“I just got an alert from the onboard safety system on your truck. They said an accident had been detected. The operator said she’d called the truck over the speaker system. No one answered but she heard garbled words.”
My heart began to race. I just knew it had to be Jessica. As bad as it sounded, I hoped like hell it was Tate.
“Where’s Tate? Is Jessica at the house?” He sighed heavily. My heart dropped.
“I’m sorry, Ajax, but Tate is right here. He brought Jess back and left her at the house. He left your truck in the driveway like he usually does. It looks like she left in it. We’re checking into it right now. You need to get here. We’re sending a few guys to where the alert is showing on the map. It’s over toward Lebanon. Do you know why she would be going that way? Tate said you two had an argument.”
“Fuck! Yeah, we did. I needed to get myself under control so I didn’t come back with her. I took a ride. Damn it! I have no idea why she’d be headed that way. Send me the directions to the site. Did the operator say anything else?”
“She had called 911 to dispatch to the site of what she thinks is an accident. They’ll get there before us. I’ll keep you updated. Ride safe, Ajax. We don’t want another accident.” He hung up.
A few moments later, my horrible thoughts were interrupted by my phone vibrating. I quickly looked at it and saw it was the map to where Jessica was. I sped up more. I knew I was just on this side of riding stupid, but I had to get to her. She might be seriously hurt. It was all my fault for not staying at the house and hashing this out with her. I knew when she got upset, she ran. It was how she protected herself from pain.
As I approached the area where it showed my truck, I could see several of my brothers on their bikes. My truck was smashed up against the guardrail. I skidded to a stop and barely put down my kickstand before I jumped off my bike and ran over to it. It was empty inside. I looked at Bull who was standing beside it. He was watching me.
“Where is she? Is she okay?”
“She’s on her way to the hospital in Lebanon. They were getting her ready to transport when we arrived. She’s alive but they needed to get her checked out. She was out of it, Ajax. Not sure what happened. She seemed not able to talk. We waited for you. I’ve got Alex and Jake coming to get the truck and take it back to the garage. The police were here and they headed to the hospital too.”
“Oh God, Bull, what the hell? If she…” He squeezed my arm.
“Think positive. We don’t know if she’s seriously hurt or not.”
“What about the baby?” I asked even though I didn’t want to. While I’d hate to lose our baby girl, if it came down to her or Jessica, I’d take Jess any day.
“They didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to delay them with a lot of chitchat. Let’s go. I had Demon call Dr. Newton to see if she knows anyone there at this hospital. And I called and left a message to ask Dr. Weeks the same.” Doc Weeks had been the club’s doctor for as long as I’d been here.
I hurried back to my bike. They all got on theirs and we headed out. All I could think about was what if I was too late? Why had I waited? Why didn’t I just tell her I wanted us to be together in all ways again? What if I’d listened to her when she kept asking to go to the bakery to work? I beat myself up the whole way there.
When I pulled into the hospital, I could see the parking lot outside the ER was busy. We all parked in the back of the lot and raced toward the doors. As they slid open, everyone inside looked up at us, including the two police officers. They headed straight over to us. I steeled myself for their censure. Most cops disliked bikers on principle. They thought we were all a bunch of dirty, one-percenter outlaws. Not to say we hadn’t crossed the line when it was needed, but we tended to stay on the right side of the law the majority of the time. Hell, we were business owners and helped our fucking communities.
“Hello. I’m Officer Anson. This is my partner, Officer Young. We’d like to ask you some questions. First, how do all of you know Ms. Abrams? And how did you know to come to the accident site?” You could hear the suspicion in his voice. His partner was looking at us through narrowed eyes.
“Because I have my onboard security and safety system monitored. My brother got a call from the operator who answered the alert. She told him where Jessica was and that 911 had been called. I was further away, so my brothers went to check and see what was wrong. Jessica is my old lady.” He was busy jotting down notes.
“And your name is?” he asked, like he expected me to not tell him. I knew damn well they had run the plates on my truck already.
“I’m Kellan Knight. Now let me ask you some questions. Do you know what happened? Why did she wreck?”
“We’re asking the questions,” his partner smarted off with a sneer. I looked him up and down.
“Don’t try and get into a pissing contest with me, Officer. I can guarantee you’ll lose. I asked two simple questions. You know what, never mind. I’ll ask the docs. I need to know how my woman and baby are.” I pushed past them. The other one was sputtering in protest. I didn’t have the time or patience for their petty shit. I went to the desk. The young woman behind it looked up at me with her mouth hanging open. I ignored it.
“I need to talk to someone about my fiancée, Jessica Abrams. She was just brought in from a wreck. She’s six months pregnant. I need to know how they’re doing and see her.”
“L-let me check. They will most likely still be checking her out. B-but I’ll tell them you’re here. Why don’t you have a seat?” She seemed to be flustered. Demon walked up to me.
“Don’t worry, Ajax. Doc is on her way. Said she knew some people here and had even helped them out before. She’ll get you some information. For now, let’s have a seat.” He guided me away from the desk and to a chair at the back of the ER waiting room. I looked around. Damn it, it seemed all we did was wait in ERs with our women. After the last time, I’d hoped to never see another one. I was happy to see Bull handling the two assholes. It wasn’t long before they left.
I sat there shaking my leg up and down. What I really wanted to do was yell at someone to take me to see her. I couldn’t breathe. My head was swimming with the horrible images of her dead and broken. Bull sat down on the other side of me. His hand landed on my leg.
“Calm down, Ajax. You need to be strong for her. If you get all crazy, she won’t have you when she needs you. They have medical staff working on her.”
“I know, Bull, but all I can see are images of her dead. What will I do if I lose her?”
“You’re not going to,” Demon growled. He jumped up and went toward the door. I glanced over to see Dr. Newton come rushing in. She was searching the crowd. Her face registered surprise when she saw Demon barreling down on her, then she caught my eye. She came toward me. Demon stopped her for a minute. I couldn’t hear what she said, but she was frowning and shaking her head. She pulled away and came the rest of the way to me.
“Hi, Ajax. I’m going to go check and see what I can find out. Demon said there was a wreck. Did they tell you anything?”