by Blair Grey
After Jett ran through a few more of the details for the night, we rose from the table to head to our bikes.
“God be with us,” Ryder said as he fell into step beside me.
“Not sure God wants much to do with this sort of thing,” I shrugged.
“Well, I hope He’s around if one of us ends up dead,” Ryder laughed. I joined slightly, but it wasn’t easy to laugh about things like that. The fact of the matter was that there was a very real chance one of us – or more than one of us, really – could end up shot by the end of the night.
Every time we went into something like this, there was a chance not all of us would be coming out of it alive. It wasn’t an easy life, and I hated that side of the trade. But, it was the way of the MC, and no one would argue it was how we would continue to do things.
Jett was still working on ways around what we did for a living, but that took time. And with each passing deal, there was yet another chance for something to go wrong.
So, it really was as Ryder said. We just hoped to God it wouldn’t.
“This should be fast.” Jett mounted his bike and looked around. “Everyone’s in position, let’s ride.”
We all followed suit, and the roar of the engines was deafening in the parking lot of Echo Mori before we pulled into the street. We all knew where we were going, but with Jett being our leader, we of course fell into formation behind him.
I kept my eyes on the street ahead, moonlight glistening off the chrome of our bikes as we did. It was late, and I was glad there weren’t a lot of other people on the road. Of course, where we were heading, there wasn’t ever a lot of people.
We took the freeway down to the nearby town just to the south of Fallen Hills. Or, rather, the outskirts of town. The buildings didn’t crop up for another couple miles south, but there were a few warehouses and abandoned farmhouses dotting the area between.
It was at one of these warehouses we were to meet our rivals. And, as we pulled up to the building, it quickly became clear our company had already arrived.
Just as we’d planned, I broke from the rest of the group with the few men assigned to go with me, looping around the bikes and cutting off any way of escape. We kept our engines low, but there wasn’t any muffling of such power as we made our way around the back of the warehouse and took our stand.
By the time we were in position, there were already several of the other men coming outside to greet Jett. Ryder and Roman were with him. I had Rocco and Trak with me. Harley and Knox were also hanging around, but it was difficult for me to see their exact position in the dark.
Gringo, the president meeting with Jett, came out of the warehouse with his arms open wide. For a moment, it appeared as though he was going to embrace our leader, but at the last second Jett pushed out his hand, instead. He wasn’t going to trust the man with such a vulnerable position.
We weren’t close enough to hear what was going on, but I watched the entire interaction like a hawk. The two presidents were talking, but I knew something wasn’t going right. There was a tension in Jett’s body language, and it formed a knot in the pit of my stomach.
He was clearly trying to keep his cool with this guy, but Gringo evidently was saying something Jett didn’t like. I readied myself for a fight to break out, ready to pull my gun and fire in an instant. Of course, we all knew there wasn’t any chance in Hell Gringo would be out there in the open without a lot of cover.
If we were going to fight, we’d need to aim at the windows and into the darkness.
“What’s taking so long?” Rocco asked. “This should have been pretty simple.”
“I’m guessing not everyone’s playing by the rules,” I muttered.
“Well he better get his shit together fast or-” Rocco continued, but he was cut off as the men suddenly broke apart. Jett had his hands open and extended, clearly trying to calm the situation, but Gringo was pissed.
There was a brief moment of tension that was broken with the sound of a gunshot.
“Jett!” I shouted as I rose, running toward the small group of men. I knew I’d be covered by the group behind me, and my gun was drawn before I even left the shadows. Everything happened so fast, but it felt as though it took place in slow motion.
It wasn’t Jett who fell to the pavement, it was Ryder. At the last second, he had shoved Jett out of the way of the shot and took the bullet himself, but there was no time for Gringo to reload. The bullets filled the air, and confusion overtook the situation.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I crouched, making my way toward Ryder. There were more shouts and gunfire, but it was the sound of the bikes starting that really let me know what was going on.
This wasn’t a deal – this was an ambush.
The other MC was taking our drugs, and they were ready to do anything they had to in order to get out of there without paying. And evidently, that meant they’d murder our president.
“Let them go!” Jett shouted. “We need to get Ryder to the hospital!”
I wanted to keep firing. I wanted to kill them all, but the knot in the pit of my stomach remained, and I knew I had to be there for my friend. Reluctantly, I pulled myself from the cover where I’d been hoping to get another shot off on the enemy, and I flew to Ryder’s side.
“We’ve got to get him to the hospital,” Jett said. “He’s bleeding out.”
“No!” Ryder exclaimed. “No hospitals. There’s way too many cops.”
“You need a doctor,” Jett said.
“We can’t risk it,” Ryder gasped.
“He’s right,” Rocco agreed. “We’re already under scrutiny after what happened with Gin last week.”
“Let’s get him to one of the safe houses and patch him up there,” Knox said.
