Chapter 39

Axel
I find Lug Nut out back with a club bunny on his lap. Rowdy and I stand in front of him. I point to the girl " Beat it." I growled. Yea they know I mean business. I'm not in the mood for bullshit. I need to know what is going on with Merigold. And I need to get our girl back. This night has been a complete disaster. I have know clue where to begin to fix it. The girl jumps up and takes off. Good, I'm not dealing with the club bunnies right now. " Follow us." Lug Nut jumps up and follows us to the very back of the yard.
" What's going on with Merigold?" I ask. His eyes go wide for a second before he regains control of himself. Just what I thought he knew. " Don't know what you are talking about," he says. The fucker is lying. I grab his shirt. " Listen fucker you better start talking if you ever want to earn a patch. I know something is going on. You better spill" " I can't." I let go of his shirt. " What do you mean you can't?" Rowdy grounds out.
" I was told by Tank not to talk to anyone. and I promised Merigold I wouldn't say anything," he says, running his hand through his hair. So it isn't just Rowdy and me. They are hiding something from the whole damn club. " Does Viper know?" I ask Lug Nut sighs " No. No one outside Merigold, Tank, and me." I took a good look at Lug Nut. Whatever it is, he is not happy about the situation. " Does it have anything to do with the club?" I ask. " No" Lug shakes his head.
Ok, that's good that it doesn't have anything to do with the club. So what the hell is it? " Is Merigold in trouble or danger?" Rowdy asks. But if that were the case we would all be brought in on it to protect her. " No." Lug Nut says. " Are the twins ok?" I ask. " Yea. Those little buggers are fine" he says with a smile. It's not something with the club. It's not the twins. Then it's Merigold. My blood runs cold when I ask the next question. I'm not sure I want to know the answer. " Is something wrong with Merigold?"
Lug Nut hangs his head but doesn't speak. That's all the answer I need. " What?" Rowdy growls. Lug Nut sits on the bench " I don't know." " You don't know or you won't tell us?" I yell. " I don't know. Nor does Tank or Merigold," he yells. " Is she sick?" Rowdy asks. No answer. Which is our answer. Technically he isn't talking, he isn't breaking his order. And if this is how we have to get answers we will. My gut was right, something is wrong with our girl.
" When did Tank find out?" " Tonight. And that was by accident. Merigold didn't say anything." he says. " So Merigold has been sick and hiding it," I state. No answer. Fuck. Rowdy asks the next question and I don't think I can handle the answer. " How long?" At first, I didn't think he was going to answer but he took a deep breath and said " A couple of weeks." I feel like I have been punched in the gut. Fucking weeks and we never noticed. She is our girl. We didn't notice that something wasn't right for weeks.
" Will she be finding out?" Rowdy asks. " Yea. Tank's making her. I'm taking her." Good, she is going to the doctor. That's good. Just before I sent Lug Nut on his way I had to ask “ Merigold has been hiding this from everyone hasn’t she.” Lug Nut nods but looks upset. “ Yea. I wanted to say something to Viper but she begged me not to.” I think I know why. She doesn’t trust us. Or she is afraid if she looks weak Viper will lose respect for her. I run my hand through my hair.
" We need to find a way to talk to her. I want our girl back and I want to know she is ok." I tell Rowdy. Not that I need to. I know he feels the same way. We just need to figure out how. I really wish I could rewind this whole night and start over. We should have been with her when she came to the club. We should have volunteered to bring her. None of this would have happened. We would have been able to see something wasn’t right about her. I knew she was tired more than normal lately. I figured she was right when she said our late nights and her working was the reason she was exhausted. It made sense to me. I should have looked harder. Asked her more questions. Hell, I should have just asked her if she was feeling ok. But I never did.