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Shell rushed out of the kitchen. “What’s going on?” she asked, wide-eyed.
Toni shook her head. “I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s good.”
With a muttered curse, Shell gripped her hand and squeezed tight. Something was very wrong. She could feel it in her gut. Toni clutched Shell’s hand like a lifeline as the two women watched a trail of bikes tear out of the parking lot, each fretting over a man they shouldn’t want or couldn’t have.
Chapter Fourteen
Zach, Copper, and Rocket burst through the double doors leading to the bustling Emergency Department of the University of Tennessee Medical Center. Copper had sent the rest of the members back to the clubhouse to lock it down until the threat was identified and neutralized. Ol’ ladies, club girls, everyone would be holed up at the clubhouse until further notice.
Each second of the forty-five-minute ride to the hospital felt like slow torture. Like Zach was being dragged along the blacktop behind Copper’s bike instead of riding hot on his prez’s heels.
UTMC wasn’t the closest hospital. No, that would be Blount Memorial Hospital, so the fact that Little Jack had been airlifted to UTMC could only mean one thing; he was in a bad fuckin’ way. LJ was a beast of man who worked out in Zach’s gym daily. Hell, the prospect even coached two boxers who were quickly making names for themselves.
Whatever had taken him down was big and bad. And it would be the beginning of the shitstorm from hell for whoever attacked him.
“Looking for Jack Ulrich, darlin’,” Copper said to the gaping receptionist. “He was brought in by chopper over an hour ago.” He flashed her a dazzling grin that didn’t meet his stormy eyes.
“Um, sure. Let me just, ah…” The middle-aged receptionist’s fingers trembled as she fumbled them over her keyboard, having to backspace at least three times before entering the name correctly.
Somehow, Copper managed to remain calm and cool, still flashing her that I’m-not-as-dangerous-as-I-look smile. Which was true. He wasn’t as dangerous as he looked.
He was ten times more dangerous.
As the seconds ticked by, Zach blew out a breath and stared at the ceiling. Anything to distract himself from the urge to vault over the desk and shake the woman until she moved faster. One of the many reasons Copper was the solid leader he was, while Zach never stood a chance at the position. Copper could be having his toenails yanked out and no one would know it by his facial expression.
“Room eight, it’s down the hall on the le—”
The three of them stormed down the hall boots pounding on the white tile floor. “Here,” Zach said, skidding to a stop outside a room with an eight placard sticking out from the door frame. He shouldered the door open and came to a dead stop.
“Fuck me hard,” Rocket swore under his breath.
Zach couldn’t have said it better himself. The supine man dwarfing the small hospital bed barely resembled the prospect Zach had seen almost every day for the past nine months. His right arm was propped on pillows and wrapped in what appeared to be miles of ace bandages. On the same side, his leg was splinted and elevated.
Then there was his face. The face Shell had once described as a baby face was varying shades of purple with one eye swollen so bad it looked like a near black bubble. Across his hairline, a jagged wound that had been stitched was visible against the light brown hair.
And those were the injuries they could see on first glance. Zach had no doubt under his hospital gown his torso would be a mess of painful bruising and probably broken ribs.
Copper walked to the head of the bed and gripped LJ’s uninjured hand. “Hey, brother, can you hear me?”
Zach moved to his other side, near his head. He needed to hear everything that was said. The motherfuckers who did this had no idea the hell they were about to have rain down on them.
“I’m sorry, Prez,” LJ whispered through lips so swollen they didn’t move when he spoke.
Both Zach and Copper leaned closer. “You did good, prospect. Viper told us they didn’t get the money.”
LJ had been on a run for Zach, collecting an almost eighty grand repayment owed by one of the very few clients who always paid on time. When Viper called Copper to let him know what happened, he’d mentioned all the money was still at the scene. Something must have spooked whoever went after LJ enough to make them flee without the cash.
“Not after—” LJ shook his head. “Water,” he rasped out.
“Here, man.” Zach snatched a paper cup off the bedside table and held the straw to LJ’s abused lips while Copper raised the head of his bed. It took a few tries for him to capture the straw, but after he finally caught it, he swallowed greedily.
