Chapter Nine
Smokey was halfway down the stairs when the front door to the clubhouse opened, letting David in. The prospect looked around, wide eyes and looking a little desperate.
“What’s up?”
“I think we screwed up, man,” David said, stepping his way. That’s when Smokey realized David wasn’t alone. He was dragging Hunter.
“Raven!” Smokey called, stepping forward to help. There was blood on Hunter’s shoulder and more on his leg. Smokey couldn’t tell where it was coming from or how many wounds there were. “Someone call for Freud!” He shouted. “Here, let’s put him on this table so Freud can see what he’s doing.”
Together David and Smokey lifted Hunter onto one of the tables in the center of the room.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure yet,” Smokey said. “They just got back. Hunter’s hurt, I’m not sure how bad and I haven’t had a chance to get what happened from David. Did someone call Freud?”
“He’s on his way. He’d gone into town to get a couple of things.”
“Let’s see what we can do until he gets here, even if it’s only to slow the bleeding.
” Smokey glanced up at David. “Are you hurt or is all the blood his?” They all had basic first aid experience.
They might not be able to set bones or sew someone up as well as Freud, but they could get started, and keep the prospect from bleeding out.
“I had a graze to my left leg but nothing serious. Hunter took the worst of it.”
“Here, take this. Sit down and put pressure on that wound while you tell us what happened.” Raven handed him a folded towel that looked like it had been taken from the stack in the cabinet, then stepped to the other side of the table where Smokey was busy cutting Hunter’s shirt away from a wound in his shoulder.
“Is the bullet still in there?” Raven asked.
“I’m not sure. I’ll lift him up, you look for an exit wound.” Smokey lifted the prospect, wincing as he groaned in pain. He knew this had to hurt but they needed to know how badly he was hurt.
“No exit wound,” Raven said.
“Shit. That means Freud will have to go digging. That’s gonna hurt.
Let’s focus on stopping the bleeding. Freud can deal with the rest when he gets here.
” He didn’t wait for the president to put a towel on the wound or press down before he looked Hunter in the face.
“That your only wound or were you hit somewhere else? You’ve got blood on your jeans too. ”
“He caught me in the leg too but I don’t think that’s so bad. It stings but not as bad as the shoulder,” Hunter spoke through gritted teeth.
Smokey left Raven to take care of the shoulder, picked up the knife from where he’d set it on the table and moved down the prospect’s body.
When he reached the blood stain on Hunter’s leg, it only took him a moment to spot the hole where the bullet had gone in.
Then it took him seconds to slice open the thick denim and lay it open so they could see what they were dealing with.
“You’re right. This one’s not as bad,” he said, looking at the long angry furrow in the calf in front of him.
“I don’t know that Freud will even stitch this one.
But we do need to stop the bleeding.” He reached out and someone handed him a towel.
After laying it on top of the wound, he held his hand out and someone gave him a second towel.
It only took a minute for him to whip it out until he could use opposite corners to tie the first towel in place. Then Smokey turned to David.
“All right. Your turn. Pants off and up on the table.” He indicated another table.
“We need to see how bad it is and at least get it cleaned and the bleeding stopped.” David hesitated but Smokey snapped, “Now. I need to know how bad it is, so we can make sure Freud deals with what’s most urgent first.”
Moving slowly as if his time sitting while they evaluated Hunter had made him stiff and sore, he opened his jeans and peeled them down his legs.
Smokey wanted to tell him to screw it, get on the table, and he’d cut the pants off but he held his tongue.
If David could get his own pants off, it said something about how badly hurt he was, or at least Smokey hoped so.
When David had his jeans down past his knees, he sat on the table, leaning to one side. Smokey moved in and saw that the kid had been right. He’d only been grazed and a bloody furrow a little over a half inch wide streaked across the younger man’s thigh.
“I don’t think it needs stitches, but we do need to clean it.
I’ll have Freud take a look when he has second, but we’ll likely just bandage it up once it’s clean.
” Smokey straightened and looked around.
The club medic, who also worked part time as an EMT, was bent over Hunter.
The prospect clenched his teeth. His face had turned red and Smokey suspected he was seconds away from screaming from the pain.
“You need any help?” Smokey asked Freud.
“I’ve got enough hands, here. You can take care of David.
” Freud looked up his eyes narrowing as he looked across the table and the body he was working on to get a look at David’s wound.
