When Dove Cries (6 page)

She blinked, surprised at the abrupt change of topic and his tone of voice. “I’m not.”

“Were they the ones who hurt you? Think, Dove. I would be happy to find you some place safe, some place out of their reach.”

She shook her head. “No, they didn’t do this to me, Dr. Blake. They’ve been exemplary in how they’ve treated me. I’m sure I’m taking them away from important things—”

Dr. Blake snorted. “They’re bikers. They have nothing important in their lives other than avoiding real work and milking the system.”

“Don’t talk about them like that,” she stated angrily, although her voice wobbled a bit. “They’re my saviors.”

“Another woman was attacked and brought in by bikers,” he argued back. “Can’t you see the pattern of violence?”

“I think you need to leave my room now, Dr. Blake,” she whispered, not looking at him. “And I think I should have a different doctor attending me.”

“Dove—”

“My name is Miss Aldrin,” she interrupted. “And the Red Wolves are my friends.”

He remained standing at the side of her bed—a standoff. Him waiting for her to look at him and her waiting for him to leave. Finally, after a few minutes, he sighed and turned. A moment later, the door opened, and only then did she look up to watch Draven and Cade march back into her room.

“What was that about?” Cade asked.

“I asked for another doctor to take care of me,” she told him instead of answering his question.

“Why? What did he say?” Draven demanded.

She sighed. “He thinks you’re the ones who hurt me, that I’m a victim of bikers. I told him to get out and to change who took care of me because I won’t have anyone thinking you two aren’t honorable.”

“That son of a bitch—”

Cade grabbed Draven’s arm and held him from charging back through the door. “Don’t.”

“I won’t, but I have something important to discuss with the good doctor.”

“Don’t prove him right,” Cade added. “Dove handled it. She’s tough, remember?”

Both men looked at her.

Heat warmed Dove’s cheeks. “I did grow up with an Army sergeant for a dad.”

“Lord, help us,” Draven muttered then gave a little chuckle as he walked over to her, bent and kissed her forehead. “I won’t start shit, but I do have to ask him something. I’ll be right back.”

He spun and left the room, leaving Dove with a ball of anxiety resting in her belly.

“He really doesn’t like this hospital.”

“Not sure if I’m liking this hospital either,” Cade muttered.

A couple of minutes stretched out, then Draven was back, smiling. His whole body had relaxed.

“Dr. Blake is getting your discharge papers ready,” Draven went on. “There’s a woman at the clubhouse who’ll take care of you, nurse you back to health. Once you’re stronger, you’ll come live with me in my house. I’m going to take care of you. You’re with me now. Okay?”

“Asshole,” Cade muttered to him. “Us. Okay? Get it through your thick skull.”

Draven opened his mouth to say something back, but Dove didn’t want them to fight anymore. At least not right then.

“How about a game or something?” Dove asked, hoping to distract them.

Both men seemed to reluctantly back away from their animosity toward each other. Cade pulled a new deck of cards out of his pocket and showed them.

“Wanna play poker?” he asked.

“I don’t know how to play,” she said. “Will you teach me?”

“Sure,” Draven said as he pulled up the C-arm table and scooted his chair closer. “I suppose strip poker is out of the question?”

Cade glared at him and brought a box of toothpicks out of his other pocket. “We’ll use these for now.”

“Ah, shucks.”

* * * *

Gunner knocked on Gray Dog’s door and waited until the old man bade him enter before opening the door. Dark shadows filled the room, and the place smelled like a dirty ashtray that even Gunner found offensive. Two of the club whores were playing with Gray Dog. One was grinding herself down on his dick, fucking like a mad fiend, while the other was kissing up and down his torso.

“Can’t you see I’m a little busy for club business?” Gray Dog asked.

“Merchandise is still being guarded by the two hounds.”

“Is there going to be a time when the hounds are out and about?”

“Only time is when the merchandise leaves the warehouse.”

Gray Dog thought for a minute, and Gunner eyed the girl on the old man’s lap. Her makeup had run, giving her a raccoon look. Her lipstick had been smeared off, and some of it rested on her cheek. She looked like a clown, and he wondered how Gray Dog could keep it hard for someone who looked like she did.

