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Thirty-Three
Bullseye
The room was cold as I slowly opened my eyes. I knew I was in a hospital. I could hear the sounds of my heartbeat clearly in the room. There were no other sounds. Just the beep…beep…beep of my heart. Looking about the room, everything was as a hospital should be. White walls, a small window, the smell of cleaning products so strong that it actually burnt my nose, and the uncomfortable bed I was laying on. The only thing out of place was Reaper, who sat sleeping next to my bed. His head lowered onto his chest, his arms falling down beside him. The man looked exhausted, and from the scruffy beard he was sporting, it looked as if he had been here a while.
I tried shifting in my bed, but when I moved, my whole body rebelled in pain. My chest hurt the most, and when I touched it, I felt a bandage covering the center of my chest.
My movement must have alerted Reaper because before I could say anything, the man was awake.
“Holy fuck!” Reaper said, jumping to his feet. Looking about the room like a mad man, he muttered, “You’re awake. Okay. I’ll go get a nurse. Shit.” With that, he ran from the room, leaving me alone.
Minutes later, a nurse walked in with Reaper behind her.
“Good evening Mr. Franks. My name is Jessica. How are you feeling?”
I tried to speak, but my throat was raw.
“Take your time. We just took out your breathing tube last night. Your throat is going to hurt for a while. Let me get you some water, and I will notify the doctor that you are awake.”
Nodding, Jessica, the nurse, finished doing whatever she needed to do and left. Alone again with Reaper, I looked at the man who was busy typing something into his phone. When he was finished, he put his phone in his back pocket and looked at me.
Something was off.
I could tell.
Reaper didn’t look happy to be in the room with me.
Why I didn’t know.
Something was wrong.
“What?” I muttered gravely, my throat killing me.
Reaper shook his head. “Just texted the brothers that you are awake. They will be here shortly.”
I narrowed my eyes at the man. He was hiding something. That wasn’t like him. After everything this club had been through, he, of all people, didn’t believe in keeping secrets, yet he was holding something back for some reason.
“What?”
“You took a bullet to the chest. The Doc tried to repair the damage, but he couldn’t. We had no choice. You had to have a new heart, or you would die. It was the only way to save you. None of us thought you’d make it, and for a few minutes, we were down to the wire, but the Doc came through. You’ve been in ICU for three weeks now.”
“Okay?”
“Look, I’m not qualified for this shit. Just know that you are going to be okay. Alright?”
“What else?”
“Caroline is dead. You took care of that yourself. Bitch deserved it, too, in my book. Sandman is at the clubhouse. Healer is tending to him. He’s gonna be out of commission for a while, but he will heal. Diablo is in the wind, but I’ve got Player and Massacre on him. He won’t get away. As for everyone else, nothing but scrapes and bruises. Nothing that won’t heal in time.”
I listened as Reaper droned on about shit that didn’t matter to me.
He was evasive for a reason.
He knew damn well the only person I wanted information on was Kitty. Yet, he talked about everyone but her.
“Kitty?”
Just as Reaper was about to say something, the door opened, and in walked a Doctor. Smiling, and walked over to me and said, “It’s good to see you awake, Mr. Franks. You had me worried for a bit. How are you feeling?”
