“Yeah, what’s with the weird names, bruv?”
“Speaking of names, Seb, call me Jeffo again, and I’ll forget to patch you up next time ‘shit goes wrong’.”
“Ooooh so pissy, bruv. It’s cute, really. So,” the humour suddenly dropped from his face, “you’ll all be leaving now?”
I nodded, because why the hell would we stay? If Glory had what she needed from this hellish place, I’d rather get gone.
“Promise me he’ll die,” Glory hissed, cupping her throbbing hand against her chest.
“Oh, he’ll die a lot, love. Nobody leaves here alive… well, except our allies, who we kindly help out in a reciprocal kinda way.” He eyed me pointedly, and I got the point loud and clear. Fuck this dick. He was going to use this as another attempt to get the club to be his bitches, which I’d been warned was exactly how these assholes operated.
“We’re letting your people enjoy the kill. I think that makes us even,” Glory said imperiously, marching past the guy as we all gaped at her. Was it just me finding that hot? And if they were too, would I manage to kill them before their guys stopped me?
“I like her, bruv. She’s a keeper.” The bearded guy headed into the kill room, and just the ‘doctor’ remained.
“Make sure she rests that hand, and on that subject… did she come here on a motorbike? Because she’s not going to be able to ride back like that.”
“She was on the back of mine.”
“So how’s she going to hang on for the journey home?”
I fell silent as I pondered that. Could we tie her to me? That was stupid and reckless, what if we had an accident? Still, what if we moved really slowly? Jesus.
“Now we could offer assistance, but you get how Seb works. He’s keeping count of all these favours. You don’t want to be indebted to them any more than you already are.”
Then he grinned. “I will say this though. The Bennetts aren’t so bad if they’re on your side. Trust me on that.” It was the other side that worried me. The one where they become enemies instead.
“I’ll sort it.” I shook his hand, while wondering just how much metaphorical blood was on them, and stepped outside. Glory was with Harley and Rocket, and I think it settled something inside me to see that. Seeing her so comfy with them that she was gravitating to them, plus it gave me time to talk to Micro.
“Pres-”
“Already on it, brother. It’s like you think I don’t know how to look after my people. Prospects can get a van here, but it’ll take a few hours, so we’ve reserved a room at the nearest hotel for you guys for the night. You’ll coast gently to the farm road a mile down and we’ll get a taxi to meet you.”
Fuck me. He did know how to look after his people. I’d never been so relieved to be counted as one of them, because right now I was still just a prospect, but I was starting to realise that was really more of a formality than anything else.
“And my ride?”
“Well, we can ask these nice gents to store it, or one of us can follow you on it.”
I eyed my precious beast, and turned to scrutinise the brothers amassing here. Who would I trust with her? My priority was Glory, but my ride was valuable to me too.
“Can I request my VP to do it? I know he’ll treat her with respect.”
“We all would, fuckstain, but fine. Your wish is our command. You wanna get your ass moving? I want us all away from here before these fuckers hit us with a bill or something.”
I clamped my lips shut before I warned him that was probably already coming, and headed over to claim Glory.
“Tell me I get to ride her,” Rocket demanded, practically salivating at the idea, and the fact that I knew he meant my wheels was the only reason he was still standing. Harley was behind him, mouthing the word ‘NO’ at me, but I’d already cometo the conclusion that the guy named after speeding wasn’t my choice.
“Pres nominated Harley,” I said, grinning as Rocket glared over my shoulder at Micro. Harley nodded and followed us to my ride. Glory fretted the whole way about not being able to hold on, and a shout made us pause as the doctor guy ran over to us.
“Word is you’re not going home yet.” How the fuck did he know that?
He handed us a paper bag, and when I opened it, there was an ice pack and strips of ibuprofen and paracetamol.
“You just had these hanging around?”
“I’m a doctor, not a psycho. It’s literally my job to be prepared on the road. Get gone.”