Chasing Claire (Hells Saints Motorcycle Club) (27 page)

He won the battle for consciousness for a few minutes, then for longer minutes. Finally, he was able to stay alert long enough to gather his wits about him.

Slowly he felt his body begin to report in. One limb at a time. He felt the sting of the needle that was buried in the vein in his arm, and the pull of the tape that held it in place.

So he had an intravenous drip stuck in him.

Okay. What else?

He could move his toes and his fingers, but the rest of his body felt sluggish and heavy. He continued to fight though the haze to
take further inventory. His shoulder was numb, and his left side throbbed dully.

Breathing deeply, it took a while for him to verify where he was and to try to remember the details of what had happened. Reno closed his eyes and tried his best to clear his fuzzy mind. Then he opened them again.

Jesus. The cemetery.

Motherfuckers.

They had been at the cemetery.

That bitch and her boys had tried to take him out at his father’s grave site.

A horrible thought came to him then, and Reno was filled with a fear so thick he almost gagged on it. That fear threatened to kill him in a way that a dozen bullets could not do.

Claire.

Had they gone after Claire too?

Reno moved to rip the IV out of his arm.

Just then, the door creaked loudly on its hinges and the thud of leather boots hit the floor. Reno turned his head to see Jules at his bedside.

“Welcome back, Brother,” Jules said.

“Claire?” Reno choked out the word.

“She’s fine, man. Your woman is just on the other side of that door. Prosper sent Crow out to get her as soon as we heard.”

Reno slumped in relief. Then he almost leaped out of the bed.

“Ma?”

“Right out there with your woman. Tough one, she is. Drove you here.”

Yeah, that’s right. He remembered now. All those goddamn blankets, he had almost died from the heat alone.

Reno attempted a wry grin, but it turned quickly into a pained grimace.

“Me?”

“It might be a while before you can get it up again, Brother.” Jules smirked.

“Fuck you,” Reno smirked weakly. “Send Claire in here, I’ll get it up right now.”

“No doubt, you horny bastard. Tubes coming out of you left and right might be a problem, though,” Jules shot back.

“Seriously, man. I’ve been taking inventory. Fingers, toes, everything seems to move. That mean I’m going to be okay?”

All of the brothers feared that one shot that would leave them in a chair.

“Yeah, clean shots, bro. No fragments. You are going to be one sore motherfucker for a while, but you’re going to be okay.” Jules looked pleased with himself.

“Smug bastard,” Reno said. But relief riddled his voice.

Jules just smiled.

“Prosper’s been pacing around the compound madder than a goddamn wet hen. You up for some questions?”

“Yeah, I’m up to it.” Reno’s head was back on his pillow.

Jules radioed over to the clubhouse.

“He’ll be here in a minute. What happened?” Jules asked him. “Do you remember anything?”

Reno searched the recesses of his mind. Bits and pieces flashed before his eyes.

“The fuckers shot me.”

“Yeah, the fuckers did. Looks like they used .22s. Stupid motherfuckers should know that it takes more than a .22 to kill a brother.”

“Three men and a woman. All dead. I shot two of them, then another asshole tried to blow a hole in the windshield, so I ran right through him.”

Jules nodded. They both turned to see Prosper and Gianni Di Biacco walk through the door.

“You okay?” Prosper took in all of Reno at once. His hard eyes missed nothing.

“Better than okay, Boss.”

Then Reno nodded toward Gianni.

“What’s he doing here?”

“It was his doctor who patched you up, right alongside Jules here,” Prosper answered.

“No shit?” Reno looked at Jules.

Jules nodded once, but didn’t say anything.

“How did he know?” Reno spoke to Prosper, but he eyed Gianni suspiciously.

“You don’t want to know,” Jules muttered under his breath.

“Oh, yeah I do.” Reno was beginning to feel that dull ache throb through his left side again and the pain was pissing him off.

“Let me guess, you and the doctor here just happened to be in the goddamn neighborhood?” Reno looked at Gianni now.

The doctor had entered behind them and said something to Gianni in harsh Italian.

Gianni put his hand up.

“
I dragged my personal physician away from a family obligation to assist your man in saving your life. Your tone has offended him. And me,” Gianni said calmly, but his eyes glittered.

