Page 7

7. SLIPPING AWAY

BIGFOOT

“Well, where is she?” I demanded to know the minute Melissa walked back into my room.

“I don’t know. She took off.” When I continued to stare her down, Lis heaved out a put-upon sigh and rolled her eyes at me like a petulant fucking child. “She mentioned needing to get back to her life. Maybe she has a man at home waiting for her.”

“She doesn’t,” I growled.

“How would you know?” Lis sassed back as she tugged at the ends of her blonde hair. She took the time to curl it into those big chunky waves or whatever they were before she showed up here. It hit me then that Lis was always on show whereas Sammy hadn’t given a shit that she had been wearing the same clothes three days in a row. There hadn’t been a bigger agenda for her than to make sure I woke up and was okay. It pissed me off that the mother of my child had taken so much time to look good before bringing my son to see me.

“Sammy was headed back to Violence after a crappy blind date when the accident happened.”

“Okay, so? What’s this have to do with me? Did you want me to hold her hostage or something?”

“Daddy?” I turned my glare away from Lis and softened my features before I let my eyes come to rest on Hawk.

“Hey, buddy. Sorry about that.”

“Was that a nice lady?”

“The nicest,” I told him.

“Nicer than my mom?”

“The lady who was here saved my life, buddy.”

His eyes widened, and I immediately regretted my words as his lip poked out and his tears started to form. “You almost died?”

“I’m here, Hawk. I was in an accident and the lady got me help. Okay? I’m fine, just a little banged up.”

“Can I say thank you to her for saving my daddy?”

I wish. She should have never left. Fuck. I was supposed to tell her about my boy and his mother before they ever showed up, but the damn pain meds fucked with me and kept putting me to sleep. “Maybe, if we see her again.”

“Okay. Can I sit up there with you?”

“I want you to, buddy, but I’m pretty banged up and it might hurt if you accidentally bump into me.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

Hawk pouted again, and I wished his mother would step in and help with this shit because my head was too fuzzy to think straight. She was too busy sulking over in the corner, though. I was about to call out to her when she turned around with tears in her eyes. “We need to figure something out, Trav. If you had died, what would I do?”

“What the hell do you mean?” Once again, it was all about her and it was really starting to piss me off.

“Daddy didn’t die!” Hawk cried out to his mom.

“I’m right here, bud. Your mom’s just being dramatic.” I turned my attention back on Lis and gave her a look that I knew she understood, even if she tried to pretend she didn’t.

“And what if?” She asked. At least she hadn’t said it out loud again. “What if something happened? What am I supposed to do without you here to help with Hawk?”

“My club brothers would step up because my son will always be club family.”

“Yeah? What about me, though?”

“What about you?” I argued. “You know what? We’re not having this conversation in front of Hawk. It can wait until I’m out of here.”

“Fine!” she snapped and turned her back on me again.

“Hey, Prez!” I turned to see Glitch standing in the door. He and his brother patched in a couple years ago, and they had quickly ingrained themselves into the heart of the New Mexico Chapter. “Baffle sent me back to check on who was here with you.”

“Why?” I asked, curious as to what was so urgent that Glitch appeared to be out of breath.

“Sammy was headed out and he needed to talk to her, but she couldn’t identify who was in the room with you. She said your son and ol’ lady were here, but you don’t have one of those,” Glitched turned a very pointed, accusatory glare toward Melissa as he said that.

“What the fuck did you do?” I asked her.

“Nothing. I can’t help what she assumed.”

Glitch laughed. “Lying to Bigfoot?” he asked her. “She told us you identified yourself as his ol’ lady and that you didn’t want her here.”

“I never said that.”

Glitch gave Melissa a look like he was ready to string her up the same way we did our enemies, and I had enough of the bullshit. “Lis, go home.”

“Fine!” she snapped once again. “Come on, Hawk.”

“Nope. My boy stays.”

“You’re in a hospital bed and can’t care for him. He’s coming with me.”

“No!” my boy called out. “I want to stay with my dad.”

“We talked about this,” Lis growled at him.

“Whoa! What the fuck did you say to my son about visiting with me?” The bitch had lost her fucking mind if she thought she could coach him into not wanting to stick around and visit while I was in the hospital. I liked Lis just fine on a normal day, but that was one line she would never cross with me, or we would go to war.

“It’s not like that. You can’t take care of him, obviously.”

“I have Glitch here,” I insisted.

“And Baffle, Knuckles, Dime, and Grease are all on their way up,” he added. Glitch crossed his arms over his chest, his feet shoulder-width apart, and I knew it meant he was on the defensive. He’d never liked Lis and didn’t try to make nice like some of the other men in the club. Most tried to be civil for my son’s sake, but we all knew she’d gotten pregnant on purpose, so there were plenty of my men who wouldn’t spit on Melissa to try to save her life if she was on fire.

“As soon as you are done visiting with my son, I expect a call.”

“Our son and I’ll have Baffle bring him back to you when he’s ready to go.”

“I don’t want him on a motorcycle.”

