Page 73 of Ride Forever
Chapter 26
Sloane
Artificial lights did nothing for my skin tone.
Staring at my reflection in the window, I poked at my split lip. Was this what people meant when they said someone looked like shit warmed up? Thinking about all the cuts and bruises I’d collected in the last few months, I snorted. I’d had worse.
The hospital waiting room was buzzing behind me. To the left was a set of double doors leading to the operating theaters. Behind me were rows of blue plastic seats and scattered piles of tired magazines from nineteen eighty-two. To my right was a desk that saw the comings and goings of hospital staff—doctors, surgeons, nurses. Ringing telephones. Paperwork. In front of me, I could see the parking lot through the window, and in the distance, the entry to the Emergency Room.
It didn’t feel right, standing here without Chaser. I’d been alone for so long I’d gotten used to my own company, making my own decisions, doing my own thing. Now…I didn’t know how I coped without him.
The moment when the FBI had stormed the Halcyon hotel and casino was a blur for the most part. Chaser had been rushed off to hospital under guard, and I’d been thrown into a holding cell for the second time in as many weeks. Once our story lined up, and the key I’d stolen from around King’s neck was found to be genuine, the deal Chaser had brokered was upheld. Turned out, that fancy letter was real, after all. It was like one of those Christmas miracles.
That was how I’d found my way to the hospital only to be told Chaser was in surgery.
I paced the length of the waiting room, going back and forth, itching at the bandages on my wrists. Glancing at a man and woman waiting for news on their own loved one, I narrowed my eyes. They were looking at me like I was a head case. The bandages didn’t help, nor did the armed FBI agent watching me from the nurses’ station. Apparently, he was there for my protection. Considering what I’d just done to the illustrious leader of the Hollow Men, I was now considered a ‘target.’
Sighing, I turned back the other way and looked up at the television. It was playing a local news station, but the sound was turned down, and the closed captions were way off and jam-packed with typos. When a story about a brawl at a local casino came on, I couldn’t help smirking.
The double doors leading to the operating theaters opened, and a doctor in bright blue scrubs walked out. My heart skipped a beat, but he looked right past me and went to see the man and woman. As the lady started to cry and thank the doctor, I frowned. What was taking so long?
We’d come so far. It couldn’t end like this. Chaser couldn’t die on an operating table. Not when our forever was so close.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and began pacing again.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor,” the FBI guy said. “You want some coffee?”
“No,” I snapped. “I want to go home. That’s what I want to do. I want to go home with Chaser.”
He didn’t react. He just shrugged and went back to watching the exits. “Okay, ma’am, you just let me know.”
What-ifs started echoing in my brain, growing with each rotation like an out of control snowball.What if he died, and I was all alone?
“Sloane?”
I turned, my heart beating double time as I caught sight of a familiar form.
“Gasket!” I rushed forward, and the old biker wrapped his arms around me. He smelled the same, like oil and spice. Familiar.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he murmured.
“Are you okay? The guys?”
“We’re good. Spike got run over. He’s down in the ER.”
I pulled back. “He got run over?”
“By a big-ass Harley,” Gasket confirmed with a nod.
My bottom lip began to tremble.
“He’s gonna be okay,” Gasket said, looking perplexed. “No one died.”
“They didn’t?”
He shook his head, and relief washed over me. Glancing at the FBI agent, Gasket sat me down in the far corner and leaned close.
“The renegades who made it through will be behind bars before long, the others… Well, Rocket and half his crew are six feet under. Fortitude had the numbers.” He scratched his head. “Spike’s mad he won’t be able to ride for at least six weeks. The doc says he’s broken his leg.”
