“Trix, where’s your game?” he asked her once she was on the floor. “Get up in that chair, would ya? I wanna talk to your mum.”

She frowned at him. She didn’t want to leave my side, but she turned and walked to the corner of the room, pausing to put little headphones on, before she climbed into the chair.

“What’s happening with Dragon?” I asked him or tried to through my teeth.

“That’s all going well. The lawyer doesn’t think he’ll be in there long. Might be a couple months though for skipping out on a court date,” he told me as he sat on the edge of my bed and held my hand.

“What court date? What happened?” I didn’t know why they had even arrested him. Every question I’d asked since I got to the hospital had been ignored or talked around. I was going crazy with the possibilities that ran through my mind.

“Well, now…back before he got his cut, there was a little altercation in a bar,” he told me, and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Dragon wasn’t a part of it, but he took the rap for another brother. One who had a sheet.”

I raised my eyebrows as he explained.

“And?” I garbled at him.

“Well, he didn’t show up for court. So, there’s been a warrant out for him, seeing as how he never showed up, and the guy had been stabbed…” he told me.

I felt my eyes close in defeat. Assault with a deadly weapon. Fuck.

“He got his cut right after that, and by that time, we’d started callin’ him Dragon. So, he pretty much dropped off the map. When he filed those papers for Trix, his name was flagged,” he explained to me apologetically. “I knew it was gonna cause problems, but the boy wouldn’t listen to me. So, that’s where we’re at.” He patted my hand. “The suit says he’ll have him out soon. The witnesses aren’t talkin’, and they’ve got nothin’ else. We just gotta be patient. He’s an Ace, and that’s makin’ wheels turn a little slower.”

“Okay,” I told him, nodding my head decisively. “We’ll just wait then.”

“Wanted to come see ya. Vera’s gonna come get you when they let you outta here tomorrow.” He leaned forward and gave me a kiss between my eyebrows. “She’ll take care of ya until I get back or Dragon gets out. Don’t you worry about nothin’ but that. You’re safe.”

He stood up and motioned for Trix to come and say good-bye.

She came and stood next to the bed while I ran my fingers through her wispy hair. I watched Pop closely. Something was off. Trix kissed my leg in good-bye, and as they walked out the door, I called out to Pop.

“Where you goin’?” I slurred to his back.

When he turned back to me, he looked like a different man. His shoulders straightened. His chin tipped up, and the fingers not holding Trix’s hand started tapping a tattoo on the leg of his jeans. The look in his eyes was frightening, and I felt the muscles in my body tighten against my hospital bed.

“Hunting,” he told me with a nod. Then, he was gone.

Vera took me home when she picked me up from the hospital. When I walked in, Casper was sitting on my couch, watching a movie, and I glanced at Vera in surprise.

“Got two of ya to look after. Boy’s got no family around here to take him in, and he’s not patched in, so he can’t go to my house,” she told me as she brought my flowers from the hospital into the kitchen. “Sit down, and I’ll get you some iced tea. Or, you want a nap?”

“No, I don’t want a nap,” I slurred at her through my teeth.

Ugh. She’d already coddled me the whole way home, forcing me to sit in the backseat of the car so I could rest. I’d been home for five minutes, and I already wanted to leave.

“Hey, stranger.” I smiled at Casper as I sat beside him on the couch. “How’d you get out before me?”

“Damn, Brenna. I can barely understand you!” He laughed. “Not sure why I was home before you. They let me out yesterday. Just said I had to wear this.” He wiggled his sling at me.

“Yeah, yeah.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Where’s Trix? I thought she’d be here.”

“Nah, she went with Tommy Gun’s old lady and her kids. They were going to hang out over there for the day.”

I missed Trix, but I was kind of glad that I had the rest of the day to relax. I’d called the club’s attorney when we’d left the hospital, but I’d had to leave him a voice mail. I wanted to see Dragon. It’d only been three days since I’d seen him, but it seemed like a month. I was hoping that the attorney could get me in to see him sooner than the visiting days, which Vera said were Thursdays and Sundays. I didn’t know if I could wait.

It took a few minutes. I didn’t realize right away where I was sitting. Casper was enough of a distraction. But once he turned away from me, it hit me. Flashes of sitting in this same spot while Tony screamed in my face came flooding back, and immediately, I was afraid I was going to throw up. My head pounded, and my stomach cramped as I tried to get my frozen limbs to lift me off the couch.

By the time I was standing, Vera and Casper were standing with me, speaking in low voices.

“You’re okay, baby girl. You’re okay,” Vera reassured me, rubbing my lower back where I had the least bruising.

“I can’t throw up!” I told them desperately, pulling my lips back as far as I could as if to remind them of my broken jaw.