Page 18 of Sugar and Skulls

“Stop, she doesn’t need you feeling sorry about this shit. She needs you with your balls intact. She needs you to be ready for war.”

He nods once and lifts her up higher in his arms. I run to the car and pull in front of Tom’s watching as Raffe comes around from the side of the house with her. He carefully climbs in the back seat and I close the door behind them. “We’ve got to call Dirk and give them a heads up or some shit,” I say as I pull away from the curb.

“Oh fuck, man. Stop the car a minute,” he says in a grave voice.

I pull the car over and turn to peer into the backseat. He flips the flashlight on his phone and runs it over her from head to toe. I dive for my door, getting it open just in time to be sick. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“What do we do, man?” Raffe asks.

I don’t say anything, wiping my mouth off on my jacket. Starring out at the open road in front of us, I realize the gates to hell have been unlocked and there will be no going back. “Someone’s going to die for this.”

“Yeah,” Raffe agrees.

“She needs a doctor. We have to tell him. He will kill us both if we don’t take her to him right the fuck now.”

“Yeah,” he says again, stunned into one-word responses.

I dial Dirk. He answers in one ring. “Find her?” he asks.

“Prepare Bill for the worst possible thing he can imagine. We’re on the way now.”

“Is she dead?”

“No, but I’m sure she wishes she was.”

Dead air.

“Call a doctor, Dirk,” I say before hanging up.

We’ve all had a hand in this, me included.

I fucking came here to get away from the club. Shit, I didn’t want any part of it. I wanted to do my art in peace, and I had that, until I met the little pack of dynamite that is currently in my backseat. I would do anything for her, anything. Including going back to that life.

Jesse mumbles from the backseat. “I…wait, hey, I need to go back to Tom’s,” she says, her voice cracking. I look in the mirror and see her trying to sit up, pushing herself off Raffe.

“You’re not going anywhere but to my house,” I tell her.

When she doesn’t respond with her normal smart ass remark I look in the review mirror. Her head is leaning against the window and her eyes are tilted towards the moon. “I let him down,” she says, her eyes dropping to mine in the mirror.

“Who?” I ask, breaking eye contact for a moment to glance at the road.

“The scary man with the tattoos. I let him down. I didn’t protect what was mine,” she says with so much sadness and despair it wedges a thorn into my heart. I can feel the blood slowly trickling out around it.

Raffe pulls her into his arms. “Shh, baby. You didn’t let anyone down. Just rest, sweetheart.”

The scary man with the tattoos. Dirk. She is talking about Dirk. Jesus, what the fuck is going on here?

When we get to my place the house is dark. Dirk and Bill must be getting the doc. I carry her in and take her straight to my room laying her down on the bed. She immediately rolls away from me. “Raffe, wait for Dirk and Bill. Explain what we know. Send the doctor in when he gets here. Everyone else stays the fuck out till I them different, that includes Bill. Got it?”

“Yeah, got it,” his voice cracks. He closes the door quietly behind him.

“I don’t need a doctor,” Jesse groans after a few minutes of silence.

“That’s not up for argument, Jess.” I sit on the edge of the bed and drop my head into my hands. I don’t even know where to go from here.

“No one is touching me, big guy. Point me in the direction of your shower.” I turn to look at her. She is sitting up hugging her knees.

“Jesse, you are letting the doctor check you out.”

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