Madeline Sheehan - Unbeautifully

And he wanted Danny back.

Fuck that, he was getting Danny back.

Cox stared at him. “Really? Damn.”

Ripper scowled. “Did you really think I’d let Cage beat the fuck outta me?”

Cox grinned. “Little fucker is almost as big as the big fucker.”

“Fuck that. Brother is more than ten years younger than me. I gotta rep to hold up.”

Laughing, Cox slapped him on the back. “You stayin’ this time, right? You gonna go claim that bitch of yours and patch back in?”

He was about to answer when the club’s front door banged open and a skinny redhead stormed inside. Cage came in next, looking a mixture of miserable and frightened. Danny was last, scowling as she dragged in two large floral bags.

“Holy shit,” Cox breathed. “Either we’ve been invaded by hippies or that’s…Tegen.”

Since there weren’t any other skinny redheads that Cage and Danny had been sent to collect, it had to be Tegen. But it sure as fuck didn’t look like the four-eyed, frizzy-haired, mouthy little shit he remembered her as.

“For the last time, Danny, I am not staying at your fucking house!” Tegen yelled as she disappeared inside the kitchen.

Ripper’s brow lifted. Okay. So she was still a mouthy little shit.

Blowing out a breath, Cage glanced their way, his eyes wide and pleading. “Help,” he whispered.

Cox snorted. “Fuck that. I got enough crazy bitches to deal with. Between Kami and Mary Catherine hittin’ me up for everything under the sun and, fuck me, Anna always askin’ for more money…”

Ripper stopped listening. Danny had given up on dragging Tegen’s luggage through the room and was now standing very still, watching him. Everything she was thinking, feeling, wanting, was showing plain as day on her face.

Are you going to leave?

His gaze never once left those beautiful blue eyes.

No.

Really?

Yeah, baby, really.

Why not?

He glanced down at himself. Can’t exactly get off the couch, can I?

He watched as she pressed her lips together, fighting a smile.

Fuuuuuck. He wanted to go to her. Touch her, smell her, fucking hold her right here in the middle of the club, in front of her brother, in front of Cox, in front of the whole fucking world. Then he wanted to take her to bed, fuck her half to death, fuck her some more, do some sleeping, fuck her some more.

Fuck, he had to adjust his cock.

Watching him, Danny’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink, whether she was flushed from arousal or embarrassed, either way it was a good sign.

Speaking of good signs, the sight of her nipples hardening under her white ribbed tank was ranking pretty high on his list.

Fuck it. He had to do something. He wanted her back in his bed. Tonight. Right now.

I want you, beautiful girl.

She sucked her bottom lip inside her mouth and bit down. For how long?

Holding her gaze with his, For fuckin’ ever.

“Oh my god, seriously?”

Tegen stood just outside the kitchen, a beer in one hand and a sandwich in the other, her narrowed gaze alternating between Danny and him.

She flashed Danny a nasty grin he didn’t much appreciate. “You and Ripper, huh? What happened to ZZ? You get sick of him?”

Danny, who’d gone stiff, turned to glare at Tegen. “Don’t talk about things you know nothing about.”

Tegen kept grinning. “Really? So you two weren’t just eye-fucking each other?”

“Tegen,” Danny said slowly, her teeth locked. “I know you’re hurting but—”

“Oh, shut up,” Tegen scoffed. “You know as well as I do these assholes can’t keep it in their pants. And he’s one of the worst. You know he fucked Kami back in the day, right? Tag-teamed her with Cox. He probably banged Eva too. Hope you plan on getting tested regularly.”

“I’m gonna knock her out,” Cox said.

Although Ripper resented being accused of fucking Eva, and was pissed the little bitch had brought up Kami, as well as implying that he had diseases, he didn’t say anything. Mainly because Tegen was right. He had been one of the worst. But Danny already knew that. And as far as female opinion went when it came to him, the only one he cared about was ready to throw down with Tegen for talking shit. She might not be speaking to him but she sure as shit still cared. That was a good sign. Now he just had to get her talking again.

“Don’t you need to go see your mom?” Cage growled.

Tegen’s expression turned ice cold. “Fucker,” she spat, “I thought I told you that you do not get to speak to me.”

Surprised, Ripper glanced over at Cage and, damn, the dude looked half crazed, a little bit confused, a whole lot angry, maybe a touch homicidal, and yeah, there was definitely a unhealthy amount of battle lust raging through him.

What the fuck was going on?

“Stop your bullshit,” Cage seethed, his fists clenching.

Tegen let out a loud, humorless laugh. “Why? What are you going to do, Cage?” She shook her head, smirking. “Nothing. You’re going to do nothing because you’re full of shit. In fact, you are shit. A big fat pile of steaming biker shit.”

Ripper and Cox looked at each other. Damn.

“Brother’s gonna blow,” Cox whispered.

Blow a load, maybe. Brother was about to tackle Tegen caveman-style and fuck her right in front of anyone.

“Naw, dude,” he whispered back. “Look at him, he’s hard up for that bitch. Who the fuck knew he’d been feelin’ Tegen all this time?”

Yeah, who knew? And really, who cared?

Not him.

This fucking club was full of secrets and it was getting straight up exhausting.

“Tegen.”

Everyone turned to look at Deuce.

“You’re gonna reel this bullshit in right the fuck now and go see your mother. I ain’t payin’ for that apartment in Cali so you can come home and act like an asshole, shittin’ on everyone just ’cause you fuckin’ feel like it. You feel me?”

