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Chapter Thirty-One

Face to Face

D arrow held Mara’s hand. Tight. But not too tight. He stared at her while she slept. A much needed sleep for her too. It took a lot to make a man like Darrow cry. He wasn’t the type to just come out and admit to crying.

But…

When he picked Mara up off the floor in the cabin, Darrow broke down in tears. Carrying her from that cabin, just walking through the woods. He felt like a zombie almost, his feet just floating along the ground. He kept telling Mara she would be okay. And he kept asking for help.

At some point Slade caught up to Darrow and made him stop walking. Slade then said he needed to lift Mara’s shirt and check her stomach. Just to see if…

A nurse entered the hospital room and Darrow looked at her. The nurse froze for a second.

“She’s still sleeping,” the nurse whispered. “That’s good. She needs it.”

Darrow stood up and walked around the bed. “I need some answers. From you or one of the doctors. The baby…”

“We told you already, the baby is fine,” the nurse said. “Those cuts were nasty looking, but they were… surface level. Believe me, I could understand how scary that was. She has some stitches, but nothing even remotely close to the baby or hurting the baby. And even with the actual accident trauma, everything looks okay.”

Accident trauma.

There needed to be a story. That was the story. An accident in which poor Mara became dizzy, lost her balance, and tried to brace herself using a glass porch door, only to have it shatter and cut her up really bad.

“This has to be terrifying for you,” the nurse said. “And I know there’s another one of your guys here in a coma too. It’s got to be stressful for you all.”

The nurse touched Darrow’s arm. Darrow curled his lip and the nurse quickly released her grasp. She cleared her throat, apologized, and left the room.

“Darrow?”

He turned and saw Mara’s eyes were half open. Slightly fluttering.

“Oh, babe, I’m right here,” Darrow said.

He was right back at her side, holding her hand. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

“I just talked to the nurse about everything,” Darrow said. “Everything is okay, babe. Everything.”

“Our baby…”

“Perfect. Healthy.”

“You swear on your life? All we do is lie, Darrow.”

“Hey,” he said. “We never lie to each other, right? I’m not lying to you. I have no reason to. I never would. The baby is healthy.”

“But he… he cut me… the knife…”

Darrow swallowed hard. “I’m sorry to tell you this, babe, but your husband is a weak pussy.”

“Fuck him,” Mara said with a slight smile. “He’s not my husband anymore. I’m claimed by someone else.”

“That’s right, you are,” Darrow said. “You’ll always have me. And you’ll always have the club. You fucking chaotic psycho-ass woman…”

Darrow wasn’t done but the door opened once more. This time it wasn’t some flirty nurse or a serious doctor. This time it was Cyrus, Linc, and Slade. Behind them stood Virus and Dolph. They stayed outside the room for protection.

“Hey, she’s awake,” Cyrus said with a smile. “The toughest outlaw in the club right now, huh?”

“How do you feel?” Slade asked.

“Like a turkey all sliced up,” Mara said.

“Fuck,” Linc said, shaking his head. “Fuck.”

“I’m just joking. A little.”

“The baby is fine,” Darrow said.

“Good,” Cyrus said. “That’s good.”

He approached the bed. A towering figure. A monstrous figure.

“We need to talk about what you did,” Cyrus said to Mara.

Mara nodded. Cyrus placed his right hand to Darrow’s left shoulder.

“I’ve been wrong the whole time with a lot of things,” Cyrus said. “You put a tracker on Fitz. You knew he would spaz out and run, didn’t you?”

“I knew something was wrong,” Mara said. “He said he attacked Darrow. He was texting me. Fucking with me. I bought into it a little. I just… I wanted to make everything up to the club.”

“That’s insane, babe,” Darrow said.

“You don’t owe us a thing, Mara,” Linc said.

“Yes I do. I lied to you all. I wasn’t a good person in this. I dragged Darrow into the middle of stuff.”

“Listen to me carefully, Mara,” Cyrus said. “You’re carrying a part of this club. This baby is part of the club. You do know that. There is no escape now. You got that bad ink taken care of. You have Darrow’s ink. You put your life and your baby’s life on the line for this club.”

“Which is stupid,” Slade said. “If I can just be honest.”

“Agreed,” Darrow said.

“Well, you dumb outlaws couldn’t find him, so I did,” Mara said with a smile.

Cyrus threw his head back and laughed. “She’s vicious, isn’t she?”

“Very,” Darrow said.

