Page 23 of Midnight Ride

He swiped his knife at the guy he was fighting with, but I was too close, and the tip of his blade caught the back of my arm and sliced me open. “Ow, that hurt.”

Travis heard me cry out and he was already in the middle of the whole thing—only about a foot from me. He grabbed the guy with the knife and twisted his arm up behind his back until hehollered. Only then did the asshole let go of the blade and drop it on the floor.

The bouncer, Tiny, grabbed hold of the other guy and propelled him down the hall to the back exit and tossed him outside.

“Tammy, you’re bleeding.”

“Just a cut, Dad. We can fix it at home.”

“You’re bleeding a lot, Tammy,” said Bobby Ray. “You need stitches.”

“I’ll take care of her,” said Travis. He jerked me away from Bobby Ray and rushed me towards the bar. “Jack. Got any fuckin first aid?”

“Fuck, Tammy is bleeding bad.” Jack ran into the back and came back with a kit.

Travis yanked the lid open and pulled out the gauze. He wrapped the roll round and round my arm and used the whole roll.

“Take her to the clinic,” said Jack. “She’s bleeding way too much, Travis.”

“Thanks. I’ll get you a new roll.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Jack.

We were on our way to the parking lot when Harlan and Virge parked the truck to come back inside.

“Clinic,” hollered Travis. “Tammy needs stitches.”

Coyote Creek Medical Center.

Travis couldn’t carry Tammy because of the wound in his side, so I carried her into the clinic. The nurse saw all the blood on Tammy and she ran ahead of me, pointing to the room she wanted us in.

I laid Tammy down on the examination table and the nurse took off. “I’ll get the doctor for you right away.”

Travis stood next to the table, pressing on the stab wound, trying to stop the bleeding. I could tell by the white-out expression on Tammy’s face that she was close to fainting from losing so much blood.

She reached out for my hand, and I held it and drew a look from Travis, but I didn’t care. Inside I was freaking out because Tammy got stabbed by some idiot drunk at the Dry Run.

“You bringing that guy in, Dad?” I asked.

“Billy’s got him, son. He’s locking him up and we’ll book him in the morning.”

“Good. He can’t walk away from this.”

“Nope. He was wielding a knife in a crowd and injured a law enforcement officer. He’s not just sleeping one off.”

Chapter Five

Friday, September 6th.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

I glanced at my phone as I got out of bed and left Virge sleeping. Quarter after four.

Trying not to wake anybody up, I tip-toed across the hall to see if Tammy was sleeping and the answer wasno. From the nightlight in the upstairs bathroom shining in the hallway, I was backlit, and she saw me come into her room.

“Harlan,” she whispered and held her hand out to me. “Can you sleep in here? I can’t sleep.”

“Sure. Does your arm hurt a lot?”

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