Page 77 of Broken

Walking down the long corridor, she passed thevending machine. There was a lot of coffee to buy, and she made her way towardthe cafeteria.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“No,” Dirty said. “I shouldn’t have called you.”

Petal stopped and reached for his arm, getting himto stop. “I’m glad you called. I want to help.”

“Everything you do for the club puts you at risk.”

“I hate to break it to you, but I am alreadyinvolved. They know who I am. My lies aside, I’m Rosalie’s best friend. I workat the diner that is owned by the club. I’ve got connections with you, and oneof my friends is Myth. I’m part of this club.”

Dirty grabbed the back of her neck and pulled herin close. His lips went to her neck as he pressed his face there. She breathedhim in. it felt good to finally have him in her arms.

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She closed her eyes, and even as they were waitingfor news, this felt good. She knew it was wrong to feel anything right now, butit did feel so good. She didn’t want to stop holding him.

The hospital seemed to fade away and it was justthe two of them. Of course, that didn’t happen for very long as notificationsand requests for doctors came over the speakers. Petal pulled away. “Come on,let’s go and get some coffee. Tell me about Fritz.”

Dirty took her hand and she couldn’t help butsmile as they headed toward the cafeteria.

“He’s … great. He is so … I don’t know. The man’sa machine with a computer. Terrible with a gun, and trust me, he cannot fighteither. He tries, though. The man is like a machine in his own way. All hewanted to do was be a patched-in member of the club. He proved to the guys timeand time again that he has our backs. Nothing was meant to happen to him.”

“This is Daemon’s club again, isn’t it?” Petalasked.

“Yeah, it is.”

“What happened to that house he took us to?”

“Nothing. There was nothing there. It was like apit stop for them. Fritz was working on finding out who the leader was. The guythat took you was no leader.”

“That makes sense,” Petal said. “You’ll findthem.”

She knew without saying the words that they weregoing to find them and then whoever did that to Fritz was going to pay.

****

Fritz was stable. For now.

Not one, but five teeth had been removed, andWarden didn’t need to be told it was without anesthetic. He had broken ribs,one of which had nearly punctured his lung. A broken leg, shattered bones inboth his hands, to stop him from typing. Warden didn’t know why they had lefthim alive, but either way, he’d been left to hang there and bleed out. Did theymean to allow him to die slowly, waiting for the club?

“He’s going to be okay,” Kim said, stepping intothe room and closing the door quietly.

Warden didn’t say a word.

His wife knew he was pissed. She walked over toFritz’s side. To help with the pain and the healing, the doctors had placed himin a medically induced coma. Fritz kept going in and out of consciousness, andeach time he came around, he’d thrash and scream.

Fritz was okay now, but what did that mean for thefuture?

He sat back and stared at the handiwork, running afinger along his bottom lip.

“What’s wrong?” Kim asked.

“This is not Deamon’s handiwork.”

“It’s not?”

“No. This is a hired professional.” Warden knewthe MO. The pulled teeth, the rib fractures, being hung, bleeding, waiting todie. He’d not seen the man’s handiwork, but he knew who he was.

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