Center of Gravity (Marauders Book 3) (39 page)

“Good news?” he asked.

Tommy smiled and nodded. “It’s not perfect, but it’s doable.”

-o0o-

Mitch’s legs were shaking when he walked into the abandoned house. He dreaded what was waiting for him in there, and when he saw Anna he took a deep breath. She was sitting on a chair with her wrists tied to the armrests and the same fucking red rag was still in her mouth. Her makeup was all over her face. She had some bruising, but that was the only visible injury he could see, and then she started crying when she saw him.

“Baby—“ he started and took a step towards her, but was interrupted when the bitch gave Anna a hard slap over her cheek. Anna tried to scream, but the rag muffled the sound.

“Every time to you talk to her directly, I’m gonna beat her. That clear?”

He looked at Anna when he was nodding. He needed to snap out of his shock, he needed to be alert to what was going on around him, but he wasn’t sure how to when she was just there, and she was in pain. He couldn’t get over the fact that it was his fault—all of it.

He’d spent the night going through the scenarios, and Sisco and Mac had been right there with him the entire time. Sisco seemed to be taking it personally, and when Mitch found out about him losing his wife when she was pregnant, he understood. This was personal to Sisco, as fucking personal as it got. His story hadn’t calmed Mitch down, but he’d known for sure he could trust Sisco through this—to the very end.

But to get a happy ending, he needed to focus, and he couldn’t look at Anna if he wanted to do that, so he turned to Hump. He’d been prepared for a lot of things, but not what he was seeing when he looked at Hump. The guy was not on top of his game, and Russ’s theory that this was something the crazy bitch had come up with started to ring more and more true to Mitch. Hump was a wreck, and despite the months of PT, he just barely seemed able to handle the gun with his left hand.

By instinct, Mitch took a few steps towards Anna. Hump was immediately there and slammed the gun over Mitch’s face. It wasn’t hard enough to break his nose, but it still hurt like hell, and while holding his face, blinking his tears away, he heard Anna screaming and another thump when the cunt hit her.

He looked at Hump through tear-filled eyes. “I’m here. Please let her go.”

“No,” Hump shook his head as he took a few steps away from Mitch. “I’m going to do what you did to me. I’m going to take everything from you and leave you like an empty fucking shell.”

There was hardly any point in trying to tell Hump that Mitch hadn’t taken anything from him. He’d done that pretty fucking well himself, and he’d ended up killing his own blood while going after Mitch. If he was the one who had killed his own daughter, which Mitch had doubted to begin with. Looking at Hump and Anita now, he was getting more and more certain that it was on Anita, and he wondered if Hump even knew about it. Because while Hum looked like a broken man, Anita looked bat-shit crazy, and Mitch decided to test his theory.

“I wasn’t the one who killed your daughter,” he said.

He heard a muffled bang, and despite the rag in her mouth, Anna managed to scream, and when he looked at her, Anita was standing with a gun to Anna’s head and a hammer in her other hand. The end of the hammer was still resting against the back of Anna’s hand.

“Oh God! Fuck!” Mitch screamed. “Please leave her alone!”

“One more lie from you, and I’m doing this to the knee on her good leg.”

When he took a step towards them, Anita raised the hammer into the air again and shook her head.

“Please,” he said, and he didn’t even give a shit about the fact that he was bawling like a baby.

“Then back the fuck off.”

He took a step back again, and Anna was looking at him, crying with a horrible panic in her eyes. He wanted to comfort her, but even if he would be able to talk to her, he had no idea what he’d say. There was nothing to say. How the fuck could he ever make it up to her that she was kidnapped and a psycho bitch smashed her hand with a hammer? Her right hand. So she had a busted right hand and a left leg. At least the leg wasn’t his fault, but if they got to work on her right leg, she’d end up in a fucking wheelchair because of him.

“What did you say about my daughter?” Hump yelled.

“You shut the fuck up!” Anita screamed at Mitch before the question was fully out in the open.

“No!
You
shut the fuck up!” Hump turned the gun against her while keeping an eye on Mitch. “Shut your fucking mouth. What the fuck did you do, bitch?! You didn’t think I’d lost enough?”

“
You
, it’s always about what
you
have lost. ‘Boo-hoo, poor me, I lost my club, and I lost my hand, I can’t ride,’” she said in a mocking tone, and if he hadn’t been so shocked, Mitch would’ve laughed. At the same time, he was trying to decide if the latest development was a good or bad thing, but as long as she had her gun pointed at Anna, he was leaning towards it still being pretty fucking bad. She wasn’t done, though. She kept screaming.

