Page 10 of Pain

“I think it might be dislocated,” I told her quietly, meeting her eyes and praying she wouldn’t ask any more of me than she already had.

She might think she knew what had happened. And she might be right in her guesses. But that didn’t mean I was ready to talk about it. Didn’t mean I was about to start sharing my deepest, most frightening secrets with a girl from the wrong side of the line.

Mandy bit her lip and nodded once. “We’ll probably need to get you to the hospital for that one. I know the process for putting a dislocated shoulder back in, but I’ve never actually done it, and I doubt you want to be my test dummy.”

I almost laughed. I probably would have if the situation had been any different. As it was, though, I didn’t know if I had much to laugh about. My body was broken, my thoughts scattered, and I was currently sitting in the headquarters of the people I’d been trained to hate. The MC my own boyfriend had been fighting against for years, and the one place he would have told me to stay away from. I didn’t know these people other than by reputation, and I’d never heard anything good about them.

Or... Well, I’d never heard anything good from Devil. I’d seen enough of their actions to have made some judgments for myself. Not that I’d ever been brave enough to share those thoughts with anyone from the Devil’s Steed.

Anyone other than Dutch. Who was now dead.

No, Devil had made sure that his own crew and the various hangers-on had a deep, throbbing mistrust of any of Knight’s people. He’d gone out of his way to make war against the Banshees and had set our own family up for clashes with the other MC often enough that we’d all shot at each other more than we liked to think about.

I’d been taught to believe that the girl currently brushing her fingertips across my injured shoulder would hurt me rather than heal me. Set me on fire and run away laughing as I screamed in pain.

Devil had made sure I’d never be able to turn to the Banshees for help.

But like I said, I also had a thinking brain in my skull, and I’d formed some of my own judgments. I’d seen Knight and his crew help people who’d been caught in the crossfire. I’d watched as he fought his own knowledge base and helped me, despite how much trouble it might bring down on his head.

And I didn’t have a choice about trusting them. Not right now.

“I’ve never really considered myself a test dummy,” I admitted. “But I’m not sure I have much choice.”

Her lips twitched in something that wanted to be a smile. “You sure about that? The hospital is only twenty minutes away.”

“So we’ll just walk in, tell them I managed to fall out of a moving truck and that it was no one’s fault, just a freak accident, and hope they don’t ask for my ID or send for the cops?” I asked, letting a smile touch my own lips. “That should go over well.”

She cocked her head and considered me, no doubt trying to think of a way around that point, but finally nodded. “If we’re going to do this, you’re going to need some painkillers first. I don’t think it’ll be quick. Or easy.”

I didn’t even have to think about that one. “No. No drugs. Nothing that might dumb me down.”

It wasn’t the most rational line in the sand. I’d seen people having their shoulders reset before, and I knew how violent it could get. I’d heard them scream.

Painkillers would have been a smart idea.

But I wasn’t sure how I’d react to whatever she might have, and though I’d decided to trust her for now—and had even shared a bit of a moment with her back there—I didn’t know how long that would last. I definitely didn’t want to be drugged up and vulnerable if something happened to send it all sideways.

After all, I was in enemy territory. I mean, technically.

She eyed me closely for a long moment but must have realized why I was saying what I was saying, because she finally nodded once, her lips pressed together. “Fair enough. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

A quick walk out into the main room and an equally quick walk back and she presented me with a mostly full bottle of whiskey. “If you won’t take painkillers, I guess we’ll be doing this the old-fashioned way.”

I grinned at her casual tone—while talking about something so gruesome—and grabbed the bottle. “That works. Jack is my favorite, anyhow.”

She took my arm in her hands, put one hand on my dislocated shoulder, and wrapped the other around my elbow. “You remember you said that while I do my best to force your shoulder back into shape,” she muttered. “And remember what I said. This isn’t going to be quick or easy. Don’t think you can ask me to stop halfway through, either. Once I figure out how this is supposed to work, I’m going to want to see it through to the end.”

See it through to the end. Now that was something I could get behind. I’d never been able to see anything through to the end, mostly because no one had ever wanted to commit to anything that long-term where I was involved.

So as screwed up as it was, Mandy telling me to grin and bear it while she finished this out...

It felt good.

Until she whipped my elbow up and shoved my shoulder joint toward my body in her first attempt to put my shoulder back into its socket.

CHAPTER 6

KNIGHT