“Sadie!”He sprinted the remaining distance, dropping to his knees in front of her.Her normally blonde hair was red in the headlights, freaking him out.He gently brushed her hair out of her face and discovered a small gash on her forehead.Was she hurt anywhere else?“Fuck!Sadie.What the hell happened?”
“I got jumped at my car.”She started to reach for her head, but he stopped her from putting her muddy glove on the wound.
While Jed had gone straight to Sadie, Tulsa had done a quick check around to see if whoever did this to her was still around.He came back shaking his head, his eyes hard and his mouth in a harsh, thin line.
“I think there’s a shirt in my backseat.Can you get it?”Tulsa jogged off to retrieve it.
Sadie reached for her head again.His hand shot out to stop her again, holding it at her side.“Baby, hang on.Just close your eyes.You have a cut on your forehead that’s bleeding into your eye.You’ve got dirt on your gloves.Just hold on.Tulsa went to grab something we can use to hold pressure on it.”
A gray flannel shirt was shoved between them.
“Here you go.”Tulsa dropped to his haunches for a better look.“How bad is it?”
“She’s going to need stitches or glue.”Jed tried to wipe as much of the blood away from her eye as he could, then wadded up the material and pressed it to her wound.She hissed and reached for the shirt.“Help me get her up.”They both grabbed her under an arm and helped her to her feet.Kneeling on the cold, wet ground had gotten her jeans wet, and she had to be freezing.“Come on.Let’s help you into the truck so we can take you to the hospital.”He bent and scooped her up, carrying her to his truck.
“No.”
“No, what?”
“I’m not going to the hospital,” Sadie informed him.
“Baby, you’ve got a gash on your head that needs stitches or glue.It’s not going to close on its own.Plus, you might need a scan or something.”He waited for Tulsa to open the passenger side door before settling her in the seat.
“I don’t have any insurance.”Her pointed stare couldn’t have been clearer.It was his fault she didn’t have it.
He knew his decision to take her off the schedule would come back to bite him in the ass.“I’ll pay for it.It’s my fault you don’t have insurance.”
“No.”
“Fuck.Fine.Is your key fob in your purse?”He ran a hand through his hair, aggravated that she wouldn’t see reason.
She pulled the fob from her coat pocket and dangled it in front of his face.He took the keys and handed them to Tulsa.“Follow us to my place?”
“Sure.”He handed Sadie’s purse to Jed and jogged off.
“Your house?Why are you taking my car to your house?”She leaned her head against the seat.
“Because that’s where I’m taking you.Remember Bacon?He’s a part of our club.I’ll call him and have him come check you out.If you refuse to go to the hospital, that’s the alternative.I’m serious.You need to be checked out.You can’t let Oliver see you like this, or he’ll freak the fuck out.”He pulled his truck out of the lot and pulled his phone from his pocket.He dialed Bacon’s number, and the phone rang over the truck speaker.
“Someone better be fucking dying.”Bacon’s voice was gravelly from being woken from his sleep.
“Sorry, man.This is Jed.I’ve got Sadie with me, and someone jumped her at her car tonight as she was leaving work.She needs stitches and refuses to go to the hospital.Can you meet us at my place?”
“Yep.I’m on my way.”The call was disconnected, and silence filled the cab of the truck once again.
“I hate that you got him out of bed.”Sadie rested her elbow on the center console to prop her arm up to better apply pressure on her injury.
“Have you looked at your forehead yet?”Sadie looked like hell with blood in her hair and on her face.It had dripped down on her coat as well.
She flipped the lighted mirror down on the visor and pulled the shirt away.“Oh shit.That does look bad.”She flipped the visor closed, reapplied the shirt to her head, then leaned her head back and closed her eyes.“I’m getting a gun, and I’m shooting the next asshole who thinks he can break into my apartment or jump me in the dark.”
“Are you telling me Tinker did this?”Jed’s blood pressure skyrocketed.He knew Tinker was going to pull something again.He just didn’t think it would be so soon.He clenched his teeth and counted to five, praying he didn’t crack his steering wheel with his death grip.
“No.It wasn’t Tinker this time.It was someone else.I didn’t recognize his voice.”
“Walk me through what happened.”He checked his rearview and saw Tulsa right behind him.“Why were you out there by yourself?”
“Tony called out tonight because his son has the stomach bug that’s going around, and his wife is running a fever.”