“You never, not for a fucking second thought about what I had lost, you self-centered piece of shit. You decided that we all needed to leave, and that we’d get revenge. I had to
live
with your moron ex-wife and your spoiled brat of a daughter, while you kept planning and planning, but you never actually did anything.
I
did it all. This is not your fucking revenge. It’s mine! So you just shut the fuck up about what I have or haven’t done. When this is over, I’m
done
with you!”

“You killed my ex-wife, too?”

“Don’t pretend like you give a shit,” she snarled, and she turned to Mitch. “You fucking men never get it. You think it’s all about you, but when you kicked him out of the club and his life, you kicked me out of my life, too. I paid the same price, and I bet you didn’t think about that for a second, but you’re gonna fucking learn how your shit spills over to the rest of your family.”

As Anita was yelling, she started to wave the gun around, and especially in Hump and Mitch’s direction, which was what Mitch needed. That was his shot to get out of this situation. He looked straight at Anita to make sure she kept her attention on him, and away from Anna. And when the gun was no longer aimed at her, he decided to try to keep it that way.

“Don’t see why it shouldn’t have spilled over to you. I bet you lived pretty fucking well off the money he stole, too.”

A shot went off, and for a terrible second, when he couldn’t feel where he was hit, he wondered if she’d shot Anna, but the he registered that he was on the ground with a roaring pain going through his leg. She’d shot him, and while Anna was screaming, Hump and Anita were yelling at each other. Now her gun was moving between him and Hump, which as good, and he couldn’t help to make a note of the absurdness and idiocy of the situation. They’d been executing their plan for months, and it had ended up in this pile of shit. If Anna hadn’t been in the middle of two psychos with guns and a hammer, he might’ve laughed out loud.

Mitch looked up just as a whistling sound pierced through the air. It ended with a splat as the back of Anita’s head exploded. Hump stared at her in surprise, but before he could even move there was a second whistling sound, and his surprised face rained over Anna. She sat perfectly still in shock for a few seconds, and then she started screaming and wrestling against her bindings.

“Babe, be careful, don’t hurt yourself. It’s over, just hang on.” He tried to get up, and as much as it hurt, he managed to get over to her. “Honey.” He pulled the rag out of her mouth. “Talk to me.”

“Blood. Blood in my face.”

“I’ll get it.” He tried to wipe the blood off her face while he was doing his best to not just break into a sobbing mess of relief. “I’m so sorry.”

“Hurts.”

“Give me a sec.”

He turned around when he heard the door open, and Sisco, Mac, and Bull ran inside.

“Get her loose,” he yelled.

Sisco pulled out a knife and cut off the ropes, and she basically fell into his arms. Anna was finally in his arms, and he hugged her tight.

“Water,” she croaked.

Mac handed him a bottle, and Mitch opened it for her. It didn’t look like she could use even her good hand, so she’d probably been tied up for a while. He held up the bottle in front of her.

“Take it easy, honey. Not too much.”

“Hurts.”

“The hand? We’ll get that taken care of.” They should get her to a hospital to make sure it was properly fixed. He didn’t want to take any chances with any more of her limbs. “I’ll get it sorted.”

“No. Stomach. It’s cramping.”

“Oh, fuck!” Sisco muttered. “Is she’s in labor?”

“Yes,” Anna said and nodded after a few more sips of water. “I think so.”

“Where did the first shot hit?” Bull asked.

“My leg.”

“You can’t go the hospital with a bullet in your leg and a girlfriend that looks like that.”

“She needs to go to the hospital.”

“I’m not questioning that, I’m just saying that you can’t go with her.”

“She’s in labor.”

“You can’t go,” Bull said firmly and shook his head, and he must’ve noticed Mitch being about to protest and cut him off before he had the chance. “There’s a good chance that slug comes from the same gun as the one who the killed the other women.”

Mitch looked at Anna; she had bruises on her face and on her arms. Bull was right. If he came into the hospital with that slug in his leg there would be hell to pay, and not only because of what Anna looked like.

Anna stroked his cheek. “I don’t want to go alone.”

“You’re not going alone,” Mac said and squatted down next to them. “I’ll go with you. Think you’d be okay with me until Mitch is done? They’ll pull that slug out, patch him up, and then he’ll be there.”

“It won’t be long,” Mitch tried to assure her. “I promise.”

She nodded hesitantly and tears kept falling down her cheeks, and Mitch wiped them away. He had to ask, he didn’t want to, but he had to ask her what they’d done to her.

“What did they do to you?” he mumbled.

