Page 13 of Sniper

Ethan had never been attached, he’d just felt a deep sense of ownership that he refused to let me go. In hindsight I knew it was his ego more than anything.

At the time though, I hadn’t been so wise. The abuse had come on so slowly that I hadn’t recognized it as abuse at first. The verbal jabs and the mental ones, making me second guess myself. Doubt my skills as a woman and a doctor. Soon enough his hands joined the party because every little fucking thing I did pissed him off.

Came home late? Backhand across the face.

Smiled too big at one of my male colleagues? Punch to the gut.

Dress too sexy? Kick to the ribs.

Not sexy enough? Kick to the ribs.

Too much makeup? Whipped with a belt.

It was awful and every escape attempt had ended with Ethan tracking me down and finding me. Beating me. Dragging me back.

Until this time.I smiled to myself as I thought about that last escape that had freed me from Ethan. Sure, I had to give up medicine to make it impossible for him to find me, but he hadn’t found me until recently.

The asshole.

He had a way of taking every good thing in my life and obliterating it.

Suddenly gunshots rang out, startling a scream out of me and pulling me from my thoughts. Two shots sounded, they were close enough to be worrisome but not inside the clubhouse. I tore my gaze from the ceiling and sat up as another cluster of shots rang out.

Instinctively, I froze. I stayed that way for just a moment before my medical instincts kicked in and I was on my feet. My heart pounded. What if it was Sniper who ended up in front of one of those bullets? I’d be back where I started. My feet carried me to the door and down the dimly lit hallway that led to the bar. I arrived just as three bikers rushed inside, the blond in the middle hung onto the other two.

“Fucking ambush,” the blond groaned, wincing with every step he took before he finally collapsed onto the floor. His pained grunts tore through the sudden silence in the room.

Without looking around the room, I dropped to my knees in front of the man and lifted up his shirt. “What’s your name tough guy?”

He managed a laugh. “Falcon.”

He was alert and that was a good sign. “Nice to meet you, Falcon. Can you tell me what happened?” He winced in pain, so without waiting for his response, I quickly checked his front. He’d taken one shot to the midsection and as I turned him on his side, I sighed in relief when I spotted the exit wound.

“It was probably the Dead Crows,” Falcon finally said. “Their VP is pissed that his girl likes my dick better than his.” His grin was there, and I realized if I gave myself a chance, I might like Falcon.

“Okay, let’s get you up on your feet.” I looked up at the two men who brought him in. “We need to get him on a flat surface. Covered, if there are towels or blankets around.”

The guys stared at each other for a long moment but finally did what I asked.

Once he was on the table, I crouched down and started examining his wound properly. The men who brought him in were all standing around, I heard one saying that he’d called Doc—who I assumed to be the actual club doctor—or at least a club brother with medical experience.

“Where the fuck’s Laura?” someone shouted, but I didn’t pay attention because my focus was on Falcon’s side.

There was no time to wait, not for Laura the nurse, or whatever doctor they had on call. Falcon was losing a lot of blood, and the wound was low in his belly, so he was bleeding faster than I liked. If I didn’t hurry he would be dead in minutes.

I didn’t stop to think, I just moved as muscle memory kicked in. “I need clean towels or sheets, whatever you have,” I called out. “And hot water.”

“What’s she doing?” someone whispered behind me.

“There’s a medical kit in my car—unless you already have supplies here.” I ripped off my t-shirt and pressed it to his side. I needed to stop the bleeding.

“How’s it look?”

My gaze flicked down to Falcon and I gave a relieved smile. It looked like the bleeding was slowing. “Not too bad. I just need to explore the wound so I can make sure there are no fragments in there.”

“Nice bra.”

I grinned despite myself, if he could make comments about my underwear, then he mustn’t be feeling too bad. Either that, or he was still high on adrenaline. “I need alcohol.”

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