“Get a plan together on how to hit the merchandise,” Gray Dog finally said. “As soon as it’s in motion, I want it gone. Got it? Now get out of here. I’m about to come, and I don’t like men watching my come face.”

Gunner didn’t waste another second retreating. He had no desire to see the old man’s come face either.

Chapter Seven

“Man, we’ve been hustled,” Cade grumbled as he threw down his cards. He eyed the stack of toothpicks in front of Dove.

“Are you sure this deck isn’t marked?” Draven asked, inspecting a card’s back pattern carefully.

Dove chuckled. She’d plotted well. Yesterday, they had spent the day explaining each variant game of poker, and today she’d executed her plans carefully, luring them in until she’d gotten almost every one of their toothpicks.

She grabbed the cards out of Draven’s hand and decided to show off some of her skills. After shuffling them a few times, she cut the deck in half then pushed down in the center with her thumbs to create a bridge. The cards merged together beautifully. She did a couple of more little tricks, like twirling the cards around her fingers and fanning them out on the table to flip them over in a pretty spread, just to impress them.

“Yep, we definitely got hustled,” Cade said as he sat back in his chair. “Why’d you make us tell you how to play yesterday? And who taught you so well?”

“You two were so cute when you were explaining things to me, I simply didn’t have the heart,” she teased. She didn’t tell them that they hadn’t argued or glowered at each other once last night. “And I spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals when I was younger since it took a while for the doctor’s to diagnose me. How else do military men entertain little girls except with card tricks and board games?”

“So you’re saying you can beat our asses in Monopoly as well?” Cade asked.

“Damn skippy,” she said, smiling at him.

A knocked sounded on the door, and a second later, Allis poked her head inside.

“Can I come in?”

“Of course!” Dove replied. She set the deck of cards down as Allis and Givon walked in.

“Playing cards?”

“She’s a shark,” Cade stated. “Draven and I are bleeding heavily, going down for the count.”

Draven began to gather the toothpicks and put them back into their cardboard container. “We should take her to Vegas.”

Allis held up the basket she was holding. “I brought you a gift basket. Full of all kinds of girly necessities.”

She put the basket on the table in front of Dove. Curiously, Dove turned it around and saw face products, a razor, lathering soap, lip balm, panties and deodorant.

“Thank you,” she whispered, overwhelmed. She blinked away sudden tears. “This is really nice of you.”

Allis shrugged. “Been here, done that. When I got out of the hospital, I didn’t even have the basic stuff.”

“Allis, you can sit here,” Draven said, standing and holding out the chair for her.

“Thanks,” she said and sat.

“Everything okay, Givon?” he asked the sheriff, who stood by the door. “Any updates?”

“The chain on the door had Hiller’s fingerprints, but that was all we could recover,” Givon replied.

“We figured that,” Cade said.

Givon nodded. “I also received word this morning of two other disappearances. I had Detective Harmon from Durango monitor the broadband.”

“Two more women?” Cade asked sharply. “Where?”

“Two towns, Lander and Thermopolis. Both women were in and out of the system, recovering addicts. No one to miss them except some friends who reported they had vanished.”

“Those towns are on either side of Riverton,” Draven muttered.

“Yep. Not too far from Destiny.” Givon sighed. “I came by to get Dove’s statement and see if she remembers anything else that might help her case and these new missing women. Anyone who might have come in contact with Michael Hiller or anything she saw—”

At that moment, the fire alarm rang throughout the hospital. Everything went dark as power was shut down and the emergency strobe light above the door began to blink.

“What the hell?” Givon muttered. “Stay with Draven, Allis.”

He left the room to go investigate. Cade went to follow but stayed by the door. Dove noticed he reached around to the back of his pants, under his vest, where she knew he carried his pistol. Fear gripped her. Allis grabbed her hand and held tightly, which helped ground her and drive the terror away. Her saviors would never allow her to be taken again.

Cade cracked open the door, stumbling back when a nurse rushed into the room. His hand was still on the hilt of his gun.

“There’s a fire in the hospital,” the nurse said quickly as she rushed to Dove’s IV. “I’m going to unhook you from your line. You’ll need to use the stairs, not the elevator.”

