Page 25 of Reacher's Ride or Die

She didn’t shake his hand, not wanting to waste the poor guy’s time, because once she was done with him, he’d be banned from Savage Hell for at least a month. “Well, Hex,” she spat, “I’m going to go find Savage and we’ll see what we can do to have you removed from behind my bar.”

“Um, hold on,” he ordered. Hex put the phone back up to his ear and she crossed her arms over her chest, pissed that he was going to finish his phone call instead of talking to her. And, he had the audacity to tell her to “Hold on.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she mumbled under her breath.

“I think that you should talk to Harley, man. She seems pretty pissed off at me,” Hex said. Well, at least he was picking up on that fact. Maybe he wasn’t as dense as she first thought him to be.

Hex nodded and handed her his cell phone. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to take it from him or tell him to shove it up his ass. “It’s Savage. He’ll explain everything.”

Harley sighed and took the phone from Hex. “Hello,” she said, half expecting Savage not to be on the other end of the call.

“Hey, Harley,” Savage said. The big guy sounded horrible. She had never known him to be sick, let alone take a sick day from the club.

“What’s going on?” Harley asked.

“Well, I had to have a little procedure this morning, and I’m in the hospital. But I want to be the one to tell the guys, so if you could keep this information to yourself, I’d appreciate it.”

“Of course,” she agreed. “Shit, what kind of procedure?” Harley asked.

“Hex can explain all that. He’s a good guy, so don’t give him too much grief. I asked him to help you around the club tonight since I won’t be able to and Bowie is going home with Dallas to be with the kids. I just want to keep things running as smoothly as possible,” Savage insisted.

“Absolutely,” she said, “and don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of the bar, Savage.” He chuckled into the other end of the call and then groaned. “Why are you laughing?” she asked.

“Because I just know that you’re going to give Hex hell, and I’m sure I’ll get an earful from both of you tomorrow. Just try to be nice,” Savage said.

“I’m always nice,” she said, quickly handing back the cell phone to Hex before Savage could make a snide comment. Hex put the phone to his ear and seconds later, barked out his laugh. Harley knew that Savage did exactly what she was trying to avoid and whatever he said about her was pretty damn funny. Or at least, Hex thought so.

Hex said his goodbyes and ended the phone call, shoving his cell back into his pocket. “So, you want to tell me what happened with Savage?” she asked, still feeling pretty damn pissed off that he was standing behind the bar with her. “He said that you’d fill me in.”

“Right,” Hex agreed. “Come with me,” he ordered. He didn’t give her time to protest that her shift had already started as he grabbed her hand and pulled her down the back hallway to Savage’s office.

“Hey, I have to work,” she shouted at him.

“This will just take a minute,” he insisted. “I don’t want anyone listening in. I promised to keep Savage’s news as private as possible.” Harley respected that fact, but she did need to get back to the bar before the bikers rebelled and started helping themselves.

“One minute,” she barked, tugging her hand from his and crossing her arms back over her chest. She didn’t miss the way that Hex looked her over, and all she could do was smile back at him. “Not going to happen,” she said.

“What’s not going to happen?” he asked. Hex crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking her stance, and stared back at her.

“I don’t date bikers,” she explained.

“Well, I wasn’t asking you on a date. I don’t date—period,” he said.

“Oh,” she breathed, “I didn’t realize that you don’t like women, I’m sorry.” Hex barked out his laugh again and she was getting pretty sick of all the men around her laughing every time she opened her mouth.

“Oh, I like women, honey,” he admitted. “I just don’t date them.”

“Then what do you do with them?” she asked. Hex smiled down at her and Harley knew that she had just asked a loaded question. Jesus, what was wrong with her? “You know what—just forget that I asked. How about you tell me what’s going on with Savage?” she asked.

“Suit yourself,” he breathed as though he was sad that he wasn’t going to be able to tell her what he did with womeninstead of dating them. “Savage had a thrombosis in his coronary artery, and Bowie and I rushed him to the hospital. He’s going to be fine. They are giving him thrombolytics to break up the thrombosis and with some rest, and spending a few days in the hospital, he should be fine. Of course, he’ll have to be on anticoagulants for a while to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

Harley stood there staring at him, her mouth probably wide open, trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about. “Um, the only words I recognized out of your whole speech were coronary artery. So, did Savage have a heart attack?” she asked.

“Not exactly, but it could have led to one if not treated,” he said.

“Well, thank you, doctor,” she said, turning to leave the office.

“You’re welcome,” he called after her. Harley stopped in the doorway and turned back to him. She wasn’t sure if he was just giving her shit, or if he really was a doctor. She didn’t know many doctors in the Royal Bastards, but then again, Savage was a Rocket Scientist.

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