So when something blasts through the thin walls, I’m momentarily stunned, too shocked to do anything at all. It all happens so fast. The windows shatter all around us, glass blowing in, bodies rushing, men scrambling, wood splinters, dust and debris, flying through the air.
I finally register, through the numbed out shock holding me captive, what’s happening. Shooting. Someone is shooting at us. All of us.
I have just enough foresight to duck down under the table, throwing myself over Leah, using my body to shield her. I squeeze my eyes shut and wait for the horror to stop, for the hail of bullets to come to an end, the dust to settle, the shrapnel to stop tearing the place apart.
And when it does, I slowly unwind myself from Leah’s warm, sobbing body. It’s all I can do to look into her sea blue, panic stricken eyes, before I feel something red hot shoot through my body, a pain so all-encompassing I don’t even know where it’s coming from.
I let out a shattered breath from burning lungs that didn’t dare take in air while the world came crashing down around us. I blink slowly, once, twice, again, trying to bring Leah’s face into focus. I can see her lips moving. They look like they’re saying my name, no, not saying it. Screaming it. I don’tknow why she’s screaming, or if she’s screaming at all. If she’s been hurt. If anyone was hurt, or worse. I want to scan the place, assure myself that everyone inside is okay, that no one is lying in a puddle of blood. I need to assure myself that when this is all over, my heart won’t end up lying as broken and prone as those victims, because I know, deep down in that part of myself that is still fully conscious, that something like this can change a community forever.
Leah’s hand reaches for me, for my face, but it comes at a distance, just like her face, fading away.
And then the world is plunged into inky black darkness.
Chapter Ten
Edge
“Where is she?” I storm into the hospital with Wraith at my side.
He’s the only one without connections here in Helena, so after we got word of the shooting and rode back like devils straight from the bowels of hell, come to unleash our fury on the earth, he’s the only one who didn’t immediately have to deal with the aftermath.
Wraith’s hand lands on my arm, hot and cloying and as I whirl, staring into his wide, dark eyes and a face that is still too gaunt after the ravages of drugs, I want to wrap my hands, big, beefy, ugly looking hands, around the bastard’s neck and squeeze until he isn’t breathing, just for daring to touch me.
“Shut up,” he grinds at me out of the corner of his mouth. “I’ll handle this, since you’re understandably incapable at the moment.”
I don’t want to admit it, but as we near the nurse’s desk, he’s right. We’re both clad in leather, big, feral looking men that would send any of those nurses scurrying around back there straight to the phone for security.
I can only stare, dumbfounded, subdued rage simmering in my veins like cooling oil in an engine, as Wraith leans on the desk, his long, leather clad forearms on display, his hands folded in a gesture of outright supplication. A peace offering for the pretty nurse who spots us and walks over, a frown knitting her delicate brow.
Wraith offers her a smile, not the kind of greasy smile that he saves for all of us because he’s an annoying little prick, but a charming, sexy,I’d like to bed you kind of smile.Understandable that we’ve never seen that. Thank fucking all that is holy.
The nurse is a petite brunette, cute in a pair of lilac scrubs. She’s not more than five foot five, and she has to look way the hell up, even though Wraith is bending over the desk.
I suppose, in some life, females might find the bastard attractive. He’s got this charming personality, the easy type of leader that people look to without realizing he’s a leader at all. Which makes sense, because he was Prez of the club we took down two years ago. He might be tall and still on the thin side compared to monsters like Steel and me, but I have to admit, we defy logic with our size. I realize, when I look at him, that Wraith is healthy looking. Filled out. Broad shoulders, athletic build.
It’s not a wonder that the nurse falls all over herself, her tongue tying up in knots, when he explains why we’re there. He gives a quick description of Harley and the incident and then stares at the woman while she melts on the spot.
Fucking hell.
Her panties probably just melted off under those scrubs.
“I’m sorry,” she says breathlessly. She glances around like she’s afraid that someone will notice her flushed cheeks and lips that have suddenly gone a little pouty. “I- you’re not- we’re only allowing family in right now. If you’re not family, then there isn’t anything I can do.”
I want to climb over that desk and tear the fucking thing apart until I find out where the hell they’re keeping Harley, but Wraith glances over his shoulder and the ice in his glare isenough to keep me locked down, my shit-kickers firmly planted on the stark white, cold and impersonal, tile floor.
I hate hospitals. Hate the smells. Hate the sounds. Hate the rules. Hate all of it. Most of us do. There’s a reason why we have a private doctor on staff that we call to stitch us up, remove bullets fucking etcetera, etcetera, when shit goes down.
“My friend here, he’s technically, by law, not family, but he is Harley Vanderbilt’s man. They live together. I know they don’t have the same last name on paper, but you know… common law and all that.”
The little nurse’s brow wrinkles up along with her nose, deep, worried furrows. Her eyes dart around, looking for a lifeline, someone to come save her. Wraith grins. He shifts, arranging himself so that his unzipped leather jacket falls open, displaying a tight black t-shirt below. He gives her a full view of whatever’s going on underneath. Judging from the way her eyes widen, she obviously likes what she sees.
“I- I’m sorry,” she says. “Just- family. She already has her- uh- mom and dad in there with her and we- I’ve… I’m sorry, her father said no one else is allowed to see her. He said that she has no other immediate family, and she still hasn’t come to yet…”
“Oh fuck,” Wraith bites out. “Darlin’, you better call security.”
It’s the last thing that I hear before I lose my fucking mind.
I tear off down the hall behind that stupid desk. Helena’s small and so is the hospital. I know I won’t have trouble finding out where she is. All I have to do is follow the scent of the bastardasswad that is keeping me from her. I’ll tear this whole place apart if I have to. Nothing is gonna keep me from seeing my woman, holding her in my arms, looking down into her face and begging her forgiveness for not being there to protect her.
