But fights happened. Things were said that could never be taken back. And even though I was willing to do the long-distance relationship while I was off to Stanford, he wasn’t.
He made that very clear the night he took my virginity.
“What a fucking night,” I murmured.
I slipped in and out of rooms I needed to be in. I stuffed my massive hospital overnight bag with IV bags and sterile, covered needles. I grabbed the three units of blood I could, then managed to reach for some glass-vialed pain medication. Just in case we needed it. I rushed out of the hospital, clocking out with trembling fingertips before I made my way to my car.
And after punching in the address Piper sent me into my GPS on my phone, I raced off to my final destination.
The second I walked into that small building by the ocean, it was utter chaos. There was an inconsolable woman with dark features in the corner. I spotted Rock by the door, who waved me in the second I appeared at the doorway. It was like everyone made a path for me from the front door to the bedroom. And as I rushed down the hallway, Piper stuck her head out of the room.
“Please tell me you have blood,” she said breathlessly.
I reached into my purse and pulled out the three units.
“We need to use it wisely. This was all they had of the O-negative that I could spot,” I said.
“Not when I get back into work tomorrow. I’m O-negative,” Piper said.
Then, she ripped the bags from my palm.
I slinked into the room and saw a massive, hairy man lying there on the bed. And when my eyes fell to his pale face, panic rushed over me. My stomach dropped to my toes. My eyes flooded with tears as my purse fell from my shoulder down to the floor at my feet.
“Margot?” Piper asked.
Her voice sounded far away. Like it drifted off underneath a current of ocean water. My mind swirled with all sorts of memories the second I gazed into his face.
Bear.
My god, it had been so long.
“Margot!” Piper exclaimed.
She shook me, and it ripped me from my trance.
“I need you to set two IV’s. And we need to hurry. He’s got four gunshot wounds, a knife wound, and I’m pretty sure he has a collapsed lung as well. Along with an artery we have to cauterize,” she said.
I nodded quickly and drew in a deep breath, then got to work. I set two IV’s in Bear’s hands. One for fluids, and one for giving him blood. I waited until Piper finished stitching up the wounds in his abdomen, checking his eyes with my flashlight. His pupils responded, but barely. Which wasn’t good.
“He needs a unit of blood now. We’re going to lose him if I don’t give it to him,” I said.
“Then, do it. But we have to hold off on the second one until we can get this damn thing—”
“Yeah, yeah. I know. I might be a resident, but I know,” I said.
Piper looked up at me and grinned before getting back to work.
I stitched up the wound in his arm as I watched the wound in his side slowly trickling blood. It was getting better, but it should have stopped. I felt around for Bear’s pulse, clocking how slow it was beating.
And his pulse ticked downward.
“I need to give him another unit,” I said.
“Not until I—”
“Then start cauterizing the damn wound! But his pulse is dropping dangerously low and if we lose him, we can’t shock him again. He’ll be too weak and we won’t get him back,” I said.
Piper locked her eyes with me before she nodded.
I hooked up the second bag of blood, and his body drew it in way too fast. I had the third one set up, ready to go. But we were running out of time.
“That’s all the blood we have left. We have to cauterize this, otherwise he has to go to the hospital,” I said.
Piper rustled around before she dropped to her knees at my side.
“Rip open the stitches and hold him down. I don’t have anything that isn’t going to make this hurt,” Piper said.
“Roger that,” I said.
And after her scalpel released the stitches, Bear finally moved underneath my hands.
“Keep him down!” Piper exclaimed.
I pressed all of my body weight into him, trying to keep him steady. He groaned as Piper shoved that implement into him, and his labored breathing worried me. He coughed into my face. One of his eyes opened up. And as I gazed into that warm, brown stare of his, my heart skipped a beat.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“I’ve got it! The bleeding’s stopping,” Piper said.
“Good. Because now I have to do this.”
I straddled Bear’s body and reached down into my purse. I looked back at Piper and told her to hold Bear’s legs down as I grabbed the hollow tube needle from my purse. I gripped it in my hands as I pulled the plastic casing of the needle off with my teeth. And after I spat it back out onto the floor, I felt around on his bare skin with my fingertips.
Wow, Bear had put on some serious muscle since high school.
I brought the needle down into his chest, right in the pleural space. I pulled the top of the hollow tube off, listening as the trapped air escaped his chest. Bear drew in a large gasp, his eyes flying open before I quickly scrambled off his body.
The pneumothorax alone would take weeks to recover from. Let alone the rest of the issues he had going on.
What happened to you, Bear?
I slowly stood back as Piper rushed around him. Pumping him full of pain medication and checking his vitals. She took his blood pressure as my eyes gravitated over to the last bag of blood. It wasn’t seeping into his body as quickly, which was a very good sign. My eyes danced over his naked torso. Taking in the stitches and the wounds to make sure they weren’t bleeding.
“Margot,” Bear croaked out.
And as my eyes whipped up to his, he passed out again.
