Page 6 of Protected By the Bikers Next Door
Hawk appears with ice and towels, and Bear expertly works to get her fever down while Wolf holds her still. To my relief, the seizures stop.
“Her fever’s coming down a little. Even so, we need to take her to the ER.”
“My truck’s in the shop, and I already tried to call an ambulance, but it will take too long for them to get here.”
“We can take our car,” Bear says, picking Jenny up, gently cradling her.
She looks so small and vulnerable in his arms that I barely manage to suppress the sob that rises in my throat. I nod. “Okay.”
“I’ll drive,” Hawk says, grabbing the keys as we rush to the garage where the car is parked. Wolf climbs in the front beside him while Bear and I pile into the back with Jenny. I clutch her hand the whole way, stroking her head and telling her everything will be okay.
Bear leans over to take my hand, squeezing it and looking deep into my eyes. “Harper, it will be okay. Jenny’s going to be fine, I promise.”
As I look into his kind brown eyes, I find myself believing him. Although I trust Bear that Jenny will make it through this, the next few hours are the most agonizing of my life. The guys do their best to comfort me and reassure me, showing a tender, caring side to them that I didn’t think they were capable of, especially Wolf.
Jenny’s fever finally breaks, her breathing becomes steadier, and she falls into a peaceful sleep. I’m so relieved and grateful that just saying the words “thank you” doesn’tfeel enough. Without thinking, I move over to Bear and hug him. He hugs me back, wrapping his strong arms around me as he embraces me against his strong chest. He feels solid and comforting, and as he gently strokes the top of my head, I finally allow myself to cry.
Chapter 4
Bear
All of Jenny’s bloodwork was clear, and the doctors decided she was good to go home. I wanted to make sure everything was okay, so I suggested that Harper stay at ours for a few hours. Jenny’s asleep on the sofa, her mom is sitting beside me stroking her daughter’s head. Harper fits so perfectly against me, soft, warm, and real. When she finally collects herself and pulls away from me, I feel her absence. She wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her dressing gown and pulls it tighter around herself like a shield before gazing up at me. “Thank you,” she says again. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. All of you,” she adds, looking to Hawk and Wolf too. We brush off her thanks bashfully. “It’s late,” she says, and I finally notice the time. “I should take Jenny home now,” she says. She doesn’t meet my eyes. She’s embarrassed that we saw her in such a vulnerable state.
I don’t want her to leave. “Stay. Both of you. It’s late, she needs rest, and you’re exhausted. We have a guest room.”
She shakes her head. “No. It’s okay; it’s not much further to take her home. She’ll feel safer waking in her own bed.”
She’s right, so I don’t push the matter. “Okay, but come straight back if anything changes or you have any worries, anything at all, alright?”
Harper nods gratefully. I gently lift Jenny. Harper looks uncomfortable, immediately springing to help. “I can take her. I know she’s heavy, she’s tall for her age.”
“She’s perfect. Just like her Mommy,” I say firmly.
A bitter laugh inadvertently escapes Harper’s lips, which tells me everything. Someone convinced this incredible woman that she’s too much, too heavy, too curvy, too confident, taking up too much space. I want to find whoever made Harper feel like she’s anything less than perfect and beat him to a pulp. I know it has to be a man. Some prick who couldn’t handle her, so he tried to make her less to suit his smallness instead of growing to be the man she needed.
Harper says goodbye to the others before escorting me over to her place and showing me the way to Jenny’s room. I notice as we walk through her house that there’s a lot of work that needs doing, and I decide that I’m gonna help her.
I carefully tuck Jenny into bed, marveling at children’s ability to bounce back. Only the slight flush in her cheeks and the tangle of her hair indicate that she was unwell. Harper perches on the bed next to her and strokes her forehead tenderly, looking at her with such love that I turn away, feeling like an intruder.
“I’ll show myself out,” I say, knowing that Harper won’t want to leave her daughter’s side.
She nods but doesn’t look at me. “Thank you.”
I feel as if there’s so much more I want to say, yet I can’t find the words. So I simply try to capture how she looks right now. God, she’s so fucking beautiful, and seeing how she protects her kid. She really is a lioness. I turn and walk away, my feet heavy as I have to force myself to leave her.
“Everything okay?” Wolf asks as I return.
“All good. Jenny’s gonna be fine.”
He grunts and nods before leaving. I don’t doubt that Wolf has some complex emotions to untangle.
Hawk pats me on the back. “Good job, brother. You saved her life.”
I want to argue back that I did nothing of the sort, that I’m no hero. My days of working as a medic are long past, and I wasn’t a hero then. I’m too tired to argue that in all likelihood, the fever would have broken without my intervention. Instead, I simply thank Hawk for his help and lumber up the stairs to crash out.
It’s late when I finally wake, and the sun is shining brightly through a crack in my curtains. I wince, rolling over to cover my head with my pillow. The unmistakable smell of freshly baked pie wafts up the stairs, and I hear the sound of a child laughing. For a moment, I wonder if I’m dreaming before I realize that Harper and Jenny are here.
Suddenly wide awake, I bolt out of bed and get dressed as quickly as I can, taking a moment to wash my face and splash on some deodorant and aftershave before rushing downstairs.
