“You went fucking rogue.”
I snap my head to look at him. “You think I don’t know this shit? Give me a solution or shut the fuck up,” I yell.
He shakes his head and looks out the window. “You’re my best friend, Z. I’ll always have your back, but you need to start thinking straight. I know you’re doing it all for Harper, but it’s causing more problems. Shattered Souls is a brotherhood, a family. We aren’t unnecessarily reckless. You’ve got to tell the club you know all this. Tell them this will never happen again. You get what I’m saying?”
I know what he’s saying. I need to beg and plead to make sure I’m not killed by my own club for starting this shit. It was never my intention to bring anything to the club, I was trying to avoid it. I was trying to keep everyone safe. My end goal was Kingsley’s death and Harper’s freedom. I fucked up and I need to figure out how to fix it all. That’s all I seem to be doing lately, fixing my fuck ups.
We pull up to my house and Kace helps me out, while Finn goes to get my bike out of the back. Before the front door is even closed behind me, Harper is running at me. She jumps up and I try to catch her with my good arm, but my leg can’t take it. I stumble back and slam into the door. I groan in pain, squeezing my eyes shut.
“Baby, holy shit, what happened?” she whispers, moving
off of me.
I straighten myself and wrap my good arm around her, pulling her to me. “I’m alright. I had a little accident, but I’ll be fine.”
She pushes away from me and her eyes are crazy, running over my entire baby. “You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah well when you go against a knife that’s what happens,” Kace says, grabbing my arm to help me to the couch. “I’m calling Nora, she needs to look at this.”
Nora is the one we count on when we can’t get to the hospital. She’s not a nurse or anything, but she’s been around long enough to know how to tend to less severe wounds.
“Zane, tell me what happened,” Harper demands, a tear running down her face.
Ivy comes to stand next to her and she nearly falls over when she sees how I look. It must be worse than I thought.
I lean back on the couch and look up at Harper. “The club is gonna be here in a few minutes. I fucked up, so you two are gonna need to go back to my room. I got into it with Dom and now, well it’s not good.”
“What the fuck,” Harper hisses. “You went alone didn’t you?”
“Yep.”
She shakes her head and starts pacing the living room. She stops in front of me, hands on her hips, and anger rolling off of her. “One club wanting to kill you isn’t enough? You told me to trust you. You said you had a plan. This is fucking suicide, Z. What the fuck were you thinking?”
My anger is misplaced and I lean forward, narrowing my eyes at her. “I was thinking I need to fucking protect you.”
I don’t know if it’s my anger or my words, but she kneels in front of me and presses a kiss to my lips. I try to wrap my arms around her, but I moan in pain. She pulls back and cups my cheek. “I’m sorry. How bad is it?”
I’m not sure if she’s talking about the situation or my wounds, but I choose to discuss the wounds. “The slash on my arm is pretty bad, but not as bad as the stab wound in my leg. Probably gonna need some stitches.”
She nods her head and carefully leans forward to place a soft kiss on my lips. “I love you,” she whispers.
“I love you, babe.”
As soon as she hears the bikes, she grabs Ivy’s hand and rushes to the bedroom. She knows how bad this is gonna be. I turn my head when the door slams open. Brooks and Enzo come charging in and Nora is close behind them. Alex and Riley will be here any minute.
“What. The. Fuck,” Brooks roars, pinning me with fury in his eyes.
“I went back. I thought I could get Kingsley myself, but Dom and I got into it instead.”
Nora ignores everything going on and starts cleaning up my arm. The alcohol burns, but I refuse to even flinch right now. I can’t show any weakness right now. I need to take what I deserve.
He grabs my shirt, but Nora shoots him a look. He lets go and lights a cigarette. “Was I not clear when I said we are avoiding a motherfucking war? Did you not hear me when I said we would handle this as a goddamn club? What the fuck are you trying to do?” he barks.
I repeat to him everything I thought about in the truck. I just have to hope it’s enough. “I’m sorry, Brooks, I just wanted to save her.”
Nora squeezes my arm. I peek down at her and she gives me a wink and smiles. She’s proud of my decision. She’s telling me I should be too. “I need you to get the jeans off, Z. I need to see your leg. Your arm is superficial, it doesn’t need stitches,” she says.
I get my pants off and I let her get back to cleaning the blood. I look at both Enzo and Brooks. “I’m not asking for forgiveness here. I’m looking for understanding. The shit that’s been done to Harper at the hands of her father, it should enrage you just as much. Any real man wouldn’t stand for it. She’s my girl and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. You’d both do the same and you know it. We were just sitting there, playing right into their game. I made it worse, I’m well aware, but we can’t wait it out. We need to plan and we need it tonight. He’s gonna make sure Harper and I both suffer. So help me, as my family, fucking help me.”