The Way Home (20 page)

Will never got to finish the sentence, because Susan pulled the trigger. The shot hit his chest and the force sent him down to the floor, and she didn't give him another thought. She moved over to Houdini, dropped down to her knees. “We've got to get pressure on the cuts.”

“Nice shot, Baby.” He grinned at her as she started to undo his belt. “Whoa, at least buy me dinner first.”

“That's not funny.” Susan glared at him as she pulled his belt out. “I need to do a tourniquet, it might hurt. How do you feel?”

“Not so good actually.” His words were slightly slurred, his skin paler than she would have liked. “I think I might need some stitches. Good thing I've got you here.”

“I am here. I'm not going anywhere.” Susan tightened the belt as much as she could. “I need you to get up and walk for me because I can't carry you. I can't.”

“If you could, we could make some serious money entering you in strength contests.”

“Stop joking around. This is serious, really serious. If the brachial artery was hit, you could be bleeding out right now and the tourniquet wouldn't be enough. I don't have what I need here to do an artery repair, I need a sterile environment and special equipment and...” There was so much that she didn't have, so much that she needed and above anything, Susan realized that she needed Houdini to be  okay.

“Hey. Hey. Look at me.” Houdini grabbed her hands. “If it was the artery and I was bleeding out, would I be awake? Would I be talking?”

“Stranger things have happened. Get up so that I can take a proper look at you.” Susan felt her hands still shaking even inside of his firm grip. Maybe she'd never stop shaking, never stop being scared. She didn't want to be scared. She was tired of being scared.

“Help me up,” he replied and she did. “Thanks.” Houdini winced as he moved his arm. “I think it's fine.”

“You're still bleeding. And where's Mike? Did you get him into the room before Will showed up?” Susan was ashamed to realize that she hadn't spared a thought for Mike since the moment she heard Houdini shout. What kind of doctor was she?

“He's in the treatment room, was sleeping or passed out. It's for the best he stayed out. He's got heart. He'd have tried to get involved.” Houdini took several slow steps, and Susan rushed to duck under his arm and support his weight the best that she could.

They were nearly to the door of the apartment when the sound of engines filled the air. “That better be our people.” Susan sighed.

“If it's not, I want you to run.” Houdini stood up straighter. “I want you to run as far and fast as you can and not look back.”

“No.”

“I can't do what I need to do if I'm worried about you getting hurt.”

“You're in no shape to fight, Houdini. If that's one of our enemies at the door, like it or not, you're going to need my help. I'm not going to run. I'm not going to leave you.”

“Susan....”

“I'm not going to leave you. I love you.” Susan met his eyes. “And I've treated you horribly since I've been home and I'm sorry and I'm not going to leave you so just don't ask me to, okay?”

“Say it again.”

“I'm not going to leave you.”

“Not that.”

Susan felt herself smiling, really smiling despite the fucked up circumstances that they found themselves in once again. “I love you.”

“I know you do, Baby. You've got no idea how nice it is to hear you say it, though.” A horn blared outside, three long blasts. “That's our people. Go on and open the bay door. Let 'em in.”

Susan ran to do just that and as soon as the doors rolled up there was complete chaos inside of the warehouse. In addition to the bikes, there was Vera's SUV, and that was what Deacon jumped out of. It wasn't a good sign to see Deacon behind a wheel, not on his bike. “Susan, get over here, now. Vera's hurt.”

Susan looked between Deacon and Houdini. Houdini met her eyes and motioned with his head for her to go to Vera. “Eddie!” She grabbed the man as he went to move past her. “Get Houdini back into the apartment. If anything happens to him, I will kill you.” With that she moved over to the SUV. “Talk to me, Deke.”

“She's having pains, I think. I don't know.” Deacon's face was pale. “She won't talk to me, she just keeps on crying. I don't know what she's feeling, she's blocking me out.” A hint of anger was obvious in his voice. “I think she's losing the baby.”

“Don't jump to conclusions,” Susan told him sternly. “What did he do to them?”

“Nothing,” Adelaide spoke from the back. “Nothing like you're thinking. He cut us off, we nearly went off the road and then he had the passenger door opened and pulled Vera out. I went willingly at that point.”

“Help me get her out. I think I know what's going on.” It had been a while since Vera had a panic attack, somehow being with Deacon had eased them for her. In a highly stressful situation, though, it was possible the feelings came back. “Vera, listen to me. Vera, you need to breathe.”

