“Babe, I’m sorry. I was going to tell you,” I told her as I went to her. She backed away from me.
“Tell me what, Outlaw? That you and my dad are having me investigated. Digging into something I don’t want resurrected. Going behind my back and then lying about it. Is that what you were going to tell me? When were you going to tell me? After you found out everything you could about me. You and your damn need to know everything. I guess your reports weren’t good enough. Fucking tell him!” she screamed at Petrillo. “I hope you enjoy the damn story. I hope it was worth it.”
She turned and went for the door. I rushed over to stop her. She whipped around and pointed at me. “If you touch me, I swear to God, I'll kill you. I knew this was a mistake. I should have never let you get close to me, either of you. Keep my shit and give it to your next girlfriend. I can get more.” She shoved open the door. We went after her.
“Tarin, honey, we’re sorry. We weren’t trying to hide it. We didn’t want to upset you. Outlaw was planning to tell you after we talked to Petrillo. We just want to know what happened. We know Mercer did something. It had to be bad for him to have paid what he did to Carol. We didn’t know if you even knew what happened or not,” Bear pleaded with her. She swung around. Her eyes were wild, and she was breathing like she’d run a marathon.
“Oh, you think he did something bad, do you? What do you think he did, Bear? Tell me,” she snapped. He flinched when she called him Bear and not dad.
“Jewel, calm down. Let’s go somewhere and we can—”
“Talk? You should have thought of that before you decided to sic a PI on me. I would have told you, Outlaw, eventually. I was almost there. It’s not something I want to remember or talk about, but you couldn’t wait, could you? Tell me what you think he did, Bear?” she yelled.
“I think he was abusing you and maybe your mom. He took it too far, and she had proof. She threatened to expose him, so he gave her a divorce and everything she wanted to keep her quiet,” he said softly.
She started to clap. “Give the man a gold star! Yeah, she filed for a divorce and threatened him just like you said. He couldn't risk being exposed. He gave her everything and promised to never come around again. Only you’re wrong about one part, he never abused Mom. I was the lucky one.”
“Baby, I'm sorry. I know what it's like to have a father who beats you,” I told her, trying to comfort her.
She gave a humorless laugh. “Oh, he didn’t beat me. His abuse was much different. He liked touching little girls and his little girl was no exception.” Bile rose up the back of my throat. I heard Bear roar. She had tears in her eyes. “I hate you and I’ll never forgive either of you,” she shouted. I stumbled toward her. She screamed out her pain and rage then darted to her car. I hadn't been paying attention to how close we were to it. As she got to her car, I saw Bear on his phone. Petrillo was standing there, looking uncomfortable. I ran after her. She got inside and locked the doors before I could stop her. It was like last time all over again.
I pounded on her window. “Tarin, don’t. Please, baby, stay,” I pleaded. If she left, I might never get her to see or talk to me again. She said she hated me. What if she meant it? What if I’d destroyed her trust forever? What if she never forgave me?
She started her car. I read her lips as she said, fuck you. She put the car in gear and started for the gate, only this time, it didn’t open. I saw Mitch standing outside the guardhouse. He had his phone in his hand. He must have been who Bear called. Bear was running over to her car. When the gate didn’t open, she cracked her window. We were both at the side of her car. “Open the gate, now.”
We both shook our heads. “No, we’re not letting you run off. You're going to stay and talk to us,” Bear shouted. She narrowed her eyes at him. I heard the engine rev and then she hit the gas. I screamed at her to stop. She was headed right for the gate, only she didn’t know it was reinforced to withstand being rammed! A fucking tank probably couldn’t get through it. Bear was yelling at Mitch to open it, but we were too late. She slammed into it. The gate didn’t even move. The screeching of metal against metal was deafening. Her car crumpled like an accordion. I froze along with Bear, then we ran to her. I reached her car first. She was slumped over the deflated airbag resting on the steering wheel, not moving. The impact had shattered the driver’s window. I reached in and unlocked her door. I tore it open and went to undo her belt. Bear stopped me.
