Page 44 of Drax (Iron Thunder MC 3)
And now their leader was in our captivity. Most of the members of the Silver Knights had fled already, and things were looking up for us. Except that I was battered, bruised, and cut with a gunshot wound.
I needed to rest.
I got off the bike and walked slowly to the entrance of the Clubhouse. That was when I saw her.
Mary-Beth was running toward me. Her golden hair blew in the breeze behind her.
“Drax! Oh, my God!” She was screaming my name.
I had no idea what I looked like right now, but I figured it must be pretty bad because I could see the panic in her eyes; I must have been covered in blood and cuts. I was also limping slightly because that side of my body ached, and I was bleeding out from the wound.
“Drax…what…what happened?” she cried and tried to hug me.
“I’m fine. I’m okay,” I grunted and continued walking in the direction of the Clubhouse. She followed me, hard on my heels.
Maybe our reunion tonight should have been different.
Maybe she was expecting me to lift her up in my arms and kiss her and swing her around. But it was not to be. I couldn’t—physically couldn’t—lift her up. And right now, I was too messed up in the head to know what I needed to do.
I still had no idea what I was supposed to do with Crash.
I couldn’t tell her about it.
The others had filled up the Clubhouse. Someone turned on the music. The bar was busy again, with drinks flowing. Even though most of the other guys were just as battered as me, this was also technically a celebration. We’d won. Was the war over?
“Drax, please, just stop. Look at me. I’ve been worried sick!” I heard her voice again, just as I was about to push open the door and go in. I turned to look at her, feeling another wave of exhaustion go over me.
“What?” I growled. I didn’t mean to be irritable with her, but I wanted to avoid her eyes. I didn’t want her to see the conflict brewing inside me. Her eyes grew wider. She was sad. Did she know about her brother? What did she want from me? I didn’t know what more I could give her.
“You need to see a doctor,” she said.
I was relieved she didn’t ask me about her brother.
“Yeah, I know. It’s just one bad wound. I’ll live,” I said. Mary-Beth came toward me, threw her arms around me and held me close. The fact that she still hadn’t asked about her brother made me feel better. She reminded me of what was important. Our relationship was important. She trusted me. I was more important to her than her brother.
I held her by her waist and kissed her. She let me kiss her, softly and deeply for several moments. She was waiting for me. She was the one I came back to.
When we pulled away, she was nodding.
“We can talk later. I don’t want you worrying about anything. Go inside. Get that wound looked at.”
I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her again, but also, I was very tired. I was beginning to feel weak now. I didn’t know how much longer I could continue like this.
So, I went inside. I didn’t turn to see if Mary-Beth had followed me in. I looked around the Clubhouse and saw the chaos and commotion. These guys were celebrating in the middle of getting treated. This was a big day for us. The Silver Knights had been forced into their dark hiding places.
And I had Crash.
I looked over my shoulder to catch Mary-Beth walking in. She tipped her head in the direction of one of the doctors. He was sitting at a table dressing a wound. She was trying to tell me to go over to him and get the wound looked at.
I went up to the doctor’s table. The two guys sitting with him jumped up and scattered away. I sat down on a chair with a thump.
“Wow. What do we have here?” Doctor Miller said. He was one of our in-house doctors, one of the guys who was always called whenever one of us got injured. Which was often.
“Looks like someone took a bit of a beating,” he said.
I wasn’t in the mood for small talk so didn’t respond.
Mary-Beth came up behind me and placed her hands on my shoulders. Her hands were small and soft. Supportive. Loving. And the longer she touched me, the guiltier I felt about how close I had gotten to killing her brother. I still didn’t know what I was going to do with him tomorrow. Or the next day. I couldn’t hold him forever.
What did she think had happened? Why hadn’t she asked me about it? Did Ghost tell her?
