Chapter 12 #2
That wasn’t a simple protection detail. Not all of it. Fear was wearing his voice. He turned back to her. “I shouldn’t have said it like that.”
“But you meant it.”
“Yes.”
She nodded once, the movement small and stiff. “So did I.”
The words should have made him angrier. Instead, they landed on the part of him that understood exactly why she’d run to him. If their positions had been reversed, no order on earth would have kept him inside either.
Mack approached. “CB’s rounding up his club members. Blackridge PD is en route.”
Jasper glanced toward the road. “I hit his leg. He’ll need medical attention. Tell CB and Mallory to keep an eye on the hospital and clinic.”
Mack’s gaze dropped to Jasper’s arm. “You could use some medical attention yourself.”
“It’s just a graze.”
Katherine’s gaze snapped to Mack, then back to Jasper’s arm. “He needs a doctor.”
Thunder sounded again in the distance. It was going to rain and contaminate any evidence that might be present. Jasper shook his head. “I need to secure the scene before that storm gets here.”
Garrett stepped in, already marking the nearest shell casing with a rock. “I’ll secure the scene. Mack will coordinate with CB and Blackridge PD. After you’re patched up, you can gather video and audio and send it to Detective Mallory.”
Jasper started to argue. Garrett raised a brow. While Jasper technically answered to Vivi, when it came to operations, Garrett had final say.
More importantly, Garrett was right. Jasper didn’t need to bleed all over the yard and gate. That would be worse than the rain.
Katherine’s hands had curled into fists at her sides, and the bandage across her palm was lying on the ground behind them. She looked furious, terrified, and dangerously close to breaking apart because of him, and because the world kept offering her proof that nowhere was safe.
“Let’s get you inside,” he said.
She lifted her chin. “What about your arm?”
“I can handle it.”
Vivi shook her head. “Medical suite, now. You may need stitches.”
Katherine raised a brow. “You have a medical suite?”
“It’s two rooms,” Jasper said between clenched teeth, “And all I need is a bandage.”
“Where is it?” Katherine asked Vivi. “I’ll make sure he gets there and he will sit still and keep his mouth shut if he does need stitches.”
Mack, Garrett, and Vivi exchanged glances. Jasper suddenly felt too tired to argue. “Katherine—”
“You told me not to run into open ground. Fine. You’re right—I blew it. But if you’re bleeding because you put yourself between me and a bullet, I’m not going to stand around while someone else patches you up. I’m helping, dammit.”
Mack muttered, “I’m going to go grab the evidence kit with proper markers and pretend I’m not enjoying this.”
Garrett shot him a look. “Move.”
Mack patted Katherine’s back and gave her a brief nod that looked suspiciously like approval.
Vivi walked with Jasper and Katherine back to the door. Her gaze moved from Jasper’s arm to Katherine’s face and back again. “All right, medical suite, both of you.”
Jasper let Katherine go through the door first, then stopped so he was eye to eye with Vivi. “I don’t need stitches. I’ve been injured enough times to know. All the wound needs is to be cleaned and bandaged.”
Vivi sighed and looked at Katherine. “If he does need stitches, you know where to find me.”
Katherine nodded. “I do.”
The hallway felt too bright after the shadowed yard.
Jasper’s sleeve stuck to his skin, and the graze burned with every step.
Katherine walked beside him without touching him, but he could sense how emotional she was about endangering his life.
“You neglected to show me the medical suite on our tour.”
“Our operators get hurt once in a while. Not often, but Vivi has medical training. She’s stitched a few of them up.”
“Which way is it?”
“I’ve got a full first aid kit in my room. Let’s go there instead.”
As they passed the common room, Priss sat on the back of the couch with her tail lashing. Lightning split the sky outside the window, and she leaped off the couch, racing down the hall toward the private rooms.
They followed, and Katherine let her into her room. Then she followed Jasper to his.
In the bathroom, he peeled off his shirt. The fabric pulled at the wound, and he hissed before he could stop himself.
Katherine was instantly next to him. “It looks bad.” Her voice shook, but her hands didn’t as she grabbed a washcloth from the stack on the vanity. “Let me clean it.”
His gaze flicked to her reflection in the mirror. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I know.”
The graze had cut across the outside of his upper arm, shallow but ugly. She cleaned it with more concentration than the injury required, her lips pressed tight, her eyes too bright.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t.”
“You got shot because of me.”
“I got grazed because the asshole fired a weapon at you.”
“And because I defied your order and made myself a target.”
He waited until she looked up. “You recognized him and thought I was in danger. I understand why you did it.”
“You’re still angry.”
“Yes.”