Page 6 of Gunnar

I was my own man, especially after the time I’d spent in prison. But Ice was still my big brother. And Cain was still my father. Lying wasn’t even an option. “Not inside or in the immediate vicinity of the compound. Anyone left alive in that club wasn’t home.”

“Were you careful?” That came from Cyclone. Ice gave him a hard look too, but Cyclone didn’t back down.

I wasn’t going to lie, especially to myself. This hurt. Horribly. “You don’t want us here.” It was an accusation, pure and simple, without even a hint of a question. I’d told them the situation when I realized I’d have to get Pippa seen to before making the trek to Nashville. It hurt like a motherfucker knowing they didn’t care enough about me now to offer us their protection for more than a few hours, but I got it. Didn’t mean I liked the idea of my own brothers kicking me and my woman out to save the club. Of course, I hadn’t really claimed her as my woman in front of others. Also, Pippa needed to know the score, too. Once she was sober.

“Dawn and Willa are both pregnant again.” Cyclone was talking to Ice. Not me.

“And we don’t turn away defenseless women.Or family. What the fuck’s the matter with you?” I don’t think I’d ever seen Cliff or Daniel seriously argue. They were always on the same page. Obviously more than a few things had changed since those two took over as president and vice president.

“We didn’t even know you were out of prison until you called to tell us you were rolling in!” He turned back to his brother. “You can’t tell me you’re completely comfortable with this. We’ve got more than just us and our family to worry about, Cliff. We’ve got the whole fuckin’ club and all their families to worry about, too. If he’s brought trouble back with him and someone gets hurt…”

“Then you deal with it.” Mama appeared from the shadows and moved to me and Pippa. As she passed Ice, she smacked him in the back of the head none too gently. “You don’t abandon family, boy,” she snapped. “Your father taught you better than that.”

“The fuck, Mama!”

“The fuck indeed,” she muttered as she ran her hands over Pippa. “I can’t believe you’d even entertain the thought of turning your brother and his woman away.” She shone a light in Pippa’s eyes, pulling up her eyelid as she did.

Pippa cried out and turned her face into my chest, ducking her head. I held her tighter, which seemed to be what she needed. She settled, then turned her head and met Mama’s gaze.

“I’m sorry, child,” Mama soothed. “I’m a doctor. I only want to make sure you’re OK.” Mama smiled kindly at Pippa before looking up at me. “Bring her to my clinic, Gunnar.” She looked back at Cyclone. “You can stay here, young man. And if you think that just because I love you like a grandson I won’t make sure you’re stripped of your rank in this club, try pulling a stunt like this again.” She gave Cyclone a derisive sniff before turning and heading back to the clubhouse.

I didn’t look at my brothers. I wasn’t sure I could. Not right now. Instead, I followed Mama and carried Pippa inside, shifting her around so her front was to my chest as I held her close. This wasn’t the homecoming I’d envisioned.

“Lay her here.” Mama put the head up on the stretcher and put a pillow under Pippa’s knees for comfort as well as one behind her head when I did as Mama asked. Pippa whimpered and clung to me when I tried to back away from her. “Don’t worry, sweetheart.” Mama brushed her fingers over the bruise on Pippa’s cheek. “Your man’s not going anywhere without you.”

Pippa whimpered again, but nodded her head slightly, then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she let me go.

I took her hand in mine and brought her fingers to my lips. It was an instinctive move on my part, an attempt to soothe her when I didn’t really know how. I’d not been in female company for fifteen years. I’d love to say I went out and got laid my first day out of prison, but I had a job to do and I was determined to do it as safely and quickly as I could. Which didn’t leave time for learning to be around women. Giving comfort was something I forgot how to do a long fucking time ago.

“You got nothin’ to be sorry for, Pipsqueak.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Never heard that before.”

I grinned at her. “You haven’t? Good. That was some of my best work.”

“I was being sarcastic.” She gave me a tremulous grin.

“Oh, little Miss Sassy?”

She shrugged. “Maybe.” Then her smile wavered and her chin quivered as she valiantly fought to keep her composure.

“I like sassy. Lets me know you got fight in you.”

She was trembling like a leaf now. I glanced up at Mama and she shook her head slightly, keeping her watchful gaze on Pippa. “I tried to fight them. It’s why they hit me.”

“Did they…” I trailed off, clearing my throat. “Did they rape you, Pippa?”

She shook her head. “No. A-at least, I don’t think so. I-I got hit on the head when they first took me, so I don’t know for certain, but I never felt like I’d been touched.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “They tried to keep me drugged, but I can’t get high from opioids.”

“You seemed like you were pretty high when I found you.” I frowned at her, not sure if she’d been hallucinating or maybe trying to convince herself she didn’t have any memory gaps. Kind of a self-defense mechanism.

“I was really fuzzy. I know they hit me with a higher dose than normal. My guess is, it was enough to knock out a horse because I don’t really have a whole lot of pain. So, yeah. I was really out of it, but I could still process what was happening. I was more startled by the sudden light in the darkness than I was disoriented.” I could tell she understood what I was concerned about. I knew she had to be heavily drugged. “I swear, I’m not being delusional. I really do have a resistance to opioids. They take away my pain, but I don’t get the euphoric effects.”

“When did you need narcotics, child?” Mama had a stethoscope in her ears and placed the bell on Pippa’s chest.

“When I had my appendix out. They gave me something to help me relax before they tried to put me under, but it didn’t work. Neither did the gas they used to put me under before the procedure. The fact I was affected at all by what those bastards drugged me with means they really hit me hard.”

“I’m going to take some blood, honey.” Mama tied a tourniquet around Pippa’s upper arm before swabbing her inner elbow with an alcohol swab and quickly inserting the needle to take her blood into several tubes. “I’ve got a friend who’ll process this for me with a comprehensive drug screen. I’ll know what they used on you in a couple of hours.”

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