“Help me get him on the bike,” Jett said.
No one was happy with the situation, but we knew we didn’t have a choice. That was yet another part of the risk that came when we made these runs – especially knowing we had to be really careful not to involve the cops. We didn’t want them to open a new investigation on us, not with what had just gone down with the arrest.
I helped Jett move Ryder over to the bike, and with a lot of effort, we managed to strap him to the back. He was in a seated position, but slumped forward. It wasn’t ideal, but it was enough to get him back to our safe house in Fallen Hills.
“Take your time with the ride,” Rocco warned. “We’ll take care of his Harley here.”
“Meet us at the house,” Jett said over his shoulder. Rocco nodded. I wasn’t going to stay and help with the bike. They had that taken care of. Ryder was a good friend, and he didn’t look like he was doing very well.
No, I was going with them.
It was well after midnight by the time I got back to my place. Ryder wasn’t doing great, but he was comfortable in the safe house, and he was stable as far as we could tell.
I was covered in blood from moving him, but I didn’t care. That came with the territory. I didn’t bother trying to clean up my clothes after such things anymore. Instead, I just threw them away and replaced them with something cheap later on.
I pulled up in front of the house and put the Harley in park. The porch light was on next to my place, and I was almost surprised to see the door open. Part of me expected the brother to come out and say something to me about how loud the bike was that time of night, but to my surprise, it was Alexis.
She came down the steps and hurried over to me with a look on her face that told me she wanted to say something. But, when she saw the blood, she stopped short.
“What the Hell happened to you?”
“It’s not mine,” I said.
“What happened?” she asked again.
I hesitated. I never planned to tell her the truth, but now was just as good a time as any. Besides, she already made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with me, so I might as well tell her what really happened.
After taking a deep breath, I spilled the story out to
her.
“It was a drug deal gone bad, okay? One of the guys got shot,” I said.
“What?” she paled. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Is he?” she asked. “Is he in the hospital?”
“We can’t take him with the cops around,” I replied. I turned to head inside. I wasn’t going to stand out here and tell her how it all worked, and I really didn’t care to hear what she had to say.
But then, she surprised me once more. “He needs medical attention. You really need to get it to him.”
“I already told you, we can’t take him to the hospital with the cops. They’ll be on our asses in a heartbeat, and I’m not going to risk that – neither is Jett,” I replied.
“Then take me,” she said fiercely. “I don’t care how he got hurt. It’s my job to make sure he’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “It’s not a pretty sight, trust me,”
“It’s my job,” she said over her shoulder. “I just need to get dressed. Give me five minutes.”
Chapter 18
Alexis
I practically leapt out of the shorts and tank top I’d been wearing and threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I wasn’t sure what would be waiting for me, but I knew there was an injured man out there, and he needed medical attention.
I had enough medical supplies with me at the house, I knew I’d be able to patch him up. It wouldn’t be what I would choose to do if I had any real say in the matter, but then, I knew I didn’t. Blade and the rest of the MC did things their own way, and they all seemed to be on board with it, even if it seemed ridiculous to me.
So, I changed into something I could work in and grabbed the small medical bag I had in my room before dashing back down the stairs. I was glad my mother and brother had gotten themselves messed up that night and were sleeping it off now.
It hadn’t been pleasant to deal with it earlier in the night, but now they were too deeply asleep to hear me getting ready to leave. The last thing I needed was for either of them to get involved in this.
I skipped steps on my way down the stairs, running right back out the door and finding Blade still standing by his bike. He was texting someone when I hurried over to him, then he looked back at me with raised eyebrows.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked.
“As I said, there’s a man who needs medical attention, and it’s my job to make sure he receives it,” I told him.
“You don’t have to,” he said.
“Yes, I do,” I replied. “I made a promise to the world I would serve anyone who was in need. I might not agree with what you guys were doing that got him shot, but it’s not my job to judge what you were doing out there. It’s my job to make sure this guy doesn’t die.”
“Alright,” he said. “But again, I doubt you’re going to be too happy with what you find.”
“Try me,” I told him.
I climbed up behind him on the bike. I wrapped one arm around his waist while holding the medical bag in the other. My heart raced. This wasn’t what I signed up to do when I promised I would help the community back in my hometown, but I couldn’t live with myself knowing there was a man out there who had been shot and was in need of medical attention.
It still baffled me these men would really refuse to give it to him, considering he could actually die if he didn’t get proper care. But, it was a different life than the one I lived, and it wasn’t my job to judge how they did things.
I had to just reach this person, make sure he was taken care of properly and not ask any questions as I returned home. I was with Blade, and though it made me nervous to think of doing into a situation like this, I knew he wasn’t going to put me in any danger in the process.
Not only that, but I was the one who had insisted on coming. I told him I would take care of his friend, and that’s what I would do. I knew how to tend to a variety of wounds, and I hoped to God this one wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be.
