Ava blinked hard then looked out the window. When she answered, her voice was so soft I knew I was the only one who could hear her.
"I know what an AK-47 sounds like." I kissed the top of her head and squeezed her tight.
Tiny survived. At least as long as it took them to get him to the hospital and up to surgery. We wouldn't know anything else until they opened him up and repaired the damage to his chest. The bullets missed his heart and that was the good news. But like Ava had said, he'd lost so much blood and that was the real danger. That, and she was pretty sure he'd never be able to use his left arm the same way again. She said the muscles in his shoulder were shredded and she figured most of the nerves too.
But he was alive. Ava, on the other hand, looked like the walking dead. Her color hadn't improved and she'd said no more than two words as we waited. She drifted between sitting next to me and the nurse's station. While Sly sat with her, I found her friend Joleen and cornered her. She was with one of the doctors who'd first worked on Tiny. He was a tall, solid guy with a mass of sandy hair and an odd smile. Endicott. That's what I heard Joleen call him.
"I'm worried about Ava," I said. Joleen narrowed her eyes at me and Dr. Endicott set a stack of charts on the counter next to him.
"Then you should steer clear of her," Joleen said. "This is the second time somebody close to you has been hauled in here near bled to death."
Endicott flinched but I held my ground. I couldn't argue Joleen's point but this was about Ava right now.
"She's a combat veteran and somebody just shot at her head. Take her someplace safe, someplace quiet," Endicott said. I didn't know him, but something in his face and voice told me he understood something about her that I didn't. "Jack Daniels might also help. Stay close but leave her alone. She'll come out of it in a little while. If she doesn't, call me." He wrote his cell phone on a sticky note and thrust it into my hand.
"Thank you," I said, ignoring Joleen's laser stare.
"She off tonight?" Endicott turned to her. Joleen nodded. "Good. Talk to your supervisor and rotate her out until the beginning of next week."
I nodded and left the two of them to talk behind my back. Their opinion of me didn't matter. I just wanted to get to Ava and get her the hell out of here. She still sat next to Sly when I came around the hallway. I shook my head at him letting Sly know I didn't have anything new to report on Tiny.
"I want to take Ava home," I said.
Sly handed me the keys to the Hummer. Ava didn't protest when I took her hand and told her we were leaving. She said nothing when we drove out of the hospital parking lot. She kept silent when I made the turn toward her loft apartment rather than the Wolf Den. The club was on lockdown but the last thing I wanted was her back at the scene of the shooting. Until we settled things with Pagano once and for all, I needed to keep her as far away from the club as possible, even if that meant far away from me. My gut clenched at the thought but tonight was way too close of a call.
Ava followed me up the stairs and handed me the keys when we reached her door. I didn't wait for her to invite me in. I would have thrown her over my shoulder if she hadn't. Nothing but nothing was going to keep me from her side for the rest of the day and night. I wanted her close to me, I wanted to hold her in my arms and let her scream or cry or sleep, whatever she needed to do to get that haunted look out of her eyes. I'd have to leave her at some point but I'd hold on to her for as long as I could until then.
Her apartment was the entire floor of an old converted warehouse. She had red brick walls and an open floor plan with the TV area, kitchen, sleeping area and bathroom in four quadrants. She walked to the kitchen sink and I spotted bottles of liquor stacked in neat rows on the top of her stainless steel fridge.
I poured us each a shot of Jim Beam while she stood at the sink, letting the water run hot. She scrubbed her hands with a towel as steam rose.
"Ava," I said, after taking my first shot. I walked over to her and set her drink beside her. She rubbed at her flesh under the scalding water. The backs of her hands turned an angry red as the water hit them and she rubbed them together.
"Ava," I said again. "You're going to burn yourself."
"It never comes out." She almost whispered it. "I've tried everything but it never comes out. Not even with bleach."
"What doesn't, baby?"
She kept tearing at the reddened flesh of her hands. I reached out and grabbed her wrists. She really was going to scald herself. She stiffened at my touch and lashed out at me. Jerking her hands away she held them up.
"The blood never comes out no matter how much I scrub!"
