“It’s okay,” I replied, though it was anything but. Right now I needed her help. “Can you get me a towel or something like that so I can stop the bleeding?” I asked urgently. After a quick inspection it looked like the bullet had gone straight through my calf without hitting anything life-threatening. I just needed to stop the bleeding, which was beginning to make me feel woozy.
She nodded and ran to the kitchen.
Corey and Brandon were frantically rushing around the room, shoving belongings into backpacks to make their getaway. One positive about being shot: it would be way too difficult and messy to take me with them now.
“You’re just gonna leave me here!” Janelle shrieked from the kitchen when she realized what they were doing.
I gritted my teeth in pain. “Janelle, I need a towel,” I reminded her urgently.
“Fuck yes, we’re leaving you here,” Brandon scoffed as the two of them rushed through the front door, slamming it shut behind them.
“Shit!” Janelle exclaimed frantically.
“Janelle,” I gritted out. “I need you to focus,” I demanded. The pool of blood surrounding me was growing by the second.
“I can’t believe they left me.”
“Junkies don’t make the best of friends,” I growled meaningfully. I couldn’t believe she was worrying about that while her sister was bleeding on the floor.
Clearly I needed to take matters into my own hands. I managed to crawl toward the couch to grab a shabby looking throw blanket. It wasn’t the ideal size but it would have to do. I cinched it as tightly around my leg as the material would allow before leaning heavily against the wall, exhausted from that small effort. I sat watching as Janelle paced the room like a lunatic.
I closed my eyes and let myself drift in and out of consciousness knowing my body needed to recover.
When the door slammed open an indeterminable amount of time later, Brandon and Casey were shoved violently through, followed by Axel and Tag.
I sucked in a ragged breath of relief when Cal filled the doorway a second later. His chest heaved with anger as his steely gaze cut down to me, growing enraged and fearful all at once when he saw the amount of blood surrounding me.
Two bikers I didn’t recognize entered the room behind him, followed by Cole.
Cal dropped to his knees beside me, soaking them with my blood in the process.
“I-I need a towel or something to wrap my leg tighter with,” I told him as I pulled off the nearly useless blanket.
He whipped off his cut followed by his long-sleeved henley, which he wrapped tightly above my kneecap.
I watched in a daze as Axel grabbed Janelle and sat her against the far wall where Corey and Brandon had been shoved. While his movements were forceful, he was still gentle with her. Clearly this wasn’t the case with the men. Brandon’s nose bled and Corey’s left eye was already swelling shut.
“Call an ambulance,” Cal barked to the room at large, knowing someone would follow his command immediately.
Cole put his phone to his ear without delay.
“Cops are probably en route. Shots fired in a suburban area,” Cole clipped. “How do you want this played?”
Cal’s furious gaze fell to the three against the wall before returning to me. “Which one shot you?” he demanded.
He was in full command mode and I knew it best not to argue or delay. “The blond,” I replied.
His jaw clenched as he nodded once toward his son. “Take the blond. Leave the other two. We’ll need a police report for this one.”
I knew what he was thinking. We needed this on record for custody.
“A minute, babe.” He squeezed my thigh briefly before standing to his full height. He stalked over to where my sister and her companions sat shaking against the wall. “You thought you could take my woman from me? That you could try to take my boy?” he thundered. He reached down and pulled Corey up by the collar. “You shot my fucking woman—left her bleeding on the fucking floor. You’ll give more than your time in jail.” He threw the man like a rag doll at one of the bikers I didn’t recognize. “Take him in. You two clear out. We don’t want the police threatened with this one. Cole—you too. I need you at the club.”
All three men nodded, dragging a now sobbing Corey from the room. That left Axel and Tag, who stood like sentries to the side with their arms crossed over their broad chests. The amount of anger in the room was stifling.
Cal turned hard eyes on my sister as sirens wailed in the distance. He kneeled down, his face an inch from hers. “You willneverthreaten my family again. I’ll see to it you serve every minute of the longest sentence they can throw at you.”
She nodded, appearing to accept that fate. Hell, maybe part of her was relieved.