Chapter 5
BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…
“Let’s get a fresh IV bag and switch out the blankets now that we have all her wet clothes off… Her vitals look a little better than when she first got here… Once X-ray becomes available, we need to make sure there are no broken bones…”
“Mmm…”
“Sutton? Can you hear me?” a woman’s voice slides up next to me. “You’re at the hospital, can you tell me if anything hurts?”
My eyes peel open, but they’re a little blurry. It’s hard to focus.
What happened? What’s going on?
“Sutton, I need you to look at me,” I hear my name again. A shiver racks my body, and I feel a coldness settle into my very core. I feel my teeth chattering. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. Just focus on me for a second. I’m Dr. Melissa Spencer, okay? Can you tell me what hurts?”
“Her pulse is still low,” another voice says.
“Keep changing out the warm blankets.”
“My oh-kkay,” I try to say, but it comes out slurred.
“You’ve got mild hypothermia,” Dr. Melissa tells me. “Do you feel pain anywhere?”
I try to think if I feel any pain, but my eyes just want to close and go back to sleep.
“Stay with me, sweet girl,” the woman says.
“We have a room ready for X-ray, Dr. Spencer.”
“We’re going to take you down for some scans to see if there’s anything broken or injured,” Melissa informs me.
I close my eyes hoping that my body will stop trembling and that my teeth don’t chip from the chattering. My world starts to darken, and I let it pull me under.
BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…
I groan at the noise that brings me out of my deep slumber. It’s been a while since I’ve slept so hard.
BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…
I crack an eye open to see whose alarm is going off in the house but see unfamiliar white walls surrounding me. The far door opens, and a woman in stained scrubs comes in with a phone in hand.
“Hello, Sutton,” she greets in a gentle voice. “Do you hurt anywhere?” I think about her question and try to take inventory of my body and the mountains of blankets on top of me. “I’m Melissa, your doctor, do you know where you are?”
Oh my gosh! Did Papa send me on another mission trip? Did he find out I was planning to leave? I start to look around for any signs that could help me get away but find none. My hands move and they aren’t strapped down, which is a good start.
“Can I sit you up a bit?” I nod and watch her closely as she bends over and presses a button on the bed.
The top of my body starts to lift, and I’m able to get a better view of the room.
It looks as though I’m in a hospital room, but why would I be in a hospital?
“I know this must be confusing, but what is the last thing you remember?”
My eyes shift back and forth trying to think about what she’s asking.
Remember.
Remember.
Cars. Money. Race.
“Rae-gan?” I try to say, but it comes out in a stammer.
“Raegan is stable for now. We’ll know more in a little while,” she says.
“You’ve got mild hypothermia from being in the water along with some deep bruising.
Nothing is broken according to the scans.
Is there anywhere on your body that you can tell me that hurts or doesn’t feel right or that might be out of place? ”
“Jus-Just col-d,” I try to speak again.
“As your body warms, the shivering will stop,” she says. “I’ve got a waiting room full of men wanting to see you. Is it okay to let a few back to see that you’re okay?”
I nod, not trusting my voice. My heart starts racing out of fear that the men waiting for me are my father and his members.
“Your nurse is coming in to switch out these blankets with warm ones. I’ve got some warm liquids I’d like you to drink to help heat up your body temperature.” She gives me a few choices, and I nod at the mention of hot chocolate. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
She leaves and new blankets and the hot chocolate are delivered. I try to hold the cup of hot chocolate without spilling it, but it’s a hard task.
Sometime later and after the help of the nurse, I’m able to hold the cup and sip it down. My body isn’t quivering as much, and my speech is somewhat clearer. My eyes grow heavy again, and I close them to rest for just a little bit before I need to check on Raegan.
I feel a warm hand engulf mine and hear someone talking. Opening my eyes, I notice the lights have dimmed, and there are two large men standing on either side of my bed.
“Beckett?”
“Yeah, Angel, I’m here.”
“Oh, Beckett, I was so scared,” I whimper and feel an ache in my side as he pulls me close in a tight embrace. “Raegan, how’s Raegan?”
