Elvira turned her eyes to me and asked, “You got every Denzel film memorized?”

“Doesn’t everybody?” I asked back.

She looked to her glass, tapped it on the bar, and muttered, “Point taken.”

Rush poured her another shot, she threw it back, and I reached out and took the bottle from him. I was a biker babe and I didn’t mind putting the bottle to my mouth and sucking back, so that was what I did.

I was putting the bottle down on the bar when the door opened again, and all eyes, including mine, went to it. My pulse spiked as Natalie, followed by Hound, Boz, and Speck came in.

She looked freaked. She also was wearing a short, tight nurse’s outfit, white stockings, garters, and white, patent-leather, stripper platform, lace-up knee boots. Her boobs were spilling and her hair was a ratted mess of curls contained in ponytails and a nurse’s cap.

Elvira was right. That whole gig had been done to death, and as a nurse I took professional umbrage.

But I couldn’t think of that seeing, as I felt cold start to infuse my system from the outside in because Nat, Hound, Boz, and Speck were the only ones that came in.

No Shy.

No Dad.

I jumped off the stool and locked eyes with Boz, not trusting myself to look at Natalie. Not yet. Not until I knew everyone was okay.

“Where are Shy and Dad?” I asked.

Hound ordered Rush, “Lock her down. My room.” He had his hand on Natalie’s arm, shoved her forward, and she stumbled on her stripper boots.

Rush moved toward Natalie.

My eyes shifted back to Boz. “Where are they?”

“Tabby,” Natalie called, her voice shaky.

I didn’t move my eyes from Boz. “Boz? Where are Shy and my dad?”

“Tabby,” Natalie called again, her voice breaking halfway through my name and that cold shot through me, freezing me completely.

I looked to her.

“It went bad,” I stated and saw tears sliding out of her eyes, mascara going with them. Rush had made it to her and had a hand on her upper arm, but he didn’t get the chance to move her before I shot forward and stood in front of her.

“My man or my father?” I asked.

“Move back, Tabby, honey, we need to get her locked down then take care of some business,” Boz said from close behind me.

“My man or my father?” I demanded to know, not moving an inch.

“Let’s get you to a couch, get you a drink, and we’ll talk,” Boz went on.

“My man,” I leaned in so I was nose to nose with ex-best friend then I lost it completely, “or my father?” I ended on a screech.

“Shy got winged by a bullet,” she whispered, and the deep freeze shattered, imploding from the inside and the pain was excruciating. So unbearable, I had to do something. I had to try to let some of it go. I had to lash out.

So I did.

I drew back a hand and slapped her with everything I had. Apparently everything I had was a lot since not only her head but her whole body shot to the side and she again lost her footing on her stripper boots. She only stayed standing because Rush had a hold on her and kept her that way.

I looked up at Boz. “How bad?”

“Clipped, not bad. Tack took him to Baldy to have a look, stitch him up if it’s needed,” Boz replied.

“What does that mean, clipped?” I snapped.

“Nicked, Tabby, in the neck,” Boz answered and I felt my pulse pounding in my wrists, my temples, my neck. “It was a ricochet off a warning shot. Made a bad situation worse. Still, didn’t hit anything important. It’ll leave a scar but he’s fine. Everyone’s just pissed ’cause we bought a new problem.”

“We bought a new problem,” I stated and swung my gaze back to Natalie.

She dropped hers to my shoulder.

“Look at me,” I hissed and it took a few beats before her eyes lifted to mine. “You called me tonight knowing. Knowing that for me, they’d swing their asses out there for you. Knowing this was bad shit. Knowing they’d be in danger. And without a thought, for me Shy swung his ass out there for you. He called his brothers and they swung their asses out there for you. My man, my dad, my brother, my family, all getting out of bed to take on your shit. Now, my man bled for you. Now, my family has a problem because… of you.”

“Tabby—”

I shook my head. “No, you don’t get to talk. I gave you chance after chance to talk for months, and you didn’t take me up on any of them. You left me hanging until you fell so far, you were buried and needed help digging yourself out. I offered you my hand months ago, Nat, you refused to take it. Right now, you are dead to me. Dead. The only way you get resurrected is if you kick that shit, for good, Natalie, pay your dealer with your own fucking money and figure out a way to make this good for my family. You pull off that miracle, you breathe for me. Until then, you do not exist.”

