I bring my hand up and shakily hold the side of her face. The blood instantly smears on her hair and I hate it. It looks wrong. An obscenity on the only beautiful thing I’ve ever known.
“I knew you’d come.” She whispers weakly and it’s all I can do to keep from screaming out at the pain gathering inside of me.
“I’m here Mama. You have to hold on for me.” I say petting her hair gently. I look over at Crush. “Get the ATV here NOW! Use the two-way and have Doc meet us at the bottom.”
“Dragon…I love you.”
“Mama, stop that shit. You’re going to be fine. Just hold on and I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”
“Love you…”
“If you do then you promise me you’ll fight to stay with me. Do you hear me Nicole? You fight that shit and hold on. You got me?”
She grimaces and it guts me all over again to know that she’s hurting, but I will my strength into her.
“I…don’t think…I…”
“Fuck that shit, you listen to me Mama. I told you that you were mine. You aren’t getting away this easy. You asked for me and you got me. Now you have to stick around for the ride. Promise me Mama, we got a fucking life together to live. If you love me, you don’t give up on that.”
“Okay Dragon.” She says and I reach down and kiss her on the forehead.
“Shit hurry.” I look up at Bull and the pity in his eyes almost does me in. Nicole’s head falls to the side at a weird angle. Her eyes are closed and for a second my heart stops.
She’s slipping away from me. Tears fall from my own eyes. I don’t think I’ve fucking cried in my life. Yet, before Nicole I had nothing I really gave a fuck about. If she’s gone I don’t want to keep going either. She made the world bearable, when I didn’t even know how damned miserable it really was.
“Oh God Mama, don’t leave me. Don’t leave me here without you.” I say into her ear holding her closer.
I hear Crush and he somehow has got the ATV up here. I don’t fucking know how, but I’m glad he did it. Somehow Bull and I make it to the bottom of the hill. Crush and Frog took a separate vehicle and collected Dani. I couldn’t worry about any of that. Nicole was still breathing, but there was so much blood. I used my shirt to hold pressure, but it was soaked by the time we made it to the bottom. Doc took over and I’m not sure what he did, but somehow it slowed down. He had portable oxygen he also put on her. My heart wouldn’t stop jumping.
I’m standing, watching Doc work on her and she looks so pale and lifeless. Her words replay in my head.
I love you Dragon. I love you Dragon.
It’s like some fucked up song I have to keep listening too and can’t turn off. I’m holding her hand and kissing the top of her head. My coat is covering her as best it can--while still allowing Doc room to work. There’s so much blood, on her, me and Doc. I’m losing her. I had her and I didn’t take care of her. I didn’t keep her safe. She was precious and I let her be torn away from me. I should have known there were traitors in my club, I should have protected her.
The ambulance pulls up and the medics come over to put her on the gurney. They put her in the ambulance and I’m just about to get in when the monitor they hook her up to flat lines. IT FUCKING FLAT LINES!
I try to get into the ambulance and my men grab me to hold me back. The medics are working furiously on her and one is holding paddles above her heart.
“Mama you hold the fuck on! You promised me! Don’t you leave me woman or I swear to fucking Christ I will find a way to follow you and drag your fucking ass back here! NICOLE!!”
My body is shaking, I know I’m crying and I don’t give one good fuck if that makes me a pussy to my men. I don’t even fucking want them around right now. It’s because of my mother fucking club my woman…Jesus Christ she can’t die. I reach up and grab my head and pull my neck down so I’m staring at the ground and the tears fall and hit on my muddy boots. How the fuck did this happen? How did I not know that Irish was involved? How could I trust him with my woman?
Chapter 25
Dragon
We made it to St. Lutheran’s Hospital. We had been here for three fucking hours. Three hours of the most perverse hell I had ever been in. Crusher, Gunner, Freak and Striker were all here with me the whole time. Bull had just made it in, after delivering Irish to the Shed and having Frog and Nailer watching over him. I couldn’t deal with that motherfucker yet, but I would soon enough.
My woman had barely been hanging onto life when we got her to the hospital. I lied and told them I was her fiancé and only living relative, I had to give them permission to do emergency surgery.
They rolled her away from me and I haven’t seen her since. If she died…fuck I couldn’t even think that word.
“Mr. West?” A doctor comes out into the waiting area, and looks around.
I stand up immediately, my damn legs felt like rubber. I hear my brothers all come to a stand behind me. I’m not sure how I feel about that right now. Can I trust them? Are there more like Irish? I can’t let my mind go there, not right now. My focus has to be on my woman.
“I’m Dra.. Mr. West.”
“Mr. West your fiancé is still holding on. The next forty-eight hours are critical. She went into shock and she’s lost a lot of blood. A weaker person wouldn’t have survived that. She was shot twice on top of that. The one in her side hip will cause her some discomfort from here out, but all things considered not much else. The real damage and blood loss came from the shot she received in her kidney. The organ was hit and with the blood loss and the trajectory of the bullet, the damage was massive. The kidney was a total loss.”
I want to sink to my knees, but I don’t. I wait for more from him, and try to concentrate on the fact that my woman is still holding on.
“Will she…,” I clear my throat. “Will she live?”
