Page 52 of Baiting Kong
That must have been what Mark had been looking for when he’d been searching the grass.
“Does it start?” Mark asked as Creature headed in that direction, which meant Axel did too.
For a moment, Axel wondered how they planned to do that, since he doubted Scout had left the keys, but moments after Creature started fiddling with it, it fired up and idled beautifully.
“Nothing wrong with it except that it ain’t set up for two,” Creature declared.
Mark pulled out his phone, then cussed it out when he discovered what Axel already knew, that there wasn’t any cell reception until you got closer to the road.
“Alright, flash those lights and keep flashing them until I tell you to quit,” Mark declared as he held the phone up and headed towards the road.
It seemed like forever before the roar of other bikes grew closer, and they finally started parking along the road, where Mark waited.
“Scout and his brother are out there somewhere,” Mark declared. “One or both of them are hurt. They’re either headed for the ER or a place to hole up, since I doubt Scout would risk bringing him to the compound. I don’t know what kind of bikethey’re on, but Scout’s is here, so don’t bother looking for that one. Check every side street and road out to the campground. If they aren’t headed to the ER, that’s the only place I could think for them to go. Cage, I need you to take his bike back to the compound.”
“On it,” the man said as he dismounted from the bike he’d been riding as the passenger on and crossed the grass and gravel to reach Scout’s.
“Don’t shut it off until you get there,” Creature declared. “I had to hotwire it.”
“Understood,” Cage remarked as he mounted it and took off.
The sight of someone else on the bike Axel knew Scout treasured was just another sobering moment in an already shitty night.
“Wait here,” Creature said, as he and the others headed back around to the front to collect their bikes.
Whatever had happened here, Axel just hoped Scout’s ability to get himself out of a jam was strong tonight, because from where he stood, it seemed like the man, and his brother, truly needed it.
Chapter 16
(Creature)
They took the side streets leading to the hospital, down one, up another, working in a grid pattern, but only after they’d phoned in a quick report to Kat.
“He’ll try to get him there, I know he will,” Axel murmured, tense and clinging, even when Creature rubbed his leg at every stop sign and light.
Three streets of nothing, nothing, and more nothing, all ridden at the speed limit to not draw attention to themselves while Creature’s heart hammered in his chest, hating every moment that passed without finding them.
They should have asked more questions when they had Scout at the table, spilling his guts while defiantly refusing to do anything that would put his brother in jeopardy. That kind of loyalty and risk was pure love, and no matter what anyone in the club thought about the Hounds and their ways, it told Creature that Sawyer was a good brother to Scout and someone the kid would risk dying over. Which was the last goddamn thing Creature wanted to see him do.
Those same protective feelings Creature had experienced when he pulled up outside of Axel’s trailer came roaring back as they hunted for Scout. That boy needed someone to look out for him, and dammit, they’d all known he was going to finish thatcontract and that his brother was no longer accompanying him. One of them should have volunteered to go in his place.
Creature should have volunteered when Kong didn’t; only he’d been too stunned when the man had stood there saying next to nothing to the kid after he’d owned up to everything he’d done to help his brother. He’d seen the hurt in Scout’s eyes when Kong didn’t even look at him after his revelation about making those tapes. It was everything Teddy had warned Scout about, especially when he’d looked out that night to see him riding back to the compound behind the Prez after Kong had left him on the sidewalk.
He hadn’t deserved that either.
Axel’s arms tightened around him, his voice loud in Creature’s ear. “The alley, we need to go back!”
Creature hit his horn and wheeled the bike around, charging into the cramped confines, his headlight illuminating the shadow of a man pushing a motorcycle with what looked to be something draped across the back. It wasn’t until he got closer that he realized it was a person. Honking didn’t get them to stop, though, so Creature pulled around them and blocked the alley, while the other three blocked them in.
And still the man kept struggling to put one foot in front of the other while pushing that machine, like he hadn’t even noticed them.
“Scout!” Axel hollered, clambering off the bike so fast Creature had to grab his arm and steady him so he wouldn’t do a faceplant on the concrete.
The moment he was steady, Creature let go, and Axel rushed to his side, though that still didn’t halt Scout’s progress.
“Need ta get him to the ER,” Scout muttered, hands gripping the handlebars as he struggled to keep pushing it.
“Let us help,” Axel insisted, touching his arm.
