He shakes his head. “I’ll clean this up or get one of the guys to help me. You go see your siblings. They’re great, by the way.”
I give him a small smile. “Thanks. You can thank their father for raising them to be good kids before he passed away. I’m justtrying to figure things out along the way. Are you sure you don’t want help?”
He nods. “I’m good.” Then he pauses. “But I’ve been so focused on Hulk that I haven’t asked if you need anything. I don’t see any marks on you, but do you need anything?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m fine. I’m mostly just tired, and the only bruises I have are from where the guards grabbed me and shoved me into the room with Hulk. They’ll heal fine on their own.”
“Alright, but if you need anything, let me know. When you leave the room, you’re probably going to be met with a wall of people. You don’t seem like the type to scare easily, though.”
I smirk. “Not normally, but you should probably have a look at Bowie. I hit him with a bat when he and Frost snuck into my apartment earlier today. He’s gonna have a nasty bruise.”
Medic laughs. “Yeah, I heard something about a bat, but didn’t get the whole story. You give him something for it?”
“Ice and then I told him not to be a baby.”
“Yeah, you and I are going to get along just fine,” Medic predicts. “Well, since you’re not the nervous type, head on out there and see to your siblings. Then tell Bullet that I need him in here.”
A part of me is irked that he’s ordering me around, but I remind myself I’m not in my world. I’m in theirs. He’s the doctor, this is their club, and I’m just here to help in the moment.
I grab my shirt and walk out of the medical room. Medic is right that I walk into a wall of large men in leather. All of them stop talking the minute they hear the door open. I can see why Medic warned me, because damn, that is intimidating. “Ah, I’ve been told to tell Bullet that Medic wants to see him,” I say, lifting my chin to look at them.
I recognize those I’ve met before, but there are many faces I don’t, and if I’m not mistaken, quite a few are wearing different cuts than Shadow and the others I know. Who are they?
They regard me distrustfully, putting my back up. You’d think saving one of their friends would earn me some brownie points, but I guess not. Instead of cowering, I hold their stares. Fuck them.
The man at the front of the group steps forward, pulling my attention, and I can see instantly he’s the President of the club. His blue eyes are hard and cold, but the concern on his face is clear. “Tell me straight, Avery,” he says in a low, rumbling voice.
“He’s sedated and we’ve gotten him cleaned and bandaged him up as best we can for now,” I answer simply. “He’s woken up once, but he’s under again. Anything he says isn’t going to make sense, so don’t expect him to look at you and know it’s you he’s talking to. He’s got a major infection from the open wounds on his back, bruised ribs, and a swollen face. He’s going to need as much rest as he can get for the time being, but he’s not out of the woods yet. He’s edging toward septic and is going to need round-the-clock care, but he’s alive, and Medic tells me he’s stubborn. We just have to hope this is one of those times.”
Bullet nods. “Thank you, Avery.” He pats me on my shoulder, then turns his head. “Frost, take her to Rose, Thea, and the kids. Sniper, with me.” Then he heads into the medical room, another large man, who I’m guessing is Sniper, follows him. I instantly want to step back from and give a wide berth, but he gives me a grateful nod and a gentle pat on the shoulder, relaxing me. The door shuts softly behind the two of them.
“This way, babe,” Frost says, drawing my attention.
“Alright, everyone else out and get on your posts,” Shadow barks. “Vlad and Nikolai aren’t going to take this lying down. Double the patrols.”
I don’t pay much attention as everyone else leaves, focused solely on getting to Isla and Sawyer. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a few of the bikers still watching me distrustfully, but I ignore them. I don’t give a fuck what they think of me, or why I’m here. Some of them probably blame me for Hulk’s condition, and I get it, but they can go fuck themselves.
Frost leads me through a doorway across the large room that looks to be a common area, and into a spacious kitchen. One where Isla and Sawyer are sitting at the island looking like they’re barely holding themselves together, and a beautiful, older woman across from them is quietly talking to them. The moment the door opens, all their heads whip around, and Isla and Sawyer scramble from their stools toward me.
“Avery,” Isla gasps, rushing forward and barrelling into me for a hug. I hold her tight, then hold out my arm to pull Sawyer into me as well. “We weren’t allowed to come and check on you,” Isla cries, burying her face into my chest. “We thought you were hurt or dead.”
“I’m fine,” I promise, hugging her tight. “They needed my help to get their guy stable, is all.”
“Yeah, they told us that,” Sawyer says quietly, hugging me tight before pulling away. “You sure you’re okay?”
I look him directly in the eyes and smile to reassure him. “I promise I’m fine. Tired but fine. Are you both okay?”
“We’re fine,” Sawyer answers. He looks over at the woman who has come around the island toward us, a warm smile on her face. “Rose has been with us, and she’s gone out to get updates for us. They didn’t want us out in the main room in case we got knocked over or something in the chaos.”
“I didn’t have a bat to give them in case,” Rose says lightly.
I finally placed the name. “You’re the one they said that they didn’t want me to meet because we might get some bad ideas,” I blurt out.
Rose chuckles. “That would be me, but from what I hear, I should be talking to you about learning how to keep these boys in line.” She winks at me. “Bowie’s already been in here whining.”
I wince. “Yeah, that was an accident.” Hopefully, she doesn’t think bad of me.
She waves that away, her dark hair dancing and fluttering around her shoulders when she shakes her head. Her caramel eyes are full of laughter. “Accident or not, it’s effective, and we’ll have to sit down and compare notes soon.”