Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (23 page)

Dax. You are a good man. I’ve never seen you so gah-gah over a woman before. It brings me happiness to know you found the love of your life. You have to stay strong for her now. You have to take care of business and make sure she comes out of this. Scarlet is a strong girl. When she worked at the lounge, she was very headstrong. Not in an arrogant way, but she held her ground when she felt it was the right thing to do. I’m happy you chose her. That and I really want grandbabies.”

Somehow the mention of babies made me turn away. How could I tell her Scarlet had been pregnant?

“Dax?”

Her hand found my shoulder and she brought my face back around to look into her eyes.

“Dax? What is it?”

Best to get it over with.

“Scarlet was pregnant. Her mother put Ketamine in her drink and it was too-high of a dose for the baby to remain alive.”

Danny sobbed out a refusal. Then she brought me in her embrace. I must say, this hadn’t happened since I was a little boy. It didn’t feel uncomfortable as I thought it would so I hugged her to me.

“What am I supposed to do, mother? I can’t lose her. I would die if she left me. That’s how much I love her. I don’t want to be without her.”

She leaned into me, and in the voice I knew well, she whispered, “Take care of business then. Get them. It’s time to see them destroyed.”

She set me away from her and her eyes were hard and it was like a fire raged in her blue eyes.

“You do
whatever
it takes. There’s no way of linking this to them?”

“No. Even though the mother is a part of the MC, there’s no hard evidence.”

“Why not? She was there, and hello, Ketamine is illegal. It’s not easy to find. They have to know it was the mother.”

“Scarlet didn’t leave any evidence behind. The mother doesn’t have any priors so the cops-and you know how most are in their pocket-would find a way not to let it pass that the club had anything to do with Scarlet being drugged. The only thing Scarlet said when the EMT’s got her was her mentioning her phone. That’s about it. I’m gonna lose her. We’ve barely lived and I’m gonna lose her. Ain’t I?”

There was a smack to my head. “Ow.”

“Don’t ever let me hear you think like that. It’s still too early to really know that. Why don’t you go home and rest? I’ll stay here with her. You rest, do what you need to do and you get back here and help your girl wake up. Go home. Rest. Take care of business and get your ass back here. Understood, Declan Dax?”

“Yes, mother.”

I stood up, reached over to kiss Scarlet on her cheek, nose and forehead, and then leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“Dammit, Pixie. I know you’re in there. You stay strong for me. I’ll be back. I love you Scarlet Kristen. You’ve brought me to life. Don’t take it away. You think about that. Don’t you leave me. I love you, I love you, I love you. For all my life and eternity. There will never be another girl for me, but you. For now, you just keep fighting. I’ll be back soon.”

⟡

Scarlet

Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Dax be so emotional. Why is it so dark in here? Was I asleep? What did they say about a coma? Was I in one? I didn’t feel like I was in one. I felt so weird. I wanted to see Dax. Did I hear him right? Had I been pregnant? I don’t know how to feel about that. I really don’t feel much of anything. Just numbness.

There was something I needed him to know. It was just there, at the back of my mind. Something. Something about my phone.

He needed to find my phone. There was something on my phone that he needed to see. What was it? Why can’t I remember?

Why was I in a coma in the first place? So many questions. I heard the conversations around me faintly. In and out.

When I heard Dax whisper in my ear telling me to stay strong. How much he loved me. I knew I loved Dax. To the depths of my soul.

So that’s what I was going to do. Fight. I needed out of this coma. I needed to remember what I needed to tell him. Something about his grandfather. My mother.

My mother. I remember her so faintly. Didn’t she come over?

Yes!

That’s where things got fuzzy. I couldn’t remember our conversation.

I needed to wake up. I felt like maybe Dax was going to be in danger. He sounded really upset. I didn’t want him confronting the motorcycle club. They were dangerous. Family or not, he was going to try and get revenge somehow. I felt that. I needed to wake up.

I couldn’t feel my body.

Move Scarlet.

Gotta move.

Start moving.

Focus on what you need to do.

Who’s at risk? Dax.

I didn’t want anything happening to him.

Fight. Dammit, girl. You have nothing else to lose.

Please, Scarlet. Wake up, now.

Dax

It’s been a week. Scarlet was still in a coma. It was time to confront the club. The whole week I’ve been stewing over what I should do. I took off work and spent every second I could with Scarlet. I did as the doctor said. I talked to her. Told her my whole life story it seemed.

One time, I could have sworn I felt her hand twitch but it didn’t happen again so I chalked it up to my imagination. I told her how much I loved her.

I was sitting right next to her and it didn’t seem to be getting any better. I was getting angrier.

There was only one way to get out that anger.

⟡

“Visitor! Big D! There’s a bike parkin’!”

God. I could hear that loud mouth from thirty yards away. The last time I was here, I was about eight. My grandmother just passed and it was the funeral. I didn’t know what was going on at the time, I wasn’t close to any of them. Danny kept me away. Until I overheard Big D talking about how grandma died. For an eight year old boy, it wasn’t every day that you find out your grandmother was poisoned by a rivaling motorcycle club. Big D was talking about revenge and he went into detail about how to deal with them.

I hadn’t been quiet enough because one of his lieutenants whipped open the door and he grabbed me by the scruff and pulled me into the room.

Needless to say, Big D was a big man. He scared the crap out of me then. But now. I was seeking my own revenge.

An eye for an eye.

I parked and stepped off the bike and when I walked towards the clubhouse, Big D had sauntered his way over. No care in the world. Well, I was about to rattle his mother fucking cage.

“Dax, my man!”

“Hey, Dax.”

How they think they could just talk to me like I was one of them really just pissed me off.

I shoved them out of my way and got right up to Big D before I landed a sucker punch to his stomach.

