Biker (23 page)

“I appreciate your saying that, James. I care about him, so I did what I had to do.”

James nodded, and reached for the doorknob. He stopped, then turned around, lowering his voice. “You didn’t hear this from me, but you would be wise to leave here soon. Blaze would be better off far away from here too. Regardless of the huge payout from the heist, once the dust settles, they are going to come after you like a pack of angry wolves.”

Noelle’s face paled. “What do you mean? Who’s coming after me?”

“The club, Noelle. They’re going to look for a scapegoat and you are the perfect person to blame for the members we lost last night.”

Noelle was shocked and sickened at the same time. “Me? But this wasn’t my idea! Blaze talked me into coming back here, and I had nothing to do with the planning!”

“I know. But I’m just telling you how it is. There are a lot of upset women who’ve lost their men. And there are a lot of angry men who have dead friends. I think the second that Blaze can stand on his own two feet, you both should get the hell out of here.”

James’ warning horrified Noelle, but she knew he was absolutely right.

“But what about you?” she asked. “You were just as much a part of this plan as we were.”

James’ face whitened a bit. “I know... and I’m leaving tonight.” He actually looked nervous. “Not sure what I’m going to do, but I’ll figure something out.”

Noelle suddenly thought of something. “Wait right here,” she said quickly, “I’ll be right back.”

She hurried out of the room, moving as quickly as she could through the halls without drawing attention. She slipped into Blaze’s room and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the duffle bag still underneath the bed.

Moving swiftly, she grabbed the bag and unzipped it.

“Oh my God.”

The bag was stuffed with cash.

On closer examination, Noelle saw that the bag was filled with thick rolls of one hundred dollar bills. She went to Blaze’s closet and found a backpack jammed in the corner. She grabbed it and crammed rolls of the bills into the backpack until it was full. She’d hardly made a dent in the duffle bag.

Her heart pounding, Noelle tucked the duffle bag in the bottom of Blaze’s closet and covered it with a heap of clothes. She then slung the backpack over her shoulder and hurried out of the room.

She was nervous moving through the hallways and she felt that at any moment she might be caught and the money discovered. She managed to make it back to the room, and James gave her an odd look when she entered the room carrying a heavy backpack.

“Take this,” she said, thrusting it at him.

“What is it?” He unzipped it and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Where did you get this?”

“I had one of the duffle bags on me last night. No one knew or asked. If you’re going to leave, then you’re going to need some money.”

James’ eyes widened as he looked at the bills. “There must be a million dollars here!”

“Will that be enough?” she asked, biting her lip.

James nodded. “It will be more than enough.” And then, in an uncharacteristic gesture, he hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Noelle. And please don’t give up on Blaze. He’s a good guy. He needs someone like you.”

Noelle felt tears prick her eyes again and she nodded.

“Don’t let him die,” James said, his voice cracking. He squeezed Noelle’s hand and then he was gone.

Noelle sighed, sinking down onto the bed next to Blaze. She was more anxious now than ever, and she knew that she needed to get Blaze well enough to leave the clubhouse with her. She felt that once James left, then the heat would really be on them. She wished they could leave tonight with James.

Blaze had fallen back to sleep and Noelle paced the room, trying to devise a plan. If she could somehow get Blaze out of the clubhouse tonight, she could move him to a hotel where she could take care of him. Of course, she knew that the Widowmakers would come looking for them, so they’d need to move again in a short period of time.

Frustrated, she threw her hands up. Getting Blaze out of the clubhouse in his condition just seemed impossible.

Taking a deep breath, Noelle tried to concentrate. She sat down on the bed, continuing to take deep, calming breaths. She took Blaze’s hand and tried to think of a way to protect them both.

A
few hours later, Blaze woke up and saw Noelle sitting next to him.

“Hey,” he croaked.

“Hi,” she smoothed the hair on his forehead, “How do you feel?”

“Alright. Thirsty.”

Noelle was finally feeling calm after a nerve-wracking day. She rose to change Blaze’s dressing and bring him a cool drink.