Reno didn’t give two shits who he had offended, or who Gianni had dragged from where.

“Yeah, well I’ll get to the apology part later. But for right now, I want to know what brought you to the compound with a doctor in tow, right in time to save my sorry ass, because I know sure as shit a brother did not call you.”

There was a pause that went on a little too long.

“What the fuck, Prosper?” Reno asked again.

“You’re not gonna believe it,” Jules muttered.

“Try me.”

“It was your mother,” Jules said.

“My mother?” Reno lifted his head off the pillow and looked at the three men.

“What do you mean, my mother?”

“Dolly called Gianni,” Prosper confirmed.

“My mother called this in to the mob?” Reno croaked out. His pain had begun to spark and he felt that burn.

“Yeah, she did. She called him on the way in. Dolly called Gianni and told him that she needed his help. And he came with that help,” Prosper said as casually as the situation would allow.

Reno let those words settle for a minute. He was having trouble digesting them.

His mother had called Gianni for help.

And he came with that help.

Even if it meant dragging his guy away from some family celebration.

Gianni had dropped everything and came when Dolly had called him.

Jesus.

Because getting ambushed and almost shot to death wasn’t enough, let’s add this to the damn mix.

“That debt? Mine to repay. Not hers.” Reno looked Gianni in the eye.

Gianni looked like he was about to say something, then simply nodded.

Reno let his head fall back on the pillows. His woman, and his mom, both safe.

“Three men and a woman?” Prosper asked Reno.

“It was that whore Sievas,” Reno answered. The pain had settled and begun to blaze.

“You sure?” Gianni asked.

“Tall, bony, long straggly hair, pockmarks all over her face. Ugly as sin. That her?” Reno growled out.

“Yeah. That’s her,” Prosper said grimly. “You shoot her?”

“Yeah. I shot her. Right after Ma rammed a broken bottle in her neck.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, then the three men looked toward the doorway that led to the room where Dolly sat and waited.

“Dolly?” Prosper and Gianni both said at the same time.

“Yeah, she had no choice. Bitch came at her through the window. She almost strangled her to death.” Reno sank back deeper into the pillows and a slick sheen of sweat covered his forehead. He let out a soft moan. Jules moved everyone aside, gave another quick check to the IV in Reno’s arm, and then he took his pulse.

“Enough for now. Everyone get the fuck out.” Jules crossed his big arms and stood in front of his patient.

Reno called out a begrudging thanks, before he closed his eyes against the pain.

CHAPTER 43

R
aine had finally come out to give us an update. Reno was conscious and talking. Dolly rushed to the door, but apparently Jules had radioed the clubhouse for Prosper and Gianni. In order to get the answers to some pretty important questions, they would be first to see Reno. Dolly paced like a mother lion outside the clinic door waiting for them to make their way across the compound. She and Prosper exchanged a few heated sentences about priorities, but I stayed out of that particular showdown. I was just glad that Reno was alive, talking, and ready to receive visitors.

I could wait.

Pinky persuaded Dolly to go for a cool-down walk while Prosper and Gianni were in with Reno. I was invited to go with them, but I didn’t need to cool down. I needed to talk to my sister.

Raine gave Dolly a long hug and whispered soothing words in her ear. Dolly nodded tearfully and let herself be led out the door with Pinky. Raine stood with her hands supporting the small of her back as she swept the hair out of her eyes. Then she bent a little backward in an attempt to alleviate the strain of the recent hours. Her tired eyes went to me and she smiled.

My hands shook and Raine took them into her warm, steady ones.

“How is he really?” I asked. The snake of fear uncoiled deep within me and made it hard to breathe.

My sister smiled gently. “What do you want first, honey? The good news or the bad news?”

I shook my head, unable to speak.

“The good news,” Raine said, “is that we got the bullet out.” Then she grinned with weariness as she quickly added, “And the bad news is that you are going to have to put up with that crazy Irish brawler for the rest of your life.”

“Yeah?” I squeaked out as a flood of relief surged through me.

“Yeah, honey. He’s going to be just fine. Jules and the doctor fixed him up just fine. I’m not going to lie to you, Claire. He was in pretty bad shape when Dolly brought him in. He was really, really lucky. He lost a boatload of blood by the time he got here, but we were able to stabilize him before we went after that bullet. Did anyone tell you anything? Prosper? Dolly?” my sister asked me.