“Shh, you’re safe now,” he tells me as we rock for a minute and then pulls back. “Raegan is having surgery to remove a bullet. She’ll be fine, we both know she’s too stubborn to die on us.” We all slightly chuckle at that. “Baby, we need to know what happened and who did this.”
I nod, wiping my eyes as I let the tears fall.
Raegan leads us over to a guy named Danny and gives her name. She gets set up for the race along with placing my bet. Trick puts down a couple of grand for Ghost since we know our girl can rock this shit, and then we walk back over to the car so Raegan can get things ready to race.
Trick and I stand over by his bike, out of the way, and wait for the racers to cross the finish line.
He gave specific instructions to Raegan that if something goes wrong to meet by an old gas station off the road down from here until we can get to her.
Apparently, this type of racing is illegal, and the cops get called often.
There are a total of six cars racing that are lined up on the road.
Raegan is behind the second row next to an orange and black, small sports car.
We are waiting for the horn to blow, and I look back and take the scene in.
Both men and women are stretched out along the side of the road cheering with their cameras out, drinking.
All different types of music is booming out of each car.
Everyone is having a good time, waiting for the race to begin.
But, Trick tenses beside me, and I try to follow where he’s looking, but there are so many people I don’t know who he is staring at.
“Everything okay, Trick?” I ask, nervously.
“Not sure, but I don’t have a good feeling about being here all of a sudden,” he says, not taking his eyes off the area down the line of spectators.
The horn blows making me almost jump out of my skin as the cars screech out and roar down the road.
They leave a large puff of smoke from their tires that makes me choke.
My heart is racing as we wait to see who barrels across first. I never thought something like this could be so much fun.
My heart is beating so fast I almost feel giddy at the thought of getting caught.
I’ve never been in any type of trouble before, but right now my body is buzzing with excitement.
Off in the distance we hear the sounds of engines and know that the cars are heading back towards us, getting closer to crossing the line. Straining my eyes, I can only make out one car, and it has me jumping up and down with excitement.
“It’s Raegan! It’s Raegan!” I screech, grabbing ahold of Trick’s arm. I know he put quite a bit of money down, and from the smile beaming off his face, I can tell he’s just as happy as I am.
Raegan crosses the line, and it seems like forever before the next car comes across. She parks over by us getting out and tossing her helmet somewhere in the car but making sure her wig stays on.
“You won! Oh my gosh, you won!” I bounce over to her and swallow her up in a hug.
We’re giggling like little school girls. Now I know why she loves doing this. The high I feel right now is unbelievable. The crowd is cheering and trying to circle around her as she makes her way over to Danny to collect her prize.
After Danny announces the top three, money is exchanged and collected. The wad of bills in my hand right now could make me pass out. I’ve got more than enough money now that’s going to change my life. On our way back over to the car, a large body stops us by putting a hand up in front of us.
“I didn’t realize Stone allowed his bitch to go out without him,” a guy with a snake tattoo and leather cut sneers at us. He looks vaguely familiar.
Trick harshly removes the guy’s hand that is close to Raegan with a shove.
“The same could be asserted for you, Brock. What, Hector found a new play toy and tossed you away?” Trick counters and has his hand on the inside of his jacket as he moves his body blocking us from this guy and his buddies.
Can’t we ever go out and not have some type of issue that ruins our night?
“You’re a funny one, aren’t you? Tell you what, move out of the way and let us have that sweet little thing, and you’ll get to leave here unscathed,” Brock haughtily offers.
“Not a chance,” Trick spits out.
There’s a total of three guys who are with Brock when the air around us changes.
Voices in the background fade away and a ripple of danger fills the space, it’s like the calm before the storm.
I catch a movement from the corner of my eye.
I see a reflection before everything happens at lightning speed.
One of the other guys from behind Brock whips around and stabs Trick with what I assume is a knife in the gut.
Raegan reaches around to her waistband and pulls out a gun and fires at the guy, sending him down to the ground.
Trick who still has the knife impaled in him starts to slump over, but Raegan catches him and has him lean on her for support.
The sound of screams ring out as everyone scatters away as I give Trick some assistance to try to help stabilize him to keep him from folding to the ground.