Page 40 of The Queen of Nightmares

Disbelief had nearly overwhelmed me, but it had certainly made me stop reaching for her. She’d told me about the car she had waiting and that the entire club would leave soon for a meeting at The Warehouse. She was right; it would have been the perfect time to escape, except someone came in, immediately raising the alarm. With one loud shout, several of the Boogeymen had converged on the both of us. Oogie, himself, was the one that had beaten the shit out of Daisy. He hadn’t taken it well that his own sister was trying to save me.

I had done my best to protect her from them all, knowing that if they got their hands on her, she would never survive. It had earned me a couple new bruised ribs and a few more cuts that would probably scar, but in the end, we both survived. As it was, only the fact that they had run out of time and needed to leave for the meeting saved both of us from more serious injury. I had no doubt that if Oogie had returned from that meeting alive, Daisy would have wished she were dead before he finally killed her.

“Since he was running out of time to make the meeting, Oogie decided to throw Daisy and me in the pit together until they got back.” I sighed, laying my head back on the flat pillow. “They never came back though.”

It was Barrel’s turn to snort. Then he started laughing so hard he nearly choked. I did my best to ignore him as I wondered what the fuck was taking so long to get my little Queen here.

“You can thank Red for that shit,” he finally rasped out.

I frowned, picking my head back up to look at him with a glare. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“She shot and killed Oogie right there in the middle of the meeting in front of his whole crew.” He shook his head and snorted again as I stared in disbelief at the side of his face. “He tossed your cut in the dirt and said you were dead. She just fucking lost it. Cold as ice, she pulled that tiny purple gun you got her out of her pocket and shot him dead center in the chest. It was awesome, to be honest, but she started a fucking gunfight, man. We were lucky that all three clubs were there. We managed to take out every single Boogeyman in minutes. Only a few of our guys took a bullet. In the chaos, one of the Black Wolves tripped and fell over his own bike and broke his leg. Pretty sure that was the worst injury on our side of the fight.”

“Sally. Killed. Oogie.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My sweet girl killed one of the most ruthless, murdering bastards in the state.

Barrel’s smile faded as I watched, his expression turning serious. “She’s been a little messed up since you were taken. Fuck, you don’t know yet.” He sighed and shook his head before standing to his feet again and walking over to the window. “Doc took a bullet for her, Prez. He’s in an ICU room. Hasn’t woken up yet that I’m aware of,” he looked back at me with an apologetic shrug. “Today has been a fucked up day, and no one has had a chance to check on him yet. Between that fucking doctor showing up and then you?—”

“What the fucking fuck!” I roared, not even giving a shit about my aching ribs or my pounding head. I started yanking the shit off my arms, ready to get out of this fucking hospital to get to my little Queen. I couldn’t go another second without seeing for myself that she was okay. “Where the fuck is Sally?” I demanded as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. “Is she alive? Why the fuck isn’t she here? What are you keeping from me?”

Barrel rushed over and pressed down on my shoulders to push me back in the bed, immediately making pain explode like a mother fucking supernova from the gunshot wound in my shoulder. I clenched my jaw and panted through my teeth as I waited for the wave of dizziness and nausea to subside.

“Fuck, Prez, I’m sorry! All right? I’m sorry. She’s really okay, I promise. I’m not trying to hide anything from you. You’ll see for yourself as soon as Shock gets back with her. Just sit back, and I’ll tell you the rest, alright?”

A nurse entered the room, ready to turn off all the screaming alarms. She scowled as soon as she saw I had pulled all that shit off me and grabbed several gauze pads from the nearby cabinet to stop the bleeding from where I’d yanked the IV out.

“Mr. Ellington?—”

“Just shut off the alarms,” I growled, my head swimming with pain and nausea, making me swallow. I’d be fucking pissed as hell if I threw up. There was nothing I hated more than throwing up. And with the way my ribs were aching, I’d probably want to die. “I won’t get up again. Just make it stop.”

I groaned and leaned back in the bed. I was done for the moment of trying to be tough. I needed a fucking break. And I needed Sally. I eyed Barrel as he backed up to the chair and huffed out a breath.

“Goddamn, between you and that woman, I’ve never seen a more obsessed couple in my whole fucking life.”

I grunted and closed my eyes, waiting for the nurse to do her thing before we could talk freely again. She kept glaring as she got the blood pressure cuff back into place and started a new IV.

“If this happens again, I will have no choice but to restrain you to the bed, Mr. Ellington.”

“It won’t.” I met her glare for glare until she finally huffed, turned on her ugly, sensible hospital shoes, and walked out the door. I turned back to Barrel and waited impatiently.

“Well?”

He sighed dramatically before resting his elbows on his knees and holding his head in his hands. “She’s been walking around like a zombie. We’ve all been encouraging her to eat, but I’m not sure how much she’s actually put in her mouth. She’s been insisting for days that you were alive, no matter what anyone said. Then, when Oogie said you were dead, it was like the light went out, but her determination became even stronger all at the same time. She has been worrying the fuck out of us. She spent the last couple of days here at the hospital, refusing to leave Doc’s side.” He sat back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling. “Until today. We insisted she stay at the compound and get some rest instead of sitting in that chair all day, you know? But then, I guess the doctor snuck onto the property somehow.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, the heart rate monitor attached to my finger picking up the increased speed as my anger started to boil over again. “How thefuckdid a stranger sneak onto the compound and make it into the motherfucking clubhouse, Barrel?” My tone was deadly.

Barrel rubbed the back of his neck. “Tech is looking into it, Prez. But right now, the answer is we just don’t know.”

“So what happened when the asshole broke in?”

“Red happened. Shot the fucker right between his eyes. There’s, uh, actually a bit of a mess in your office. She was working on your invoices or some shit since you’ve been gone.”

I closed my eyes and rested my head back against the pillow. I’d heard enough. I needed to see my brother, and I would get someone to take me to him soon. But I had to lay eyes on my woman before I could even think about anything else. Somehow, my sweet, pregnant woman had saved the fucking club, town, herself, and me all in a matter of days. But at what cost to herself?

ChapterThirty-One

THE QUEEN OF NIGHTMARES

Arhythmic beeping was the first thing I heard as I was pulled slowly from sleep. I tried to rub my nose, but a small, sharp pain had me hissing. I cracked open my eyes to look at my hand, seeing the tube taped there. I followed the tube until my gaze landed on the IV hanging from a metal pole. I glanced around, realizing with groggy resignation that I was in yet another hospital room. Only, there was something different this time.

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