“You’re improving slowly, but you’re not out of the woods yet.”

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” he observed. Even hanging on the edge of death, Blaze was exceptionally smart and perceptive.

Noelle was going to have to tell him eventually. “We need to talk. And we don’t have a lot of time.” She quickly recounted her conversation with James and she observed Blaze’s face as he realized that James was right. She also told him about the duffle bag.

“Yes, we need to leave tonight,” he agreed.

“But you can hardly move. And the truth is, moving you right now could kill you.”

Blaze groaned as he tried to shift positions. “Well, that’s a risk we’re going to have to take, because staying here will kill us both,” he pointed out.

Noelle gulped.

“We leave tonight. Around midnight. You call a cab and tell them to pick us up a quarter mile north of here. Then we leave on foot, and wait for the cab.’’

“You aren’t going to make it that far!”

Blaze set his mouth in a determined line. “I’m going to have to.” He groaned in pain again and it made Noelle ache to see him hurting.

“I’m going to need pain killers,” he admitted. Noelle tried to interrupt but he held his hand up. “I’m going to trust you to help me. You won’t let me have any more than I and you won’t let me get addicted.”

“Don’t be an idiot! It’s not that easy!”

“You said it yourself – I’m never going to make it that far on foot tonight. But if I have painkillers, then I just might.”

Noelle cursed under her breath.

“Go back to the room and pack two small bags. Just a few things for you and a few for me.” Noelle got up to leave. “Wait. There’s one more thing.” Noelle turned around. “In the bottom of my dresser there is a small white key. It unlocks a box in the very back of my left desk drawer. Find the key, unlock the box and grab the slip of paper in there.”

Noelle gave him a strange look.

“Just do it, please. Also, clear out the box of cash on the other side of my desk. The one where you’ve seen me take out money to pay you. Then come straight back here. Once you’re back, we can figure out the painkillers.”

Noelle left Blaze for a second time, rushing back to his room, quickly throwing clothes together in their bags, and emptying the cash from the lock box. She didn’t know how much money was there, but it was certainly several hundred thousand.

She suddenly realized she’d forgotten about calling work, and she hurriedly punched the number on her cell phone. Reaching one of the nurses on her floor, Noelle explained that she had a family emergency and needed the next two to three days off.

She didn’t say that she might need much more time than that.

She certainly didn’t say that she might
never
return to work.

With shaking fingers, she ended the call, and then retrieved the key, as Blaze had directed. Carefully, she unlocked the metal box in the bottom of Blaze’s drawer. The slip of paper he had mentioned was folded many times, and she pulled it out, curiously unfolding it.

It was a blank check drawn from an account in the Cayman Islands. Blaze’s father had signed it.

A million questions flooded her mind, but she stashed the check in her bag, pulled the duffel bag from under Blaze’s bed, and did one final check of the room. It seemed that Noelle had everything they would need, and she flipped off the light, shutting the door behind her.

She knew it would be the last time that she would see that room.

Noelle hugged the walls and kept her head down as she made her way back to Blaze, not wanting to attract any attention to herself. A few people passed her, but they seemed so self-involved that they barely noticed her.

She made it back to the room where Blaze was staying, and once safely inside, she grabbed the check and thrust it toward him.

“What is this?”

Blaze managed to snatch it from her. “What does it look like? A blank check.”

Noelle gave him an accusatory look.

“It’s not what you think. This is my money that my father set aside for me. He gave me this check. I’m not stealing anything.”

Noelle wasn’t sure what to believe, and even if Blaze was in fact stealing the money, she wasn’t sure she cared. Especially if the money belonged to his father.

“I’ll explain more later. Our next order of business is getting painkillers.”

Noelle rolled her eyes. “That shouldn’t be too hard here. Everybody here seems high most of the time.”

“Right. Except they’re usually doing lines of coke. I know my mom has some stuff, but I don’t want to deal with her. You’re not going to like this, but you have to find my father and tell him I’m in pain and he needs to give you something to help me out for a few days. He might try to disagree, but he’ll eventually get them for you.”