“She has a good chance, yes. As I said, the next forty-eight hours are critical. We’ll monitor her and watch her closely. She’ll be getting plasma and fluids through the night. Her vitals are weak but steady.”
“I want to see her.” He looks around at me and my brothers. “She’s in intensive care. I’m sorry, but we only allow certain visiting hours on that floor.”
“Listen Doctor, I can appreciate rules, but that is my woman lying in there by herself. You told me the next forty-eight hours are critical and there is no way in hell that I am not going to be by her side every damn one of those hours. She’s my woman and no one will keep me from her. Are we clear?”
The doctor swallowed and his eyes moved over the men behind me and finally rested back on mine.
“I will not allow any disruption. The first commotion, I will have security escort you out and bar you from the premises.”
“Fair enough.” Like fuck he would.
He nodded and reluctantly said with his back to me, “Follow me.”
She looks so weak lying in the bed. Her skin is pale and washed out. She blends in with the stark white of the hospital sheets. I sit in the chair beside her and immediately wrap my hand around hers.
I have always enjoyed the differences of our color when we are together. The deep contrast is like something we shared, polar opposites attracting and clinging tight. Tonight her color is way too pale. She’s still beautiful, but she is so cold to the touch.
I bring my hand up and shakily touch her hair. A nurse had obviously cleaned her hair and body. Even so, the horrible sight of her blood is engrained in my brain I still see it.
“I’m here Mama. I told you, you got me now. I’ll always be here for you. You just got to live up to your end of the deal woman and wake up. I need you Mama. I fucking need you,” I whisper close to her ear.
“I need you, Mama.” I repeat that on and off willing her to listen to it. I need her to know it, because I know if she hears it, she will do whatever she has to do, to come back to me. Eventually, I lay my forehead down on our hands and just soak in being close to her.
Chapter 26
Nicole
I feel so cold and it’s dark. I can’t seem to pull myself out. Did I fall into a hole? Everything just seems so hazy and I can’t grasp anything around me. I hear him though, off in the background, I hear Dragon telling me he needs me and I panic. What’s wrong? I doubt Dragon has ever admitted to anyone that he needed them. My lips feel so dry and I lick them to try and speak.
“Dragon?” I croak. I seriously croaked, I don’t know what’s wrong with my voice, but my whole body feels weird.
“Nicole?” Dragon speaks back in a voice I had never heard from him before.
“Need you too.” I try to tell him, because I can feel the darkness begin to pull me back under.
When I come back through, I manage to open my eyes this time. My head feels like it has been hit over and over by a sledge hammer, my body feels just as bad. I look around the dark room and see Dragon lying asleep in the chair beside my bed.
“Dragon?”
His body jerks awake instantly.
“Mama,” he said as his mouth comes down and he kisses my forehead gently.
“Thirsty…” I croak and he immediately reaches over to a table and gets me a drink from a glass there. It seems to take all my energy just to suck out of the straw.
“What happened?”
“Don’t you remember Mama?”
“No, but I feel like I’ve been ran over by a Mack Truck. Was I in an accident?”
His big hand comes down and caresses the side of my face. His eyes are so deep and intense that I can’t look away and there is moisture there too. I feel like I am missing something big here.
“Something like that but you’re going to be okay Mama and that’s all that matters.”
“You look tired.”
“Yeah well, when my woman gets shot I tend to not get any sleep.”
“Shot…oh God Dragon, Irish…”
“Shh…it’s all okay now Mama but when the police ask you questions, I need you to tell them that you don’t know who kidnapped you. That you have no idea who they are and you’ve never seen them before. Can you do that for me?”
“Dragon…”
“I’ll explain later, I promise.”
“Dragon…Dani?”
“She’s going to be okay, Mama. She’s already been released. She’s at the club where we can watch over her.”
“She’s released? How long? How long have I been here?” I asked, feeling unease move through me.
“A week.”
“A week?” I croak.
“You developed an infection and were in a coma for awhile, but you kept fighting and holding on. That’s all that matters. Jesus Mama, I’m so glad you’ve come back to me.”
I gave him a weak smile, feeling something close to happiness spread through me. He cared.
“Well! I see your fiancé has decided to wake up and join us Mr. West.”
An older nurse said walking into the room. I look over at Dragon and mouth, “Fiance?”
He grins big and that ‘close’ to happiness I felt earlier explodes beyond measure.
“We were beginning to wonder about you young lady.”
“Sorry.” I said tightening my hand around Dragon’s.
“Do you need anything?”
“A bath?” I really wanted one, I felt horribly grungy.
“We can’t do that right now, but we’ll see about getting you cleaned up in a bit. There are some detectives wanting to talk with you? I’m supposed to call them when you are able to talk?”
“She’s just…”
I pulled on Dragon’s hand to stop him from going on.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“I want a doctor checking her out first.”
The nurse looked back at Dragon with a frown, but nodded her head in agreement.
“Mama….,” he started, but I interrupted him.
“It’ll be fine Dragon and the sooner we get rid of them the better. Shit! What happened to the clothes I was wearing?” I say in a panic as I remember more of what had transpired.