"Ava. Your hands are clean. There's no blood." I reached over and turned off the water. I moved to take her in my arms but she shoved me away from her. Her eyes had turned wild, forming tears at the corner.
"Don't touch me," she shrieked. I moved toward her again; she tried to pull away but I gripped her upper arms and pulled her to me. She went stiff as I held her against my chest. She trembled but didn't try to pull away again. She cried softly against my chest. I hooked my hands under her legs and carried her out to the sofa.
"I want to keep you safe," I whispered against the top of her head as I smoothed her hair. "I'm going to find a way."
She said nothing and that scared me most of all. My Ava was hurt, damaged and it had happened long ago. Yet one more thing I could lay on the doorstep of George Pagano. I knew in that moment if it meant I'd have to go back to prison for the rest of my life, I would wipe him off the face of the Earth. I would never let him get the chance to hurt me or anyone I loved ever again.
I got Ava to drink the whiskey. I poured her two more shots and it did wonders to calm her nerves. As I held her in my arms, she finally fell asleep. I carried her over to the bed and tucked her in. When I was certain she was deeply out, I called Sly.
"He's in ICU now," Sly reported. "He made it through for now."
I shuddered with relief as I sank back down onto Ava's couch. I could hear her snoring softly in the corner of the room.
"Everybody else accounted for?" I asked.
"Billy's rounded everyone back up and they're at the Den. Prospects and I gave our statements to the cops. They want to talk to you and Ava, of course."
I gripped the phone tighter. "Tomorrow. She's in no condition to talk to anybody and I'm not leaving her side."
"I'm not worried about much heat from law enforcement. We're clean on this, Dex. And we still have plenty of friends with the Green Bluff P.D."
"It's not the cops I worry about either, Sly," I said and I knew he could read the menace in my voice. "This ends now. I'm not going to wait around while you and Billy try to fucking Nancy Drew this. We both know who's responsible for this and who jumped the Franco kid. What are you going to do about it?"
Sly sighed and the silence between us felt like it had physical weight. "Billy's talking to Londo. That's Pagano's guy. They're arranging a sit down."
"Not with Londo." I said my words through gritted teeth. "No more fucking middle men. It's got to be you and me and Pagano in a room. And I'm not going to stand here and promise you we all walk out alive."
Sly paused again and my heartbeat roared in my ears.
"I'll set it up," he finally said and I ended the call.
There was a brief moment when Ava woke up in my arms that a smile crossed her face and I knew she loved me. I pulled her close to me again and kissed her forehead. Then she stiffened, sat up, and got out of the bed.
"Ava?"
She wouldn't look at me. She pulled a clean t-shirt over her head and slid into a pair of jeans.
"I have to take off for a little while," I said, ignoring the cold stare she gave me. "Can you hang out here until I get back?"
She tore a brush through her hair. She threw it to the bed as I went to her. I wanted to fold her against me and kiss the worry out of her eyes but she took a step away when I tried.
"I'm such an idiot. Everyone told me this would happen. Even Sly told me this would happen."
I took another step toward her. She paced in front of the bed like she were a caged animal. I didn't like that look in her eyes. I didn't like how she trembled. She was angry, she was scared and she wouldn't let me touch her.
"Are you going to tell me you're going to handle this now? You and Sly? Tell me it's club business and I shouldn't worry?"
"No." My voice was low. She seemed teetering on the edge of unrestrained rage, but her point was crystal clear.
"Well, thank you," she said, nearly spitting the words in my face. "Thank you at least for that."
"You should worry," I said. "I do know what it's going to take to handle this. I don't know if it will work and I can't promise it won't get worse before it gets better. It probably will get much worse. You asked me not to lie to you anymore and I won't. That doesn't mean I can't keep you safe."
She nodded, leaned against the brick wall. "Can you keep you safe? Can you stand there and tell me this won't end with you or Sly or somebody else taking a bullet? Or that you won't end up back in handcuffs? Do you know I still dream about that too? I still have nightmares about how they led you away from me with your hands bound behind you in cuffs in that fucking dive bar outside of Chicago. I think about it all the time."