“I’m okay,” I reassured them both quickly, my voice foreign, flat.
Elden’s eyes were wide and horrified as he took me in, his hands finding my stomach.
I let out a little yelp of pain when his hand landed on the spot I’d hit on the counter.
Both him and my stepfather froze at my yelp of pain. Or at least, I thought that was why.
Both Elden and Swiss were staring in horror over my shoulder. I began to twist to see what the big deal was, but Elden’s hands found my neck, the grip tight enough to still me.
“Don’t move, Violet,” he murmured, dusting his thumb against the bottom of my jaw.
“Hansen!” my stepfather hollered, nowhere near as calm and collected as Elden.
Hansen appeared in front of me as did the rest of the club.
They were all staring at me in varying degrees of horror, which really didn’t do well for the calm I was desperately trying to hold onto.
“He ran. Out the back,” I told Hades and Jagger, both of whom had guns drawn and disappeared inside along with everyone but Colby, Hansen and Elden.
“Baby I need you to stay calm,” Elden told me, his voice gentle, careful.
“You know when you tell someone to stay calm it has the exact opposite effect,” I retorted. “Especially when you’re looking at me like that.” I was holding onto my irritation, but it was slippery, and spots danced in my vision. My fingers and toes were numb.
Hansen’s eyes were on me but he spoke to Elden. “Need you to let her go,” he told him evenly. I liked Hansen’s tone. It was even calmer than Elden’s. Comforting. He’d been a medic in the army, I was pretty sure. He was used to stressful situations, at staying even tempered. Also, it probably helped that I wasn’t his woman and pregnant with his baby; he could be slightly more removed from the situation.
Elden’s jaw flexed at Hansen’s request. He didn’t want to let me go. Which I understood because I didn’t want him to let me go. I had the overwhelming feeling that something terrible was rushing toward me. Like that scene inDeep Impactwhen Téa Leoni and her dad were standing at the shore after the asteroid hit, and the ocean receded in preparation for the huge tsunami to come in.
Yeah, I felt just like that.
And Elden was the only thing keeping the wave at bay.
“I’m fine,” I reassured Hansen in a shaky voice. “I just bumped my hip on the counter.”
Elden’s hand went to my stomach, the touch featherlight but enough to warrant a little kick. Our daughter had always loved her father’s touch.
His body visibly relaxed, but his expression told me he was still wired.
“See?” I said, glancing to Swiss. “She’s fine.” My hand covered Elden’s. The movement made my shoulder burn a little, but I made sure not to show that. “We’re fine.”
Swiss looked from Hansen to me to Elden. “Who the fuck is going to tell her?” he asked, his voice strained, eyes clouded with concern.
Colby was startlingly pale.
“Honey, you’ve got a knife in your shoulder,” Hansen told me calmly, without any of the barely restrained anger and panic radiating from the rest of the men.
I tilted my head, considering his words. “I’ve got aknifein my shoulder?”
He nodded matter-of-factly, like we were discussing the weather. Like a knife in the shoulder was no big deal. Which I guessed, to him, was true. He’d been on battlefields. He’d seen much worse. I’d worry when he looked worried.
Swiss, Elden and Colby only looked like they did because they were seriously overprotective. It was no big deal. Surely, they’d seen worse, being outlaw bikers and such. They were just worried because I was a girl, and they were expecting me to freak out. I straightened my posture. I would not freak out. In fact, I would prove just how much tougher we were than men. It was my duty. For the sisterhood.
“Okay,” I said calmly. “But I can’t feel it.”
“You’re in shock,” Hansen informed me, moving around my body to inspect the area which I assumed had a knife protruding from it. The knife that had likely been used to kill Jenna. That had ended her life.
My vision swam for a moment on that thought.
“Don’t touch it!” I shouted quickly. “I mean, it’s got his fingerprints on it, won’t it? The killer?” I looked at Elden. His gaze was steely, cold and intense on me. “I mean, maybe he was wearing gloves. But maybe he wasn’t. And we can’t take that chance. Plus, it’s not really even bothering me,” I lied.