Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“Jesus, Dru, move.”
I did, but made sure to do it in a way that I didn’t lose the man’s grip on my arm.
“Knight,” I breathed as I moved closer. “What happened?”
He opened his mouth, tried to speak, but couldn’t.
I leaned forward and moved some of the blood-crusted hair out of his eyes so I could see into them more clearly.
He opened his mouth, and the tiniest of words came out of his lips. “My wife.”
Fuck.
“Was she with you?” I asked, voice laced with panic.
He nodded.
“I’ll go check right now, okay?”
He didn’t let me go at first, eyes still trained on me.
“I’m going to die.”
I was already shaking my head. “Don’t think like that.”
“I’m going to die.” He smiled. “Been on enough tours to Iraq and Afghanistan to know what a fatal injury is. I have not one but two.”
I didn’t disagree with him.
“I need you to deliver a message.” He coughed, his lungs sounding like they were seconds away from a death rattle.
“What message?”
“To my club president,” he rasped. “Can you go find him? Can you tell him? Tell him when he finds my Elaine, to make sure that she’s not left alone for a while? She will be heartbroken. We’ve been together since we were sixteen. Only separated out of necessity. I don’t think she’ll take this well. We’ve been together longer than we’ve been apart, and she’ll…”
His voice broke.
“What else?” I asked.
“Tell Webber that I’m finally free.” His eyes closed and he loosened his grip on my arm. “Go find my wife, please. If I can, I want to talk to her one more time before I’m gone.”
I moved away, but stopped when I saw the shears coming out to cut the leather vest from his large frame.
“NO!” I called out, stopping the nurse. “Don’t cut it.”
“I have to cut it!” She started to go again.
But I was already taking the shears out of her hands. “No. These cuts are sacred to them.”
I may have been frightened as hell of the Truth Tellers, but I was intrigued enough to look into motorcycle clubs’ customs, rituals, and anything else that pertained to the life.
I knew that they loved their vests.
“We have to!” She reached for them again.
“We can’t,” I said. “This is no different than any other religious stuff we follow. We can get the vest off without cutting it.” I dropped my voice. “He already has no arm, darling.”
She paused and then nodded.
It took three of us to get the vest off and set nicely in the corner of the room.
His eyes met mine once again before I took off, and I could tell he was thankful for my intervention.
I smiled tightly and left the room, looking for the love of Knight’s life, but came up empty.
I did, however, find the paramedics stopped into the refreshment room grabbing a snack.
“Excuse me,” I said quickly. “The woman that was with him. Is she okay?”
The closer one shook his head.
“Nope.” The paramedic smiled sadly. “It was a really bad wreck. Eighteen-wheeler pulled out in front of them. Gave them zero time to react.”
“The biker did what he could, but in the end that wasn’t enough. He hit a guard rail and lost his leg and his arm in the impact. His wife…let’s just say she had wounds incompatible with life,” the second paramedic murmured.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“She was cut in half.” The first paramedic winced. “Died at the scene. Justice of the Peace pronounced her dead on the side of the road.”
“Dammit,” I muttered. “Thanks, guys.”
“No problem,” he said, but I was already halfway back to the trauma room.
I entered and found that there were more than enough people surrounding him and helping him, so I went to his head and cupped his cheek.
“Knight,” I said sternly.
His eyes opened, and he looked in so much pain that my entire being bucked. “She okay?”
I swallowed hard and lied through my teeth. “Yeah, she’s just fine. She didn’t even need an ambulance ride. She’s on her way here now.”
His mouth kicked up at the corners, and he had the sweetest smile on his face, despite his lips being cracked and bleeding. “Bet she loved being left behind.”
I’d bet that she felt horrible up there, watching over him, knowing she’d left him behind.
“Shit, his BP is dropping!” someone yelled.
I looked up at the monitors and damned if they weren’t right.
It was rock bottom.
“Hey,” I said to him, cupping his cheeks with both of my hands. “You keep your eyes open, okay?”
Fuck, I didn’t want him to die.
He opened them back up, but it cost him.
“You lied,” the man whispered.
I kept my hand pressed to his cheek. “Did I?”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “You said that she was alive. She’s not. She’s waving me on. Telling me to come home.”
I felt my heart flip.
“Can’t ever go anywhere without me.” He laughed, which caused him to cough. Blood oozed out of his throat and stained his teeth. “Best and worst thing. Can’t go grocery shopping without me. Can’t go to the ice cream store. Always has to have me with her. I’d give her anything, even this.”