I shook my head.

“Prosper told me a little, Dolly added a little more, but I don’t know much,” I said.

“Okay. Honey, let’s sit for a minute. Reno was hit twice. Both on his left side. One of the bullets grazed him, but it took a big chunk out of him. The doctor and Jules were able to clean that up and stitch it without too much difficulty.”

Then she paused.

“The second wound was a little more complicated. He got hit in the shoulder, same side. It was a nice clean shot, which means it hit a lot of soft tissue and no bone. That’s good—no bone fragments to worry about. Bone fragments can be dangerous. They can travel or settle in places that can cause problems. Reno being so damn muscular didn’t hurt either. But he had already lost a lot of blood when he came in.” Then she sighed and said again, “He was damn lucky, honey.”

My blue eyes fixed on hers.

“Thank you, Raine. Thank you. I love you.” I placed my head against hers. The complete feeling of relief made me weak.

“I love you too, little sister. I didn’t do much, but I’m glad that my nursing degree finally paid off for more than treating Willow’s gas or Diego’s exhaust burns.”

We stayed like that for a minute. Raine kissed the top of my head before she moved away and asked, “Does Glory still have Willow?”

“Yeah. She has her in Prosper’s rooms at the clubhouse. I think he said something about a bath, but I don’t remember . . .”

“It’s okay, honey. I’ll find her.”

After what seemed like forever, Prosper and Gianni finally emerged. Without waiting one second longer, Dolly streamed past them toward the door that would lead her to her son.

Prosper raised an eyebrow. “Me and that woman are going to have a long talk.”

“Good luck with that,” I heard Gianni mutter under his breath.

“Yeah, I hear ya.” Prosper nodded in agreement. Then he turned and looked at me.

“You okay, honey?”

“I’m okay.” I nodded.

“You going to go on in and see your man?”

I shook my head. “I want to give Dolly some time with him first. She needs to see for herself that Reno will be all right. Then she can go home and get some rest,” I said.

I would have my time with Reno. Once in that room, I did not intend to leave him again until he was well.

When Dolly walked out the door a few minutes later, her eyes brimmed with happy tears.

She came over and hugged me close. “He’s asking for you, honey.”

“Thank you for coming today.” I surprised Gianni by giving him a small hug.

Prosper scowled and grunted beside me.

“And don’t yell at Dolly, Prosper. If it were me in there, or Raine, you would have done the same. You would have stacked every deck you had to make it come out okay. And you know it,” I said.

Dolly looked suddenly uneasy, but there was a light in her eyes that even Prosper’s scowl could not erase.

I left the three of them to work it out and went in to see my man.

CHAPTER 44

I
pushed the door open, but stopped just on the other side of it. I knew that the brothers had added on to the clinic, but I had not realized that the building extended this far back. There was a single corridor with one door on the left and one door at the end.

I opened the door to the left first.

Holy shit.

If I had known a room so fully equipped existed here on the compound, I could have spared myself some of the fear that I had just gone through. Because, as far as I could tell, this room could rival any hospital surgical unit.

Everywhere were monitors and stainless-steel everything. A heavy smell of antiseptic wash permeated the air. Off in a corner sat boxes and boxes of gloves, a covered tray of surgical instruments, a small autoclave, and a deep sink. A good-sized closet area held several large tanks of compressed gas. Two halogen lights waited off to the side next to a glass-fronted refrigerator.

I saw a few balled up pieces of bloody gauze through a hazardous waste container and wondered who had been on cleanup detail. The place was scrubbed and ready for the next illegal medical emergency.

Wow.

I left the room and headed down the hallway toward the last door.

I stood in front of it and willed my heart to stop pounding.

I took a deep breath.

Then I walked in. Reno sat propped up in a hospital bed, naked from the waist up. A yellow iodine-type solution coated the ridges in his hard stomach. Large padded bandages covered his torso and his shoulder. He had an IV stuck into his arm. He looked too big for the bed, too powerful to be lying on the stark white sheets. His eyes seemed too bright in his pale face, and there was a hard line to his mouth.