Page 127 of Bleed Me

I was alarmed as Doc said, “Is this a gunshot wound?” but then she grumbled something about killing Diesel when all the Stallions adamantly denied I had been shot. Her tone was demanding a clear answer from me. “Mr. Dalton, have. You. Been. Shot?”

Through all the pain, I forced my eyes to open to see an attractive woman in a white coat. “No, ma’am. I fell.”

“Is that so?” She thumbed behind her to Meatball. “He claims his bike tire flung a rock at you while you rode a bike behind him.”

I looked to Meatball, who was calm as usual, shrugging nonchalantly.

Internally, I smiled at the big lug, then told the doc, “Yeah, that’s why I fell.”

She licked her teeth. “I see. So, no police officers are required at this time? To take a report?”

Agony can make one crabby. “Not unless they specialize in pebble crimes.”

My brothers started laughing.

Extremely annoyed, the doctor said, “I have other patients to see. These nurses will tend to your wounds—” She turned to see some blood on the ground. Apparently, Stallions were still bleeding from the earlier gunfight at the compound. “More pebbles?” she sneered.

Men nodded and shifted on their feet, stepping in the red smears, suddenly finding their manners by replying, “Yes, ma’am.”

Doc pushed past them. I believe she mumbled, “Diesel and his rugrats are all assholes.”

When my boys tightened around me, I knew what was coming. The bull Doc just referred to. Backed by some Ryders, Diesel was livid, yelling about how I shouldn’t have been there.

I guess Lynx was done with all opinions because he charged forward and got in Diesel’s face. “He saved the boxer!”

More yelling took place in the small curtained-off room. Bikers were all trying to break apart the argument. To my strained eyes, it looked like a moving wall of leather. But, above it all, I heard a voice. One I hadn’t heard in years.

“Is it that bad? Oh, God. Let me see him.”

The leather wall stilled then tightened.

I looked for my Justice.

I found her behind a nurse, patting her chest, then wincing from where she was shot. What a mess we were. I wanted to pat mine in return, but nurses were wrapping my hands. Justice nodded, understanding my want.

What we had tried to avoid was now happening. There was no changing my fate.

I mouthed to my wife. “I’m so sorry.”

Her eyes filled with tears. She knew the police would be here soon. Then she mouthed, “You can do this.”

Art’s voice appeared behind the wall. “What the fuck happened?”

I exhaled, gathering the balls to face a world without my kids and wife.

Delilah’s scared voice hit me deep in my gut. “Who are you keeping from me?”

I am James Gunn Dalton. “Let her see me.”

The wall opened…

I hadn’t seen her timeless face since her first year of college, and her eyes had been closed that night. Her golden whiskey eyes open? Memories floated through my soul. “Hey, darlin’.”

Beard, longer hair… None of it was enough for her not to recognize me.

Viola, when she stepped around a Stallion, recognized me, too.

Whether it was from V’s look of disdain, the pain in my hands, or Delilah swaying dizzily on her feet, my stomach soured. Full of regret for all the past pain I had caused her, and present pain I was inflicting, I quietly asked, “Someone please catch her?”