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I grunted, pushing up on my hands to relieve the pressure on her chest while not actually leaving her side. I was going to make damned sure there were no other threats before I went that far.
All clear or not. I'd wait a few more minutes to be sure all the bodies were removed. The less she had to see at this point the better. It would also give my heart a moment to recover. Seeing that blood on her face...
Fuck.
A moment later I caught sight of Tel in the corner of my eye and he gave me the thumbs up. I raised to my feet and hauled Sasha into my arms at the same time.
"You can put me down. I'm fine."
I doubted that. But if she wanted to stand, she could stand. Placing her gently on her feet, she wobbled for a second before gaining her balance.
"What the hell happened here?" I asked, doing the best I could to remove the bark from my voice. But the anger still simmered just underneath the surface and I wasn't going to forget anytime soon.
"They were already out of control when I got here. The girls were on edge and Theresa demanded I do something about the men who wouldn't go away until they saw me. As it turned out they were trying to get to you through me."
"You weren't supposed to be on the floor," I bit out as my head further exploded from the repercussions of what I'd almost done.
She crossed her arms and shot me a smirk. I got the impression she didn't like it anymore than I did, but that couldn't stop me. I was too angry. Too violent. Too scared...
I wanted to yell at her for being so irresponsible. Instead, I reached for the worst of the blood on her face and tried to wipe it off and onto my jeans. Seeing her like this felt like a razor blade to the heart.
"Why are you all wet?" she asked.
"Not important. I want to know more about what happened and then I'm taking you home."
She smiled sweetly and my stomach sank. There should be sobbing from her, not cute as fuck smiles. Hell, if she was smart she'd be sprinting for the door. For some reason the fact she didn't made me angrier.
Did she have no sense of self-preservation?
"This is not a situation to smile over, babe. You had a gun in your face and you could have been killed."
She frowned. "It wasn't the first time and I'm guessing it won't be the last."
My stomach seized at the idea this wasn't the first time this had happened to her. And even worse when I realized she was right about the future if I didn't do something right now to stop it.
"It better be," I spoke low, but I knew she heard me.
"It's not that big of a deal."
"Really?" I asked, not believing a word she said.
"I stabbed a man in his back and most likely severed his spine because he threatened you. You really don't think that's a big deal?"
"Better him than me."
I shook my head. This was too much. Her eternal optimism was making it impossible for her to see what a nightmare this was. This could not go on. I'd fucked up. Royally. Now I had to fix it. She could have been killed and that was something—
I couldn't even finish my thought. I'd been right from the beginning. I could not go through this again. Ever.
"Tel," I called out when he crossed my line of sight again. "Call Patty. Tell her to be at El Sombrero's in twenty minutes."
"What are you--?"
I cut off Sasha's question with a hard look and then turned to Bear. Now that I'd made up my mind, I knew what to do. "Take her home and wait for Patty. Make sure they're safe and then make arrangements for more security." I didn't need to elaborate. Bear took his job as seriously as everyone else in the club. I trusted him to handle it.
And no matter what miss sunshine said, she was going to need Patty tonight. I could guaran-damn-tee that. As a licensed therapist, she'd handle this better than anyone else and I trusted her completely.
"JD, stop."