“it’s good without stitches, unless he’s worried about a scar.
He’s gonna have one either way but it might be smaller if we stitch it up. ”
“I’ll wash up and get him taken care of.
” He leaned in and spoke softly, so only Hunter would hear him.
“It’s okay to scream. Let it out. It helps.
” Smokey went behind the bar and used the dish soap to scrub his hands and arms, eliminating every bit of Hunter’s blood he could find, all the way up to his elbows.
When he turned away, Taylynn handed him a clean towel, he thanked her as he headed back to David.
He’d almost made it when Hunter couldn’t hold back his screams any longer.
“Well, what’s the verdict?” Smokey asked, drying his hands as he approached David.
“I don’t give a shit about a scar. Bandage me up so we can talk about what went down and what to do about it.”
Smokey nodded, gathered supplies out of the toolbox they used as a first aid kit and got to work.
Hunter seemed to have passed out and wasn’t screaming anymore.
Smokey was wrapping an ace bandage around David’s leg to hold the gauze in place, when Tania appeared.
She hurried down the stairs and he knew he’d have to say something to her about running down stairs and how dangerous that could be.
He didn’t want her hurt, even accidentally.
“What’s happened? I heard someone screaming. Is everyone okay?”
“They will be,” Freud said between clenched teeth. “Here the little fucker is.” He lifted up, holding the mushroomed bullet in a pair of forceps. “Here. Take a look at that, Shotgun. Does it look whole?”
Smokey finished with David’s bandage and stepped back.
“Go put on clean pants, then come back out here. We need to know what happened.” Smokey headed for the sink.
He wanted to hold Tania and tell her everything was okay or that it would be, but he didn’t want to get blood all over her.
Looking down at himself as he scrubbed the remnants of David’s blood from his hands, he realized he had almost as much blood on him as David had. He needed to change clothes too.
“I need to change. You can come up with me if you want. Where’s Carter?” Smokey headed for the stairs.
“I’ll come with you. He was asleep when I heard the screaming. I built him a nest in the middle of your bed and laid him down. He’ll sleep for an hour or so, then I’ll need to keep an eye out for when he wakes. I don’t want him rolling off the bed or falling.”
Smokey nodded. He made a mental note that they’d need a baby monitor so they wouldn’t have to sit up here and wait for Carter to wake.
Staying quiet, he fetched a change of clothes from the bedroom then eased the door shut so they could talk without waking the baby.
“What’s going on?” Tania asked as he headed for the bathroom. He’d need to wash up before putting on clean clothes. He left the door open, so even if she stayed in the other room, he could hear her.
“David and Hunter were at your place, getting the things you asked for, someone came in and shot them. That’s all I know.
” He shrugged out of his cut and laid it on the edge of the sink.
He’d need to clean that, but not yet. His shirt was next, as he kicked out of his boots, then he shed his jeans, taking his underwear with them.
A sharp inhale from Tania told him she’d followed him into the bathroom.
He stayed silent as he turned on the water and stepped into the shower.
He hadn’t thought an hour ago when he’d showered with Carter that he would be back in the shower again so soon, but that’s how it happened sometimes.
“Was it Rod?” she asked as he stepped under the spray.
“Don’t know. We’ll go down and find out once I’m cleaned up.”
“What now?” She obviously wasn’t bothered by his being naked or in the shower.
Though he couldn’t help but wish, even if only for just a second, that she would strip off and step in here with him.
He remembered how soft and sweet her body was, how she responded to every touch.
After his dick stiffened, Smokey quickly changed the direction of his thoughts.
They needed to figure out who had shot their prospects, then figure out what to do about it, and about Rod, because while he didn’t know if that fucker was the one who’d shot the prospects, he had little doubt the fucker had sent whoever it was.
He quickly scrubbed down and shut off the water. As he threw a towel over himself, he realized she’d found a washcloth and was busy cleaning his cut. He didn’t say anything at first, but pulled on his underwear and then his jeans.
“Thanks.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head then finished getting dressed. By the time he finished pulling on his boots, he noticed that Tania had stepped out of the bathroom, his clean cut in her hands. He shrugged it on and took her hand. “Let’s go see what happened.”
“Okay. Just let me check on Carter.” She went to the bedroom door, opened it slightly to peek inside, then pulled it close again. “All right. He’s good.” Together, they left the room.