With everyone’s eyes slowly burning into me.
“Looks like you’re not the only one with questions that need to be answered,” Piper said.
Nope. She really wasn’t.
3
Bear
“Hi, Teddy Bear,” Margot said, smiling.
I leaned back against my old, rickety bike before I reached out for her.
“Hey there, gorgeous. Come here,” I said, grinning.
I pulled her into me, and she hopped onto the bike. She straddled it, her lips coming down onto mine as I held her closely. School was out. I’d skipped another class. And Margot looked more beautiful than ever. Her brown hair was piled high on her head in a messy ass bun, her hazel eyes reflected the sunshine shining above our heads just before I captured her lips, and her tanned skin glistened for me as our friends poured out of our high school.
And holy fuck, was I in love with this girl.
“Ready to go?” I asked, murmuring against her lips.
She hummed before she pulled back, and I watched that cheeky grin drift across her cheeks.
“Where are we headed?” she asked.
“Why don’t you hop on back and you can find out?”
“Or, you could just tell me.”
“Now, what would be the fun in that?” I asked.
She giggled as she slid off my bike. The rest of the senior class stared at us as they poured out of our classes. I was sure teachers wondered where I’d been. Wondering where my homework was. Wondering if I’d ever get my life together. The great thing about it was, I had already been accepted to the community college up the road. Even if I fell on my face and flunked all my damn classes, it was those grades that mattered the most. It was the grades I made during my automotive mechanic technical degree.
So, fuck high school.
I wanted to spend my time with the woman I had fallen desperately in love with.
“Ready when you are,” Margot said.
She planted a kiss between my shoulders and I shivered. I’d set up the most romantic evening for us. An evening fit for the q
ueen she was. I revved my engine and sped off, leaving the principal who was running for us in our dust. She leaned her head back and whooped out. She hollered as she thrust her arms into the air. I adored it when she clamped them down around my waist, though. When she wrapped herself around me tightly and buried her face between my shoulders. Especially when her hands got a little… handsy.
Like they were now.
“You’re gonna get yourself in trouble with that!” I exclaimed over the rushing wind.
“Oh, I hope so!” she yelled back.
I smiled as a chuckle fell from my lips. I raced us to the ocean’s side, taking my bike as far down the ramp as I could. The beach was deserted. Not a soul was in sight. And my picnic basket and blanket were right where I left them. I hopped off my bike and offered Margot my hand. She smiled brightly before her palm slipped against mine. The rush of electricity up my arm sent goosebumps scattering across my body, and as I picked up the picnic basket and blanket, I led her out into the sand.
“Wow. This took planning. I’m impressed,” Margot said.
“What? You don’t think I can plan out a romantic date?” I asked.
“I didn’t think you had a romantic bone in your body.”
“I could give you a romantic bone, if that’s what you wanted.”
She playfully slapped me. “You know I’m not ready for that kind of thing yet.”
I whipped around quickly and slid my arm around her, trapping her hand locked with mine. I pulled her closely, gazing down into her eyes as the afternoon sun flirted with the horizon of the ocean. Her hazel eyes sparkled with blue flakes. Like the waves of the ocean, ebbing and flowing within her soul. I bent forward and softly kissed her lips. I sucked on that plump lower lip of hers until she moaned, collapsing into me.
Then, I pulled back and kissed her forehead.
“And you know I’ll never push you into something like that. Ever,” I murmured.
Because I loved her. And when she was ready, I’d be ready for her.
Pain shot through my arm and it pulled me from my dream. A dream I’d had frequently after Margot and I split. After our argument that night that ended in her packing up the next day and leaving early for Stanford.
Had I really heard her voice yesterday?
“Bear?” she asked softly.
My eyes flew the rest of the way open and my head whipped over. I squinted my eyes, ignoring the pain rushing throughout my system. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to move. My gut burned and my arm felt as if it was ignited in flames. I watched as a woman, short and stout, stood up and reached for a needle.
“No,” I grumbled.
“It’s just some pain medication. I can tell you’re in pain,” she said.
Holy fuck, was I still dreaming?
I moved my arm slightly, and the pinch of the needle made me groan as my head dropped back to the pillow. There was one pinch. Then, two. The pain slowly subsided and all that was left was a dull ache deep within the pit of my soul. The woman sat down and I turned my head again. I tilted my eyes to face her, and those gorgeous hazel eyes came into view.
Still reflecting those flakes of blue I’d fallen so desperately in love with as a teenage boy.
“Mar—”
“You’re going to hurt for a few weeks, Bear,” she said.
My eyes searched hers as she stood up. Her brown hair fell into her face, that had been etched with just the softest bit of age. She filled out nicely. With a womanly body rather than the teenage body I’d finally gotten her to allow me to enjoy. Her cheeks were tipped with a rosy sheen. Her plump lower lip glistened with lip gloss. Her brown hair wasn’t long anymore, though. Like it had been back in high school. It sat just below her jawline with a fringe across her eyes that made them look mysterious.