“Beat me up,” she mumbled, and she started sobbing. “She kicked me. I think she kicked Sprout, too.”

Mitch wished they’d figured out a way to get her out of this without killing them fast, but the Tommy’d set it up so he could get them through one of the windows. Mitch had known that was the best way to do it, and the fastest way to get Anna the fuck out of there. He stroked Anna’s belly and tried to feel Sprout move.

“She’ll be fine. She’s a fighter,” he tried to assure her, and himself, before he turned to Mac. “Think you can carry her?”

Mac nodded and carefully put his hand on Anna’s shoulder. “You okay with that?”

“Yes.”

“Where does it hurt most?”

“My back right now.”

“I’ll be careful,” Mac assured her and carefully lifted her up.

“I’ll help you, kid,” Sisco said and pulled Mitch off the floor. “I’ve called Lisa. April and her are waiting for you.”

When they walked outside, he saw Tommy come walking with an M40 rifle over his shoulder. Even if it had taken him a while to pull the fucking trigger, Mitch knew that he owed Tommy a lot. It had been his setup; he’d really pulled through, and he gave Tommy a hug.

“I had to move to get a better shot, I’m sorry.”

“You did good,” Mitch mumbled. “Don’t sweat it. This would’ve been a lot fucking harder if it hadn’t been for you. I owe you, man.”

Tommy looked at Anna who was put in the van by Mac. He pointed at her questioningly.

“She’s in labor,” Bull explained. “Mac’s taking her to delivery, and I’m taking Mitch to the clubhouse so we can dig out the slug before he goes to the hospital.”

Mitch watched the van leave, and he wondered how screwed he was—again. She hadn’t seemed angry, but he figured that could change once she was over the shock.

“Gotta say,” Bull said when he started them towards the other van. “Brick was right.”

“About what?” he groaned, as he tried to get inside. Once Anna was gone he’d noticed how fucking bad his leg was aching.

“Thought he was full of shit when he said you’ll make a good president, but when shit went down, you were on top of it all. Might not feel like it now, but you did good. Really fucking good, and I’m impressed.”

“Thanks.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. He didn’t think he’d ever heard Bull give anyone that kind of praise. “Speaking of Dad…”

“I’ll handle it. Get that slug out and go see your baby girl. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Mitch just hoped his baby girl was okay.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

My Hand?

-o0o-

Everything was hurting, but my back was the absolute worst, and I had a hard time figuring out what were contractions and what was due to the fact that I’d been tied up and sleeping on a concrete floor—or the beatings, but I didn’t want to think about those.

Then another contraction hit me. It was bad, and I wasn’t wondering about the difference between the pains anymore.

“Oh hell! Oh, this is bad, you need to drive faster!” I yelled at Mac.

“This would be a good time to start with proper cussing,” Mac chuckled. “Focus on your breathing, keep it rhythmical.”

He demonstrated, and I had completely forgotten about all that breathing they’d tried to teach. For a second, I was glad that it was Mac who was with me, because I didn’t think Mitch would’ve been as calm as Mac was right then.

“Good,” he said with an approving nod when I started doing as he’d asked.

When the contraction subsided, I let go of my grip of the door handle. “How bad do you think it was?”

“Mitch?” he asked and I nodded. “Not too bad. Lisa and April will fix it. Don’t worry about it. Focus on this.”

I closed my eyes, and soon I felt another contraction.

“Shit,” Mac muttered when he noticed. “They’re really fucking close.”

“Don’t stress me!”

“Sorry, but they are, I need to step on it. What’s the name of your doc, Anna?”

“Magda Boyarov,” I answered. “Why?”

“Means I got the info I need. Just do your stuff, and I’ll handle the rest.”

I’d never loved Mac more than I did at that moment. He’d take care of things, and that’s all I needed to know—I shut the world out.

The only thing I could focus on for the rest of the drive was my breathing, and keeping the pain at bay to the best of my ability. I’d thought I was getting pretty good at that, but nothing could’ve prepared me for this kind of pain. At the same time, in the middle of all the shit and all the things that had happened, this was a good kind of pain, a pain with a good purpose. I’d never hated being sore from training or my feet hurting, because it was something that came from training, and it meant I was getting better. But this was an even better pain, because it meant Sprout was on her way. She might be a little early, but I didn’t think it was any big risk, since I was in week thirty-seven. It should be okay.