“I wasn’t sure what he would actually do,” Mara said. “He wasn’t exactly the bravest guy in the world. A psycho, yes. But…”

“He killed the detective he was working with,” Slade said. “He was pushed into a corner. He attacked your best friend, Mara. What made you think he wouldn’t hurt you?”

“Do we have to do this?” Darrow asked. “What’s done is done.”

“Fitz had a thing for Macy for a long time,” Mara said. “And I honestly wanted to see him and I wanted to kill him myself. But then I thought about it. I thought if I could put a tracker on him you guys would be able to find me. It was a last second decision.”

“How the hell did you know what to do?” Linc asked.

“Darrow put a tracker on Macy before she left,” Mara said.

“She’s an outlaw at heart,” Cyrus said. “I’m putting her in charge of the clubhouse. The deecees .”

“No thanks,” Mara said. “Fucking sluts.”

All the guys laughed for a second or two.

Cyrus reached down and touched Mara’s face. “Let it all go now. Let your guilt go. No need to talk about it. You’re with Darrow. You’re pregnant. You’re safe with us, Mara. There are no secrets.”

Cyrus winked. Then he set his sights on Darrow and gave a nod. She could read cues. They needed to talk and they needed to do it without Mara around and listening. Darrow kissed Mara. When the four outlaws made it to the door, Mara licked her lips.

“Hey,” she called out. “Did you… find him…?”

There was silence. Finally, Cyrus gave a nod.

“We found him, Mara,” Cyrus said. “Because of you.”

“Rest up, babe,” Darrow said. “I love you.”

Mara’s heart fluttered. So did her stomach.

“I love you too, Darrow,” she called out.

She couldn’t stop smiling. And her stomach continued to flutter. Falling in love with an outlaw was a dangerous road. Mara was living proof of that. In a hospital bed. Pregnant. Stitched up. Tired. Sore. Still terrified.

Yet she kept smiling, feeling that rush of love for Darrow. Over and over. She closed her eyes and fell back asleep. She needed to take advantage of the rest as much as possible.

One thing Mara knew… the outlaw life never slowed down ever.

“You can’t touch him, brother,” Slade said to Darrow.

“I won’t. Swear on my life.”

“Don’t make me have to search you.”

“You won’t,” Darrow said. “I’m good. I just need to see him. I just need to know for sure. This is it. He’s not going to escape again.”

“He’s not going anywhere this time,” Slade said.

They walked to the far corner of the junkyard to an old office building. Slade opened the door and turned on the lights. Darrow took a deep breath and balled up his hands into tight fists. There he was. Fitz. The rat.

Heavy, thick chains wrapped from his elbows up to his wrists. The chains thrown over a pipe above his head. Chains wrapped around his left leg, his right leg, attached to opposite walls. Fitz just dangled there. He lifted his head and opened his eyes.

“Hey, you’re waking up,” Slade called out. He clapped his hands together. “There you go, you fucking rat. Go on. Wake up.” Slade looked back at Darrow. “We’re keeping him doped up as need be. Keeping him alive.”

Darrow approached Fitz. Anger crushed Darrow’s soul.

“You tried to kill the woman I love,” Darrow said. “You tried to hurt my unborn child. You turned your back on this club. You fucking rat. And what you did to Macy…”

“Easy, brother,” Slade said. “I feel you slipping. We can’t touch him. Okay? We have to do this the right way.”

Darrow nodded. He turned away from Fitz. The door behind Slade opened and in walked Cyrus.

“He’s still breathing, that’s good,” Cyrus said. “I brought him a present. We’re going to leave the lights on. Let him come back to reality. So he can stare at his gift.”

Virus walked into the old office holding Bram’s head. Darrow looked away. It shocked him a little to see Virus carrying a human head so casually.

“Chain it up,” Cyrus said to Virus.

“You’re crazy, Prez ,” Slade said.

“What are you going to do with it?” Darrow asked.

“Going to chain it up so it hangs a foot away from the rat’s face,” Cyrus said. “So he has to stare at a severed head all day and night. Non fucking stop.”

Darrow shook his head and started to leave.

Cyrus stopped him. “You’ve got the security done up around here, right?”

“We’re set, Prez ,” Darrow said. “Cameras are running all the time. You can watch this rat suffer as much as you need.”

“Good,” Cyrus said. “Prayer in a little bit. Have to decide if we’re calling Dr. Smile or not.”

“Good,” Darrow said.

He stepped out of the office and took a deep breath.

Darrow wasn’t sure the last time Dr. Smile made an appearance for SOFRAW.