It took what seemed like forever for her to actually do that or to come out of the truck. Susan hated that she felt her patience running thin, but all she could think about was Houdini. After Vera was breathing normally and not holding every muscle in her body rigid, Deacon began to relax too. “Is anyone else hurt?”

“Nothing that can't wait until after you check on Houdini.” Deacon replied.

Susan didn't need to be told twice; she turned towards the apartment at nearly a run. It was a speed she'd perfected in hospital corridors; she'd arrive quickly but not winded or breaking a sweat. She burst through the apartment door, found Houdini on the bed with Eddie and a blonde woman at his side.

“It's about time,” Houdini winked at her from where he was propped up on the bed. “I was starting to think that you forgot about me.”

“That's not likely. How do you feel?”

“Better than before, a little tired. Why don't you come join me? We can take a little nap.” There was a leer to his voice which told her he was feeling better, but she doubted he was feeling well enough to do much more than sleep. She wanted more. She wanted it so badly that the thought of it made her body cramp in anticipation. It was the first time she'd felt true arousal since she'd been taken.

Susan cleared her throat, stood up straighter. “I think I should completely stop your bleeding first.” She looked over to Eddie. “Thanks Eddie and Eddie's friend.”

“Anything for a Brother,” Eddie replied. “And this is Sam.”

“Nice to meet you,” the blonde smiled at her. “C'mon Eddie, lets get out of here and give them some privacy.”

Susan barely noticed them leave. She walked over to the bed. “How do you really feel?”

“Like a lucky son of a bitch.”

“Yeah, that's not really far off. If this cut was a few centimeters higher, we wouldn't be having this conversation.” Susan lifted the bandage away from his side. “Do you remember the first time I stitched you up?”

“We were in Deke's kitchen. You didn't seem to like me much.” He chuckled. “And I really liked you. You had the most beautiful eyes and you were hot, smoking hot.”

“You weren't so bad yourself. Pretty impressive, actually.” Susan rose from the bed, found one of her bags with a suture kit. “Sometimes I forget it really wasn't that long ago with everything that happened, but I wasted time with you. I took you for granted.”

“Baby, don't say that.”

“It's true and I'm sorry for it. I can't tell you how sorry.” Susan needed to try. “From the beginning, I fought against everything that I felt for you and I...”

“Baby,” Houdini gripped her arm tightly. “Look at me.” He waited until she did. “I knew what you couldn't tell me by the way you slept with me at night. We're good, Susan. We'll always be good.

Chapter Seventeen.

Houdini was about sick of bed rest, and it hadn't even been a full day, only about eight hours or so since he'd woken up with Susan in his arms. She'd fallen asleep the second that she joined him in bed and had slept deeply. From what he could tell, she hadn't woken even once, which made it the first full night of sleep since he had her back. And now she really was back, when he'd just been starting to wonder if she ever would be.

“He needs to rest, Deke.” Susan's voice carried from outside of the apartment. “Whatever it is, it'll need to wait until he's feeling better.”

“Is he dying?”

“No, of course he's not dying.”

“Then it can't wait. It's club business, Susan.”

“You've got ten minutes.”

“I'll take all the time I need.”

Houdini winced, waited for Susan to explode and was surprised when she didn't. Seconds later there was a knock on the door. “Come in.” He sat up as best he could.

Deacon came in, shut the door behind him. “If looks could kill, I'd be dead right now.”

Houdini chuckled. “You expect anything less?”

“Nope. I actually expected that she'd physically try and hurt me. I guess things are getting back to normal for the two of you.” Deacon sat on the edge of the bed. “Or what passes for normal with us, which really isn't that normal at all. There's always something, always.”

“Now there isn't,” Houdini pointed out. “The Hunters are gone. Michael is dead. He is dead, right?”

“Damn right he is.” Deacon snarled the words. “It was quicker than I'd have liked, but I was more worried about Vera and the baby. He's dead, he won't hurt anyone again. Guess we're going to find out what quiet is like.”

“Until the next thing,” Houdini knew they would never lead average, normal lives, and he was okay with that. “But that's life, right?”

Deacon chuckled. “Our lives, at least. We're thinking we'll bury Nate tomorrow. Found an “in case” letter in his cut. He wants to be put in the ground, in his family plot.”

“And he will be.” It wasn't lost on Houdini that if Nate and Mike hadn't been left with Susan, Will very well may have killed her. “He went down fighting, took out everyone but Will. He was a good brother, and he'll be missed.”

“That's for sure, and without him, we're down to five.”

“We've never been a large club, Deke. We can make it with five.” Houdini was trying to be diplomatic. Five was far from a strong number, but if it was what they had to work with they'd find a way to make it work.

