Chapter Twenty-Five
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
WAS THERE A more incredible woman than Talia?
Pulse doubted it.
Who else would risk their life to save a man who’d held a gun to their head not one week before?
He shed his cut, then his T-shirt. “Ball this up and hold it on the wound. Don’t be shy. Push fucking hard.”
Talia reached for it with trembling hands. She was terrified and running on adrenaline, probably with some lingering caffeine in her system. She tended to forget to eat and consumed gallons of coffee when she worked late. But she took his shirt and pressed it to Spec’s leg with firm, confident pressure as though she dodged bullets and tended gunshot wounds every day.
Christ, he really fucking loved this woman. The timing sucked, but he’d meant what he said. Later, he’d repeat it hundreds of times if he needed to, whatever it took to make sure she believed him.
He could sit there all night and drool over her competence and trust in him, but each passing second meant more danger to Spec’s life.
Thank fuck he wore a belt that day. Most of the time he didn’t bother but had that day for some reason.
Some cosmic intuition he didn’t believe in.
Working as quickly as possible, he undid his belt and slid it out of the loops with one long tug. Talia watched him with a slightly dazed expression as he slipped the belt under Spec’s thigh as high as he could manage.
“Okay, brother, this is gonna hurt like a fucking bitch, not gonna lie. But the way you’re bleeding makes me worry they hit the artery, and there’s no fucking way you’re bleeding out on me tonight. He threaded the belt through the buckle and looked Spec in the eye. “That means you gotta suck it the fuck up. Don’t be a whiney pussy.”
Spec’s laugh was a weak testament to how much blood he’d lost in a few short minutes—minutes that felt like ages.
“Do your worst,” he croaked.
With a nod, Pulse yanked as hard as he could, cinching the belt around Spec’s thigh. His brother let out a primal wail of pain, but it worked. The fountain of blood streaming from his femoral artery slowed to a trickle.
At Spec’s agonized scream, Talia’s expression turned to one of horror, but she bit her lower lip and kept pressure on the wound. Her trust that he knew what to do and how to do it was goddamn everything.
“Spec?” Liv shouted through the quiet night. “Are you okay? What’s happening?” She sounded seconds away from full-on hysteria. Being separated from him while listening to his spine-chilling cry had to be torture.
“I-I can’t shout,” he rasped, panting. “Not enough breath.”
“H-he’s okay,” Talia shouted for him. “He’s okay, Liv. Pulse is taking care of him.”
Spec sagged against the transformer box in a half-conscious slump. Sweat poured down his ashen face, and he couldn’t speak above a whisper, but he was alive and not losing much blood anymore.
“W-what do we do now?” Talia asked. “We can’t call the police.”
No, they couldn’t. The pretend DEA agent on the other side of that parking lot would spin this entire disaster his way and land everyone’s ass in jail.
“We need to draw him out.” Pulse froze. He turned his head, straining to catch the distant sound. “You hear that?”
Talia tilted her head. “What? No. What do you hear?”
“Cavalry’s coming.” Spec’s dazed grin held the same glee it always did when the club kicked ass.
“What?” Talia blinked once then gasped. “Motorcycles. Oh my God, I hear them. I told Liv to call Curly.”
“And he sent the cavalry. Don’t ease up on the pressure, Tal.” Pulse would have offered to take over, but he couldn’t release the tension on the belt, or fresh blood would resume gushing out of Spec.
The rumble grew louder and louder until it reached a deafening roar. The whole goddamn club had come to save their asses.
Talia closed her eyes and mouthed, Thank God .
God had nothing to do with it. This was all Curly and his loyal family of outlaws.
Bikes poured into the parking lot. Curly shouted orders to be on guard and search for the shooter.
Pulse held a finger to his lips. As soon as it was safe, he’d announce their presence, but he wasn’t going to risk popping up to have his head blown off. It felt like forever before Tracker shouted. “All clear. Betty found where he was shooting from, but he must have split. There’s no sign of anyone here now.”
Betty White was Tracker’s dog, trained in search and rescue. However, she also came in handy at times like this. The intelligent pup could sniff out gun residue, and it sounded like that was precisely what she did.
“Pulse? Spec?” Curly shouted. “Shooter fled the scene.”