While I kept telling myself that it should be okay, I couldn’t help thinking about Anita and how she’d kicked me. I’d thought it was bad when she kicked my bad leg, but the terror when she kicked my stomach had been worse. I’d tried to protect it with my arms as well as I could, and once they’d left me alone, I’d cried in relief when I felt Sprout move. But she’d kicked me again. When it happened the first time, it had been such a shock. I couldn’t believe that a person I’d been chatting with for months, all of a sudden had started hurting me. It seemed so foreign to me, a behavior I couldn’t understand, and didn’t want to understand.

The thoughts stopped once the next contraction hit me. I kept my eyes closed and imagined the air going in and out of me—down to the lungs, through my body, and out again. The next time I took notice about anything but my breaths and the pain was when I felt a hand on my arm.

“Come on, we’re here.” Mac put an arm around my waist and pulled my arm over his shoulders. “This okay?”

I nodded while breathing. Even if I wasn’t mid-contraction, I was still in some pain, so I kept it up. Mac pretty much carried me inside, and from somewhere far away, I could hear him screaming at people. He seemed to get them going, so I kept shutting things out. I did hear one thing, though, and it was Doctor Boyarov’s voice.

“A bit early, Miss Dobronravov,” she chuckled. “Open your eyes.”

I did, and she gave me a stiff nod. I noticed I was in a bed, but before I had time to wonder how that had happened, she spoke up again.

“The gentleman who brought you here is waiting outside. He said you’d been in an accident, but I didn’t want him in here until I’d had a talk with you in private. Who is he?”

“Mitch’s brother, and I’d like to have him with me. At least until Mitch gets here. I don’t want to be alone.”

“Okay.” She turned her head and nodded to a nurse. “You’re almost fully dilated, so you’ll soon feel a need to push, but you don’t push until I say it’s okay.”

Mac turned up next to me, and he took my good hand in his.

“My hand?” I asked Doctor Boyarov.

“We’ve called a specialist, but one thing at a time. Let’s get this girl out first, and we worry about the other things later, because she’s not waiting.” She turned to the nurse. “Get everyone ready. This is happening fast.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, and I stared at Mac who looked as worried as I felt.

“Don’t leave me,” I whispered. I was terrified of being left alone.

“Not going anywhere,” he assured me. “I’ll be right here until you tell me differently or until Mitch comes and kicks me out.”

“Thank you.”

“Nothin’ to it,” he smiled and stroked the hair out of my face. “We’re family, and he’d do the same for me.”

“I’m scared,” I whispered low enough for only he to hear me.

“I know,” he nodded. “It’s gonna be fine, and before this day is over you’ll have a baby girl—born on the same day as her dad. He’s getting the best birthday present anyone can get.”

I smiled. “I hadn’t thought of that,” I said, just as I felt the next contraction coming, and now I wanted to push. My entire body was screaming at me to push, and I looked at the doctor. “Can I?”

“No!” she barked. I felt her hand between my legs, and I tried to relax, but it felt impossible. “Almost there.”

“Please,” I groaned. “I can’t.”

Something she did hurt like hell, and I screamed, at the same time she yelled, “Now.”

And I pushed.

The last thing I remembered was her voice when she screamed, “We need blood.”

-o0o-

I opened my eyes, and it was so terribly hard. The next thing I noticed was the pain surging through my body. When I moaned, I felt a hand on mine, and once I managed to focus my eyes, I noticed Mitch on a chair next to my bed.

“Mitch,” I croaked.

“Hey,” he leaned closer and stroked my cheek before resting his lips against my temple. “You’re back.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but you lost a lot of blood. I think they said it was placenta abruption.”

“Probably because of the kicks.”

“Probably. According to the doc, it had been bleeding for a while, which might have been some of the reason for your back pain. They sedated you, but they said you’d be fine.” He choked and leaned his forehead to mine. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what else to say, but I’m so sorry, babe.”

“The baby?”

“She’s fine. They needed to check up on her, since she’s a bit early, but they said she’d be fine, too.” He sighed when I put my hand on his cheek. “We’ll all be fine.”

“How are you?”

“Better than you are.”

“Mitch,” I warned him. “Tell me.”

“They got the slug, and Lisa stitched me up. I’ll hobble along next to you for a while, though.” He looked up, and there were still tears running down his cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault. I didn’t listen to you, and they got to me.”

“They would’ve gotten to you anyway, honey, so you did nothing wrong. Nothing at all. I’m sure this was set up to happen on my birthday, so they would’ve gotten to you anyway.” He turned his head and kissed my palm. “And it was my fault.”

“No,” I shook my head. “It wasn’t, so don’t say that. Have you seen her?” I wanted us think about Sprout—or Alma. Since she was born, she was Alma now.

“No,” he smiled. “They were in here about five minutes ago and said she’d be here soon.”