“Doesn’t she need to stay on the fluids?” Draven asked.

The nurse shook her head as she lowered the rail to the bed. “You need to get out of a burning building more than you need to be hooked up to an IV,” she said in a no-nonsense way.

Even though the needle was still in her arm, the nurse capped it off and taped it to her skin before helping her out of the bed.

“I’ve got her,” Draven told the nurse. He shuffled her out of the way and scooped Dove up in his arms.

“Great. I wish I had ten more of you.”

“They’re probably on their way,” he told her. “As soon as they get here, I’ll put them to work. Allis, stay in front of me and behind Cade.”

Cade opened the door and led them out of the room. Chaos ruled the hall as nurses scrambled to help the ambulatory patients toward the stairway. Dove wrapped her arms around Draven’s neck and clung tightly as she buried her face in his neck.

“Do you see Givon?” Allis asked.

“No,” Cade answered. “But stay behind me. My job is to make sure you and Dove are safe.”

Luckily, Dove was only on the second floor. They shuffled into the flow of traffic on the stairs, and seconds later, they were outside. When Dove felt the sunshine on her skin, she lifted her head and looked around. Orderlies had assembled as many gurneys as possible and were helping the elderly onto them. Doctors and nurses rushed around to check on their patients. The sound of fire trucks drew steadily closer. People yelled.

“Givon?” Allis shouted.

“I don’t see him,” Cade reported.

“I have to go find him!” Allis shouted, taking a step back toward the hospital entrance.

“No, ma’am,” Cade said firmly, stepping in front of her to block her path. “I’m not risking the wrath of the sheriff or the president of the Red Wolves by letting you run around to get hurt. Besides, I think this was a diversionary tactic.”

“What do you mean?”

“This doesn’t feel right,” Cade continued, looking around.

Dove knew he wanted to bring out his gun for a precautionary measure but couldn’t with all these people around.

“I know what you mean,” Draven muttered.

The fire truck had arrived, and men jumped off it then scrambled around to pull out hoses and establish a perimeter. They made sure people were okay and talked with the administrative hospital staff. Two firemen in full suits and masks entered the hospital to assess the situation.

Long minutes passed. The sound of motorcycles filled the air, and seconds later, North and about fifteen bikers arrived. Allis gave a cry and took off toward North, who unsnapped his helmet and hung it off a handlebar. He scooped Allis up in a tight hug, and she gestured toward the hospital. He held her hand tightly as he marched up to them.

North Tabion was a tall man with a bandana tied around his head, a long-sleeved shirt under his leather cut and a chain holding his wallet in his back pocket. His black riding boots thudded on the ground as he walked. Allis, on the other hand, was petite and a good foot shorter than he was, but her dark coloring was a striking contrast to his blond good looks.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded from Draven as soon as he was near.

“Fire alarm,” Draven answered. “Givon told us to watch Allis then he sprinted out of the door. We haven’t seen him since.”

“What do you want us to do?” a Red Wolves member asked.

North assessed the situation. “Spread out, ask the nurses where you can help.”

The man nodded, turned, then directed the others. North kept his voice down as he looked around.

“This seems too convenient,” he muttered. “All of us are out in the open.”

“That’s just what we were thinking,” Cade replied.

At that moment, the firemen came out and took off their face masks. Givon followed them. Allis cried out in relief and rushed toward him. He caught her in a hug and gave a nod of thanks to the firefighters.

Givon walked over to them with Allis tucked firmly against his side. He was wet and smelled heavily of smoke. Dove looked over at North, expecting to see jealousy, but only relief shown on his face. Their dynamic fascinated Dove.

“Man, what the fuck were you thinking?” North demanded. “Being sheriff is too pansy for you, so now you go put out fires?”

Givon shook his head. “Paper fire was set in one of the rooms in the basement,” he said. “Right under a fire alarm so it set off the sprinkler system down there. It was out before I got there, but the smoke is thick.”

“Sabotage,” Draven replied.

“Technically, arson,” Givon said. “But there aren’t security cameras in the basement, so unless the person who set it is really stupid and blabs, it may be hard to find the culprit.”