I glanced down to find two bloody spots on the hospital gown the nurses had put on him. He’d popped his stitches.
“I don’t give a fuck. Where is she, Raven? Where is she?” His tears were falling faster and his voice cracked as a sob raked his body. “Tell. Me.”
“They took her,” Raven told him, and his entire body went stiff. “The Italians took her, Hawk. We think they’re working with her grandfather.”
“Let me up.” His voice was calmer now, his tears instantly drying up. “Get off me.”
Confused by the sudden change in my brother, I actually loosened my hold and moved back a step. After a few seconds Bash did the same. His gaze zeroed in on the two nurses standing behind Bash, as if they were using him as a shield. “You. Get that fucking doctor back in here and stitch me up.”
“Hawk…” Raven tried to intercede. He was too calm, too quiet. We all knew that when Hawk was like that he was at his deadliest.
“Now.” He raised his voice just enough that the nurse flinched and rushed to do as commanded.
“Don’t do something stupid,” Raven urged. “You just got out of surgery. You’re in no shape to do what I can only imagine you plan on doing.”
“Go to the clubhouse, Rave. Be with your kids.” Hawk glared up at the ceiling. “Tell them Uncle Hawk loves them.”
“Stop it,” she pleaded. “Don’t do this.”
“Get her out of here, Bash.”
Bash moved to wrap his arms around her waist. “I’ll take you back, baby.”
“No,” she cried and fought against his hold. “Hawk, you can’t. Let the others go. You aren’t in any shape to go. Please. They’ll kill you.” Bash lifted her into his arms. “Put me down. You can’t let him. You can’t… Hawk!”
Her voice faded as the door shut behind them and I turned my attention back to my still motionless brother. “What do you want me to do?” I knew there was no use in trying to convince him otherwise. All I could do was help him as much as possible and watch his back.
“Tell Ciro to have me a gun waiting. And my knives.”
“What about Santino?”
“Fuck Santino. I’ll deal with him later. I have to find Gracie first.” He closed his eyes, squeezing them tight. “I’m gonna need Uncle Jack and Trigger.”
“Bash sent them down to stake out Santino’s compound.”
“So call them and tell them this is more important.” His voice was devoid of all emotion and that scared me more than anything else right then. He was shutting everything else down. Out. As if he were preparing himself for the worst. As if he were actually planning on not coming back. “Send someone else and see if Colt can get me on the first flight out.”
Chapter Nine
Felicity
I was in the kitchen helping to make sandwiches for over a hundred people when I heard her rage-filled scream.
The sheep who I was helping stiffened but I just continued to mix the chicken salad I was making. I might not have been around Raven in over a year, but I still knew her. She hadn’t changed that much since I’d been gone. The angry screech of her scream told me that much.
Licking a smear of the salad mixture off my thumb, I reached for a dish cloth and wiped my fingers just as the door to the kitchen opened and in stormed my best friend. Around me, the sheep shifted anxiously. With one look at Raven’s beautiful—and very angry—face, the other women started murmuring excuses and quickly left the room.
I continued the job at hand as Raven moved across the room and picked up a heavy-duty pot before throwing it at the opposite wall. It made a loud banging noise as it connected and then rolled away. I pulled out the entire loaf of bread and started putting the sandwiches together, not bothering to look at her as she continued to rage.
Another pot, quickly followed by a frying pan, hit the wall right before a plastic mixing bowl landed in the same spot.
“What the fuck is going on in…here?” Spider took one look at Raven’s face and turned to exit through the door he’d just stuck his head through. “Never mind. Bash, what the hell did you do this time?” His voice trailed off as he went in search of his friend and Club president.
Her breathing labored, Raven moved back to the island where I was working. Only then did I lift my eyes to look at her. Her face was pale, her eyes glazed with angry tears. It was the tears that had me dropping the spoon in the bowl and reaching for her. I wrapped my arms around her small waist and pulled her close. “What happened?”
She was trembling, but she let me hug her. “He’s barely out of surgery and is already tossing out orders so he can leave. He’s going to get himself killed, Flick.”
“Hawk?”