Chapter 31 Rob
ROB
“Oh my God,” Krista breathed, her eyes wide as she stared at the blood seeping from my wound.
I winced as she pressed her fingers against it, sending shocks of pain through my side.
“Keep pressure on it,” Knight commanded as he reached into the back and pulled out a med kit.
“Where’s Claire?” I bit out, needing something to distract me from the pain wracking my body.
“Liam and Parker picked her up. They’re on their way to the safe house.”
Sinner glanced in the rearview mirror at me. “I would just like to say that I did not like being relegated to the driver. Next time, I would like to play the part of the burglar.”
“Why are you bleeding so much?” Krista screeched, pressing even harder on my side.
My teeth clenched in pain, but I refused to make a sound. “Gunshot wound,” I gritted out. “They tend to bleed.”
“Why did you get shot?” she asked, her voice pitching higher with every question.
“Because I was protecting you.”
“Well, I didn’t ask you to protect me!” Her voice went to near-deafening decibels.
“That’s what a good husband does,” Sinner said, looking over his shoulder at Krista.
“If he had let you get shot, then we’d have to kick his ass.
Not to mention, we’d have to hear him whining over the fact that his wife got shot and he didn’t protect her.
It would be this long melodramatic thing, and we’d all want to take out our guns and shoot him. ”
“There’d probably be a debate over who got to pull the trigger,” Derek agreed.
“Ooh, like that time with Victor Adams,” Sinner laughed. “Remember? We couldn’t figure out whose shot was the kill shot?”
“What does this have to do with his wound?” Krista snapped.
They both looked at each other funnily. “Nothing. Just a bit of nostalgia for the road,” Sinner said.
Knight tore open the gauze and handed the alcohol to me. “Hold this.”
“No problem.”
“I really wouldn’t clean him up in here,” Derek said. “This is a rental.”
“Yeah, a little blood isn’t a big deal, but the moment you—”
Knight tore open my shirt and poured the alcohol over the open wound. Biting down hard, my scream was muffled, thankfully, sounding more manly than I could have ever hoped for.
“That’s it. Just let it all out,” Sinner cheered me on. “I mean, obviously, since we’re already destroying the vehicle, it no longer matters how much blood is on the seats.”
“Would you shut up?” Krista screeched. “He’s been shot.”
“Oh, I know. Trust me. I’ve been there.”
“It’s more like a bad flesh wound,” Derek snorted. “I doubt he even has any internal injuries.”
“Ooh!” Sinner snapped his fingers. “Best injury on the job. By far, Rocco and the rusty farm equipment.”
“Oh, yes! Remember how he had to be carried over the trip wires? And the sepsis? Man, that was a good one.”
“Not helping,” I said through clenched teeth. Krista was worrying her bottom lip. The terror filling her eyes was hitting me hard in the gut, competing with the gaping wound.
“He’s going to be okay, right?” she asked Knight as he bandaged the wound, pressing hard on it.
“Sure.”
She flinched back. “What? What does sure mean?”
“Ooh! I know this one!” Sinner laughed. “It’s a non-answer to a stupid question.”
“That’s not it,” Derek snapped. “It’s a non-statement to a negative response.”
“That doesn’t even make sense!” Sinner argued.
“Yes, it does! The non-statement is sure. And the negative response is— Wait.”
“Exactly, it doesn’t make sense.”
Without thinking, I squeezed Krista’s hand. The arguing was even worse than the pain at this point.
“Why does it matter what sure means?” Krista snapped.
“Because it has to do with the inflection in your voice. If you go high—sure, then that means you agree, but if you go low—sure,” Sinner said, pitching his voice low, “then it means you don’t really agree with what’s being said.”
“Where do guys even have the time to think about stuff like this?” Krista asked. “He’s bleeding out!”
“It’s a paper cut!” Sinner exclaimed. “That’s not nearly as important as whether or not I was right or wrong. And I was most definitely right.”
“You most definitely weren’t!” Derek snapped. “That’s not even close to his definition!”
“Whose definition?” Krista shouted.
“Fox!” They both turned and yelled.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” I groaned, rolling over and puking up my guts on the floorboards.
Knight rolled me back and pressed on the wound again, but I could tell he wasn’t doing shit to stop the bleeding. The bullet must have nicked something.
“Well, we definitely can’t bring it back now,” Sinner sighed.
“No kidding. Blood is one thing, but puke? That smell never gets out of anything. Might as well sell it.”
Krista leaned in and whispered, “Do you really work with these guys?”
“Not on a regular basis.”
“We need to get him to a hospital,” Knight said.
