No Mercy

by Tory Richards

  A middle-aged woman pushed through the double doors and glanced around the waiting room. “Allie Winters’ family?”

  All four of us shot to our feet, but I was the one to push to the front to reach the nurse first. She gave us each a quick once-over, as if wondering which one of us was truly related to Allie.

  “Is she okay?”

  “Please follow me.”

  No one questioned her as she led us to another, smaller waiting area. There was a doctor talking in low tones to a couple in the corner. They were weeping uncontrollably. Christ, it hadn’t been good news for them.

  “Please take a seat. The doctor will be right out.”

  So we had to fucking wait some more. Fuck. I didn’t think my heart could take it. We didn’t have to wait for long. When the doctor walked into the room, his green scrubs stained with blood and his face mask hanging around his neck, his gaze came directly to us. He dropped into a chair and made eye-contact with each of us.

  “Is she alright?” I demanded, losing my patience.

  He nodded, meeting my eyes. “She’s alive.”

  His tone didn’t sound optimistic, but fuck, I’d take it. “Thank fuck.”

  My response didn’t seem to bother him, and my guess was that he’d heard it many times before.

  “She has a good chance of making a full recovery, but it’s going to take time,” he began in a serious tone. “She lost a lot of blood and we had to give her a transfusion during surgery. There were several shallow wounds that just took a couple of sutures to close, but three others were life-threatening. The knife wound in the back did not hit anything vital. But the wound in the upper left side of her abdomen punctured her spleen, which we were able to repair. There was a third wound in her abdomen that we were also able to repair. The good news is she didn’t lose the baby.”

  “What?” The exclamation came from both me and Audra. Our gazes clashed. So much for my thoughts about sending her away, which I hadn’t really wanted to do anyway.

  The doctor gave a small smile. “I take it neither of you knew?” We shook our heads. “I doubt Miss Winters knows she’s pregnant either, she isn’t very far along. She’ll want to see an obstetrician soon.”

  “When can we see her?” I asked, still in shock over the news that Allie was pregnant.

  “Once she comes out of the anesthesia the nurse will come get you, probably in about an hour or so. Don’t stay too long, she’ll be weak and will need to take it easy and rest as much as possible for the next couple of weeks. I’d like to keep her at least a week to monitor her recovery and to make sure there aren’t any complications. I don’t expect any, but she is pregnant, and sometimes the shock of something like this can cause problems.”

  Fuck, he was talking about a miscarriage. He didn’t have to spell it out. He’d have Allie for a week, even longer if I had my way.

  Once he was gone it grew quiet. The next hour was going to be the longest hour of my life until I could see Allie for myself. I wanted to touch her warm skin, and feel the pulse throbbing at her wrist. I wanted to bury my hands into her silky hair, and run my hands all over her body. Not for sexual gratification. I needed to feel her life beneath my hands.

  “You’re going to be a dad again,” Audra said softly next to me.

  I was glad she hadn’t said congratulations. It was too early to tell if everything was going to work out, though my gut told me that it would. Allie was a strong woman, and she was healthy. There wasn’t any reason she shouldn’t make it through this pregnancy.

  I felt a smile curve on my mouth. Audra matched it with one of her own. I glanced up at the clock, impatient to see my woman. Fuck, it had only been ten minutes since the doctor had taken off.

  Like I said, it was the longest hour of my life.

  I’d wait longer if I had to.

  Chapter 31

  Allie

  Something was beeping, a persistent sound that reached the depths of my subconscious and refused to let me slip back into the welcoming void. It was dark and cold there, but it was a place that I felt safe, unreachable, and there was no pain. Something prevented me from wanting to face the reality of what awaited me if I opened my eyes, as if I were being protected from something horrible. Gradually, I let the annoying sound drag me into unwanted consciousness, and with that came growing awareness.

