Page 46 of A Wrench in the Plan
“I’m here, princess,” his deep voice responded as I felt his hand on my forehead.
I burst into tears.
Someone was tugging down my skirt to cover me. I hadn’t even realized I had been left exposed from the tumble. Honestly, it was the least of my worries.
“Did they…” my dad started to say, seeming as if he couldn’t bear to finish that question. I knew it looked bad. I had no underwear on and there was blood smeared all over the front of my skirt from when I tried to get the wound on Chry’s leg to stop bleeding.
“No,” I rushed to say. “No, they didn’t.” He didn’t need to know that it had been close. That I had feared that would happen.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, bending over to kiss the top of my head.
Tailor closed in, eyes taking me in, but his face showed no emotion. Dad leaned back to give him some room, but I shook my head. Tailor was the brother that patched everyone up. I wasn’t sure about his background, but I knew he had some kind of medical training like Uncle Charming.
“I’m fine. Chry’s been shot and stabbed,” I told Tailor as he started to kneel calmly in front of me.
“You sure?” Tailor asked me, brows high like he wanted to make sure I really was alright.
“Yeah. Go,” I urged, holding his eyes until he moved away. “He needs a hospital.”
Sitting up, with Dad helping me as much as possible, I turned to look at Chry. He was surrounded by Evan and Mouse. Evan turned, locking eyes with me as he moved back to give Tailor room to check Chry over. I could see how pale Ev was. I reached my hand out without even thinking about what I was doing. He put his hand in mine and squeezed. It wasn’t good, but we were going to be strong. We had to believe Chry would make it out of this.
“How long has he been unconscious?” Tailor asked.
“What?” I blinked. “I don’t know. He was talking to me just a few minutes ago. Right before we tipped over.”
“Might have hit his head,” Tailor said. “You did good stopping the bleeding.” I gave him a weak smile right before he turned his attention to Mouse. “She’s right, he needs a hospital. There’s not an exit wound and there’s no telling what kind of internal damage he might have.”
“Get them in the SUV!” LT roared. “We need to roll out! Now!”
“How many got away?” Dad asked as he helped me to my feet.
“Two,” LT replied. I couldn’t read the look on his face, but it was clear my dad could by the way he went tense and puffed up about twice his size. He was mad. I’d never seen him look that way, but something inside of me had a feeling that he had that kind of deadly edge inside of him.
Was I scared? No. Was I worried? Yes, for whoever was going to be on the receiving end of that rage. But also, I knew it would be the men that did this to Chry and me, and I found myself a little thrilled at the thought.
I wanted them to hurt.
Wanted them to pay.
And I didn’t know what to do with those feelings as they washed over me.
“What do we do with the mess?” I heard Twigs ask as Dad led me to one of the club’s SUVs that was parked on the opposite side of the road. Villain sat behind the wheel, the engine already running. Though it was night, I could see the dark splatters on the side of his face, making his road name suddenly seem very appropriate. I tried to ignore it, but my gut told me I knew what that was.
Dad handed over his keys to Twigs, the warning clear in his eyes. I couldn’t believe he was going to let someone else ride his bike. My sobs came hard and fast as he climbed in and sat next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. Logically, I knew my dad loved me more than his bike— more than the club— but it wasn’t until this moment that I hit with it. I was an emotional wreck, and this just made the dam break. The tears flowed down my cheek, hot and draining.
“Where’s Chry?” I asked as someone closed the door on us.
“In the other SUV,” Dad replied with a jerk of his chin to the front windshield. I hadn’t even noticed they’d brought more than one. Glancing around at the chaos, I saw more members than I could count. One of the club’s vans that they took onrunswas now backing up to get closer to the moving truck we’d been locked in. Bandit was behind the wheel, and though the windows around me were darkly tinted, I felt his eyes on me like he knew I was there. They were sad, making this urge to hug him rush through me. That was strange. I didn’t know him. But I couldn’t deny that there was something in that look that I recognized. Something I probably wouldn’t have seen before today.
“Don’t look,” my dad said gently as he put his arm around me and pulled me into his chest. I knew he was shielding me from the things I hadn’t seen yet and not Bandit’s stare. I was thankful for him being overprotective right now. I wasn’t ready to see what the club had to do in order to save us, even if there was a huge part of me that wished death on every single one of the men that had taken us. “You’re okay now. I’ve got you.” There was a pause before he said, “We should call your mom.”
Closing my eyes, I nodded into his chest.
“Can you,” I said, voice breaking. “Just tell her I’m fine. You saved me. You got to me before…” The words trailed off. I bit down on my bottom lip, feeling the skin on my chin pull and sting.
No, I wasn’t okay.
Yes, they had saved me, but I knew I’d never be the same.
