Page 42 of Creed

“I’m going to call Med,” I say, paging it into dispatch.

Warner moves closer, kicking the guy’s boot gently. “Hey, man. You okay?”

He slouches over more, not responding to either of us as his breathing becomes more shuttered than I’m comfortable with. I put my gun away before jogging back to the patrol car and grabbing the small medical kit.

I kneel at the man’s side as Warner stands over both of us, looking around while I slip on a pair of gloves, pressing wads of gauze into the man’s wound. The man grunts but his eyes don’t flicker open.

“See any sort of weapon nearby? Better for the paramedics if we can gauge the depth of the wound,” I say.

Warner hesitates. “I can’t leave you.”

I look up at him. “His pulse is so low I can barely feel it, and his bleeding has slowed. I’m okay.”

He nods, finding a thrown knife in the next dumpster just as the medics pull up and take over for me. I stand, carefully peeling off the gloves as Warner puts the knife in an evidence bag.

We head to the hospital as the detectives take over the scene and wait in the lobby for information from the doctors. My knee bounces in the chair. Something about this case is making me uneasy, and I can’t put my finger on it.

An hour later, a nurse meets us in the lobby, telling us as much information as she can. “ID says Jason Bellfield. Stab wound to his abdomen. His vital signs aren’t strong. He lost a lot of blood. Who knows how long he was sitting out there?”

Warner swears, running his hand through his hair. “Emergency contact on file?”

The nurse shakes her head. “No, but we all know who he belongs to.”

He nods. “Just keep it on the down-low until I can get a handle on what happened.”

“I will, but I won’t deny the family if they find out.” She leaves, giving Warner a look I can’t decipher.

We leave the lobby, already spending too much time with this call.

“Is he someone important?” I ask.

Warner blows out a breath. “Depends who you ask. His road name is Bear, and I’m sure the club will want to know where he is.”

My heart skips a beat. “Devil’s Tide?”

He nods. “Yup. He’s an old-timer, but I know he still belongs to them.”

“Why wouldn’t we let them know? I’d want to know if my family were in the hospital.”

Warner turns to me with a raised eyebrow. “Will your family tear apart the town in revenge to find who hurt you?”

No, my father wouldn’t do that. In fact, he’d probably question why I put myself in a situation to get hurt in the first place. But the worst part is that I wouldn’t exactly fault the club for wanting to go after whoever hurt the man. Isn’t that what family is supposed to do? I keep silent, making a note to mention Jason to Creed the next time I see him.

17

CREED

I glanceat my phone again, hating the unanswered text messages. I get she’s not always accessible at work, but it’s getting late into the night and there’s no reply. Something is up.

I sip on the beer, staring at the brothers partying around me. A few of the men from the northern chapter have stopped by, a helping hand from Tex, who knew we had something to take care of after Autumn’s attack.

Daisy pops up next to me, smiling as she waves Lacey down for another drink. She turns to face me. Her shirt is more like a fishnet, her nipples not even covered with pasties anymore. Her jean shorts are undone, which tells me one of the brothers has already gotten her off.

If I played favorites with any of the women, I think Daisy would be top two. Something about the woman is a bundle of sunshine, even if she dresses like a little emo girl going to a rave.

“You look grumpy. Want anything?” she asks, her fingers walking down my arm but keeping her distance. That’s anotherthing I like about Daisy. She’s never taken offense if a brother’s turned her down.

I shake my head. “Just waiting.”