Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72325 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“We’ll drive a few towns over and then find someone to patch you up,” Slater said. He had his hand on Rock’s shoulder, holding him still. “No way are we taking you back to your family in a body bag.”
“Hurts like a son of a bitch,” Rocco admitted.
I made a turn and in spite of my concern for my buddy, I slowed down. People had come out of their houses and were looking toward the source of the blast. If I drove slowly, hopefully they’d think we’d just been caught in the blast and were not, in fact, the target of it.”
Slater had noticed the onlookers, too. “Motherfucker,” he cussed under his breath.
We needed to get undercover somewhere and get Rock fixed up, but where?
The porchlight was on at the house at the end of the street. Two women were on the front porch, looking in the direction we’d just come from. Shock flickered through me. Without thinking, I turned the corner and parked by the side yard, not near any streetlights.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Rocco moaned.
“Getting you some help.” I turned to Slater. “Come on, let’s get him out of here.”
A cascade of glass shards poured out of my car when I opened the door. Slater was already pulling Rock out of the car when I joined him. Together, we half dragged, half carried the big man into the yard.
“What the hell?” The voice that carried across the yard was full of shock and surprise, but also something deeper beyond recognition.
Though I’d only caught the briefest of glimpses of her before, I’d known deep inside who it was.
Maggie Owens. She was miles from the bar at the Rusty Bucket, and she was the last person I expected to see out here, but somehow, it was her. A blonde followed in her wake.
“Rock’s been hurt,” I said, groaning a bit with the wait of supporting him.
“There’s a hospital on the other side of—” the blonde began, but Maggie put her hand on her arm, stopping her.
“I know these guys,” she said. Then she motioned to us. “Come inside.”
The blonde didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t stay anything as we limped past.
Slater immediately shut the door behind us once we were all inside of a small, old-fashioned living room.
“Bring him in the kitchen,” the blonde said, not sounding happy about it.
“She’s a nurse,” Maggie said as her friend disappeared further into the house. “What are you guys doing out here?”
“Bleeding,” Slater said sharply, and Maggie’s eyes were full of concern as she gazed at Rock.
“It wasn’t those guys from last night, was it?”
Rocco scoffed, which immediately made me feel better. He wouldn’t care about wounding pride if he were at death’s door.
Or, well, this was Rock. Maybe he would.
We carried him into the kitchen, a room covered in floral wallpaper. Maggie pulled out a chair at an ancient Formica table.
The blonde came back in as we got Rock settled. She frowned as she looked at the shard of glass in his neck. “At least it didn’t hit the carotid artery.”
“How can you tell?” I asked. The woman was taller than Maggie and had a mane of dark blonde hair that spilled around her shoulders.
“Because he’s alive.”
Oh. Shit. I was torn between relief that it wasn’t worse but also shaken by how close I’d come to losing my friend.
“What can I do, Piper?” Maggie asked her friend.
The nurse, Piper, was still examining the shard in Rocco’s neck. “Get some rags and wash his arm. Then find a tweezer, sterilize it, and pull out some of those little fragments.”
Maggie’s face turned paler which made her dark eyebrows and lashes look even darker. “I’ll do it,” I said. “You just get me the stuff.”
She gulped and nodded, hurrying off. It was almost funny. Rock said she’d pulled a shotgun on those assholes last night, but apparently, she didn’t do well with blood.
Piper seemed to know what she was doing as we worked on Rock. After a while, she pulled her eyes away from her patient and spared me a glance. “You should get cleaned up, too.” I looked down. My left arm was covered in blood as was Rock’s right arm. There was a foot of space between the two front seats, and it hadn’t offered much protection. Slater had some glass in his hair, but he looked mostly unscathed. He stood behind Rock with his hands on his back, holding him still while Piper worked on his wound.
Jesus. He could’ve been killed.
“Julian?” Maggie’s voice cut through the chaos in my mind. “I’ll show you where the bathroom is so you can get cleaned up.”
I followed her down the hall, still bemused to see her here. I’d never seen her outside of the Rusty Bucket, let alone so far from the city. What she was doing here in a house that looked like it was owned by someone’s great-grandmother was beyond me.