Tegen snorted. “Yeah,” she said. “Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. I can’t wait to go hang out with my comatose mother. My fucking idiotic, comatose mother who got herself shot because she was stupid enough to fall for one of you assholes. Hopefully she’ll die, be put out of her misery, and I won’t have to keep watching her throw her entire life away for a man who doesn’t give two fucks about her.”

Everyone was openmouthed staring at Tegen who, even after her rant, was casually taking a bite of her sandwich.

“That’s right, fuckers,” she said around a mouthful of sandwich. “I said it.” Then spinning on her heel, she headed for the hallway.

Deuce started after her but Cage intercepted him. “This is my fault,” he said, pushing his father backward. “I’ll deal with it.”

“Motherfuck,” Deuce muttered, staring after him. “Ten bucks says he fucked that mouthy little asshole. Motherfuckin’ little fuck can’t keep it in his pants for shit. Cocksucker would fuck a hole in the wall. Probably has.”

“Prez,” Cox called out, laughing. “You remember his prom, him never comin’ home and we went lookin’ for him. Found him in the girls’ bathroom at the school, pants around his ankles, face in the toilet.”

Ripper couldn’t help himself, he burst out laughing. That had been some funny shit.

“Fuck me,” he said. “That shit was straight up awesome.”

“It was disgusting,” Danny interjected, her eyes on him. “And embarrassing. You know he had three dates that night, right?” She shook her head. “Disgusting.”

“You’re all disgusting,” Deuce muttered, his accusing stare locked on Ripper.

Ignoring him, Ripper stared at Danny, not knowing what the fuck to say but thrilled she’d spoken to him. She held his gaze, her muddled feelings plain as day. She still thought he was going to leave. She didn’t trust him. Not only that, she didn’t trust herself. She felt that her love for him was clouding her judgment.

So he tried to convey how determined he was to make it up to her. That he’d wait until she was ready. He didn’t want to wait, he wanted to straight up jump her, but he would wait. They could go as slow as she needed and he would fix this shit between them and try his damnedest never, ever to fuck up again.

Swallowing hard, she covered her mouth with the back of her hand and turned away from him. Deuce caught the slight movement, narrowed his eyes in concern, then turned to him and straight up glared.

“Good times,” Cox said, looking from Deuce to him and back to Deuce. “Always good fuckin’ times at Horsemen High.”

“Yo,” Tap called out, walking into the room. “Jase called. D’s awake.”

“Fuck,” Deuce breathed, running his hands through his hair. “Finally, some good fuckin’ news.”

“Yeah,” Tap said. “One problem.”

“What?”

“She don’t remember jack shit.”

“So?” Cox said. “Who’d wanna remember gettin’ shot in the head? I wouldn’t.”

“Idiot,” Tap muttered. “She doesn’t remember anything. Anyone. Nothin’. Not even her fuckin’ name.”

“She’s alive,” Deuce said, already heading for the hallway, most likely to grab Tegen. “Let’s focus on that.”

“It’s very rare that an injury this severe doesn’t result in some kind of permanent damage. And that’s something that can take months or even years to determine the full extent of.”

“Danny!” Ivy squealed, bouncing in the waiting room chair beside me, waving my cell phone around in the air. “I beat level thirteen!”

“Shh,” I whispered, trying to hear what the doctor was saying to Jase.

“Age is also a factor,” he continued. “Individuals in their teens and twenties have a tendency to recover more so than a woman in her thirties.”

“Great,” Jase growled. “But what the fuck about her memory? She doesn’t even know who the fuck I am!”

My father put his hand on Jase’s shoulder and on his other side, Eva slipped her arm through his. Jase shuddered through his next breath, before focusing back on the doctor.

“She’s very lucky to be alive, Mr. Brady. Ninety percent of people who suffer gunshot wounds to the brain die almost immediately. In Ms. Kelley’s case, the bullet traveled all the way through her brain but luckily did not pass through the brain stem. Right now, as far as we can tell, only her memory has been affected, whereas the majority of survivors of this type of injury not only suffer memory loss, but difficulty reading and problems with hand-eye coordination, some ending up in long-term rehabilitation or nursing care.”

Jase was already agitated by Tegen’s appearance at the hospital. She’d taken one look at Jase, marched right up to the nurses’ station, and very loudly stated that he was not family and under no circumstances was he allowed to see her mother.

And now the doctor was not telling him what he wanted to hear, worsening his mood.

I had to give that doctor credit for facing a room full of emotionally charged bikers and holding his own.

“You mentioned rehabilitation earlier,” Eva said, glancing worriedly up at Jase. “Is that something that could help with her memory?”

The doctor nodded. “But I don’t want to jump the gun. Her memory loss could be due to swelling from surgery. As she recovers, she might regain what she’s lost. We’ll have to wait and see.”

“Wait and see?” Jase repeated, shoving away from my father and Eva. “Wait and motherfuckin’ see?”

My father wrapped his arm around Jase’s chest and pulled him backward. Jase pushed away from him and spun around. “Fuck!” he yelled. “Fuck!”

Sighing, my father reached for him again. “Ja—”

“WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?”

My head jerked right. Now what?

The occupants of the waiting room went silent as everyone watched Hawk storm through the room. Still wearing his chaps, covered head-to-toe in road dust, his Mohawk significantly grown out, he must have been on the road awhile. He had probably had gone directly to the club, found out about Dorothy, and come straight to the hospital.

The moment Hawk zeroed in on Jase, his entire body tensed. The next thing I knew he was running, quickly closing the twenty feet between Jase and him, and everyone else was backing away.

“Call security!” the doctor shouted in the direction of the nurse’s station.

Hawk bent his head and barreled into Jase, sending them both flying backward into the elevator. Ivy shrieked, jumped into my lap, and buried her face in my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and turned my body away from the fight.