“Stay with Jenna,” Steel ordered, marching over to the exam room Chip had indicated.
He opened without knocking, revealing Tessa leaning over a bloody Aaron with his arm cradled against his chest. Angel and Cage were next to the exam bed.
Before Steel could say anything, Aaron started to. “Steel! I’m sorry. Where’s Ollie? Is he here yet? Is he okay?” His eyes were wide, and he was obviously scared and in pain. Yet his concern was only for Ollie. “I am so sorry! I tried to help, but the cage went haywire! He braked, but nothing happened. It wasn’t his fault!”
Steel walked up to Aaron and put his hand on the teen’s ankle. The upper half of him looked pretty banged up, but his lower half seemed unharmed. As much as Steel wanted to ignore everything else and demand Tessa’s presence in the hallway to take care of Jenna, Ollie would never forgive him if he made Aaron feel worse. And honestly, neither would Steel. He could be an ass, and Jenna would always come first, but he wasn’t heartless. “Ollie’s not here yet, but he’s on his way. I came to steal your doctor.” He looked to Tessa. “I need you to look at Jenna. Something’s not right with her.”
Tessa cursed. To Angel and Cage, she hastily said, “Radiology is on their way up. I’ll be right back, I promise.” Then she ran from the room, pulling off her latex gloves as she went.
Steel went to follow but paused. He turned back to Aaron. “Thank you,” he told the young man. “For protecting Ollie.”
Aaron’s eyes widened even more, like he couldn’t believe Steel had justthankedhim. “Always,” Aaron vowed. “I’ll never not protect him.”
Steel nodded once. He gave Angel and Cage a chin lift before following Tessa outside into the hall. She was examining Jenna, who was slouched back in the wheelchair.
Standing, Tessa told both of them, “I’m not an expert in MS, but I don’t think you’re having a flare-up. If I had to guess, I’d say this is a version of gait freezing. From what I’ve read, it usually happens when you’re walking and suddenly freeze. To my knowledge, we just need to wait for this to pass. I’m going to page neurology and see if anyone is upstairs still who can come down to examine you real quick.”
Distant sirens sounded.
“Shelly, is that Ambo-21?” Tessa asked the nurse behind the station’s desk. When the nurse confirmed, Tessa pulled another pair of gloves out of her white coat pocket. “That’ll be Ollie,” she said to Jenna and Steel. “I need both of you to stay here until I’ve got him inside and transferred.” Then she called out, “Ambo-21 to Exam Five! Let’s move, people!”
It wasone of the most difficult moments of Steel’s life to stand back and watch as his son was brought in on a gurney andnotgo to him. He felt like his muscles had weights attached to them. He wanted to fight, to ignore Tessa’s directive, and go seeOllie’s condition with his own two eyes. How was he expected to juststand here, so fucking useless, when his son was alone and scared?
If it was any other doctor but Tessa, there was a high likelihood Steel would have ignored the order to remain where he was. As the paramedics and Bear brought the gurney in, he noted that all of them had evidence of glitter on their person. For a reason beyond Steel’s comprehension, that made Steel feel better.
He knelt down by Jenna’s wheelchair. Taking her face between his hands, he held eye contact with her. She was so limp, like all the bones had been removed from her body. The sight of her like this was terrifying. He wanted to rage, to punch and tear something apart. He wasn’t used to being helpless, to not being the one with answers and the solution.
It was fucking awful, but he had to remain steady. Jenna needed him,Ollieneeded him, to be strong. And while both were testing the limits of that strength, Steel knew he would not falter or fall. He would be as steady as a mountain, because that was what his family needed of him.
The emergency room doors opened, and a crowd of very pissed off bikers came storming into the hospital. Certain members were notably absent, like Grumpy, Keys, Ghost, and Ranger. Lucky led the pack.
Chip stepped back as Lucky approached. The VP’s eyes widened at the sight of Jenna, slumped in her wheelchair. “Is she?—”
“Neurology is on their way, but Tessa doesn’t think what is happening is a flare-up,” Steel answered hastily. He stood up but only dropped one of his hands from Jenna’s face. He needed to be touching her as much as she needed his touch right now. “We don’t have any word yet on Ollie’s condition. Other than he’salive.” Steel nodded behind himself. “Cage and Angel are with Aaron in there, waiting on radiology for his arm.”
Lucky nodded, the movement stiff. Like Steel, the man looked like he wanted to destroy something. “Grumpy’s taking the cage back to the shop, but it was flipped, giving him a clear view of the undercarriage.” Lucky’s eyes danced between Steel and Jenna as he confirmed, “The brake line was cut.”
A cold chill ran down Steel’s spine, and there wasn’t a single doubt who had cut it. “Where the fuck is Keys?”
Lucky help up a placating hand. “He wanted to be here for you but also wanted to be useful. He’s in his van outside trying to figure out how Shaw was able to get past his security to tamper with the cage.” He hesitated before adding, “According to Keys, he couldn’t have, but obviously he did.”
“Shaw’s not fucking magic!” Steel snapped. “He can’t just be teleporting onto property. Keys messed upagain, and my son is paying the price!”
“Weallmissed it,” Lucky remarked, his jaw tight. “Our security cannot solely rely on Keys’ technology. Take your frustrations out on me if you need to, but don’t you dare blame Keys like this was something he did on purpose. What about our patrols? What about the fact that that cage has been sitting inyourdriveway for months, right outsideyourhouse?”
Steel’s nostrils flared, but it was Jenna’s barely audible, “Jack…” that stopped him from launching at Lucky.
“Jenna! Steel!”
Steel looked over to see Tessa waving at them from outside Ollie’s exam room. He immediately moved to grab the handles of Jenna’s wheelchair, turning her to get them around the nurses’ station.
Lucky, though, grabbed Steel’s forearm to stop him. In a low voice, he said, “Don’t throw stones. You’re better than that. Iknow you’re frustrated and scared, but we’re all here for you. You’re still one of us, whether you wear a cut or not.”
Steel’s grip on the plastic handles of the wheelchair tightened. “I gave up my cut to spend more time with my family, not to see them in danger.” A sharp tone came from Jenna, and Steel winced. Jenna was right; he was using Lucky as his verbal punching bag, and his former VP did not deserve that. In a slightly gentler tone, though still clipped, Steel said, “We need to go see Ollie. Are you able to call my other kids? They’ll want to know about their brother.”
Lucky dropped his hand and nodded. “Yes, of course.”
Steel pushed Jenna forward, hurrying over to where Tessa waited for them.