“We’re here,” Pulse called back as he raised his hand above the transformer.
Liv burst from behind the car with an impressive explosion of speed. The sound of pounding boots alerted him to the rest of the crew heading their way.
“Fuck, Livy!” Jinx shouted. He grabbed her before she could reach Spec. “What happened to you?”
Of course, Spec picked up on that. “Liv? What happened?” He grabbed Pulse’s arm with a scary-weak grip. “Is she okay?”
Pulse looked at Talia, who nodded. “She just has a gash on her head, Spec. You know, head wounds bleed a lot. It must have freaked Jinx out, but she’s all right.”
A gash on her head. Jesus, had a bullet grazed her? Talia must have read the question in his eyes because she nodded. Spec didn’t need to know that. It was bad enough that he was about to see his woman looking like someone tried to scalp her.
“She’s good, brother,” he added. “But we’ll get her checked out at the hospital while you’re there.”
“I don’t need a fucking hospital.”
Talia laughed a hysterical, high-pitched sound. “Yeah, you do, macho man. No one has ever needed a hospital more than you do right now.”
Liv escaped Jinx’s concerned grasp and dropped to her knees by Spec’s head. “Baby,” she said with a choked sob.
“Jesus, fuck, Livy.” Spec tried to sit up, but Liv put her hands on his shoulder when he groaned. No one could tame the beast quite like that woman. “I’m okay, Scott. I promise. I’m much more worried about you. You almost died.”
He grunted. “Please, it’s a damn scratch. Put a Band-Aid on me, and I’ll be good to go.”
No one had ever spoken a stupider statement.
She shook her head. “You crazy idiot,” she said while kissing all over his face. “If you don’t go to the hospital, I don’t either.”
What a ridiculous conversation. If Spec didn’t get to a hospital and into surgery to repair his artery, he’d die. But if Liv could get him to go without a fight, everyone involved would be much better off.
He scowled at her but relented as they all knew he would.
Everything happened quickly after that. Jinx took over, holding pressure on Spec’s bullet wound while Ty held the belt tight.
“Do not let up the pressure even for a second. Either of you,” Pulse ordered.
“Got it, boss,” Ty said with a nod.
“What if he’s super obnoxious on the way? Can I let up a little? Take some of the fight out of him?” Jinx asked with a deep chuckle.
“Jinx!” Liv slapped the back of his head.
“Ow, woman! I was kidding.”
Pulse shook his head. “Let’s just get him in the fucking car.”
“Wait.”
As Pulse went to slide his hands under Spec’s shoulders to help lift him, Spec held up a hand. “Brother, I was wrong.” His voice had weakened to barely a whisper. “I’m so—”
Christ, he refused to hear Spec’s version of a deathbed apology. No one was dying tonight.
“Save your energy, Spec.”
“No, I—”
Pulse shook his head. He wanted an apology. A better man might not need it, but Pulse did. It was necessary to fix their broken bond, but not when Spec was worried he wouldn’t make it. “Tell me once you’re up on your feet, and we can stand eye to eye, brother.”
If he hadn’t known how much danger Spec was in, the fact that his brother didn’t fight him let him know. Spec nodded. His eyes drooped. They needed to get this show on the road.
“Let’s move. He needs medical attention now .”
Curly helped Pulse lift a half-limp Spec and load him in the back seat of Brooke’s SUV while Jinx and Ty did their best to hold the pressure. Brooke had arrived with her car after Curly sent her a text saying the area was safe. Of course, the president anticipated needing vehicles besides motorcycles to get everyone out of there. He was the president for a reason.
Now that she didn’t need to hold Spec’s leg together, Talia scooted off to the side of the parking lot and sat on a curb with her head in her hands. He itched to go to her. To wrap her in his arms and check every inch of her to make sure she hadn’t been hurt. Someone had been shooting at her, for Christ’s sake. She could have died in an instant.
Not yet. Don’t think about that shit yet. Keep your head in the fucking game.
As soon as he was confident Liv’s injury wasn’t more serious than she claimed, he’d be all over Talia. Liv stood near the SUV, staring into the back seat where Jinx attempted to keep Spec awake with atrocious jokes.
“Livy, let me take a look at that wound.”
