“Do you hear that? They’re coming,” I said, framing her face for a second to check out the damage.
I expected rage to build, but all I felt was a sense of helplessness and some bone-deep worry as I released her face to start to trail my hands over her skull, feeling the sticky sensation of blood at the back of her head.
“Baby, who did this?” I asked as my hands kept moving, kept exploring, trying to see if she was shot, or just beaten to high fucking hell.
“Didn’t see,” she said, slow blinking at me. “My head,” she whimpered.
“I know. I know. The ambulance is on the way. Hear it?” I asked, trying to keep her focused and awake even though all I heard was the rumble of bikes as the club finally caught up with me, pulling into the lot. “Toll is down,” I called, waving over toward him as the engines cut off.
“Voss, call Fallon,” Brooks barked. “Danny is going to need to hear about this right now,” he added as he dropped down next to Toll.
“Is he breathing?” I asked.
“Yeah. How’s she?”
“Beaten,” I said, looking over at him.
“Toll too.”
“I’m gonna check around inside,” Seth said, likely thinking maybe this was a robbery of some kind. Which made sense, I guess. It was a bar. There was a lot of cash getting thrown around still.
Hell, whoever it was could still be around.
“I’m so tired,” Theo said, dragging my focus back fully to her.
“I know you are, but I’m gonna need you to fight it for a little bit still. You got knocked too hard on your head to go to sleep until the doctors check you out, alright?”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because of a concussion,” I explained.
“No… why?” she asked, lifting a shaky arm and touching her face.
“I don’t know. But I’m gonna fucking find out,” I assured her, reaching for her wrist which was like the only safe space on her, and giving it a squeeze.
“Rosita and Marie,” she said, squinting at me.
“I will have someone take care of Rosita and Marie,” I told her. “I know two animal experts. They’ll be in great hands. Don’t worry about them.”
It was then that I finally heard the sirens pulling down the street, making that tightness in my chest ease a little bit.
“There’s no one inside,” Seth said as he walked out.
“Seth, Voss, take everyone’s guns and go stash them somewhere,” Brooks called, always with his head in the game. “Inside,” he clarified. “Quick,” he added as Voss grabbed my gun out of my waistband and ran back into the bar as Seth did the same.
“We’re going to look suspicious,” Brooks explained to, I imagined, Callow and Sutton who’d probably come along as well since they’d been hanging around at the clubhouse too.
Voss and Seth had just moved back outside to lean against the wall of the bar with Sutton and Callow as the cop cars came to a stop in the back lot.
“Why am I not surprised to see you here?” one of the cops asked as he walked up toward Toll as the other one came up behind me.
“Just here because our friends work here,” Brooks said, immediately backing away from Toll and moving against the wall as well.
“Friends, huh?” the cop asked. “Last I heard, this place was owned by the Vultures MC, enemies of your club.”
“Then you’ve got a subscription to Behind the Times, Cramer,” Seth said, knowing the guy from school. “Because the former president of the Vultures married the president of our club. And that means we’re all one, big, happy family.”
“You better watch how the fuck you’re—“ Cramer started, but shut up when the ambulance came pulling up.
“What’s her name?” a paramedic asked as he dropped down next to Theo with her bag.
“Theo,” I said.
“Okay. Hey, Theo. You’ve had a rough night, huh?” she asked as I forced myself to move over toward the others, knowing I was only going to be in the way.
It was a flurry of activity then. Another ambulance showed up, taking Toll away before the first set of paramedics even finished with checking out Theo.
“Toll!” Danny yelled, making us all turn to find her and Fallon rushing into the back.
But the paramedics weren’t stopping for her. They were loading him up, and driving away with him.
“What the fuck?” Danny hissed as she walked up toward us. “Oh, Theo,” she said, wincing as her gaze landed on the woman.
“She’s gonna be okay,” I said, but I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince Danny or myself at that point.
“Yeah, of course she is. Does anyone know what happened?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Cramer said, making Seth actually roll his eyes.
“Oh, you,” Danny said, turning to look at him. “Is there someone slightly less useless than you who could be working this case right now?” she asked, making Voss cough to cover up a laugh.