I grit my teeth at the pain when I lift my leg to the peg. It’s the leg I need to shift. Every kick of my toe up and down sends another sharp pain through my side, and I can feel the blood flowing as we ride across town. I do my best to avoid the potholes, and soon we’re pulling back through the back gate of the Evil Dead’s clubhouse.
Kami must hear the bikes pull in because she rushes outside, searching frantically for me among the bikes. I pull my helmet off and stand, thanking the prospect that loaned me his bike.
A moment later, Kami’s body slams into mine, and I grit my teeth against the pain, and clutch her to keep from falling over. Her arms wrap around my waist, and she burrows deep. “Oh thank God you’re safe. I was so worried.”
I hiss in a breath as she squeezes me. She pulls back, and her eyes drop to the black swath of cloth binding my abdomen. She opens my cut.
“My God, what happened?”
“It’s just a graze, darlin’. I’ve got a doctor on call.” Shades looks to a car pulling in. “That’s him now. We’ll have him patched up in no time.”
Kami puts her fingertips to her lips, and she backs up, her eyes glazing.
Another car arrives, and a pretty dark haired woman steps out. She makes her way to Shades, and hugs him tight. He chin lifts to Kami. “Skylar, this is Kami. Can you put her at ease while Doc looks after Saint, here?”
She turns and smiles at Kami. “Of course. Come with me, Kami.”
“No. I want to stay with my husband.” She clings to me.
“Baby, look at me.” I find her eyes. “I’m fine. It’s just a graze. I promise you. You believe me?”
She nods, but there are tears in her eyes, and I know she doesn’t want to let go.
“Doc will take good care of him. I promise.” Skylar puts her arms around Kami’s shoulders and pulls her gently back. “Come on. The doctor needs to look at him.”
It works and she lets go. I grab her hand and kiss it. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”
Skylar leads her into the clubhouse.
We wait until she’s inside, and then Ghost puts a shoulder under my arm and props me up. I stagger, feeling woozier than I wanted to let on. They usher me through a side door, and into a room with a bed. I lie down, and the doctor comes in with a bag. He sets it on the nightstand, and gets his supplies out, snapping on gloves and a mask. Someone brings in some clean towels and shoves one under me, while some club girl helps me out of my cut and the binding.
The doctor leans over and examines my wound, and then he swabs the area with an orange tinted antiseptic. “You’ll be fine. It’s a little jagged. I’m going to stitch it up. It’ll leave quite a scar unfortunately. I’m going to give you an antibiotic to make sure there’s no infection.”
I nod, and he unwraps sutures and fills a hypodermic needle with something to kill the pain.
Once the injection is made in several spots around the wound, it doesn’t take him long to stitch me up and bandage me. Then he wraps a cuff around my other bicep and takes my blood pressure. “You’re a little low, but you’ve lost some blood. I want you to take it easy tonight, okay?”
“Sure.”
He sets a roll of gauze and some extra bandages on the nightstand.
“You need to have it changed regularly. If you see any redness or puss or if you’re feverish, it’ll need to be seen by another doctor. Understand, son?”
“Yes, sir.”
He pats my shoulder. “You lost some blood. Don’t drive for the next forty-eight hours, understand.”
I nod.
He packs up and leaves.
Shades leans a shoulder on the doorframe. “You heard the man, you need to take it easy. Stay the night. You can have this room. There’s a bathroom through that door. No one will bother you.” He grins. “I’d do a shot with you, but Doc says alcohol is out for tonight.”
“Thanks for all you’ve done for me.”
“You’re welcome. You did good tonight, kid. I’d be proud to have you at my back. Things don’t work out with the Kings, give me a call.”
I grin, because that compliment is huge, and he knows it. “I’m honored.” I look at the floor. “I don’t know how I’m going to explain all this. I’m screwed either way. If I tell this story, my club will know about me losin’ that bag, even if it was only for a few hours. I’ll lose my patch. If I lie, I’m lying to the club.”
He comes in and leans back against the dresser. “You want some advice?”
“Absolutely.”
“Tell the truth. Yeah, you screwed up, but you also took it upon yourself to make it right. And you didn’t hesitate to pull in whatever favors you needed to get the job done. That’s the kind of man I’d want at my back—one that will stop at nothing to accomplish the mission.”
“Thank you. I’ll take that advice.”
“Smart man.” He grins, and shoves off the dresser. “I’ll go tell your woman to come in, and I’ll have one of the girls bring you in some breakfast.”
“Appreciate it.”
He leaves and a minute later, Kami runs in the room.
“Are you okay?” She drops to the bed and cups my face.
I take her hand and kiss the palm. “I’ll be fine. He stitched me up, and gave me some antibiotics. How’s your hand?”
“It’s throbbing.”
“You need another pain pill. Here, he left me some of the same stuff they prescribed for you.” I point to one of the bottles on the side table. “Give me one, while you’re at it.”
She shakes out two and hands me one, and I pop it down, chasing it with a slug from the water bottle.
We’re both being quiet, and I want to know what’s on her mind. I dig in my jeans and pull out her necklace. Her face lights up.
“You found it!”
“We’ll have to get the clasp fixed. But all the diamonds are still in the settings.” I cup her good hand and drop it in the palm, folding her fingers closed. “You keep that safe, short cake.”
She smiles at the nickname, but she looks sad, as well.
“What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head and the tears flow. “I don’t know. I was just so afraid I was going to lose you.” She holds up her hand, fisting the necklace. “This doesn’t mean anything compared to you.” She wipes the wetness from her cheeks, and huffs out a laugh. “I’m sorry. I’m just emotional tonight.”
“Aw, babe. Come here.” I hook the back of her neck and haul her to me, pulling her into my arms. “I’m fine. You’re fine. It’s all good.”
“You got the money back?”
“Not all of it. They’d already spent about fifteen hundred.” I blow out a breath. “I’ll just have to replace it.”
“I have my dress money. You can use that.”
“Your what?” I grin.
“I have a little money that my grandmother had set aside for my wedding dress. She called it my dress money.”
“Babe, I’m not taking money that was supposed to go for your wedding dress. Hell, that’s like sacred to a girl, right?”