She turned her head until he had access to the gash. The bleeding had slowed to a trickle.
“How’s the pain?” he asked as he probed the skin around the wound.
“Um… I’m not even sure. I’m feeling kinda weird.”
“Shock,” he said.
“My face itches.”
God, he hated the flat tone of her voice, as though she didn’t have enough energy to speak.
“That’s just dried blood. They’ll get you all cleaned up in the emergency room.”
She nodded.
She was missing a patch of hair, which would piss her off to no end later, but she was alive and wouldn’t require more than a dozen or so stitches.
“Let’s get you to the hospital,” he said as he guided her to the front passenger seat of the SUV.
“I want to sit with Spec. Let me sit in the back.” Her voice held an edge of panic no one could blame her for.
“Honey, he’s got Jinx and Ty back there with him. There isn’t even enough room for all of them, let alone you. Sit in the front next to Brooke. You can reach back and hold Spec’s hand, okay?”
Tears streamed down her face, and she shook her head. “No, I-I wan—”
“Shh, hey, come here. It’s okay, Livy.” Brooke drew Liv into her arms. “I got her,” she whispered to Pulse with a grateful nod.
Brooke loaded Liv into the car and then jogged around to the driver’s seat. They peeled out of the parking lot a few seconds later and sped off to the hospital.
Curly strode over with his mouth set in a grim line. “You injured?”
“No.” Pulse ran his hand through his hair. “I’m good.”
“And Talia?”
He glanced over to where she sat on the curb with her bloody knees hugged close to her body. She stared toward where Tracker had found their assailant’s hiding place as though she didn’t trust the danger had passed for the night.
“She’s scraped up, but nothing major. I’ll drive her to the ER to be checked out, though.”
Curly nodded, then slapped Pulse on the back. “Tomorrow we go hunting.”
The club would no longer sit back and wait for the chips to fall. Pulse was on board with that. Too bad their special forces enforcer would be out of commission for the coming battle.
“Go take care of your ol’ lady,” Curly said.
“She’s—”
Curly raised an eyebrow that asked, wasn’t she ?
“Will do, Prez. Thank you.” He tried to convey how much Curly’s support meant in those two words, but words would never be enough to capture what the Handlers meant to him.
“Always,” Curly said, slapping him on the back. “Let’s roll, boys,” he said to the remaining men. Frost had loaded Jinx and Ty’s bikes in the back of a truck. No way would he risk leaving them unattended overnight.
As the guys mounted up, Pulse made his way to Talia. Before he reached her, she leaped from the curb straight at him. He wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hold. “I’m so sorry, baby,” he whispered as he rocked her back and forth. She’d given Liv her sweater and wore nothing but a tank top and a torn skirt.
“Is Spec going to survive?” she whispered.
“Yeah, Tal. He’ll be in pain and probably the world’s shittiest patient, but he’ll recover. I want to talk about you, though,” he said against her hair. “Let’s get you to the hospital so they can check you over and patch you up.”
She shook her head so hard she almost smashed his nose. “No. Please, no. I just want to go home. Or the apartment. Wherever is safest.” She drew back to look at him. The dried tears on her cheeks felt like a punch to the chest. “I’m only scraped. I promise. I just don’t want to be around anyone besides you right now. Can you just bandage them for me? Please.”
Fuck, he hated the thread of panic in her tone, as though she worried he might deny the request. Didn’t she know by now? He’d do anything she asked. This woman had him wrapped around every one of her fingers. “Yeah, baby, I can do that.”
“Thank you.”
“Let’s get the hell outta here.” He guided her to the passenger side of her car. As much as he loved her clinging to his back on the bike, riding with skinned knees and palms would suck, so the car it was. Curly would take care of his motorcycle along with the others.
Neither spoke much on the ride to the Handlers’ compound. Pulse kept his hand on Talia’s thigh while she rested back against her seat with her eyes closed. The silence helped give him time to process, but unfortunately, his mind kept returning to one stark fact—he’d come extremely close to losing Talia tonight.
Why had he ever let her get involved with him? He could have cut it off the night she’d been run off the road. Instead, as a selfish fuck, he’d let himself get deeper and deeper until they were so entwined even a crowbar couldn’t separate them. Still, he had to try. He had to take a stab at distancing himself.
