I had nothing. I believed Saint when he said they weren’t banging, but giving her a goddamn bike?
In the MC world, he might as well have wifed her.
So let him. You want her to be happy, don’t you?
It was Embry in my head this time, and my scrambled, wandering thoughts screeched to a halt.
I whirled around again. Saint wasn’t there to catch me, but Alexei was. “The bullet went straight through, but if you don’t let me treat you for blood loss and shock, soon it won’t matter.”
“What?”
“Cam, you got shot and you are not made of Kevlar.”
“Embry—”
“Mateo’s with him.” Saint was somewhere behind me. “Fix the landline so he can get through when he calls.”
I had no clue who he was talking to. Only that Alexei’s iron grip was holding me upright, his soft breath and lips at my ear keeping me conscious.
“Give your orders,” he whispered. “Then let me help you.”
* * *
I passed out, drifting. I came round to a floating sensation and a hand that wasn’t Alexei or Saint wrapped around mine. “Riv? That you?”
“It’s me.” My brother loomed over me, his face coming together as the present returned to me, along with the throb in my skull. “You alive down there?”
“Think so.” I took a moment, then tried to sit up. Agony ripped through me and River cringed.
“Easy. You got shot, bro.”
That much, I remembered. I gritted my teeth and forced myself up with the arm that wasn’t tied into a sling. The room—the clubhouse bar—swam for a few seconds, but I didn’t knock out or puke, so I took the win.
River steadied me. “Don’t do anything wild, you’ve got an IV in your arm.”
“Hmm?”
He jerked his head at a trailing plastic tube. “You have an IV,” he repeated. “Your Russian friend said you needed it and Skylar agreed.”
“Skylar?”
“He’s not here. I called him, but Vladimir didn’t seem to need any help, so I didn’t ask him to come.”
“Vladimir?”
River rolled his eyes. “He didn’t tell me his name.”
“It’s Alexei.”
“I know.”
“Why are you—fuck, never mind.” I swallowed a wave of nausea and tried to put my fragmented brain back together. “Embry?”
“Saint left a while ago to find out. He’s with Mateo at the hospital. Skylar said he’ll check in when he goes on shift in the morning.”
“It’s not morning yet?”
“Depends what time and what day you think it is. You’ve been out cold since yesterday.”