“I like your hair,” I whispered.
But when she smiled that beautiful smile of hers, I knew it was her. Margot. The young girl I’d fallen in love with my senior year of high school. She was here. With me. In this very room.
Wearing a white doctor’s coat.
“I’m so prou—”
“You took three gunshots to your abdomen and one to your side. The one on your side Piper and I had to cauterize in order to get the bleeding to stop. Those are going to take weeks to heal, but that should match up well with the recuperation time your collapsed lung is going to take,” Margot said.
She sat on the edge of the bed as I continued staring at her.
“You’ve got some bruising, but nothing major other than the lung and the bullet wounds. Most of the bruising is around the ribs. And one of your eyes is very black. So, if you struggle opening your left eye for any reason, that’s why,” she said.
“How long is my recoup time?” I asked.
“Five weeks, at least. Mostly for your lung. Your bullet wounds will stop hurting after one or two. Then, the wounds will simply be topical. Waiting for the proper time to take out the stitches. But a collapsed lung is a serious thing. There’s major risk for it collapsing again, so someone will have to keep a close watch on you.”
“Are you going to do that?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Plain and simple answer.
Reminded me of the fight we’d had all those years ago.
“What are you doing here, Margot?” I asked.
She snickered. “Honestly? I could ask you the same thing, Bear. What the hell are you doing running around with these people?”
“These people are my family. They took me in after—”
“And I see the big lug is up,” Piper said.
Margot quickly got off the side of the bed and turned to face Rock’s wife. I watched the two girls hug before Piper took my hand, holding it within hers. I wanted Margot to come back. I wanted her perfume to overwhelm me again. It was a new scent. Her voice had a new huskiness to it. There was so much about her that had changed, and I wanted to learn all of it.
But instead, Piper took my hand and replaced her on the edge of the bed.
“I walked him through about how long recuperation will take. Mostly because of his lung,” Margot said.
“Good, good. Maybe now that means you can enjoy that beachfront property you purchased a little while back finally,” Piper said, quirking her eyebrow.
“What makes you think I don’t enjoy it now?” I asked, coughing.
The coughing didn’t stop, though. And the more it happened, the more pain I experienced. Someone rushed off and stumbled down the hallway. The coughing continued, and it felt like my chest cavity was being ripped open.
“Here. Drink,” Margot said.
And when her palm slid behind my head, I felt myself already falling into her again. Despite the time that had passed.
She brought my lips to the edge of the mug and I chugged the cool liquid. I sputtered every time my body wanted to cough, but I managed to get it down and keep it there. I drank as much of the water as I could while Piper cleaned up the mess I made off my beard and my neck. And the second Margot pulled away, I wished with all my might I had the power to pull her back to me.
Holy hell, I’d missed this woman. No matter how awkward things were between us right now.
“Can we come in?” Cage asked.
My eyes slowly panned toward the door as Piper stood.
“Depends. He can’t get out of this bed right now. He needs rest. If you guys are gonna talk, I suggest doing it within the next ten minutes before I give him another dose of heavy pain medication,” Piper said.
“I’m fine. I’m good. Let them come in,” I grunted.
“You heard the man,” Diesel said.
The men filed into the room and I looked over at Margot. She was pushed up into the corner, her hands pressed against the wall. She looked terrified, and it killed me. I wanted to explain to her that we weren’t bad people. That we’d gotten our act together—mostly—years ago. That we weren’t the stereotypical crew that ran around terrorizing people’s lives.
But
Piper whisked her out of the room too quickly for me to even open my mouth to say her fucking name.
“Bear?” Diesel asked.
My eyes slowly panned over to him as my head sank deeper into the pillow.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“What the everloving fuck happened to you?” he asked.
“And did you, by any chance, get a look at the men who did this to you?” Cage asked.
4
Margot
“What the hell’s going on?” I hissed.
I ripped my arm out of Piper’s grasp once we finally got to the kitchen. I turned around and locked my eyes with her, fuming at everything that happened. What was Bear doing with people like this? What was she doing with people like this?
“You told me when you married Rock, you wouldn't get wrapped up into this. And now, in the span of a few hours, I’ve stolen shit from the hospital and performed minor surgeries in an unsterile environment?” I asked.
“I know. I know this looks bad,” Piper said.
“This looks worse than bad. It looks like you’re wrapped up in men who do illegal activities, and that’s why you can’t take them to the hospital. Because they’d be arrested on the spot!”
“Not…quite. But sort of?”
“Start explaining, or you’re on your own. You promised me when you got married to that man that you’d—”
“I know what I promised, okay?” she asked curtly.
I stood back and drew in a long breath as my hands clenched at my sides.
“I know what I promised, and I know how this looks. But there isn’t anything I can do about it. I love these men. All of them. Rock, the most. They’re my family. We ride or die with one another, and that’s just how it is. We’re a close-knit family. That’s what you have to understand,” she said.
Dead Souls MC: Prospects Series Books 1-5 Page 17
