Ace must have suspected as much, because he tried to hang onto her with one hand while the other went for his gun. Twisting away, she managed to break free and darted off to the side, taking cover behind a large stump and covering her head with both hands.
She squeezed her eyes closed with every bit of strength she had just before two gunshots sounded off, fired at the same time.
A moment later, Ryder called her name, and she leaped up, running to him without thinking. He’d taken another bullet in the arm and was dribbling blood. Quickly looking at it, she murmured, “It looks like a grazing type injury. At least you don’t have another bullet inside you.”
Tearing off his shirt, she used it to compress the bleeding.
“Wish I could say the same for this fucker,” Ryder growled.
Remembering Ace, Tiffany turned to kneel down and tend to his injuries. Before she even made it to the ground, Ryder grabbed her arm and hauled her back up to her feet.
“I don’t want you within twenty paces of him.”
“He’s injured,” she protested, the need to help rearing up inside her. “You’ve got a gun. That makes you the person in control. Let me make sure he doesn’t die.”
Shaking his head, he stated flatly, “Jesus, you seriously don’t understand how this shit works, do you?”
Squaring her shoulders, she said, “I’m a registered nurse. I’m not going to stand here and watch him bleed out.”
“Fuckin’ fine, see to him, but make it quick,” Ryder snapped. “I won’t take any more chances with your pretty little ass. He’s goddamned dangerous.”
Stooping again, she pried Ace’s cut open in the front. Searching around, she found the bullet wound. It was on his leg. Glancing up, her eyes met his. Ace looked embarrassed to have not taken a kill shot. Her estimation of him went up a notch. Even though he pretended to be a tough guy, Ace was no killer.
“You didn’t hit any major arteries. I need something to tie around this.” Bringing her hands to the bottom of her T-shirt, she heard Ryder gasp behind her.
“No fucking way. Don’t even think about bearing those…” Realizing he was being an ass, he broke off, pressing his lips together.
Tiffany’s hand moved down, grasping the handle of a large hunting knife in a sheath around Ace’s waist. Pulling it out, she cut about eight inches off the bottom of her T-shit, and then cut it open to make a long, thick bandage. Wrapping it around his wound, she tied it off tight. Moving one of his dirty hands, she pressed it over the wound.
“Keep pressure on it until the bleeding slows.”
Nodding, Ace’s eyes slid away.
Peering up at Ryder, she spoke. “He’s going to be fine. How’s about you two stop shooting at each other for the rest of the day?”
Grudgingly, Ryder pulled the man to his feet and dragged him into the house. Following after him, shock tore through her as Tiffany watched him shove the injured man into a closet and slam the door shut before bracing it with a chair.
She approached him quietly. “Rider…you can’t just throw a gunshot victim in my closet.”
“Look, doll, we underestimated him. Sorry about using your closet, but we ain’t got a lot of choices here. Please fetch me one of the prepaid phones. I’ll call my club brothers and they’ll come for him. In a couple of hours, this whole ugly mess will be ancient history.”
Tiffany stood idle, unsure what more she could do. He was dead set on this, and she had a feeling nothing she could say or do would change his mind. “Okay, Ryder, whatever you say.”
Cupping her face in his hand, Ryder spoke tenderly. “Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”
She heard the man banging on the closet door and trying to rattle the handle. This was insane. Instead of arguing the point, though, she fetched Ryder the phone he asked for.
He didn’t waste any time dialing out. “Hey, bro, it’s me. Of fuckin’ course I got him. I need the package picked up ASAP. I’m going to log into that follow me app. It should take you straight to my location. You better get here soon ‘cause it’s all I can do not to put another bullet in him.”
There was a dramatic pause before Ryder turned his body slightly away. “I shot him in the leg. My nurse says he’s gonna be fine.”
Pacing back and forth, he listened as the other man spoke. “Don’t you fuckin’ worry about her. Just get your ass here and pick him up,” he barked.
Leaning against the wall, he spoke gruffly. “I already know that. I caught three bullets on this one. I only shot the crazy fucker once. Thatisrestraint, in my humble-ass opinion.” Rolling his eyes, he listened to whoever was on the other end of the line. “Great. We’ll see you in an hour.”
He fiddled with the phone for a few minutes then snapped it shut. “My brothers got worried and came looking for me at the hospital. They’re about an hour from here.”
Between trying to process the events of her very surreal day, trying to communicate with the always enigmatic Ryder, and listening to the man trying to escape from her closet, Tiffany finally snapped. “Can you ask him to stop beating on my closet door?”