We pulled up in front of a house. I was struck with how ordinary it looked on the outside, knowing there was an injured man on the inside.
“Do you just have random places you take your injured and sick?” I asked.
“We have safe houses around town,” Blade said. “This was empty, so we brought him here.”
“Great,” I replied.
We got off the bike and I followed Blade through the yard toward the door. He had clearly texted ahead and let the men at the house know we were coming. As soon as we made it to the front door, it flew open and we were ushered inside.
“Is he doing any better?” Blade asked a man who was dressed much like him.
“Thank God you’ve brought a doctor, that’s all I’ve got to say,” the man replied.
“I’m a nurse,” I offered, but I didn’t get the impression the man heard me – or, if he did, that he cared who I was. They just wanted to have someone take care of their friend, and now someone had come.
“He’s this way.” Another man appeared in the doorway, motioning for me to follow him. My heart continued to pound in my chest, and I pushed my way through a narrow hallway, once more struck with how much it looked just like any other family home.
Never would I suspect anything like this would take place in a house such as this one. No, this was the sort of thing I always thought would happen in some sort of trashy hotel room, not an upscale house in the suburbs.
Still, there was a reason this was a safe house, and that likely came from the fact no one would known what really went on here. All I knew was that I had to get to this man. If the amount of blood that was on all these men’s shirts was any indication how much blood this man had lost, then he wasn’t about to me in any sort of good condition.
I was led to a bedroom on the far side of the house, as far from the front door as possible, it seemed. The back of the house overlooked new developments where houses were going up, but no one yet lived.
They were clearly trying to keep the situation quiet, which wasn’t any easy feat with the moaning man lying on the bed.
He was young, younger than I thought he would be, and the man everyone seemed to be listening to also wasn’t as old as I would have assumed. But, I didn’t have time to think about that. I had to get to work.
“I need a pot of hot water. This has to all be clean and sterile,” I said.
One of the men disappeared.
“What can I do to help?” Blade asked.
“I need you to help hold him still,” I replied. “And, anyone else who can. Be gentle, but I can’t have him thrashing around while I’m working.”
Two men obeyed, and I was struck with how quickly they worked together. It was clear they were used to working together to get things done, and no one even questioned being told what to do or how to do it. They just did it. It was almost as easy as working in a real emergency room, only without anyone else in the room knowing what to do.
With the man on the bed restrained as much as they could, I set to work. My hands were steady, and I was surprised considering the circumstances. But, I didn’t have the time to think about that. I had to get to work. He’d lost a lot of blood already, and each time he moved, fresh blood seeped out of the hole.
It didn’t take me long to determine the bullet was still in him, and I was clearly going to have to get it out. I worked as quickly as possible, wiping the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. I focused on the moment, only barking orders when I had to.
There wasn’t time to talk about what happened or even who all these men were. All I cared about was saving this man’s life. I knew if he hadn’t received the help I was providing right now, there was a good chance he would have died.
But, I continued to work steadily on him, and with the support from the other men in the room, we were able to get the bullet out of him in a matter of minutes. Of course, he continued to thrash and fight me, slipping in and out of shock the entire process.
He was conscio
us, but clearly he didn’t know what was going on, or who we were.
“Ryder, you’re going to have to calm down,” one of the men said at one point.
“I’m not sure he can hear you,” I told him. “He’s in shock.”
“He better calm the fuck down, or I’m going to put him out so we can do this,” Blade said.
There was a soft chuckle that ran through the room, and it helped to lighten the tension. I focused on my work.
“We just need to put a few stitches in here to make sure the wound heals clean,” I said. “Then it’s up to him to do the rest of the healing.”
“He can do that,” the man I’d heard called Jett more than once said. “He’s tough.”
“Good,” I said. “He’s going to need to be if he’s going to pull through this without an infection.”
“He will,” Blade said confidently. “Ryder’s one of the toughest sons of bitches you’re ever going to meet.”
I nodded, though I had a feeling the men were trying to calm themselves down. There was no denying the look of worry on both faces, and they kept looking down at their friend as though it was the last they were ever going to see him.
But, I was doing my best, and I would continue to give him the best care possible. I wanted him to pull through. Although I wondered how I could have fallen so hard for Blade without ever realizing what he was truly part of, I wanted this man in front of me to be okay.
He might not be living the life I thought he should, but that didn’t mean he deserved to die tonight. Maybe this would be the lesson he needed to give up this life for good, and he’d stop doing these deals.
Maybe it would be a lesson for Blade, too. Maybe this is what he needed to see to make him change his mind about the life he lived. It didn’t lead to anything good, I knew that without a doubt. In fact, Blade himself was lucky to be alive, considering the wound his friend sustained that night.
I hoped he’d realize that, too, and take it to heart.
I didn’t want to even imagine what it would be like to have to do this to him.
