Chapter Nine
Smokey was halfwaydown the stairs when the front door to the clubhouse opened, letting David in.The prospect looked around, wide eyes and looking a little desperate.
“What’s up?”
“I think we screwed up, man,” David said, stepping his way.That’s when Smokey realized David wasn’t alone.He was dragging Hunter.
“Raven!”Smokey called, stepping forward to help.There was blood on Hunter’s shoulder and more on his leg.Smokey couldn’t tell where it was coming from or how many wounds there were.“Someone call for Freud!”He shouted.“Here, let’s put him on this table so Freud can see what he’s doing.”
Together David and Smokey lifted Hunter onto one of the tables in the center of the room.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Smokey said.“They just got back.Hunter’s hurt, I’m not sure how bad and I haven’t had a chance to get what happened from David.Did someone call Freud?”
“He’s on his way.He’d gone into town to get a couple of things.”
“Let’s see what we can do until he gets here, even if it’s only to slow the bleeding.”Smokey glanced up at David.“Are you hurt or is all the blood his?”They all had basic first aid experience.They might not be able to set bones or sew someone up as well as Freud, but they could get started, and keep the prospect from bleeding out.
“I had a graze to my left leg but nothing serious.Hunter took the worst of it.”
“Here, take this.Sit down and put pressure on that wound while you tell us what happened.”Raven handed him a folded towel that looked like it had been taken from the stack in the cabinet, then stepped to the other side of the table where Smokey was busy cutting Hunter’s shirt away from a wound in his shoulder.
“Is the bullet still in there?”Raven asked.
“I’m not sure.I’ll lift him up, you look for an exit wound.”Smokey lifted the prospect, wincing as he groaned in pain.He knew this had to hurt but they needed to know how badly he was hurt.
“No exit wound,” Raven said.
“Shit.That means Freud will have to go digging.That’s gonna hurt.Let’s focus on stopping the bleeding.Freud can deal with the rest when he gets here.”He didn’t wait for the president to put a towel on the wound or press down before he looked Hunter in the face.“That your only wound or were you hit somewhere else?You’ve got blood on your jeans too.”
“He caught me in the leg too but I don’t think that’s so bad.It stings but not as bad as the shoulder,” Hunter spoke through gritted teeth.
Smokey left Raven to take care of the shoulder, picked up the knife from where he’d set it on the table and moved down the prospect’s body.When he reached the blood stain on Hunter’s leg, it only took him a moment to spot the hole where the bullet had gone in.Then it took him seconds to slice open the thick denim and lay it open so they could see what they were dealing with.
“You’re right.This one’s not as bad,” he said, looking at the long angry furrow in the calf in front of him.“I don’t know that Freud will even stitch this one.But we do need to stop the bleeding.”He reached out and someone handed him a towel.After laying it on top of the wound, he held his hand out and someone gave him a second towel.It only took a minute for him to whip it out until he could use opposite corners to tie the first towel in place.Then Smokey turned to David.
“All right.Your turn.Pants off and up on the table.”He indicated another table.“We need to see how bad it is and at least get it cleaned and the bleeding stopped.”David hesitated but Smokey snapped, “Now.I need to know how bad it is, so we can make sure Freud deals with what’s most urgent first.”
Moving slowly as if his time sitting while they evaluated Hunter had made him stiff and sore, he opened his jeans and peeled them down his legs.Smokey wanted to tell him to screw it, get on the table, and he’d cut the pants off but he held his tongue.If David could get his own pants off, it said something about how badly hurt he was, or at least Smokey hoped so.
When David had his jeans down past his knees, he sat on the table, leaning to one side.Smokey moved in and saw that the kid had been right.He’d only been grazed and a bloody furrow a little over a half inch wide streaked across the younger man’s thigh.
“I don’t think it needs stitches, but we do need to clean it.I’ll have Freud take a look when he has second, but we’ll likely just bandage it up once it’s clean.”Smokey straightened and looked around.The club medic, who also worked part time as an EMT, was bent over Hunter.The prospect clenched his teeth.His face had turned red and Smokey suspected he was seconds away from screaming from the pain.
“You need any help?”Smokey asked Freud.
“I’ve got enough hands, here.You can take care of David.”Freud looked up his eyes narrowing as he looked across the table and the body he was working on to get a look at David’s wound.“it’s good without stitches, unless he’s worried about a scar.He’s gonna have one either way but it might be smaller if we stitch it up.”
“I’ll wash up and get him taken care of.”He leaned in and spoke softly, so only Hunter would hear him.“It’s okay to scream.Let it out.It helps.”Smokey went behind the bar and used the dish soap to scrub his hands and arms, eliminating every bit of Hunter’s blood he could find, all the way up to his elbows.When he turned away, Taylynn handed him a clean towel, he thanked her as he headed back to David.He’d almost made it when Hunter couldn’t hold back his screams any longer.
