Page 3 of Ace

He and Emma had parted ways when a judge had given him the choice of jail or enlisting, and he’d done the smart thing for once and chosen the Army.Not as good as the Navy, mind you, but definitely better than jail.

As far as I knew, he and Emma had parted on friendly terms, and hadn’t had much contact since.Still, my body’s reaction to her was inappropriate at best.

Before I managed to get past the shock of her showing up on my doorstep in the middle of the night looking like all the hounds of hell were chasing her, she threw herself into my arms.Just the feel of her soft body crushed against mine jerked me back into the here and now.

“He’s going to kill me!”She spit the words out in a terrified whisper, peering up at me.“I know he is.”

“Who’s going to kill you?”I frowned, automatically wrapping my arms around her.“And why?”

She hissed out a long breath with her teeth clenched and her hand went to her side.Blood seeped from the mangled material of her jacket.

Taking a step back, I lifted her arm so I could see where it was coming from.An ugly gash plowed across the side of her rib cage, and the material of her shirt stuck to the oozing blood.

Bullet wound.She’d been shot.

That made no sense.The Emma I remembered always kept her nose clean and followed the rules.I’d kept casual tabs on her over the years and as far as I knew, Emma led one of the most boring lives around.School, work, more school, and then back to work.

“What happened?”I kept my voice calm.Scaring her even more wasn’t going to help.

“This guy was shooting at me, and I think one of the bullets grazed me.I was scared, so I ran here.”

“Why come to me?”While it made me feel good to know she came to me when she needed help, this still made no sense.

“I heard you joined a motorcycle club when you left the service.I thought you could scare him off.Or protect me.Or something.”

Still didn’t make sense.“Why was someone shooting at you?Who was it?”

“I don’t know who it was.I was walking home, and I saw this guy shoot someone and he knows I saw him.”Her voice rose to a hysterical pitch.“I think I might have screamed, and he turned and looked right at me.Then he pointed the gun at me, so I ran.”

The blood was still oozing out of the wound.Damnit, not a good sign.Getting her some help was more important right now than trying to make sense of her story.

“I’m going make a quick call and get the club medic over here to fix you up.”As gently as I could, I took her jacket off and pulled the shredded remains of her shirt away from the wound.Without touching it, I tried to assess the damage.It looked superficial, but I wasn’t about to take any chances.“Okay with me taking a pic and sending it to Joker so he knows what to bring with him?”

“Joker?”she whimpered, her eyes going wide, and I remembered she wasn’t part of my world.Normal people went to the hospital if they needed a doctor.Then again, normal people didn’t usually have bullet wounds, and bullet wounds were reported to the police.

I still had no idea what we were dealing with.“The club medic.Do you want me to take you to the emergency room instead?”

She shook her head violently.“No.He might look for me there.Take the picture.”

I picked up my phone.Snapping a picture, I sent it to Joker, followed with a quick text:Need your help.My place.ASAP.Bullet wound.

A second later, Joker responded:Gimme five minutes.

Joker wasn’t a doctor; however, he’d been a medic in the SEALs, and seen more action than most of the high-level jerks that had sent us into those deadly situations.Bullet wounds were almost routine to him.He’d be able to fix her up, even put in a few stitches if she needed them.

My attention snapped back to Emma.“You didn’t recognize the shooter or the victim at all?Maybe seen them around somewhere.Maybe at the bar where you work?”

She shook her head.“Don’t know who they were.”

Motherfucker.The terrified look on her face made a lot of sense now.

She swiped her hand across her face, smearing her mascara.“There were three guys, but I only saw two, and then one was dead, and I heard the other one talking to someone so there had to be three.Before one got killed.”

She was starting to sound panic-stricken, and I needed her calm if I wanted more information.After being deployed multiple times, I considered myself good at getting information out of civilians.

Emma took a deep breath, and I could see how much effort it took to pull herself together.She ducked out from under my arm and crossed the room to stand by the ridiculous fake plant one of the brothers had given me as a gag gift last year.

Her hand went to the bloody mess at her ribs, and she winced.“Damn, that hurts.Never been shot before.”

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