mickey called me, of course, as soon as Keegan figured out where you were. I rushed over to get to you before they did. Think how crushed he will be when he finds out he was too late.”

“This was your plan all along?” I cried. Shit, my attempt to escape was foiled. “To use me to get to Logan?”

“We’ve had so many plans that we’ve had to change. Like the day you and the other bikers rode up on us. Had you not shown up that day, we would have killed him.”

“You had time before we got there.”

“Yes, but Emil wasn’t supposed to have been there.”

“So he’s not a part of this, then?”

“He’s a useless piece of shit who can’t even run the family when he’s the only son left. He’s no threat to Mickey’s power.”

“And Logan is? He doesn’t want anything to do with his family.”

“Don’t blame us. We left him alone for years, but then he showed up on TV, and Marcello got the brilliant idea to pardon him and bring him back into the family.” He smacked his hand into the steering wheel. “Why should he still make decisions about the family when he’s behind bars? Why do they still listen to him when Mickey’s the one doing all the work? He never appreciated Mickey and all he’s done, all he’s sacrificed.”

“Are you fucking him or something?” The way he talked about Logan’s uncle seemed a lot more than the loyalty Logan told me was between them.

“Once.” His voice was merely a whisper, almost impossible to hear. “His brother blinded one of my eyes because he found me screwing Mickey. Now he wants to accept Logan’s relationship with you to bring him back into the family?” His eyes met mine briefly in the rearview mirror. “Over my dead body. If I wasn't good enough for Mickey, then Marcello doesn’t get to play favorites and accept you for Keegan.”

41

LOGAN

The headlamps of my car illuminated the parking lot, revealing a car that hadn’t been there earlier when we were there. When I got closer, I recognized Dr. Simms’s BMW.

He’s got to be here.

My breathing quickened. I parked my car next to the BMW and flung open the door. Two cars and motorcycles pulled up around the vehicles. Grimm removed his helmet and dismounted his bike with ease.

“Wait!” he cried. “We don’t know what’s inside. We should come up with a strategy.”

Strategy be damned. I ran to the building. The door wasn’t locked, which could be from us picking the lock earlier. Behind me, the others filed into the building, guns drawn.

A low, pitiful moan reached me. I moved cautiously to the stairs, each step deliberate. Dr. Simms lay crumpled on the floor, his limbs twisted at unnatural angles, his face pale and contorted in pain.

“Help… me,” he whimpered, his voice weak and strained. His eyes flickered open, meeting mine with a desperate plea.

“Where’s Bloom?” I snarled.

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