“Did Mac see her?”

“No. When you started bleeding they pushed him out of the room. He wanted me to let you know you picked a bitch doctor, and I’d be pissed, but one of the other doctors said it would’ve been a lot worse if she hadn’t been there. She patched you up well.”

“My hand?”

“They brought in some specialist while they had you sedated to fix you up, and he said there won’t be any permanent damage. It might take a while, but no major nerve damage, they fixed some tendons or something… I’m not sure, baby, but they said it should heal up nicely, and he’ll come and talk to you later today.” He sobbed and I pulled him closer to me again. “I’m so sorry.”

“Honey, it wasn’t your fault,” I tried again.

“No matter what you say, it was. This wouldn’t have happened if…” He shook his head.

“It wouldn’t have happened if I never met you, but that’s really the only way to have avoided it, and that’s not something I’m sorry about. We have a girl we’re about to see, so please don’t. Don’t ruin this by saying we shouldn’t have met.”

“Okay, but I’m still sorry.” He sighed. “Thirsty? They said you might be thirsty.”

“Yes.” I watched him stand up to get a pitcher, and when he walked he definitely had a limp. “It’s pretty sexy.”

“What?” he turned around and it was the first smile he’d given me since I woke up.

“The limp. It’s pretty sexy.”

“I know,” he smiled. “But I’m glad you noticed. Now you know one of the reasons I find you hot as fuck.”

He held a glass with a straw in front of me, and I couldn’t help notice the way he studied me.

“Something wrong?” I asked and returned back to the straw. I was really thirsty.

“I’m just… I’m glad you’re not angry, and I’m wondering if it’ll last or if you’re gonna get angry with me soon.”

“Mom warned me that women always pay the price of men’s deeds. No matter how I feel about Anita, she was right about that, and you didn’t think about it. You thought it was Hump, because it never occurred to you that he wasn’t the only one whose life you destroyed.”

“And you paid the price for
that
,” he mumbled.

“That was the point with her plan,” I whispered and pulled him closer. “But it’s not just about paying. I’m getting things, too—good things. Don’t forget that.”

“Okay. I love you.”

The door opened before I had time to answer, and a nurse came in pushing a clear bassinette in front of her. In it was a pink bundle.

“I’m glad you’re awake,” she smiled at me. “You don’t wanna miss this little miracle.”

I reached out my hands and managed to completely ignore the soaring pain in my back; I just wanted to hold my girl. The nurse picked her up with a big smile and took a step towards me.

And then I had her.

“Welcome, Alma,” I mumbled and held her closer.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen. I pushed the blanket further out of the way to see her entire face. Mitch reached and carefully pulled off her tiny pink hat, and we both chuckled. She had thick, black hair—a lot of it.

“That’s gonna kill Mac,” he whispered, and I felt him sit down next to me on the bed.

“You’re an ass,” I laughed.

“She’s perfect.” He gave my shoulder a kiss. “So perfect.”

“You need to keep an eye on her,” the nurse smiled. “It’s not uncommon for premature children to have jaundice. It’ll show in a day or two. There are no real risks involved, but it’s important to keep an eye on it anyway.”

I could only nod, but still refused to stop looking at her.

“Any other risks, since she was born early?” Mitch asked.

“She was almost in week 37, and it’s just one week from what we consider within the normal range, so I’d say there’s no need to worry at all.”

She left us, and we sat in silence and just stared at Alma, and suddenly I couldn’t hold back anymore and sobbed.

“She’s beautiful.”

I couldn’t stop myself and stroked her little lips with my thumb before continuing up over her incredibly soft cheek. Her lips tensed into a sour face, and we both laughed. She had tiny tuffs of hair at the top of her ears and Mitch chuckled when he noticed. We’d both stared at her for a really long time when she opened her eyes with a mewl and a stretch, and we both drew our breath. She had bright blue irises with a dark outer ring.

“Amazing.”

“We did a good job,” Mitch laughed and gave me a kiss. Alma started crying. “Think she wants to be fed.”

“I’m not sure how to do this,” I admitted.

“She probably does, just put her at the right spot and it’ll solve itself. Hopefully.”

He helped and made sure to cover the cast on my hand with a pillow, and then she was there, right at my breast. It seemed like Mitch had been right, when she was in the right spot, she opened her mouth and started. I wasn’t sure if she was getting anything, but they’d told me it might be a bit tricky in the beginning.

“That’s kind of hot,” Mitch said.

“Eww,” I laughed.

He looked at me and his facial expression changed to a slightly tormented one again.