Chapter 21 #2
The crowd lacked excitement without a close finish as they gathered around Kamal to congratulate him. Where the hell was Morgan?
Blake yanked me toward the SUV without a word as Jax ran around to the driver's side and jumped in. He peeled out before I even had the back door shut all the way.
"What's happening?" I felt like I couldn't breathe or comprehend what was going on as the tires squealed against the pavement.
Blake and Jax didn't say anything as we rounded a curve. He slammed on the brakes without warning and I flew forward, luckily stopping myself against the back of the passenger seat.
"Stay here." Jax and Blake jumped out, leaving their doors open, and ran forward.
They disappeared down into some kind of canal and I stared straight ahead through the windshield, waiting for them to reappear. If something had happened to Morgan, I didn't know what I was going to do.
Blake climbed out of the ditch and bent down, taking Morgan under the armpits and pulling him to the road. They had taken off his helmet and he was blue.
"Oh, no." Tears filled my vision as they carried him to the SUV and I opened the back door. "No, no, no."
Blake climbed in and they laid him on the seat, putting his head in my lap. Blake knelt on the floorboard and started unlacing Morgan's boots as Jax jumped back in and took off.
"Hold him down." I was about to ask Blake what the fuck he was talking about when he yanked off Morgan's boot and he nearly shot off the seat with a scream.
I held him down the best I could, but he was strong. His foot was bleeding through his sock and I squinted in the dim light of the car, seeing blue skin that looked like it was growing through the fabric of the sock. Blake took off his other boot and Morgan passed out on a gurgled cry.
"Jax." Blake's voice was shaky. "Go faster."
"What’s happening?" I smoothed Morgan's hair off his sweaty forehead. He felt clammy and his skin was starting to pale.
Blake dug under the seat and pulled out an emergency kit. "His body is trying to shift." He pulled out what looked like an epi pen. "We need to get him to the medical facility."
He stabbed him in the thigh with the medicine and then pulled out a pair of scissors. He started cutting up the pant legs, but the material didn't fall open like it should have. It looked just as bad as his feet did.
The car came to a stop and Jax opened my door. I slid out, carefully putting Morgan's head on the seat. We were in the parking lot for the cove, pulled up right next to the path that led to the beach.
"What if people are down there?" Blake grabbed Morgan's legs as Jax grabbed under his armpits.
"Riley, run ahead, and if there are people, you need to distract them. We need to get him in the water." Jax was eerily calm, but I saw panic in his eyes.
I ran ahead as Jax and Blake carried him as carefully as they could. I was wracking my brain for ways to distract a bunch of teenagers, but thankfully, there was no one around.
They carried him across the sand to the water and set him down. They quickly stripped out of their clothes as I knelt next to Morgan, who was still unconscious and turning paler by the minute. What had caused him to crash? Had Kamal caused this?
Anger surged inside me and I bit down on my lip; the coppery taste of my blood filled my mouth. I wanted to kill him.
"Take our clothes and the car and go back to our place. Do you remember your passcode?" Jax snapped me out of my plans for vengeance and I nodded.
"Is he going to be okay?" My bottom lip trembled as they picked Morgan up and stripped off his shirt.
They walked into the water and, without answering me, they disappeared into the dark waves.
I'd been sitting in the car for several minutes, trying to process what had just happened. Everything happened so fast that I couldn't believe it at the time.
Morgan had shifted through his clothes. I winced and sucked in a sharp breath, thinking about how painful it must have been when Blake took off his boots.
I put the car in drive, and instead of turning toward the guys' house, I turned back toward the crash site. I needed to see it for some sick reason.
It was easy to find because there were already vehicles and bikes parked nearby. One of those bikes was Kamal's.
My anger returned, and I reached into the back and pulled my knife out of my bag. I jumped out of the SUV and headed straight to where he was talking to Ryan.
I shoved him, sending him against the side of a car, and brought the knife to his throat. "What did you do?"
"What the fuck?" His eyes widened in fear. "Get off me, you psycho!"
I pressed the edge of the knife against his skin. A drop of blood traveled down his neck and I felt myself struggling for control. What was I doing?
"Riley? Put the knife down."
What the fuck was Mr. Gale doing here?
I didn't listen and stared into Kamal's panicked eyes. "If he dies, I will kill you."
"I didn't do anything, I swear! We were neck and neck and then his bike started smoking. I turned the corner and didn't even know he crashed." His voice was shaking slightly as I lowered the knife.
His hand went to his neck, covering the small nick I had left. He quickly moved away from me and I turned to face Mr. Gale. His eyes went to the knife in my grip and I quickly shoved it in my hoodie pocket.
"I think you should give that to me before you hurt someone or yourself." He stepped forward and I backed up a step.
I finally looked around at the scene. A group of guys was loading the motorcycle into the back of a truck. It was a mangled mess and I looked away, trying not to think about the pain Morgan had been in.
"Riley." Mr. Gale was closer now, too close, and I pinned him with a glare. My hand was still on my knife and it would only take a second to stab him with it.
"Why are you here?"
"I was passing by." He didn't take his eyes off me. "I have a truck so I offered to help so this stays quiet. With the drug allegations against his friends, this might draw him into the mess too."
I examined his face, but he didn't give much away. He was calm and almost showed no emotion.
"I need to go." I started backing toward the SUV.
There was no way in hell I was going to turn my back on this guy. He was conveniently around all the time.
"Where are the Tritons?" He raised his chin toward the SUV.
"At the hospital." It wasn't a complete lie. They were going somewhere that had medical care, I just didn't exactly know where it was besides under the water.
The corner of his mouth ticked like he was resisting the urge to smile. "You better get back to the hospital then."
He turned back to the group that had finished securing the motorcycle in his truck, and I took that as my cue to leave.