Page 46 of JoJo

Chapter 15

The first thing I was aware of as I came to was the blaring of a siren, but not long after, the world faded to black again and I was down for the count.

The second time I tried to open my eyes, it went a lot better. The lights were low in the room I occupied and everything was quiet for the most part. “She’ll be fine,” I heard Steel say to someone else. “No, we don’t know yet. They’re bringing in an ultrasound machine in a few minutes to check everything. I’ve heard the heartbeat though. Yeah.” Pause. “Yeah, you do that. Make sure you save some for me.” Another pause. “No, none of them get to check out before I get to look each and every one of those fuckers in the eye. They’ll die, but they’ll do it when I say so.”

He must have been talking on the phone to someone because I didn’t hear another voice. “I know the sheriff managed to pick up two of them. I want someone by the jail watching. They get released, they’re ours.” He was quiet again for a moment. “Yeah, do that.” Then he tacked on, “no, I’ve got it. Thanks.”

“Steel?” I questioned and he was by my side again.

“Jesus, babe. You scared the shit out of me.”

“I know,” I told him miserably. “This is all my fault. I just wanted to go on one more ride on the way to MiMi’s.”

“Shh, I know, babe. You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

“Who?”

He shook his head, the little bit of light overhead glinting off the bald skin there. “We’re still working on that. You and Gregg took out four of them, babe. Two were picked up by the Sheriff, but we hauled the other three off ourselves.”

“Nine.” The one word tasted funny on my tongue. There had been nine men shooting at me. “Gregg?” I asked remembering it hadn’t just been me they were shooting at.

Steel smiled down at me. “He’s fine. Guys took him back to the clubhouse to recuperate since his place is a crime scene and those bastards burned his cabin.”

“He kept me safe,” I told Steel something he probably already knew.

“I know he did, babe. That’s why he’s at the clubhouse resting. He’ll have a place there for the future if he wants it too.” That made me smile.

“Good, he’s been a bit lost since his brother died. I think he could use some more brothers.” Steel smiled down at me.

“Babe, you’re lying in a hospital bed, and worried about making sure someone is looking out for Gregg?”

“It’s keeping me from asking the question I’m afraid to have answered,” I admitted. He ran his hand over the hair that was plastered to my head with dirt and sweat.

“I heard the heartbeat a while ago. It was still going strong, but they’re bringing an ultrasound down from maternity to check soon. You had a dislocated shoulder, took a shot to the leg, and babe, they finally found your bike after we talked to Gregg. You moved damn near 8 miles on those short little legs, up and down mountains to get to Gregg’s spot from where you dumped that bike.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I’m surprised they stuck with you that long. That was a hell of a hike to do with the shoulder fucked up too.”

“I had to,” I told him.

“I know you did, babe. I’m real fuckin’ proud of you too. You took care of yourself and our baby.”

I shook my head. “Never should have been out there,” I admitted, hating myself for being selfish enough to attempt a ride after Steel had pointed out the dangers.

“Don’t. Do not blame yourself. You never would have laid that bike down if someone hadn’t been gunning for you.” I nodded my head, but I still carried a heavy burden of guilt, and if anything happened to my baby, I knew that guilt would eat at my soul in a way I wouldn’t be able to come back from.

“Once they do the ultrasound, am I able to go home?”

“No. They want to keep you overnight, at least.” He pointed to the IV attached to my hand. “They’re pumping you full of fluids, plus they already gave you some blood. They assured me they took every precaution to make sure it was safe for you, but you lost enough out there that they didn’t want you becoming anemic or having other issues.”

“It’s okay, I know how bad my leg was,” I told him. I didn’t actually, but I had guessed. “Well, I knew it was bleeding a lot anyway. What did they say about it?”

“It went all the way through the calf muscle. You’ll probably need a little physical therapy once everything heals up just to make sure you’re working the muscle properly. You should be just fine though.” He glanced at my shoulder. “That was a different story. They had to put it back in place, but they want to keep an eye on it too. Doc said you will definitely need physical therapy for that when it heals a bit in order to make sure you’ll maintain full range of motion with it.”

I groaned not liking the all over body physical therapy implications. “That sounds like it’s going to suck,” I whined. He chuckled.

“Yeah, babe. I bet it will.”

A knock at the door halted our conversation as a woman wheeled a machine into the room. “Dr. Mac is right behind me,” she explained as she plugged in the machine and ignored us while going about her business of getting it set up. It didn’t take the doctor long to join us, and when he did, he showed us the baby and that everything looked perfect. We still weren’t able to tell the sex of the baby, but it was okay, because I knew it would be a boy.

“I took a detour, because I realized I was being followed,” I explained to Steel once the nurse and doctor left us assured that the baby was just fine. “I didn’t want to lead them to MiMi and Grant just in case.”

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