“Tab, you were right, you—” she started, leaning toward me beseechingly, but I stepped away from her and turned to Boz.

“Take me to Shy,” I demanded.

“Honey, shit’s hot and Shy wants you at the Compound where you’re safe,” Boz replied.

“Take me… to my man!” I shrieked, losing it. I needed Shy, needed to see for myself he was okay.

Boz opened his mouth but Hound moved in.

“Yell, scream, scratch, slap, bite, woman, whatever you do, not gonna happen. We get you, you lost a man, you’re tweaked. But we’re tellin’ you, he’s fine and we’re yours, Tab, you’re ours, we would not shit you about something that important. Now, Shy says you stay here. You stay here. You wanna be away from this bitch, you’ll get that. We’re lockin’ her down so they can’t get to her and she can’t get into more trouble. What we are not gonna do is take you to our brother when he told us to keep your shit safe. You try to go, woman, you’re locked down too. Your choice, sit your ass down and have a drink or find yourself locked in your man’s room. Make it. Now. We got shit to do.”

I glared at Hound, but even angry I took in the look in his eyes and knew I could throw a fit and not get my way. Anyway, they had shit to do, and I was no old lady if I kept them from that. Since I was Shy’s old lady and my behavior reflected on him, I backed down.

But, since I was Tabby and he was Hound, I didn’t do it gracefully.

“You’re off my Christmas card list,” I announced.

To which he replied immediately, “Didn’t know I was on it.”

My eyes narrowed. “You don’t open my Christmas cards?”

“Tab, you want me to stand here talkin’ about Christmas cards or do you want me to take care of business?” Hound fired back.

I kept glaring then I declared, “I need a drink.”

“Color me a bartender,” Elvira stated, hopped off her stool, aimed a look at Malik, who was still leaning casually into the bar, then she strutted her round ass covered in a designer dress around the bar.

“Lock her in Hound’s room and get Joker. Speck’s here to help out. You boys lock this place down and patrol Ride. You’ll get reinforcements soon,” Boz said to Rush. Rush jerked up his chin and led a pale-faced, silently weeping Natalie away.

I ignored my best friend’s emotion (which was hard) and hitched my behind up on a bar stool.

Malik slid close while Elvira poured coffee.

“Scared straight works, honey,” Malik said, and I looked at him. “Seen it time and again.”

“Not sure at this moment I care,” I replied.

“At this moment, no. I see that.” He leaned closer. “Get to that point though, girl. Your man might have shed blood but he’s breathing. You need to find forgiveness because you care about her. To get her out of a porn movie nurse’s outfit and on a healthy path, she’s going to need all the help she can get.”

“Not to be a bitch or anything, but what are you, a drug counselor?” I asked.

“No, I’m a vice cop,” he answered.

Well, that explained that.

I looked to Elvira. “You’re seein’ a cop?”

Elvira, done with the coffee, was now pouring shots of tequila. She glanced at Malik then looked at me. “I was.”

I turned to Malik to see him grinning at Elvira like he thought she was adorable.

I turned back to Elvira to see her slugging back a shot of tequila. She then chased this with a sip of coffee.

Only after that did she reply, “To get a badass I had a choice. Biker, commando, military, or cop. My clothes do not say back of a bike. Commando screams ‘messy’ and, trust me, I know this from experience. I do not wanna spend my days learning the different ways of getting blood out of cargo pants. And military men are deployed and I’m sure not takin’ out the trash for months and worryin’ myself sick while he’s off somewhere gettin’ shot at, even if it is to keep my people safe. So I got stuck with a cop. He gets shot at and keeps people safe, but at least he’s home to take out the trash.”

“I’m not sure you did that bad, Elvira. Just saying, breakfast in bed?” I pointed out and her eyebrows flew up.

“Girl, don’t tell me. I’ll remind you, you held a grudge for three days over crushed ice. You witnessed his transgressions. For that, I get at least a week and you know it.”

She was not wrong. He yelled at her in front of an audience. Shy would buy a freeze-out for that, definitely.

To communicate that, I sipped coffee.

“You go a week, baby, we got problems,” Malik said low.

Elvira rolled her eyes at me but didn’t reply.

“You talk to your girl any longer like I’m not standing right here, we also got problems,” Malik carried on.

Elvira transferred her eye roll to him.

“You roll your eyes one more time, you lose my mouth,” he warned.