This wasn’t going to be an errand that Noelle enjoyed, but she did as Blaze told her. It wasn’t hard to find his father – he was sitting in a large chair in the big room, four empty beer bottles in front of him. His eyes were glassy and he looked defeated.

“What do you want?” he asked, barely glancing at Noelle.

“I need to speak to you about Blaze.”

There was a momentary flicker in his eyes, and then it was gone.

“He’s alright,” Noelle continued, “I mean, he’s not alright, but his condition is stable. The only problem is that he’s in a lot of pain. I didn’t want to give him painkillers but he can’t tolerate it anymore. The pain has become too much.”

His father narrowed his eyes. “And you think that’s a good idea?”

Noelle held his gaze defiantly, not wanting to seem afraid. “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she said clearly, “but he can’t heal and recover when his body is in such agony. He can’t sleep, he can’t eat, and he’s going to get weaker if he doesn’t get some relief.”

Blaze’s father stared at her, his eyes hard and cold. Noelle thought he was going to fight her further, but instead he gave up and shrugged. He pushed himself up from his chair, swaying slightly.

“Follow me.”

Noelle followed him into a room just off the big room. Blaze’s father went to a chest and rummaged around in the bottom drawer. “This should do it,” he said, handing the bottle to Noelle. She saw that it was Blaze’s mother’s prescription for Percocet.

“She has so many bottles,” his father explained, “that she won’t miss this one.”

“Thank you,” Noelle said, “this will help more than you know.”

He nodded dismissively and motioned for Noelle to leave. She didn’t need to be told twice, and made her way back to Blaze.

“Did you get them?”

“Yes. He agreed.” She shook three pills into her hand and gave them to him with a cup of water. “Take these.”

Blaze gulped the pills down instantly, and within fifteen minutes time, Noelle could see the difference in him. The next few hours were anxious ones, and as it neared eleven, Noelle pulled out some clothes for Blaze.

“You’re going to have to try and get dressed now.”

He nodded.

Noelle gingerly, slowly helped him pull on clothes. The medication kept him from groaning out loud. She gathered all the clothes and bags, nervously checking their things more than once to be sure they had everything.

Taking a deep breath, Noelle knew it was finally time for them to leave.

She helped Blaze off the bed, and he winced in pain as he eased onto his feet.

“Can you do this?” From the look of pain on Blaze’s face, she was worried that he might not finish the quarter-mile walk that they had ahead of them.

Grimacing, he nodded.

Noelle opened the door a crack and saw that the hallway was empty. She motioned for Blaze to follow her. They slipped into the hallway, and then Blaze took the lead because he knew a back exit out of the clubhouse.

Noelle’s heart was pounding so loudly, that she was certain someone would hear it.

Blaze rounded two corners, and then they were in a hall unfamiliar to Noelle. It was dark and dank and Blaze visibly slowed down, leading Noelle to think that there was less of a chance of their being discovered now.

“Where are we?” she couldn’t help asking. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of garbage.

Blaze gave her a small smile. “Trash. This is where we store the bins before we take them out.”

A number of huge trash bins came into sight, as did a door. Noelle got in front of Blaze and pushed open the door, the warm heat greeting them. Blaze hobbled outside, unable to help the little groan of pain that escaped his lips.

He doubled over in pain and Noelle rushed to his side.

“Call the cab,” he managed to say, pushing her away.

Noelle pulled out her phone and called the number that she had put in her phone contacts earlier in the day. She quickly explained to the dispatcher where they wanted to be picked up, repeating the location three times before she felt comfortable that they would be picked up at the right spot.

She ended the call and took Blaze by the arm.

“We need to move now. We’re out in the open.”

Blaze nodded, stumbling after her.

They made their way to the highway, walking in the shadows. With each step, Blaze grunted softly and Noelle was worried that his sutures might separate, and his wound would hemorrhage.

She wanted to ask when Blaze thought they would be discovered missing, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask him any questions – just walking was such an effort for him.

Blaze suddenly let out a cry of pain and collapsed in a heap on the ground.