Page 57 of No Mercy

“Boys?”

“Sam had some friends over. They were playing outside. They didn’t see anything, Rock. Their mothers showed up to take them home and I phoned Carol to get Sam. I wanted to be here for Allie and you.”

“Thank fuck for that,” I said quietly. Jesus, if Allie died…the thought made me feel sick. Me, a cold-blooded killer. I ran my shaking hands through my hair, feeling the burn in my eyes and clenching my teeth so fucking hard that my jaw hurt. She was my woman, but more than that, she was my life. She made me feel good, worthy. She and Sam made my life worth living. I couldn’t lose her. “How bad is it?” my voice cracked.

“She was stabbed several times,” I heard Audra’s teary tone say. “We had to let the police know.”

Yeah, I figured they’d have to. You didn’t bring someone to the hospital with several stab wounds and say they’d slipped and fallen on a knife. I looked at Cooper, surprised that he hadn’t been arrested. He had obviously shot in Marnie in self-defense, but there’d still be an investigation. “What did you tell them?”

He shrugged. “The truth,” he admitted. “Sheriff Branson was there, said not to leave town.”

It was probably the only reason he hadn’t been arrested on sight. Phantom Riders had an understanding with the sheriff.

“There really wasn’t anything else we could do.”

I didn’t argue with Audra. She was right. “Thank you for being here.” She reached over and took my hand, her mouth quivering.

Jumper got up and stepped away from us, pulling his phone out. He’d be updating Hawk on what had gone down. I’m not sure how long we sat there in silence, waiting. After a while I released Audra’s hand. I wanted to be alone. I didn’t want contact with anyone or anything. It was all I could do not to lose my shit and destroy something, not to rant and rave at the unfairness. For every fucking minute that slipped by, I felt myself sinking deeper inside myself, where the monster lived.

I hadn’t protected the woman I loved. The shit in my life had affected her, and Christ, she might not survive. I wanted Marnie alive so that I could kill the bitch all over again, tear her apart with my bare hands. As rage filled every part of my being, my soul, I fought the urge to scream, to howl out in pain. And then I did something I’d never done before, I fucking prayed. If there was a God, and he didn’t take Allie from me, I’d make things right. I would never let anything happen to her again, and there was only one way I could make sure to keep that promise.

It would kill me, but I would send her away to keep her safe.

I was vaguely aware when Jumper returned and sat back down, and when others entered and left the hospital, of people sitting in the waiting room like we were. Some were talking, others weeping quietly, but most were silent, sitting there woodenly, staring at nothing, their expressions showing an array of pain, sorrow, and fear. Once in a while a hospital staff member would come through the back doors and call out the name of a family member to give them an update.

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.

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