Page 7 of Gunnar

“Will you, um, you know.” She twisted her fingers together nervously. “Check for other things, too?”

Mama studied her as she finished labeling the tubes with Pippa’s name. “I can do the standard HIV/Hepatitis screen. Do you want me to do a swab? Just in case?”

Pippa gave me a sad, resigned look. “I think maybe it’s a good idea.”

“I’ll step just outside the office door and give you privacy, Pippa. But I promise I won’t leave. I’ll be right back when Mama tells me it’s OK.” I have no idea why I said that. She might not have cared. Probably didn’t care since she didn’t know me from Adam. But I had this driving need to take care of her. Maybe it was because I’d already started thinking of her as my old lady. I’d learned how a man should treat his woman from my father and how he treated our mom. What I said to Pippa was something my dad would have said to Mom.

“You promise?” Pippa’s gaze was both hopeful but resigned. Like she didn’t really expect much, but needed to believe she could have it all.

“Yeah, honey. I promise. All you have to do is holler for me and I’ll be in here before you shut your mouth.” That got a small smile from her. So I put my hand on her head, leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Not much, but I’ll take it. I’m just out here.”

“Your name’s Gunnar?”

“Yeah, honey. Gunnar Gill.”

“Thank you. Thanks for rescuing me.” Two tears fell from her luminous eyes, and I felt like I’d been stabbed in the heart.

“You never have to thank me for that.” My voice was husky as I tried to swallow the sudden lump in my throat. I pointed to the door. “I’m just out here.” She nodded, and I stepped out of Mama’s office and shut the door behind me.

I turned around to find Ice and Cyclone standing from where they’d been waiting in the small outer office. I scowled at them, keeping my arms loose at my side in case I needed to defend myself. “Post a guard outside if you want, but I don’t want you here.”

“Gunnar, we’re sorry,” Ice offered. Cyclone looked down at his feet, not meeting my gaze.

“Yeah. I can see that. If it makes you feel better, we’re only staying until Mama says she can leave. I’ve already talked to Torpedo and Bohannon. They’re gonna take me in at Kiss of Death.”

That finally got Cyclone’s attention. “Kiss of Death MC. You’d leave Bones? Your home club?”

“This hasn’t been my home for fifteen damn years, Dan.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Ice -- Cliff -- stepped toward me in an aggressive move. If he thought I would back down from him because he was my older brother, it was time he learned just how wrong he was.

“It's the fault of that son of a bitch Hannah was dating,” I snapped back, taking my own aggressive step forward. “One of us had to do it. I happened to be the one there at the time.”

“And yours.” Ice shoved me back, but I stood my ground. “All you had to do was call Dad. Tell him what happened, and he’d have taken care of it. Why didn’t you do that, huh?”

“I had my reasons, and would do the same thing in the same situation. I don’t regret one single second of my time in prison.”

“What reason could you possibly have for not letting Dad take care of that killin’? No one would have ever found the body or known what happened to that fuck. They certainly wouldn’t have been angry with you for killin’ him. Why didn’t you just let the club do what needed done?”

“Not your business and not something I’m ever gonna tell anyone.” I thought I heard Pippa whimper and realized I wasn’t calming her anxiety by yelling at my brothers.

Cyclone tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t have to.” He and Ice exchanged a look. “Hannah knows.”

“Yes,” I conceded. “And if she’s not told you in the last fifteen years, she’s not telling you anything now.”

“We’ll see.” Ice gave me a superior smirk that had made me want to hit him in the head with a rock when I was a kid. Had pretty much the same effect now.

“So, after all these years,nowyou want to know what happened? You guys came by at Christmas and that was it!”

“Dad came every week, askin’ for the truth of it. Begged you to tell him. He’s on his way here now, you know. Was on the ground with ExFil in France on some high-profile babysitting detail. I called him right after you called me, and he was on the company jet back to Somerset as of twenty minutes ago. Dad will get this out of you. If he doesn’t, I’ll get it out of Hannah.”

“No. You won’t. And neither will Dad. It’s done. I served my time. I’ll finish my parole and try to find a normal life for myself.”

“You can do it here,” Ice urged.

“Not happening. Not after the warm welcome I got.”

“Why would you expect anything other than the reception you got?” Cyclone was pissed as shit, but he wasn’t the only one. “You’ve been out of prison forweeks. You didn’t bother to let any of us know. Instead, you dragged a half dead woman into the compound, not knowing if you were followed or not, and you still expect a warm welcome?”

---