“There wasn’t much left of them, the doctors cut them up and the police took it with them for processing.”
“Fuck! Dragon we got to…”
“Calm down Nic, you can’t get upset and besides we had a cleaner get rid of any…”
“Dragon no, there was a SD card in my pocket, it had pictures of you and some man in a tub and the... shit we can’t let the police find it…”
“I got it Mama, Doc found it when he was working on you. Mama we need to talk…”
“Not now. If you want you can tell me later. But not here around so many…”
Dragon looked at me strangely but nodded.
“You’re mine,” he said almost in disbelief.
“And you’re mine,” I said hoping he understood.
He bent down and kissed my lips gently, and then whispers in my ear.
“Forever Mama. Forever.”
I wasn’t sure how it happened, how our mixed up, fast paced relationship somehow transpired into forever, but I fully believed in it. Whatever this was between Dragon and me, it was indeed, forever.
Chapter 27
Dragon
She unmans me. Just when I think I have her figured out, Nicole does something to completely blow me out of the water. Will I ever be prepared for her? I’m starting to think no and I’m okay with that, to a point.
I watched her calmly tell the investigating detectives that she had no memory of what happened. That she was hit from behind and from there it was all blank. The doctors could only confirm that she had been hit and had suffered a concussion and amnesia could occur after a traumatic injury. I just shook my head, but inside. Fuck inside, I felt raw at times. She was completely cemented in me now. She had been before, but now with every day that passes I am completely and irrevocably wrapped up in her.
It wasn’t just me either. My men had completely adopted Nic as one of our own. Maybe it was because she had been hurt by Irish? Maybe it’s the way she took two bullets to save me? Maybe it was the way she put her life on the line to protect me and to cover for the club? I don’t know. Maybe they are just as dazzled by her as I am. I couldn’t explain it, but it just gave me another reason why she is the one.
I smile as I see her in action now. It’s her first night home and the club is partying. Even the Twinkies are on their best behavior. Nicole cemented her place in this club by taking on Tasha.
Tasha is in the corner talking with a couple of the prospects, avoiding my woman at all costs. She has more brains than I gave her credit for.
Nicole is at the bar talking to the new prospect Six. I don’t know the kid that well yet, but he has promise. We hired him in as a bartender to take that fucker Irish’s place.
Crush passes a drink to my woman. She takes it, walks over to me with a sassy grin and I pull her onto my lap.
“What are you drinking baby?” I ask figuring her, Crusher and Six were up to something since they all have shit eating grins on their faces.
“It’s a new drink Six fixed for me.” She says looking back sideways at me and kissing me lightly on the lips. She turns back around and takes another sip of her drink. My fingers comb through her hair, my other hand on her thigh. This is the best I’ve felt in a month. That’s how long my woman has been in the hospital away from me. Three long fucking torturous weeks and finally she’s home in my arms where she belongs.
Her girl Dani was back in the kitchen. She wasn’t adjusting very well at all to the club. I wasn’t sure what her story was, but since the scene at the house she had been a different woman, showing none of the fire or life that she had earlier. I knew Nicole was worried about her, but Dani so far wouldn’t even talk to her.
“Did you hear me?” She asks.
“Sorry Mama was busy enjoying having you in my arms again.” She leans back against me with a happy sigh. “What’d you say?”
“I wanted to know if you were curious as to what my new drink is called.”
“O
kay Mama, I’ll bite.”
“I hope so,” she chimes in. I shake my head and slap her gently on the thigh.
“Behave woman, you know what the doctor said.”
“That doctor is an agent of the devil. No sex for two weeks? I’ll grow cobwebs! Dragon did you get a look at the old geezer? He probably hasn’t ever had good sex in his life! He obviously doesn’t realize that sex releases endorphins that boost your immune system.”
“Is that a fact?”
“Totally! Why sex can speed up the healing process by over one hundred and twenty per cent.”
“I see you’ve been doing your research.”
“I totally have.”
“Too bad.”
“It is?” She asks confused.
I lean in close to whisper in her ear, “Yeah Mama, because I’m not giving you my cock until I’m sure you’re completely healed.”
“You suck.”
“I thought you liked it when I sucked on you,” I said, kissing the back of her neck.
“Hey there’s an idea.”
“What’s that Mama?” I ask holding her and just breathing in her scent.
She turns to the side and looks at me and right away I can see I’m in trouble.
“I could suck you off and let you cum down my throat. That way even if I can’t cum, I can still taste you.”
Fuck. She’s trying to kill me, or make me cum in my jeans—hell maybe both.
“Not going to happen Mama. I’m not getting off until I can make sure you do too.”
“Meanie,” she said sticking her bottom lip out in a pout.
“Now what are you drinking?” I’m trying to will my raging hard on back under control. It’s going to be a long month. I haven’t told Nicole, but even though the Doctor said she could have sexual relations after two weeks, I’m not going to touch her for at least a month. I will not put her life in jeopardy. It already bothers me that because of my failure to protect her she’s walking around with only one kidney. If something were to happen to it…to her…
“Crush said it was a drink made especially for me,” she said proudly finishing it off with a smack of the lips.
Breaking Dragon: Savage Brothers MC Page 17