Thirty-Five
I couldn’t fucking believe it. When we were taken in to get checked out, after our bikes both failed on us, we were greeted by a grumpy but familiar face in A&E. Micro . He was slumped on a chair in the waiting room, and he had bandages around his arm and shoulder.
“Fuck, man, you too?”
He lifted his head, groaning with the movement.
“Jesus… did everyone crash today? What the fuck is going on?”
I opened my mouth to answer him with the truth, and Ry beat me to the punch.
“Guess we need to have a word with our mechanics, eh?” Ry was limping after his knee was badly twisted when he came off, and the bike landed on him. I was feeling a bit dazed, but mostly just fucking sore all over.
I had landed on my ass, which wasn’t doing wonders for my fucking pride, but when I saw Ryder come off his bike, and my brakes started failing, I knew my only hope was to lose speed as fast as I could. I’d left the road, hoping the grass verge would slow me down, and it did, until I hit a fucking hidden curb, and got tossed sideways.
“You’re being all fucking flippant with me. What’s going on? If there’s some kind of issue with the bikes or the club, I think we all have a right to fucking know. Four accidents in one day? That’s fucking impossible unless something dodgy is going on. Someone could have been killed, for fuck’s sake!”
Yeah, Micro had a point, and maybe it was time to stop trying to fix things on the quiet, because we were putting every other innocent biker in our club at risk in the process. Today was evidence of that. It was time to bring everyone in, and hope that it wouldn’t ruin our chances of catching the culprit. Although, it was occurring to me that once whoever it was knew we were onto him, he just might do a runner, and that’d make it clear once and for all.
We were seen pretty quickly by A&E standards, but I think for once, the bad perception of bikers was working in our favour, because with three of us hanging out together, people were definitely giving us a wide berth, and acting like we were psychos.
Micro was called in first, and while he was still in, they came looking for Ryder, and he was whisked away too. I was standing against the wall, because my coccyx was hurting way too much to sit down right now. The doors to A&E swooped open, and I saw several more people wearing cuts. I hoped to fuck there weren’t more accidents. Before I could speak, a warm body crashed into me, Elise’s sweet scent filling my nose as I wrapped my arms tight around her.
“I was so scared, Has.”
“I’m sorry, babe. I’m fine, it’s okay. I think Ryder came off worse.” Tori looked around her in a panic, having already asked about him, while I was almost oblivious with my girl in my arms.
“They took him into that room there,” I pointed, and Reacher led Tori in that direction. I heard a brief argument, and then they disappeared into that room.
“Micro?”
“Being seen right now, VP.” Stitch was glaring at me as I held his sister, but he held back the things he clearly wanted to yell.
“I’m doing okay, thanks for asking,” I finally muttered, because he was making me feel like the bad guy here. Stitch nodded and nudged Ice, and they both wandered a few steps away to talk quietly. Was he actually giving us space to be alone?
“Hey, babe, look at me.” Elise lifted her tear-streaked face and I groaned. I kissed both cheeks, trying to smooth her tears away.
“It kills me to see you crying, babe. It’s okay. Everyone’s fine.”
“When you didn’t answer your phone, I was so afraid, and-”
“My phone?” I reached into my pocket, but I could already tell it wasn’t there. It must have been thrown free when I came off the bike. Jesus. I was kinda relieved it was just a burner, and not my own phone, but it was the only one I’d been talking to her on.
“Sorry, babe. I think it got tossed somewhere when I cra… came off. I’m okay, though.” She wrapped her arms around my lower waist and tugged me closer, and I let out a pained curse.
She was glaring accusingly at me as she backed up.
“You said you were okay!”
I took a breath, and straightened up, wincing a little as I moved.
“I’m just bruised, babe, it’s fine. Don’t you worry about me. I’ll survive.”
Elise
H e was hurt, and he was trying to hide it, or man up, or something equally macho. When they called him in, he tried to get me to wait outside the room, but I wouldn’t let go of him, even though Seth tried to pull me away from him.
Eventually he just wrapped my hand in his and tugged me along with him.
“It’s okay, babe.”
The doctor asked him some questions, and Has admitted that he’d landed on his butt when he came off the bike, so the doctor asked him to drop his trousers, so he could assess the damage.
“Aw doc, you just wanna gawp at my naked ass.”
I giggled, and took Has’ hand again once he’d dropped his pants, and leaned over the gurney. He was squeezing my hand a little harder than I expected, and when I met his eyes, he had the most curious look on his face. It wasn’t pain, or discomfort. Was it fear? Panic? Shame?
“Hey?”
He blinked, swallowing hard, and then that easy grin of his appeared.
“Hey, babe. Whoa, doc, cold hands!”
His eyes, though… they weren’t smiling with his lips. They were still wide and panicked. I had no idea what was wrong but I moved to his side, and leaned into his shoulder, stroking his face until he followed me with his head.
“You’re fine, Has. Everything’s fine.” His breath shuddered out of him, and then he cursed and lurched away from the doctor.
“We’re done. Gimme some painkillers and I’ll get the fuck out of here.”
The doctor removed his surgical gloves, shaking his head slowly.
“You’ll have plenty of bruising, but everything seems intact. You’ll definitely be sore for a few days. Rest up for today, and make sure to move gently tomorrow. Standard painkillers will do, but I can prescribe something stronger if needed.” Has was focused on doing up his jeans, but he gave the doctor a brief nod.
“Yeah, thanks. Let’s go, babe.”
He dragged me out of there, like someone had just put the fear of god into him, not slowing down until we’d joined the others. Seth looked concerned by the way he was gripping my arm, but that wasn’t what worried me.
Something had just affected Has-Been in a way I’d never seen anything bother him, and I had to figure out what it was, so I could make sure it never happened again.