Sinner yanked on the wheel, pulling over to the side of the road, nearly sending all of us flying into windows. Turning around, he looked at Knight in concern.
“Wait, you mean an actual hospital?”
“Yes, the kind with medicine and everything.”
“Shit, so this isn’t just a paper cut?”
“No, which you would know if you weren’t arguing over the definition of sure!” Knight snapped.
“Hey, in my defense, I was just trying to lighten the mood and keep the little woman from freaking out.”
“Hospital. Now!” Knight commanded.
Geez, even I was about to jump up and salute. We pulled back on the road and were on our way to the hospital, but the bickering had at least died down a little.
Or maybe that was everything dimming around me?
Grasping Krista’s hand, I tugged her closer. “Are they still arguing?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice laced with concern. “Can you not hear them?”
I shook my head slightly, hating the look of terror on her face.
“It’ll be okay. Just a bullet…wound,” I said, my voice drifting off.
“Hey, stay with me! Rob, stay with me!”
“I’m here,” I mumbled, trying to do as she said. I knew Knight was still pressing down hard on my side, but I hardly felt a thing anymore.
That was bad.
“Rob!” she shouted, grabbing my face.
“Pretty eyes,” I mumbled, cocking a grin at her, or what I hoped was a grin.
“Don’t do this. You’re staying with me. We still have to make it back to Montana for the wedding. And my mom needs your mom’s phone number so she can have your mom help plan our wedding shower! Do you hear me?”
I nodded. “Call Cap. He’ll…give you everything,” I said, my eyes drifting closed.
A harsh slap landed across my face, jolting me awake. “That hurt.”
“Good! You’re not supposed to die protecting me!” she shouted, tears streaming down her face. “That wasn’t the way this was supposed to work! You said we’d both make it out alive!”
I nodded again.
“Don’t you want to see me walk down the aisle in something other than a dress from the sixties?”
I nodded again. “Sure.”
“Oh my God! Just let it go! Nobody gives a shit about the definition of sure.”
“I care. It was a great answer, and I think everyone needs to know it.”
“Whatever. You didn’t even think of it until you heard Fox explain it, and nothing he says ever makes sense.”
“Christ, would you two shut up? It’s a negative response to a non-question.”
I grinned at the gruff voice that just put Derek and Sinner in their places. Well, I was pretty sure I grinned. Maybe this was all in my head. In which case, I needed a psychiatrist to tell me why the fuck these three were in my head.
“Hey!”
I felt a slap on the cheek and groaned. Why did people keep hitting me?
“Rob, wake up right now! I have a bone to pick with you!”
Krista. That was most definitely her, and she sounded pissed as hell. I tried to force my eyes open, but they didn’t want to cooperate right now.
“Yep, slap the man across the face. That’ll wake him up. Or maybe just further injure a dying man.”
“He’s not dying,” Krista argued. “The doctor said he would be fine.”
“Yeah, if he ever woke up. If I had a woman yelling at me, I’d probably stay asleep, too.”
That was Sinner. I knew it based on the tone in his voice. He always got this way in hospitals. Freaked out, a little aggravated, which made him moodier and a little argumentative. Not that I could blame him. The man had been tortured and nearly lost his manhood.
That would make anyone want to steer clear of the hospital.
“I’m not yelling at him. I’m motivating him.”
“Step aside,” Knight said.
Great, this was gonna be fantastic. I felt a whisper of air near my ear, but still my eyes refused to open.
“If you don’t get up, I’m gonna be forced to put a bullet in your girl’s shoulder just to make you suffer.”
Yeah, right. I snorted in my head, and it sounded funny even to my ears.
Why did people snort? Was it a voluntary thing?
And why was the word given the letters for snort?
Who decided these things? Like snap. Did someone decide that the word snap sounded like a snap, so that’s what they named it?
And how did anyone know what a snap sounded like?
Language was a funny thing. None of it made sense.
“All of you leave.”
“Why should we leave?” Derek asked. “We’ve known him longer than you.”
“Because I’m about to take off all my clothes, and if you don’t leave the room, you’re going to see me naked. And when he wakes up, he’ll kill all of you.”
I’m awake!
My eyes flew open and I sucked in a gasp of air as I heaved upright. But the moment I did, my side flared with pain, and Krista reached out, grasping my shoulders to keep me from falling back in bed.
“I knew that would work,” she smirked.
“Thanks,” I muttered, grimacing as my side burned. “Could have done without the slap.”
“Serves you right for staying asleep so long after surgery.”
I settled back into the bed as she adjusted the pillows. “I was recovering.”
“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to do that in Montana.”
“Montana?” I grimaced. “It’s cold there.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you warm,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.