Page 5 of Utah

I pinched my brows together. “Who?”

“Just hold on.”

Tag disappeared from the room, reappearing a minute later with company. The medical bag in his hand gave away who he was, but I had no idea how he’d come to be here.

For a moment, I wasn’t sure where I was, but the recognizable furniture in the room told me I was in one of the back bedrooms of our clubhouse.

“How are you feeling?” the doctor asked, checking my vitals.

“I’ve been better.”

My thoughts immediately drifted to Crash, and a wave of guilt consumed me. He would’ve given anything to be where I was right now, feeling like shit.

He lifted the sheet and pulled back the edge of the bandage on my stomach, inspecting my wound. “You’re gonna be really sore for a bit. Rest up as much as you can. No driving. No vigorous activities. Nothing for at least three weeks, just to be safe. Take it easy. Luckily, none of your organs were damaged, but the wound was deep, and you lost a lot of blood. I’ve given you some to replenish, but it's gonna take time before you’re feeling like your old self.” He jotted something down on hisphone before looking back at me. “What’s your pain level on a scale of one to ten?”

My threshold for pain was high, but right now, I felt like a bitch. “Eight.”

“Okay. Looks like your last dose is wearing off. Let’s get you taken care of.” He opened his bag and pulled out a bottle of pills. I didn’t bother to ask what they were as he handed me one, passing me the glass of water from the table beside the bed.

After swallowing, praying the medicine kicked in quickly, I asked, “Who are you?”

“Sorry, I introduced myself yesterday, but you were out of it. I’m Dr. Sanders. I work with Kyla.” I must’ve looked confused because he elaborated with “Knox’s girlfriend.”

I grunted my understanding.

“The doc fixed you up,” Tag said, moving to stand on the other side of the bed. “You were in bad shape. We almost lost you.” His expression fell. “Twice.”

His concern for me was written into every facet of his disheveled state. Strands of his dark hair stood up in the back as if he’d been running his fingers through it repeatedly. His shirt was wrinkled, which was unusual for someone like Tag who took great pride in his appearance. But it was the blend of anger and worry laced behind his eyes that cut like a knife, no pun intended. I could only imagine the fear that he, along with the others, had endured trying to find me and Crash, only to discover one dead and the other on the brink of death.

I tried to shift my weight to find a more comfortable position, but the pain immobilized me.

“I’ll check back on you in a few days to see how you are and to make sure your wound doesn’t get infected.” The doctor looked at Tag. “Is there someone who can change the bandage every day?”

“Yeah, we got it.”

“Good. I’ll leave what you need here.” He handed Tag the bottle of pills. “He gets one every six hours.” The doc’s eyes veered back to me. “The cut on your temple required six stitches, and you’ll probably have a headache for another day or so, but if anything else happens, if you’re feeling worse, make sure someone calls me. Okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Doc.”

As he headed out of the room, Knox appeared in the doorway. They spoke in hushed tones before he moved toward me. The fake smile plastered on his face indicated one of two things: Sanders said something about me that wasn’t good, and Knox pretended nothing was wrong, or he didn’t like the doctor, and this was his attempt at being civil toward the guy. I rooted for option number two.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, hoping he’d tell me the truth.

We’d just gotten back on speaking terms after he found out I’d been sneaking around with his sister, as well as getting her pregnant, so I didn’t expect much from him in the way of openness. Not yet at least. But I’d give it a try.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. What’s with the fake grin?”

The corners of his mouth fell. “Was it that obvious?”

“Yeah.”

One second passed. Then another before he shrugged and shook his head. “As long as I don’t punch the guy, I’m good.”

Knox had told me about his suspicions concerning Sanders and his woman, Kyla. And when he found out for sure that her boss was interested in her, he almost lost his shit. But Kyla told him nothing happened between them and not to worry about it, to trust her.

I was in a similar situation because I had suspicions about Ria’s coworker, Will. He liked her, and even though I knew without a doubt she had no interest in him, I still wanted tostrangle the guy every time I saw him. So, I empathized with Knox a thousand percent.

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