Mother fucker should’ve seen that coming.

“What kind of game do you think you’re playing?”

The guys started circling me, ready to protect Big D and pound on me for payback. Yeah, bring that shit on.

“Little D. Don’t worry, boys. This is between him and me.”

“Ha. Actually, it’s between me and that skanky-ass cunt you call an old lady. What would my real grandmother think if she wasn’t six feet under?”

“Who, Marybeth? What in the world did she do?”

I really hated it when people acted brick fucking dumb.

“You know exactly what you did. The exact same shit you’re trying to do at the lounge. Well, lemme tell you. That shit ends. It’s never going to be in the MC’s hands. Going after what’s mine was a big fucking mistake.”

“Someone hurt your little Miss Scarlet?”

“Where is she?”

“Who?”

“She drugged Scarlet with Ketamine, in which I know you’re running through the lounge.”

“Where’s your proof?”

“I knew when I was eight years old what kind of shit was going down here and I want nothing to do with it. Until you messed with what was mine. You shouldn’t have done that. I will do everything in my power to see you taken down.”

The men around me started laughing and chuckling like they thought it was a joke.

“So, which one of you was at the lounge drugging those women? I know every single one of you. All your names. Why don’t I call the feds and see about getting them down here. Maybe the DEA. They’re not in your pockets.”

With that the group got quiet and Big D’s smirk was wiped off his face.

“Boy, you don’t have that kind of clout for one. I handled my business.”

“Yeah, Little D, you should’ve kept a chain on the bitch of yours.”

That was mistake number two.

I was close enough to Chuck, Uncle Chuck, Big D’s oldest and Vice Pres, that I grabbed him by his leather vest and started jabbing my fist into his stomach.

I heard guns clicking, and if they killed me, well, I guess it wouldn’t matter. They took the very thing that kept me going.

“No. Let him. He needs to get this out. Right, Declan?”

I didn’t pay attention and I didn’t stop until I heard Chuck’s nose break and his body went limp. I shoved him down and stood back up, looking at every other mother fucker here.

“Anyone else wanna a piece of me? Cut my woman, I’ll fuck you up. Now,” I looked back at Big D. “Where is she?”

“Big D? Baby, where you at, honey?”

I whipped my head to the sound of her voice and I shoved Big D aside. God. Looking at Marybeth, how more fucked-up could a bitch get? Damn. Didn’t stop me from grabbing her by the throat and pushing her back to the nearest wall.

Her eyes widened and she started screaming for help. Help wasn’t coming. I knew Big D wasn’t going to feel the same way for her what he did for his real old lady. This woman here was just filler.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch. I outta kill you where you stand.”

“Big D! Big D! Help me! Please!”

“He’s not going to help you.” I got in real close so only she could hear me and said, “If Scarlet doesn’t wake up, I will kill you.”

Her reaction was not one I was expecting. She started laughing. Crazy-ass bitch.

“You’re gonna have to survive first.”

“What? Survive what?”

“This.” Not so high or fucked-up was her voice now. It was hard as granite and stone-cold sober.

Before I got a word out, and could react, she threw out a switch blade and shoved it into my side.

I instantly let go and we both fell to the ground. Before I ripped the knife out, she whispered, “Love my baby with everything you have. Her father’s birth name is Patrick McKa-

A shot rang out and went right between Marybeth eyes. I backed up and ripped the knife out.

Big D had gotten closer and with a .45, shot her dead on. No remorse.

“She was a loose cannon, anyway. No one hurts my family.”

“I’m not your family, asshole.”

“Well, you are. Get yourself to a hospital. When you have proof we had anything to do with your claims, then come talk to me. Until then, get out of my clubhouse.”

“I’m a witness to a murder. You don’t think I won’t call the cops about this?”

“Hmm…I doubt it.”

Point was-he was right. I wanted him and this club to go down for something a whole lot more than just a murder. I got up and made my way back to the bike. My side was burning like a bitch and bleeding just a little more than I’d like.

I rolled out and made my way back to the hospital where Scarlet was. I walked into the ER and told them I had a knife wound from a fight and I was seen quickly. I was patched up and told if the knife had landed about two inches to the right it would have done some serious damage. The ER doctor asked if I wanted to report anything and I told him to call Officer Suitor. I gave him the number and made my way out of the ER.

“Sir, you can’t leave the ER.”

I turned to the little blonde nurse with as much anger as I could muster. No one was going to stop me from going to Scarlet.

“I’ll still be here. Going to room 304.”

I got to Scarlet’s room and sat in the chair next to her bed. I was about to hold her hand when I noticed I had dried blood all over them. Shit. I had it all over my fucking clothes. I went to wash my hands and when I came out, a nurse was checking Scarlet’s vitals.

“Mr. Dixon. So nice to see you, you should sit down and try-Oh, my goodness! You’re hurt!”

“I’m good! Don’t worry. I just left the ER. But could I ask you if I could get some scrubs to wear. I really don’t want to sit here with blood all over my clothes.”

“Certainly.”

The nurse was gone and back within just a few minutes. I got changed into the scrubs and went back to sit down. My side was still burning but it wasn’t killing me.

“How is she? Anything?”

The nurse shook her head sadly.

“No. But listen. Every coma patient is different. This type, a Ketamine coma is pretty scary. The odds are against you. I know you’ve heard that. But don’t give up. She’s fighting it.”

“How can you tell?”

Because I sure as hell couldn’t see anything. She was pale, fragile and weak.

“She’s still alive.”

I looked back up to the nurse. She had a small smile on her face. Still sad, but a genuine smile.

“She’s fighting whatever it is that’s trying to kill her. Don’t let her give up. Keep talking to her. Don’t give up on
her
. I know it seems like a long shot. But miracles do happen. I’m positive she’ll be one of them.”