Page 29 of Dozer

“Thanks. Close the door.” I pulled her chair next to the bed. “You want to tell me what happened?”

Pike blinked his eyes and adjusted to sitting with his back against the wall. He licked his swollen lips. “I’m fuzzy on the details.” His tongue worked to form words with his missing teeth. “Once they started doping me up, I’m a blank.”

“No doubt it was the Crawlers?”

“No doubt. They must have followed me out. I was heading to a bar called Roosters to hook up with a girl I met online. Not my usual choice, but she works there. She told me she wants to take a ride on a Harley to see if the rumors are true.” He reached for the water on the end table.

I picked it up and handed it to him. “Where’s your bike?”

“They have it. My guess, its parts by now pimping out Crawler cruisers.”

I winced.

“Rogue, they asked a lot of questions about you, but mostly Wrench wanted information on Blade.”

My gut clenched. “Is he a target?”

“They think Blade is your target because he’s wearing the president patch.”

“Fuck.” I stood and raked my hands over my head.

“They think you took out Razor.” He licked his lips again. Blood still stained the dry cracks. “Are they right? Did you have something to do with Razor?”

“Razor was a junkie and was killing this club. I’m not losing sleep over his death.”

“That really didn’t answer my question.”

I glared at him. “You want to ask me that again?”

He shook his head.

I didn’t kill him. Only because Blade got to him first.

“You got any names?”

“Yeah, I heard Wrench call one of them Snow. Tall, skinny, doped up. He’s the one who kept me high.”

“Listen to me, kid. You smoke it, snort it, or shoot it, I’ll fucking assign a babysitter to your ass, keep you from weed and pussy until your forty. Do we understand each other?”

I wasn’t losing another Heller to heroin. I strode to the door. My Crawler problem was going to lead to more violence. Pike added another drop of blood to my bucket. Who was next? Blade? One of the girls?

I rolled my shoulders. It was too late to worry about clean hands. A day of reckoning was coming for Wrench and the Crawlers.

“Could you assign Brenna as my nurse?”

I glanced over my shoulder. “Yeah, you earned her.”

Pippa

Sunlight streamed through my blinds. Morning had come too early. I lifted my phone. Late again. I hoped Hana had made arrangements with Blade because this tired bitch was going to be dragging ass today.

Pippa:Running late. Sorry.

While I waited for her reply, I quickly dressed in jeans and an Eminence University hoodie. A messy bun didn’t contain my hair, but at least I didn’t look like I’d just rolled out of bed.

As I brushed my teeth, I checked my reflection in the mirror. Never mind, I definitely had the ravished thing going. Only I’d spent the night tossing andturning with my thoughts of the man currently crashed on my couch.

At least I assumed he was still there.

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