“I'd feel better with six, which is one of the reasons why I'm here. I'm thinking that we need to talk to Shepard and talk about Fire.”

“To Shepard? You're thinking about asking him to patch?” The thought had never occurred to Houdini. Shepard was a member of The High Council, something that made him a Stray through and through. Was there room for something else there?

“What do you think?”

“I like Shepard, I do, but I'm not sure that he's going to want to just stay in Center City. He's getting itchy here, restless. You can see it.”

“I don't think that's from being here,” Deacon replied. “I think that's got more to do with a certain blonde. Figured he might like a reason to stick around and the possibility of some quiet.”

“There's only one way to find out. Just ask him. Six does sound better than five.” Houdini couldn't help but think that it would be better to have more men, even if they were entering an era of peace and quiet. “What about Fire? I thought we agreed to let him live, to be able to raise his son. He saved Susan, went against Michael to make sure this building remained and every piece of the past we have is because of him.”

“He also stood by, watched Master kill Whiskey. Took off his patch and put on a Griever one.” Deacon sighed. “Which I know he did because of his son, but he didn't even tell us that he had a son. How do you not tell your Brothers something like that?”

“Most of our Brothers didn't know my past,” Houdini pointed out. “None of them do now, except for you. Some things are just too personal, too hard to share. For Fire, it was having a kid with some random woman.”

“Not exactly random,” Deacon replied. “Do you remember Lauren Ames?”

It took Houdini a moment to put a face to the name. Lauren had spent a few weeks around the warehouse, but he'd never spent any real time with her. She'd seemed nice enough, had mostly spent her time with Master or Double, and then one day she just stopped coming around. “What about her?”

“She's the mother, or was. Looks like The Hunters got to her.” Deacon grew quiet for a moment. “He called me. He wants to come back to Center City, bring his kid back with him. Wanted to know if The Vikings would have a problem with it.”

“What did you say?”

“I said I'd bring it up for a vote.” Deacon replied. “And the more that I think about it, the more I wonder if we should vote on his patch as well. As in giving it back to him.”

Houdini had never considered that particular possibility, and he wasn't sure if Deacon wanted his opinion or just needed to say the words out loud. “Never really thought about it. You sure about this? You just said that he was right there when Master killed Whiskey. We all know what that old man meant to you.”

“He was more a father than my own father was, but he'd also be the first to say that sometimes you make decisions you regret and that what you do to make it right is what matters. I think that Fire wants to make it right.”

“I think that you're right about that. I won't stand in the way of him getting his patch.” Houdini realized that he'd actually be relieved to have another proven fighter on their side, just in case. It was nothing against the newest brothers, but they lacked experience. “Might be smart for us to start thinking of other people we might want to talk to.”

“You're right about that. We'll call a meeting, see if any of the guys have suggestions.” Deacon rose to his feet. “We'll do it after the funeral, so see if you can think of anyone.”

“I can do that.” Immediately Mason sprung to mind, but the Stray was known to be a little on the anti-social side, so it wasn't a sure thing that he'd even be interested. “You headed home?”

“Going to make a pizza run first, grab something to tempt Vera to eat. She's getting really picky these days, but she usually can't resist pizza and garlic knots. Want me to drop something back off for the two of you?”

“I'd appreciate it. Do me a favor, send Susan in on your way out?”

“Like any force on earth could stop her from coming to check and make sure I didn't tire you out too much. We really are lucky sons of bitches.”

“That we are. I'll see you tomorrow Pres.” Houdini shifted so that he was laying down more. Maybe Susan had a point about resting, he was feeling his wounds more than he'd admit to anyone.

Susan came in the door a minute after Deacon stepped out. “You wanted to see me?”

“Can you come here a second?”

“Are you having pain? What does it feel like? Is it...”

Houdini grabbed her wrist before she could take his pulse. “I am having a pain.” He held her firmly. “I think I know what will make it better. I think I need a kiss.”

“You could have just said that without freaking me out first.” Susan leaned in and pressed a light kiss against his lips. “Deke said he's going to bring us back pizza, but I could find us something else if you're hungry.”

“I can wait for pizza, and I think that we both know that wasn't a real kiss.” Houdini released her wrist and moved his hand up to cup her face. She went still for a moment and then relaxed. “You know that I love you, Susan. I love you so very much.”

“I love you too.”

His heart sped up at the words. It was so fucking great to hear them from her once again. “I want to ask you something.”