“Don’t move her. We don't know how badly hurt she is. We need to call an ambulance.”
“Oh God, oh fuck, what did I do? Jesus Christ, Bear, is she even breathing?” I asked him in fear. I was starting to lose it. He touched her neck. Mitch was on his phone. Everyone who was still at the compound were racing toward us. I could see the shock on their faces.
“She has a pulse. Is Zara here?” he asked as he looked around in agitation. I breathed a sigh of relief as she came pushing through the small crowd to us. She pushed us out of the way and crouched down inside the open door. Her hands were flying all over Tarin. She reached out and snagged Mitch’s phone.
“This is Dr. Moretti. I need a life flight immediately dispatched to the location this young man just gave you. We have a critically injured young woman. Have an OR on standby at Erlanger,” she barked. My legs gave out. Erlanger Hospital was in Chattanooga. They were where serious trauma cases were taken, not our local hospital. Ilara had made it to us. She was holding Hope who was crying. She was looking at both of us in shock. Bear went over to them. I touched Zara’s shoulder. She looked up at me.
“Please tell me she’s going to be alright, Zara. Please,” I begged her. I didn’t give a fuck that I had tears streaming down my face. She gave me a sad look.
“I wish I could, Outlaw, but I just don’t know. She has a head injury and God knows what kind of internal injuries. Her pulse is thready and weak. At the moment, I can’t tell you if she’ll make it until the life flight gets here. I’m sorry,” she whispered. I collapsed to the ground. She moved away as I crawled over the glass to Tarin’s unconscious body. I didn’t even feel the pain of the glass cutting into my knees or hands.
“Please, baby. Please don’t leave me. I love you. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. You can’t die. Do you hear me? Hang on. Help is coming. Help is on its way. I love you, Tarin,” I pleaded. Bear was back, and he was beside me. He had his hand on her leg. He had tears running down his face. He was almost saying the same things to her.
It felt like forever before we heard the sirens of police cars. Chief Scarelli came through the small side door beside the gate with one of his deputies. We couldn’t open the main one with her car in the way. He swore when he saw it. “What the fuck happened, Bear?”
“She slammed into the gate. It was all fucking crazy, Joe. Is that damn life flight here yet? This is my daughter!”
Joe jerked in surprise. “Your daughter? I didn’t know you had any kids.”
“I didn’t either until two months ago. You need to get them here, Joe. I can’t lose her.”
Joe looked at me. I was still crouched by her door. She hadn’t moved or made a sound. I knew that wasn’t a good sign. Zara squeezed in beside me and checked her pulse again. This time she had a blood pressure cuff. She swore when she took it.
“How low is it, Z?” I asked in fear.
“It’s not good, Outlaw. It’s dropping. Keep talking to her.” She backed away and got out her phone. I lay my head in my hands.
I heard Scarelli ask, “Is she someone to Outlaw?”
“She’s his old lady.” Scarelli swore when Bear told him. I heard him on his radio. A couple of minutes later, we heard the whirl of chopper blades. I watched as the medical flight landed in the middle of our compound. Two guys came running up to us. I got out of the way and watched helplessly as they assessed her, prepped her to move and talked to Zara. It was all the club could do to keep me and Bear from losing our shit when they said there wasn’t any room for us in the helicopter. Zara wanted to go with them, but she was eight months pregnant. I watched as they flew off with my entire future. If she died, I was done. It was all my fault.
Demon’s clap on my shoulder brought me back to my surroundings. “We’ll pull the car out of the way so we can get out. You ride with me and Zara. Bear, you too. I assume Ilara is staying here with Hope?” Bear nodded. In no time, the car was moved, and we were on our way. Scarelli gave us a police escort to the outskirts of town. From there, the highway patrol met us. I guess he called in favors for us. The whole way to Chattanooga, all I did was pray. What would take us an hour, would take the helicopter maybe ten minutes. It had to be enough time. It had to.