Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37093 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 124(@300wpm)
Given that Blade hadn’t called ahead and let us know his sister was in the area, he likely didn’t know where she was. Which meant she was on her own. Which meant I had to take care of her until her brother was properly notified and had a plan in place to keep her safe. That was perfectly logical. That’s why I needed to make sure she was all right. That her current state was self-induced alcohol intoxication instead of something more sinister. Like someone slipping something into her drink. That thought brought back the rage I’d fought against earlier. Which, again, was odd. Emotions never ruled me.
After parking the Bronco, I went around to Odette’s side and picked her up. I shut Wylde in the vehicle with the fob safely in my pocket. As I walked across the parking lot with her, Odette wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled in. Like she’d done before, she buried her nose in my neck and inhaled deeply before sighing happily and settling once again.
She weighed next to nothing. I’d tossed her over my shoulder and marched her straight to her brother the last time I’d seen her, but I was sure she was heavier back then. How much weight had she lost? And why? Surely, she wasn’t on some kind of fucking diet. The woman had been too skinny two years ago.
“Girl, you need a keeper.” I muttered to her as I got near the back entrance to the ER. I spotted Stitches leaning against the building, looking at his phone. The second he spotted us, he moved toward me.
“What happened?” His tone was no nonsense, something I appreciated after the fiasco with Wylde.
“Not sure. Probably just drunk, but anything is possible.”
Stitches took out a pen light and checked her eyes. She cried out and flinched, turning her face into my shoulder to hide her eyes.
“S’op it!” Her words were slurred, but at least she was responsive.
“Smells like a brewery.” Stitches sighed. “What makes you think she has something on board other than alcohol?”
“Nothing. Just covering all the bases. This is Blade’s sister.”
“Blade. Donovan Muse? With Salvation’s Bane?”
“Yep. He and I were tight in the Air Force. Can’t imagine he’d let her come all the way up here alone without givin’ us a heads-up.”
“Maybe he told Sting.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. But Blade knows I’m here. He’d tell everyone in the Goddamned area he trusted to keep her out of trouble if he knew. That includes me.”
Stitches scrubbed a hand over his face. “I suppose I can do a drug screen on her. Won’t get specifics, but it can identify the main things.”
“I just need to know that she’s OK. If I need to get her treatment beyond supportive care.”
Stitches nodded. “I can help you with that. Come on inside. Take her to my sleep room and I’ll draw her blood. Got a lab tech who owes me a favor. I’ll get him to run a drug screen on it. In the meantime, I can set her up with a banana bag. You can manage it at the clubhouse. If anything comes up in her drug test, I’ll let you know what you need to do.”
“Good.”
I followed Stitches in the back and to a small room with a twin bed, a refrigerator, a TV, and a private bathroom. It was clean and looked like it hadn’t been used this shift.
“Lay her down. I’ll get some stuff to start an IV and draw her blood.”
Ten minutes later, Stitches handed me a bag of bright yellow fluids with IV tubing in a separate package. He also gave her some Narcan just to be on the safe side, but it didn’t seem to do anything. “Don’t spike it until you get ready to use it. With the new dispensary, I had to practically give my left nut to get this under the table. Last thing I need is to have to get another one because you forgot to clamp off the tubing and it all leaked out before you got to use it.”
“I may not have transitioned my medic license into the civilian world, but I’m not stupid. I know how to manage IV fluids.” I felt my temper spike again. This was insane. I hadn’t felt anything like this since I was a kid. Before I’d learned how to bury any emotion I didn’t understand deep inside me where it couldn’t get out. “Ain’t a dumbass.”
“Sorry, man. Didn’t mean to imply you were. Explaining myself is a force of habit. Fewer misunderstandings and accidents that way.”
Blaze was waiting in the hall when I exited with Odette in my arms. She was sleeping peacefully.
“Thought you’d have more trouble with her.” Blaze nodded toward the arm where she had an IV site at the bend of her elbow. “Didn’t hear her cry out when Stitches stuck her.”