Page 73 of Motorycle Daddies

I’m relieved to know her pulse is steady, and her breathing is too. But my chest hurts. My heart is aching because of what she must have gone through while I slept. She could have been killed and we’d have never known it. Why the hell are my instincts so slow?

“I shouldn’t have stopped you from waking her up,” I admit to Trap. “She’d still be fine if you’d been with her.”

“The blame isn’t on you. It’s not on any of us. I don’t understand how they got to her. Was her room trashed? Did they get inside?”

“The door to the closet was open and the bed unmade. That’s it. No signs of a struggle or break-in. She had to have been out here. But why? And how did they know where she was? Or was it just a sudden opportunity they took advantage of?”

“They must have been watching us. They’re good, really good. Otherwise, they’d have been seen,” Trap says, brushing Meredith’s hair off her pale face.

My own hands are twitching, wanting desperately to pick her up and hold her close. A part of me wants to give her some of my life force just to wake her up and make her okay.

“She fought the bastard,” Dart says. “She didn’t give up easy.”

“She wouldn’t. She’s tougher than she looks,” Harlow says as she steps up behind us and overhears Dart’s comment. “But she needs a doctor.”

Trap, Dart and I glance at each other, sending a silent message that none of us can show Harlow how much Meredith means to us and praying she didn’t hear more than she should have. She’s still in the dark about our relationship with Meredith, and now isn’t the time to say anything about it.

“I called an ambulance,” Addy states. Tears are streaming down her face, which has turned completely ghostly white. “This is beyond what we can fix.”

“Don’t move her. Her neck may be injured, or her spine,” Harlow states. “Trap, you shouldn’t have lifted her head like that.”

The anguish in his face is quite clear, but Harlow doesn’t understand it’s because of the feelings he has for Meredith. Thankfully, she believes it’s due to his mistake, one that might lead to her being paralyzed.

She puts a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “I’d have done the same thing. Any of us would have. It’s instinct.”

Fighting my emotions, I begin shouting orders. “Find out where these tracks lead. Do any of you know who has this type of tread on their bike tires? If not, figure it the hell out!”

“Where were the fucking guards when this happened? Why wasn’t an alarm sounded?” Dart asks the question I should have thought about.

“It was shift change, boss,” a shaking prospect speaks up. “There was a lot of noise as we switched places, and the bikes were roaring in all directions. We didn’t hear anything. I swear if we’d heard a scream we’d have helped her.”

“She wasn’t left in the patrol area, Grizzly,” Trap reminds me. “Why would they think to look for anything back here when everything got quiet after the shift change. Hang on to your temper. Save it for when we find the fuckers.”

Sirens split the night as the ambulance arrives. Meredith is taken from us, and we can only watch in silence. The farce of pretending she’s just any woman we protect is almost too much to handle. It has to come to an end soon.

I take a step toward the moving ambulance, and Addy grabs me by the arm. She yanks at me until I give in and step away from the others with her. I have to because she’s shaking so hard and crying.

“What’s wrong besides the obvious?” I ask. “Do you have information on who did this, or why Meredith was outside? If so you better speak up. Your tears won’t save you if you’re hiding something from me.”

I know lashing out at her is wrong, but I need answers. I’m not handling this well at all. I’m a hard man who has no problem dealing with torture and killing when I’m angry, yet this is rendering me down to a mass of nerves and sheer terror. Now I know I told Meredith the truth when I said I loved her.

“I’m sorry,” I say to Addy. “I know without a doubt that if you had that kind of information you’d have said so long ago. I’m just overwhelmed with anger that someone got onto the property without us knowing and hurt an innocent woman.”

“Don’t try to hide your feelings with me. Meredith told me about all of you. She said you told her you love her. I can tell it’s true. You’re doing pretty damn good at hiding it from the others, but since I know the truth I can see it.”

“She shouldn’t have said anything,” I growl. “I need to get to the hospital. I don’t have time to weep on your shoulder. Why are you shaking? This isn’t your fault, and we’ve got to believe Meredith will be okay.”

“Because I have been hiding something from you,” she sobs. “I don’t know who did this or why she was outside, but she told me a secret and asked me to keep it until she got the courage to say something herself. She’s been so afraid of how all of you will react to the news that she’s practically made herself sick. She couldn’t deal with it alone anymore, so she told me.”

Heat rushes through me. My face burns as the blood goes to my head. My hands fist. If Addy doesn’t tell me the secret soon I may have to shake it out of her.

“What. Is. The. Secret?” I pronounce each word separately through gritted teeth.

Addy steps back from me a few paces before whispering so softly I can barely hear the words. “Meredith is pregnant. I think all of you need to know that right now, and the doctors need to know too.”

A sickness I can’t put a name to makes me dizzy. My eyes burn and my head aches. Meredith is pregnant? I can’t comprehend the truth. It’s too much.

41

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