  I felt pain, but it wasn’t unbearable. A heavy heat seemed to encase me from my neck to my feet, preventing me from moving. My mouth was dry, as if I’d slept with it open all night. My throat felt raw. But it was the hand holding mine that meant the most to me. Hard, warm, callused. Gripping mine as if to never to let me go. I tried to open my eyes, but it felt as if they were glued shut. I refused to give up, and after a few tries I was able to keep them open.

  I turned my head slowly, my heart nearly bursting with deep emotion at what I saw. Rock was there, sitting next to my bed. It was his strong hand grasping mine against his whiskered cheek. He was bent forward slightly, eyes closed, mouth locked in a tight line, his jaw just as tight. He was dressed like usual in his tee and cut, yet he looked disheveled, as if he hadn’t changed in days. His long, uncombed hair was hanging against the sides of his jaw. I needed to know why my big, bad biker looked so destroyed.

  I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came. I wet my lips and tried again. “R-Ro-ck?” His head snapped up, his beautiful blue eyes opening to mine, and I saw cautious relief fill them. I cleared my throat. God, I needed a drink. “Wa-water,” I rasped.

  He moved immediately, jerking to life and getting up to pour me a glass from the plastic pitcher sitting next to my bed. He then gently lifted my head and put the glass to my lips.

  “Sip slowly, babe.”

  I did as he asked, feeling instant relief as the cool water coated my mouth and throat and hit my belly. Rock seemed to know when I’d had enough. He removed the glass and sat back down, taking my hand in his again. He kissed the back of my hand, and I felt tears fill my eyes at his tenderness.

  “I love you,” I said softly, my voice coming out stronger.

  “I love you so fucking much, babe.” He turned my hand over and placed a kiss in the palm. “I almost lost you.”

  I found the energy to smile. “Sam?”

  “Sam is good, babe. He’s been staying with Audra and Hawk. He knows you’re in the hospital, but he doesn’t know why.”

  “Oh, God.” I was so relieved over that. “Wh-what happened? The last thing I remember is being stabbed in my stomach. I think I must have blacked out after that.”

  “Cooper heard your scream and got to you in time, that’s all you need to know.”

  “Who was she, Rock?”

  “She was no one, babe.”

  “I remember seeing her at the club the day you took me there.” A tic appeared in his strong jaw. “I know she was a club girl.” I hesitated. “She said things, about you and her.”

  “Babe, we’ll talk about this later, when you’re home.”

  His tone was so serious and final that I knew there was no sense in pressing him, and besides, I was too tired to fight, and something warned me that’s how this conversation would end up. “How long have I been in the hospital?”

  “A few days, babe. You’ve been in and out of consciousness since surgery. The doctor said you’re going to be okay. Just need to rest and heal up.”

  I wiggled a little, realizing that the heavy blanket that was covering me was the reason I was hot and couldn’t move. With moving also came pain. I winced, and then moaned. Rock seemed to know what I wanted and pulled down the heavy blanket, leaving me with just the sheet. “Surgery?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. You were stabbed a few times. The doctors were able to stitch up most of the wounds, but they had to go in and repair your spleen.” He hesitated, and I could tell that there was more. What wasn’t he telling me?

  I squeezed his hand, silently encouraging him to go on. “When can I go home?”

  The slightest grin moved across his sm
ooth lips. “Not soon enough,” he grumbled. “Fuck, I want you home now.”

  “You just want inside my pussy,” I kidded lightly, realizing that I could smile without causing pain.

  A wolf-like glitter came into his eyes at my teasing. “If you were up to it I wouldn’t let you being in this hospital bed stop me from getting inside your beautiful pussy, baby.” As fast as the humorous light entered his eyes it disappeared, and I sensed something important coming, maybe even life-changing. He exhaled deeply. “Babe, there’s something you need to know.” He surprised me by leaning over and kissing me tenderly on the lips. As he pulled back our gazes clung, and I waited. “You’re pregnant.”

  It was the last thing I had expected him to say, and my jaw dropped. Was I hearing him right? My free hand automatically went down to cover my belly. Panic raced through me when I felt the thick covering beneath my gown that indicated a bandage, a sudden recollection of being stabbed there coming to me. Oh, God, had I lost the baby? No wait, Rock had said that I am pregnant, not was, in the past tense. I looked to him for confirmation.

