Page 67 of Tex's Angel

I nod and open my mouth to speak, but I can’t get the words out because my lower jaw is trembling. I feel light-headed. Reality dims for me a bit but I can hear Rigs and Tex arguing about whether to turn me over or not. Tex wants to have a look at the wound on my back, but Rigs thinks moving me will be dangerous. I feel like I’m listening to this conversation from above, floating over everyone. It feels surreal.

I try to reach out to Tex to tell him to stop arguing but my hand begins trembling so bad that I just let it drop onto my chest. Suddenly, Tex slides his fingers through mine and places his other hand over the top.

“Hold on, sugar. Rage, our medic, is three minutes out. Stay with me.”

I feel a tear slide down my cheek, it feels like now I’m free I’m going to lose everything. I don’t want to die, I don’t want to leave Tex. I’d be the second woman who died in his arms. I turn my head, hoping he doesn’t see how emotional I am in this moment.

I really shouldn’t have turned away because now I’m looking into the cold dead eyes of the man who abducted and tried his level best to kill me.

I hear Tex yell, “Someone come and get this asshole.”

It’s weird that Tex doesn’t say body. It’s almost like he hasn’t processed that he just killed a man. I hate that he’ll have to live with that on his conscience as well as my death. My eyes drift closed. I can’t help it. I feel sluggish and cold. Even when I hear voices shouting around me and Tex calling my name, I can’t shake myself out of the fog.

Chapter 28

Tex

Our club has the best medics in the tri-county area. Right now two of them are working on the woman I love. I’ve seen Rage save people I didn’t think could be saved. He’s the best paramedic I’ve ever seen, everybody says so. His sidekick is a newly patched brother by the name of Ghost. He’s seen more on the battlefield than most, as has Rage.

I pace from a safe distance, biting my nails like a man about to lose his fucking mind. Being a cop in Texas, I’ve seen a lot of motor vehicle accidents and homicides. I know what a body looks like when it’s been pushed to the edge of life.

I don’t know the full extent of what that fucking whack job did to her, but her hair has been hacked up and the nails, she normally keeps meticulously manicured, have been crudely cut off, probably with those scissors she somehow managed to take from him.

It takes both of them to carefully turn her over and cut her clothing open. When I see the puncture mark, I marvel that such a small thing can be so lethal. It’s going to come down to how deep the puncture is, if it hit organs, or opened an artery. I know basic first aid, but the medics are worlds more competent than I ever could ever be. I just keep watching and pacing.

Rigs’ voice penetrates my anxious guarding. “I’m talking to you, Tex.”

Without glancing away from Clara, I tell him, “Sorry, brother. Things are a little tense for me right now.”

His hand comes out to rest on my shoulder. “I’m well aware of that, but there are some things you need to know. Siege called this one in. Clara’s gonna need medical treatment at the nearest trauma center. There’s no explaining her condition away. One look at her and the hospital’s gonna call the cops themselves. We’ll look suspicious by not reporting it first.”

“That makes sense,” I tell him, knowing full where this is going.

“That means the cops are gonna want to talk to you. You need to pull your head together and explain to them that you’re a former cop and have been working with the Las Salinas PD trying to figure out who’s stalking your woman. It’s on record that you reported her missing, and we barely got here in time to save her life. Make it clear that you were forced to draw down on that bastard because he was on top of her trying his best to kill her. Make sure they understand you didn’t have a choice.”

I nod numbly, still watching the medics work on Clara. “Do y’all honestly think y’all need to coach a cop on how to talk to other cops?”

“Look brother, your woman is possibly bleeding out down there. You’re not thinking like a cop but as her partner. That’s how it should be, but I’m just telling you what you need to do, so just push back whatever you’re feeling, and fall apart later. You feel me?”

Before I can answer, he lowers his voice to a whisper, “Shit. That was fast. Heads up, brother, we’ve got company.”

He goes straight over to stand by Siege while he fills them in. Me? I just kneel down pull out the weapon I used to kill Daniel Davis and put it on the ground in front of me. I put my hands on my head and wait for them to approach me. I’m almost a hundred percent certain that I’m gonna get arrested while they figure out what happened here because that’s how these situations usually work. At least Clara is getting medical attention so that’s one thing off my mind.

At some point while they’re putting Clara on the backboard, she wakes up. Her head moves back and forth like she’s in pain and then she opens her eyes and stares right at me. While they’re strapping her legs down, she reaches out to me. I start to get up and go to her, but a hand lands on my shoulder, shoving me back down. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a uniform and the basketweave design on the officer’s holster.

“You Wyatt Jones?” he asks in a gravelly voice.

“Yes, sir,” I respond as my chest aches for Clara. She’s no longer reaching for me because Rage has her arms at her sides while he finishes strapping her onto the backboard.

“My name is Officer Coombs. You the one who shot the perp?”

“Yes, sir. He was attacking my woman.”

“Your club president said it was a matter of life and death. Is that true?”

“Yes, sir. Looks like I got here right on time,” I say as Rage starts talking to one of the paramedics who’ve just arrived.

Officer Coombs’ radio crackles with static as he calls his dispatcher to report that one of his cars is going to escort theambulance to the trauma center and another is going to take me to the police station.

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