Page 88 of Tesio
“I’d like to see that,” he said with a grin, “and don’t panic, love. This isn’t my first gunshot wound. I’m practically a pro these days.”Practically?Oh my god, he wasn’t even a real doctor!
“Who the hell are you?”
Another grin, as he packed the wound, and sealed a dressing over it. Next, he leaned over to check the wound on the side of his head, gently pressing his fingers around the bruising that had already started to form.
“Jeffrey Turnbull, love.DoctorTurnbull. Don’t worry. He’s going to be fine. His name’s really Grease?”
He looked bemused as I nodded, pointing to the Phoenix MC patch on the left side of his cut. Oh his cut. Did the bullet ruin it? Would the blood have damaged it? He’d be gutted. He loved his cut so much. That wasn’t necessarily the right thing to focus on right now, but I was floundering, because of the panic filling my soul right now. Oh, the doctor guy asked me something, didn’t he?
“Uh it’s a biker thing. They all have weird names like that.”
He nodded, sitting back and checking his watch.
“I had a feeling something would go wrong today. The fucking Bennetts never think shit through, loaning the club out for all sorts. Bikers, though, that’s a new one on me.”
I dragged my sleeve over my fist and tried rubbing at the blood coating the inside fabric of Grease’s cut, but it was firmly stained. It was hitting me just how useless I’d been today. I sat and watched. I asked dumb questions, and then I watched as my man threw himself in front of bullets, to save the bastard who probably got out unscathed. The bastard who’d probably still kill him.
A sob gasped out, and I pressed my bloody fist against my mouth, trying to silence it.
“Hey, love, he’s going to be fine. I know this was a scary mess, but he’s fine. There’s no bullet in there, and I’ve contained the bleeding.”
Tears poured down my cheeks, and my throat throbbed with raw emotion, as Grease stayed silent, the one thing I’ddemanded of him enough times, only now it was happening, it was terrifying. All I wanted to hear, now that he was quiet, was his voice. No matter how offensive the words that came out of his mouth would be, I just wanted to hear him.
“Okay, we’re approaching the hospital. Let me do the talking, because gunshot wounds can bring the cops, and even though we have plenty of friendlies involved, I don’t want the wrong ones going to the club.”
He clearly didn’t know what I did for a living, and I almost didn’t say anything, because he clearly wasn’t necessarily on the right side of the law, but I realised it might actually be useful in this situation.
“Actually I’m a police officer myself, so maybe I can help with that?”
His face fell, and he rubbed his hand over his forehead.
“Ah. I see. And do the Bennetts know that?”
“Who the fuck are the Bennetts?” He chuckled, as the ambulance slowed down, and he prepared to hop out, and take my man with him.
“Let’s keep it that way, love. Stay clueless, for your sake.”
What the hell? I scrambled out of the vehicle, and followed Jeffrey as he briefed the emergency staff, spouting terms I didn’t really understand, and rattling off stats I didn’t even realise he’d been monitoring.
Chapter Forty-Four
They took Grease intosurgery, and he was gone a few hours, which was hellish for me for two reasons. One, he was fighting for his life in there, and there was nothing I could do to help him.
Second, I was stuck in a waiting room filled with bikers, and mafia, and I didn’t really know any of them. I could tell who was who by who wore cuts, and who wore suits, but that was it.
Those two bearded guys were there briefly, calling people ‘bruv’, and generally annoying them all, but thankfully they left fairly quickly, and then it was just me, and a bunch of people I really didn’t know.
“You’re Jamie, the cop?”
I lifted my head as a man sat beside me. He wore a shirt and jacket, although the jacket sleeves were crumpled, like he’d rolled them up more than once, and he was clean shaven, but somehow unkempt, even among all the bikers in the room.
“Yeah.”
He nodded, resting his elbows on his knees and taking a deep breath, letting it out so slowly that it almost made me snap at him. All that stopped me was the knowledge that he was probably armed, and quite honestly, I was the odd one out in this room. The one outsider among a bunch of very dangerous men.
“I’m sure he’ll be okay.”
I tilted my head at the mafia guy. “Really. That’s helpful, thank you.”