  “The baby is fine. You’re not very far along. The doctor said about five weeks. Because your body has been through a traumatic experience, he wants to keep you here until he’s sure there won’t be any complications.”

  I heard Rock, but I was having a hard time digesting everything. Pregnant! I shouldn’t have been surprised, considering that we hadn’t been using protection. I wondered how he felt about it. Was he happy over becoming a dad again?

  “Babe?” My expression must have given away my concern. “It’s all good. Don’t over think it, okay? We need to focus on getting you home and better.”

  He was right. I forced myself to calm down. A baby. Sam would have a sibling. He’d be excited once he found out. I stared at Rock, seeing him truly for the first time since I’d opened my eyes. He looked tired, exhausted, as a matter of fact. “Have you been here this whole time?”

  “Yeah. There was no way I was leaving you until you opened your pretty eyes, babe.” There was humor reflected in his slightly bloodshot eyes.

  His admission warmed me inside. I was about to suggest that he go home when a tall man came breezing into the room, his white coat billowing out behind him.

  “Well, look who’s awake!” he said in a cheery voice, a wide smile on his fifty-something face. He glanced briefly at Rock as he continued around my bed. “How are you feeling?” He lightly patted the hand resting on my belly.

  “I haven’t been awake long enough to tell,” I smiled up at him.

  “Are you in any pain?” He pulled the sheet down, exposing my hospital gown covered torso. The unflattering gown stopped at my thighs.

  “A little,” I admitted.

  “I’m just going to take a little peak.” He helped me roll slightly until he could pull my gown free, and then proceeded on lifting it up. I felt his hand undo a bandage at my side. “Healing up nicely, looks good.” He allowed me to roll back into position. “I need to check your belly.” He pulled the sheet back up to the top of my thighs, and then helped me pull my gown up.

  I glanced at Rock as the doctor carefully peeled back the bandage, wincing a little when the tape tugged at my skin. Gentle fingers touched the area he had exposed while I kept my gaze on the strength I saw in Rock’s eyes. I didn’t want to see the wound.

  “Does this hurt?” the doctor asked, his fingers probing.

  “A little.”

  “Good,” he replaced the bandage and pulled my gown back over my belly. “That means the morphine is doing its job, otherwise you’d be in some pain. You’re one tough cookie,” he smiled, giving Rock a quick glance before returning his eyes to me. “You were pretty cut up when they brought you in. The superficial wounds will heal rather quickly with minimal scarring. The other two−oops, wait a minute.” He glanced down at the chart in his hand, frowning. “I thought there was a third. Can you lean forward a little for me please?” I felt him doing something at my back, and then he let me lean back again. “This one looks good, too. Anyway, what I was about to say is that the three more severe wounds will require some additional surgery if you want to lessen their appearance, but that will be up to you.”

  I knew that he was talking about plastic surgery. “I just found out that I’m pregnant.”

  He nodded. “Yes. You’re very lucky that the fetus wasn’t affected by the attack. You should see an obstetrician as soon as you leave the hospital, or we can arrange for one to take a look at you while you’re here.”

  “Good idea,” Rock said in a deep, no-nonsense tone.

  The doctor gave him a nod. “Okay, then.” He began to head for the door. “We’ll send one in.”

  “How much longer will I be here?” I rushed out before he disappeared through the doorway and into hall.

  “At least another three or four days,” he said, not missing a step.

  “Don’t be in a hurry to leave here,” Rock grumbled once the doctor was gone.

  “I want to see Sam.” He had to understand that. I closed my eyes for a second, suddenly finding the lids heavy. I could easily drift off again.

  “I’ll bring him in tomorrow morning since there’s no school.”

  I nodded, smiling, and then opened my eyes to him. “You should go home and get some rest. You look tired.” I reached up and ran my hand over the prickly whiskers on his face. That was the last thing I saw before drifting off to sleep again.

