Her lips moved like she was trying to say my name again, but nothing more than a bubble of blood came out.
“We need to get her out of here and to a hospital. Fang, now!” Monster barked an order at me. He was right, she needed medical attention and fast.
“I think her lung has been punctured, and that thigh wound, it looks like the knife sliced close to her artery. It’s a miracle she isn’t dead already.”
Gathering her up into my arms, I stepped out into the rainy night. She weighed almost nothing, and her skin was cold under the hot blood that covered her.
And, Jesus, there was so much blood.
Too much blood.
I didn’t know how she had survived. And how much longer she would be able to hold on.
“Need my car?”
I turned in shock to see Giovanni standing just past the camper van. The woman, Melanie, was on her knees at his feet. I didn’t know the men who were holding her.
“You followed us?” I shifted Gypsy in my arms.
“Thought you gentlemen might need some help, and I was right. That’s the thing about you bikers, you ride off on your two-wheeled babies before you can think.” He tossed a set of keys in my general direction. Monster was the one who snatched them out of the air.
“Let’s go, Fang, before we lose her.” He was already sliding into the driver’s side.
For a second I paused, my eyes straying to the woman at Gio’s feet.
I had always been a violent man, but I had never enjoyed it.
I would enjoy killing her.
“Go,” Gio leant down and caressed Melanie’s dark hair. It would have been an almost loving gesture if he hadn’t been smiling the way he was.
“I will deal with our little friend for you. Call it a peace offering.”
34
Gypsy
I was lucky to survive.Everyone told me so.
The nurses, the doctors, my dad - everyone thought I was lucky.
But I didn’t feel lucky. I felt empty.
Like there was nothing left of me anymore. Melanie had carved out my soul when she carved into my body with her knife.
I wasn’t sure if the empty feeling would ever truly go away.
Fang was a big part of it. The emptiness.
He had come for me when I thought no one would, cradled me bleeding and dying on his lap and whispered plans for our future as Monster drove like a maniac to get us to the hospital. I could dimly remember it.
I needed him.
But I couldn't see him.
Three weeks after being brought to the hospital clinging to life, I still couldn't bring myself to be in the same room as him. Every time he tried, I turned my face away.
Until he stopped trying.
