Page 80 of Protecting Her Secrets

After some assessments, medevac services are called to a hospital in Reno for Jazzy while Skylar will be taken to the local clinic for some stitches. Wilder wraps Skylar’s head and places a C-collar on her then brings me back in to try and rouse Sky while they work to get Jazzy stabilized for the flight.

I take Skylar’s cold hand in mine. Shit, she must be freezing. Glancing around, I see a very distraught Minty watching on with concern. “Minty! Run inside and grab a blanket. I’ll pay whatever later.”

She nods and rushes inside. It’s the first time I’ve seen such strong emotions come from the girl. Less than a minute later, she has an all-weather blanket pulled out from the plastic packaging and is handing it over. I thank her and get it spread over Skylar.

“Wake up, sweetheart,” I say, rubbing the back of my hand over the side of her face. She doesn’t stir, but I try not to panic because some people are harder to rouse after a head injury. God, I hope the baby is okay. Skylar has lost so much recently; she doesn’t need to lose this too.

The sound of chopper blades cutting through the sky sounds, and everyone looks up. I assume they’ll land across the street in the field and am proven right when the red and white helicopter lowers in the middle of the park. Seconds later, medics are jumping out and running to us with a backboard in hand.

Once she’s loaded, Davis turns his attention to Skylar. She’s carefully placed on a backboard and put inside the ambulance. I go to follow but get stopped by Wilder.

“What happened?”

“Drive by. Two white males on motorcycles. Looked like a Glock.”

“Were they Broken Rebels?”

“Abso-fuckin-lutely, but they weren’t wearing their cuts, and their license plates were covered, so I can’t prove it.”

“Shit.” He takes off his hat, spins it around, and puts it back on his head. “I’m going to call Jazzy’s parents and head to Reno. She’s one of mine, and I need to be there for her, but when I get back, I’ll need an official statement.”

“Fine,” I say and hop in the back of the ambulance.

An hour later,I’m still sitting next to Skylar, who’s laid out on one of two hospital beds in the clinic. She woke up not too long ago, and we’re currently waiting for Dr. Rivera to return with supplies to stitch up the back of her head. She has a nasty gash, but she’s okay, and so is the baby.

“I can’t believe she dove in front of me like that,” Sky says through tears. She woke up confused and was shocked to learn what happened. “I’ll never forgive myself if she doesn’t pull through.”

The last update I got was that Jazzy was going in for surgery. Wilder didn’t understand exactly what the surgeon said, but basically, there was a pool of blood in her abdomen, and they needed to do exploratory surgery and repair what was damaged. The surgeon was optimistic and said he would report back as soon as he could.

“She’ll be okay. Can you imagine one tiny bullet taking that woman down?” I add some humor to try and lighten her dark mood.

“You’re right. It would take a freight train.” She squeezes my hand. “Klutch is going to get away with this, isn’t he?”

I blow out a breath. “I don’t know. It’s obvious to us, but there’s no substantial evidence.”

“So, what? I have to wait until he attacks again and hope he leaves evidence this time or can be identified?”

“That won’t happen. I’ll never allow him to hurt you like this again,” I vow.

“Unless I hide out in your house for the rest of my life, you can’t promise that. The only way we’ll be rid of him is if he gets caught.”

“Or killed.”

“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that,” Dr. Rivera says, walking in with a tray of tools.

Dr. Jose Rivera is in his early forties and moved here about seven or eight years ago to take care of his aging mother. It worked out great for the town because he opened the clinic and we no longer had to travel for medical care. His mom has since passed, but thankfully, Jose married a local woman and has no plans to leave Culver Springs.

“I’m just saying, accidents happen every day,” I say.

“True. Like this one right here. Skylar, would you mind sitting up and swinging your legs off the bed, away from me?”

I help her get into position, since she’s woozy from a concussion. He unwraps the wound before poking and prodding. Skylar squeezes my hands, wincing with the pain.

“I hate to do this to you, but I need to shave around the cut. The good news is, you probably won’t ever notice due to where it is.”

“Okay.” Skylar sounds nervous, and I wish it was me instead of her.

“You’ll feel a couple little pokes from the numbing shot, but you shouldn’t feel anything else.”

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