  Chapter 32

  Rock

  Fuck with our club, we fuck back. Kill one of ours, we kill one of yours. In this case we would take out as many as we needed to in retaliation for killing a brother, ambushing our runs, and stealing product. And we wanted the president of Blue Knights most of all. You can’t fight the enemy if you don’t know who he is.

  Bullet was dead.

  His injuries had turned out to be a lot worse than we’d been told in the beginning. Further tests had revealed that he had internal bleeding, which the doctors had been able to get under control. But the hit to his head had caused a cerebral hemorrhage so severe that he hadn’t made it through surgery. He’d never regained consciousness. And worse, he’d died alone. It had all happened so fucking fast and unexpected that most of his brothers hadn’t made it in time to say their goodbyes.

  Bullet had been a good brother. He’d been a member of the club from the start, an old timer who’d seen and been part of a lot of shit. He’d always been loyal to his brothers, and like most of us, he would have done anything for the club, and had paid the ultimate price doing just that. Allie had been in the hospital during his funeral, but I’d slipped away long enough to show my respect. Never married, his only family had been his brothers and club women.

  It was always fucking hard to say goodbye to a brother.

  I stormed into the clubhouse and headed down to the basement where the Blue Knights were being held. It was a great place to hold uninvited guests. Phantom Riders had refurbished the part of the old farm house that was above ground, but there’d been no reason to touch the dank, musty basement. The floor was nothing but rock and dirt, covered by large sheets of plastic in case things got messy, making cleanup easy.

  Shit always got messy down in the cellar.

  Big John was in charge of extracting information, and he was damned good at what he did. So far no one was giving up their president though, and the information we were getting was minimal. They knew that the longer they held out, the longer they lived. At least we were finally clear that their club had nothing to do with Dirk’s Blue Knights. These guys were hard-core nomads with nasty reputations.

  It didn’t surprise me to see that one man was strapped down onto a long table, and the others we’d seized were hanging from the ceiling, naked from the waist up, blood running down their arms and torsos, faces broken and swollen beyond recognition. Big John kept them that way when he was interrogating them, or else they were chained to the wall where most of the time they sat slung over, too weak to offer any
resistance. I had to give the fuckers credit, though, they were a tough bunch. Of course, giving them a couple of days to recoup in between beatings didn’t hurt.

  Three weeks of beatings, and just enough food and water to keep them alive, had taken a toll on their once strong bodies. They looked like fucking rag dolls hanging there, defeated and worn out. Big John held nothing back when he was working. He’d do and say anything to accomplish his goal, but what made him so good at what he did was that he was a patient bastard. The fuckers held off as long as they could, knowing that they would never leave there alive. There could be no other outcome but their death. It was the only thing these men expected, and it would send a message to the rest of their club not to fuck with us.

  “They give up their fucking president?” I asked upon entering the room.

  Big John didn’t even take his attention off of the fucker on the table, holding a tool that resembled pliers in his hand. The bloody white object clenched in the end revealed that he’d just pulled a tooth. “Fuckers won’t give him up,” he grunted. “I’m beginning to think he doesn’t exist.” He turned to face me. “Either that, or they just enjoy pain.”

  I smirked at that. “Do we have any numbers?” I questioned. We needed to know how many Blue Knights we were dealing with, how many was still out there.

  Big John shrugged. “Said they were all accounted for on this run, but we know that ain’t true.”

  Until we found the fucker Allie had described and knew for sure who he was, I wasn’t going to be happy. I knew there had to be some connection between him and Blue Knights, and my gut was never wrong. I stared at Big John. He looked like he was enjoying himself too much. He was a mean bastard and liked inflicting pain. “Who’s giving it up?”

  Big John motioned to one man in particular. I found myself standing in front of the one who looked to be the youngest, not surprised that he’d been the one talking. It was always the younger ones in the club who broke first. This kid looked like he should have been prospecting. With a deep sigh I stared at his busted-up face. His eyes were open, barely, and I was pretty damned sure the blood on his face was mixed with tears.