“Yeah, you’ve made that perfectly clear, Melissa.” She looked away then. My son’s mother didn’t like it when I called her by her full name. It usually meant I was angry with her, and she didn’t like to stay on my bad side either. I refused to give her any extras when she was. Extras were things I did for her when she made my life easier instead of harder. I’d pay for spa days or shopping trips that were for her, not our son. That shit was coming to an end, though, because I was tired of the back and forth it caused.

“Where is Sammy?” I asked immediately when Baffle and Knuckles came into my hospital room.

Luckily, Melissa took off before Baffle made it back to my room. Had I known that she scared Sammy away from me, I might have done or said something I would regret in front of my boy. Only because it was done or said in front of him, though.

“She went home.” My VP did not look happy to have to announce that. Knuckles bumped his arm and jerked his chin toward me. There was more, and for some reason, my club brother had been reluctant to share it with me. Dime and Grease made their way into my room and Dime immediately went to my boy.

“Hey there, little man, what do you say we go get a soda and some candy while your dad can’t do anything about it?” My boy’s eyes widened like Santa had just come to dump everything he ever wanted under our tree. He looked back at me guiltily but still took Dime’s hand.

“It’s okay, bud. Go get a treat with Dime while my brothers keep me company. You can show me what you picked when you get back.”

He pumped his little fist in the air and then took off with Dime chasing behind him. The little shit was probably afraid I would change my mind, since he wasn’t allowed to have a bunch of sugary shit normally. The minute they were out of sight, my attention shifted back to Baffle. He came and sat in the chair that Sammy had been using until Melissa showed up.

“She went home and won’t be back.”

“What the fuck?”

“Melissa told her that she was your ol’ lady and insinuated that Sammy was nothing more than a club whore looking to climb a ladder.”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“You know I wouldn’t lie about that shit, even though I don’t trust Melissa as far as I can throw her. I’d bet money Sammy wasn’t lying about it, and even more money that she held some shit back.”

“Lis really told her she was my ol’ lady?” I asked.

“She did, Brother.”

“That fucking cunt went too far this time.” I tried to sit up a little higher in my bed and immediately regretted that shit as my ribs screamed at me.

“Let me help,” Grease offered and moved to the other side of the bed. “If we do this slowly, you should…” His thought cut off as he pushed a button on the side of the rail and the head of my bed raised up higher. It hurt like a motherfucker when my body moved with it, but not as bad as when I tried to do it myself. “That good?” He asked.

I nodded and then turned to Baffle again. “Did you set Sammy straight about that shit?”

“She didn’t give me a chance to do that, man.”

“You let her go without explaining?” I was fucking pissed. I knew there was no way I could get out of the fucking hospital bed and go after her because my ass couldn’t stay awake long enough to get to wherever she had gone.

“You can explain later, when you get out of here. She needed to get out back to her life, Bigfoot. Not to mention, the poor girl hasn’t had a shower or clean clothes in days.”

“Why didn’t any of you take care of her and bring her something?”

“We’ve had a lot going on, and I honestly didn’t think she’d hang in here as long as she did.” Baffle dragged a hand down his face and it only then occurred to me how haggard my friend looked. “I know you want her back here, but she needs a little space. She has a lot to process about what went down, and it wasn’t happening here while she waited to see if you’d pull through.”

“What’s that mean?”

“She might not be banged up on the outside like you, but not only did she see you get thrown from your Harley, she also killed a man to keep you alive. That was her first kill. It’s going to fuck with her, whether she knows it yet or not.”

“Fuck. I didn’t even fucking ask if she was okay.” I shook that thought off. “I don’t really remember everything that happened that night.”

“Understandable,” Knuckles interjected. “According to your girl, you were in and out of it when everything went down.”

“Sammy,” I said and then turned from Knuckles to Baffle, and then across the room to seek out Glitch. “Sammy what? Do we know?”

“Samantha Morton,” Knuckles informed me, but the fucker laughed when he said it.

“What’s so fuckin’ funny?”

“She’s been right under our noses for a long time,” he answered cryptically. I turned to Baffle for an explanation, but he shrugged.

It was Glitch who finally filled me in. “You know Brady Morton?”

“Went to school with him. He owns the garage we use for the bikes,” I stated.

Glitch nodded and waited for me to catch up. Obviously, I was supposed to put something together there. Brady was too young to be Sammy’s dad. “She’s not married to him,” I growled as if saying it would make it not true. My brain felt like mush as I tried to piece everything together. She had been on a date. She wasn’t married.

“She’s Brady’s niece. Lives on the family land and handles their campground and store, plus she works on the RVs when they have issues,” Glitch informed me.

“No shit?” I asked as another round of pain meds was dispersed through my I.V. I grinned as the warmth hit my veins and a plan formed in my muddled mind.

“Why is my dad so happy?” My little man asked from the doorway where he stood with Dime.

“Your dad is going to get himself a girlfriend,” Knuckles answered with a little chuckle tacked on the end.

“Ew! Girls are gross!”

“You won’t think that in a few years, kid,” Grease informed my boy, and then my eyes drooped closed.