The clubhouse was lit up like they were having a damn party when he pulled onto the property. Most likely, his brothers were updating their women and drinking as they waited for news on Spec.
As much as he loved them and owed them for tonight, Pulse had no desire to be around them. He wanted Talia and Talia alone.
So much for his plan to distance himself. It would never happen, and he shouldn’t bother lying to himself.
He drove over the grass and parked at the barn door.
“Pulse, I can walk,” Talia said with a huff.
“Fuck that.” He jogged around and opened the passenger door before his stubborn woman could try to slip out on her own.
She winced as she swung her legs his way.
“Saw that,” he said with a smirk.
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.
The flash of normal banter had his lips quirking even though he couldn’t muster a full grin.
Pulse kept his arm around her waist as they walked up the stairs. She leaned against him from either pain or fatigue. Her gait was slower than usual, and every so often, she winced. The injuries might be minor, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t ache like hell for the next few days.
When they reached the apartment, he ushered her straight into the bathroom. “Hop up,” he said, patting the countertop. He grabbed her waist and hoisted her onto the counter. When he turned toward the tiny closet to retrieve the first-aid kit, Talia grabbed his cut and stopped him.
She tugged him close and widened her legs. He slipped between them. The added height from her sitting on the counter put their lips nearly level with each other.
“Just give me a minute like this. I’m so tired,” she whispered, resting her forehead against his. “I could fall asleep right here sitting up. I almost feel like I drank too much.”
“It’s the adrenaline crash.” He coasted his hands up and down her back, and she nearly purred.
“Makes sense. Mm… that feels nice.”
“Good.” He’d rub her back for the rest of her life if it made her happy.
When she spoke again, he had to strain to hear. “I’ve never let anyone see me like this before.”
He stilled his hands. “Injured?”
“No, I mean, weak like this… rattled from a bad experience, messy, and helpless. Normally, I’d hide away and lick my metaphorical wounds until I was back to one hundred percent. I don’t like people to know I’m not always strong or at my best, so I isolate myself in those moments. It’s too easy for someone to take advantage of those moments and judge or hurt you.” She straightened and looked him in the eye. “But with you, I’m not afraid of that happening.”
Christ, what a fucking honor. He had to be the luckiest bastard in the universe. Of everyone she knew, he was the lucky fucker who got all of her—the good, the bad, and the vulnerable.
He cupped her face and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. “I will make sure you never regret giving me this gift.” He kissed her again. “I meant it, you know.”
Her forehead scrunched, and she frowned. “Meant what?”
“Earlier tonight when I told you I love you. My timing was shit, but I meant it. It wasn’t just a heat-of-the-moment confession. I love you.”
She sucked in a breath, and her pupils widened. “Pulse…”
“I love you, Talia.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and her throat moved as she swallowed. “I love you, too,” she whispered.
His heart nearly exploded out of his chest. He’d told Camila he loved her countless times as part of the ruse. And he’d heard it back just as many times. It’d been easy to say, becoming a habitual phrase he’d spoken every time they left each other’s presence. Saying or hearing those words hadn’t meant anything to him.
They did now.
He could feel something shift inside him at her words. Like a missing piece of an elaborate puzzle, he’d assumed he’d lost and would never find.
“Let’s fix you so we can go to bed.”
“Okay.”
She watched intently as he cleaned her palms and knees. He wasn’t surprised by how stoic she remained even when he knew it stung. The task took longer than expected due to bits of gravel he had to pick out of her wounded knees one by one. By the time he finished bandaging her, she’d slumped back against the mirror and fallen asleep.
Gentle as he could, he scooped her into his arms and carried her out of the bathroom. Her eyes fluttered and opened about halfway to the bed. “Sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t apologize. I’m thinking I might carry you around everywhere we go. Seems like something you’d be excited about.”
Talia’s chuckle was heavy with sleep. “You know me well.”
He set her down next to the bed. Once he was sure she was steady on her feet, he stripped off her clothes and then followed with his own. They crawled into bed and reached for each other like two powerful magnets.
Neither had the energy for more than sleep, but he’d never felt anything better than holding her beneath the warmth of the blankets with their bare skin touching from toes to noses.