Page 12 of The Queen of Nightmares

I flung the flimsy box to the ground, wishing it was made out of something fragile that would make a satisfying sound as it shattered. As it was, I simply turned away, my need to have Sally in my arms greater than my need to tear the box to pieces. I tucked the small card into my back pocket, then picked up the cardboard box to see a mailing label on it. I turned toward the door, ready to head to my bike. I strode past the man who had come to give me the message and paused just long enough to give him another job to do.

“Give this to Shock. Tell him I want to know who mailed it.” I shoved the box at Horse and kept going as he fumbled it until he had a solid grip. “And have the carpet removed from my office. Have them put in a fucking wood floor.”

“Got it, Prez. Good luck. Hope she’s okay.”

I ignored him. She was going to be okay. She fucking had to. But she was also outside the gates without me. If I had to guess, that was precisely the Boogeyman’s plan all along. She’d be easy to grab at the hospital. I could only be glad as fuck that Doc was with her. If there was one person I could count on to protect her almost as well as I could, it was my brother.

Just because she belonged to me would have been enough for him to want to, but I knew that he had a soft spot for my girl. He had checked on her several times over the past few months. From the time she had first moved in with me after her attack in the alley and then after she’d nearly lost her arm, he always made sure to check on her to see how she was healing. After I was done ensuring my girl was going to be okay, I would be giving my brother a demand that he wouldn’t be able to refuse this time.

I let the heavy steel door at the front of the clubhouse slam closed with a bang and strode to my bike. I heard steps from heavy boots running in my direction. Without pausing my long strides, I called out to Barrel.

“I’m heading to the hospital. Send out a message to every club member. I want all exits to Pumpkin Patch covered. If any Boogeymen are spotted, I want them captured for interrogation.”

I heard the steps slow, then pick back up again as they headed in the opposite direction. I knew Barrel would likely be pissed that he wasn’t coming with me, but I needed him to get the town protected and locked down more than I needed a shadow. Ever since Lock was murdered, Barrel had been determined to become my personal bodyguard. His way of working through grief, I supposed, but he would understand my need for the order.

With a command for Zero to stay behind as he trotted up to me with a whine, I straddled my Harley, then took off with a deafening roar of the engine and a cloud of dust.

ChapterNine

THE QUEEN OF NIGHTMARES

Doc was exasperating. From the time we’d left Jack’s office, he had been fussing over me. He had already asked me how I felt no less than ten times in the fifteen-minute drive. And now he was trying to convince me to let him carry me into the hospital. I could see the worry written all over his face, though, so I could forgive him. But I still wasn’t going to let him carry me.

“Doc, it’s just some bug bites! What’s the worst that could happen? I scratch until I bleed?” I turned and started following the signs that guided me toward the emergency entrance to the hospital. I felt a little silly for going to the ER for bug bites. If it weren’t for my worry about the baby I was carrying, I probably would have just covered myself in Benadryl cream and taken some Tylenol.

“Anaphylaxis, necrosis, death.”

His words spoken so matter of fact had me pausing. I swallowed hard before turning to look over my shoulder as he caught up with me.

“Isn’t it past time to be worried about anaphylaxis?” I blinked up at him, picking out the features that he shared with Jack as a way to calm my sudden burst of nerves.

He sighed and put his arm around my shoulder, leading me over to a side entrance I hadn’t noticed. “Yes. But there’s still time to have a negative reaction. And necrosis could take a few days to start showing up.” He pulled a card out of his wallet and scanned it before pulling the door open. He guided me inside the brightly lit hallway, straight to the busy desk in the center of the large room the hallway opened up into.

The nurse who sat behind the desk, typing away on a keyboard, asked in a tired, bored voice, “Can I help you?” before looking up. I had to bite down on both lips to stop myself from giggling at the double-take the pretty brunette did once she realized who was standing at her desk. Her entire demeanor changed from the harried, overworked nurse to a shy, blushing schoolgirl.

“Dr. Erickson.” Her cheeks turned rosy, and I could see how hard she was clenching the arms of her chair. But what really caught my eye was the way Doc’s eyes seemed to soften as he glanced down at her.

“Helen.” His tone was unlike anything I’d ever heard come from him. His two default tones tended to be gruff and sarcastic. Hearing him speaking so softly and gently had my eyes widening in shock. Doc’s hand that was still on my shoulder squeezed. “This is my sister-in-law, Sally. She got into some kind of bug nest and was bit quite a few times.”

With a concentrated effort, Helen tore her eyes away from Doc’s handsome face and looked me over. Seeing her own eyes widen at all the red, swollen bumps covering my scarred flesh had me ducking my head, ready to hide in a way I hadn’t since Jack had come into my life and made me believe I was beautiful. To the nurse’s credit, she didn’t act like I was strange for wearing the stupid shorts and top in the freezing cold weather. I wished I had thought to ask to stop by the house for a quick change of clothes first.

“Usually, I would advise a patient to watch and wait with a dose of Benadryl. But Sally is pregnant.” His jaw clenched as he got pissed off all over again at the memory of seeing me covered in crawling, biting insects. “My brother would be a little upset if anything happened to his girl.” I grimaced. That was the understatement of the century. The last time someone had hurt me, Jack settled for destroying his ability to walk, only because he had witnesses and couldn’t pull the trigger without ending up in prison. “So, I’m going to need full panels done as well as an ultrasound machine to check on the baby.”

Helen stood up quickly. The brief flare of what I thought I recognized as jealousy was wiped clean and replaced by sympathy by the time Doc finished speaking. “Of course! I believe room seven is open. I’ll go run and check. Just wait here.”

I watched the pretty nurse speed walk down a hall, then turned to look up at Doc with a raised eyebrow. “Helen, huh?”

He turned his gaze from the direction she had disappeared and narrowed his dark eyes on me. Though more rich chocolate and less deep, bottomless abyss, Doc’s eyes still reminded me of Jack. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about them. “Don’t,” he growled. I would have pushed him just for the fun of it, but Helen was already returning.

“Your room is ready for you, Sally. If you’ll follow me, I can get you set up.”

I looked back at Doc for a second, but his eyes were glued to a different woman, and I couldn’t catch his eye. I didn’t want to be left alone, even if I was in a hospital. It just seemed like a bad idea after what had happened today. Being here at all could be playing right into the person’s hands. When I heard the footsteps coming, I let out a sigh of relief that he wasn’t going to leave me alone.

“What kind of insects were they?”

The softly spoken question jarred me from my thoughts but brought me back to the feeling of all those creepy crawlies. I clenched my fist to keep from patting my hair for any strays. Again.

“Uh, I have no idea. Doc?” We both looked over our shoulders to see Doc jerk his eyes up from the general location of where our asses had been. I smirked as he cleared his throat.

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