“Don't ask me about what happened when I was gone, Houdini. Please don't ask me that.” Susan remained where she was but shut her eyes. “I can't.”

“You can't keep it inside forever, Baby. You know that as well as I do. The longer you keep it in, the more it's going to completely eat you up inside. Nothing that you can say is going to change anything between us.”

“It will,” Susan opened her eyes. “It'll change the way you see me, and I don't want that. I can deal with what happened, but not if you can never look at me and not see it.”

“You really think that little of me?” Houdini questioned. “You think anything could make me love you less? It couldn't. It won't.”

“You don't know that. You can't know that.”

“I'm not going to drop this, Susan, and you're not walking away from it. Look at me, Baby. Just talk to me, tell me it all. Get it out.”

“You want me to get it out? Tell you all about it? Where do I start? Do you want to hear about the beatings first? Or maybe being locked in a metal box listening to a woman be raped to death? Or maybe you want to talk about what happened after I tried to run for the first time. Do you want all the dirty details?” Houdini tried to speak but she cut him off. “Do you want to know what it was like to be bound in one place? No separate bathroom, no privacy? Just you and a dozen other people and some hay. I can't even describe what it's like to feel that dirty but to know when you're dragged away to be hosed off, it's just going to get worse? To know that you're going to be forced to do things that you....”

Houdini reacted on instinct, grabbing her and pulling her to him. His injured arm protested sharply, but he ignored it and held her tight against him. “Shhh.” His lips brushed against her ear as she began to cry.

“It was...”

“You don't have to say it, Susan.” Houdini wasn't sure that she could say it.

“It was the worse than anything I could have ever imagined. Even when I wasn't being constantly hurt, it was just.... Rick used everything he knew about me. He took things that I liked and he... he made me hate them and afraid of them.”

“Are you afraid of me?” Houdini pulled back so he could look into her eyes.

“No.” She smiled at him. “I'm not.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” Again, there was no hesitation in her answer. Houdini could also see the signs that she was relaxing.

“I will never push you to do anything.”

“I know that too,” she sighed. “I'm sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Now Houdini was confused. Surely she wasn't apologizing for what had happened to her. It wasn't her fault, none of it was.

“This can't be how you imagined it being once I was back, none of it. I'm sorry that you're not getting what you want.”

“Baby, I've got you. That's all that I need.”

“What if I never can... what if we can't....” She fumbled for the words, a blush spreading over her cheeks.

“We'll figure it out. And we don't have to figure it out tonight. Tonight, we're going to have pizza and beer, in bed while we watch a movie, and then we're going to have ice cream. I'll run out and grab whatever you want.”

“You couldn't run anywhere if you tried, and you're not going to try. I have ice cream in the freezer. I picked it up at the store the other day.”

“Baby, there's no way that ice cream is still there. Have you seen how the guys eat? Nothing lasts more than a day or two here.”

“Trust me, it's still there.” Susan assured him with a smirk. “Want to know my secret trick?”

“Yeah,” Houdini replied.

“I buy the smaller containers and hide them in my frozen dinner boxes. No one ever wants to eat the frozen dinners, well except maybe Vera. So no one ever sees the ice cream.”

“Sneaky. I like it. But now I know, aren't you worried I'm going to steal your ice cream?”

“No,” she replied. “And if you ate it, I figure you'd replace it, because you love me.”

“That I do,” Houdini confirmed.

“Good. I love you too.” She leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips, and his heart soared.

<#<#<#<#

“I'm just saying, think about it, Mason. It's a nice town, good people, plenty of space for you to change.” Houdini took a sip of his beer, looked around the nearly completed warehouse. A good chunk of the space was now walled off. There were three more rooms for brothers or guests. The pool table was back, along with a felt-covered poker table. There was even a stripper pole, though he wasn't sure who exactly was going to dance around it, but he was sure someone would break it in at the party they had planned for the following week.

“That's your sales pitch?” Mason took a cigarette from the pack that he'd tossed on the table and lit up. “I will think about it, though. Grass isn't so green where I'm at now.”

“Got something you want to talk about?”

“Nothing I can talk about.” The man replied. “Who else are you asking?”

“Shepard,” Houdini admitted. He watched Mason's expression change. “There's a guy from town and a couple from the pack.”

“Shepard might as well accept, he's going to be here anyway.”

“What does that mean?”

“You haven't heard?” Mason took a deep drag off his cigarette. “I got the call before I came out here to meet you, The Council has reassigned Lina to Mexico and assigned Shepard to stay here and oversee the area. Effectively, they've put him out to pasture.”