in behind the curtain. As soon as he heard the sound, he opened his eyes. She realized at that moment that her feelings for him were a lot stronger than even she had thought they were. He was sweet, and kind, and really, really hot...but she hadn’t realized until just that moment how broken her heart would be if she never saw him again. If she never got to kiss him again. If she never got to make love to him...
“Hey, beautiful,” he said, his voice raspy, like he had a sore throat.
“Hey,” she said, taking in the numbers on the monitors he was hooked up to, and the bulky bandage on the leg they had propped up on pillows. “What the hell? Is this a habit with you, or...?”
Gabe smiled and her heart sped up. “Forgot to tell you I’m a little accident prone.”
“Accident prone?” She smiled and shook her head. “I heard it was a gator.”
“He weren’t that big, didn’t even give me bragging rights and rip off my leg or anything.”
She looked at his leg again. “It looks like he did a pretty good number on it. What the hell were you doing out in the swamp?”
“Eh, you know...swimming and stuff.”
She nudged him on the shoulder. “This is serious, Gabriel. If you and I are going to have a relationship...”
His smile grew wider. “We’re going to have a relationship?”
“Hush, let me talk. I’m not sure I can stand all this, worrying about you all the time. No wonder Blackheart is single.”
“He kinda seems that way, but you ain’t met Miss Sally yet.”
“Miss Sally?”
“She’s his girl. She’s been his girl since they were kids...for some reason they both have a problem admitting it.”
“Well, if her life is anything like you’ve made mine the past few weeks, I can see her reasoning.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, letting the smile drop from his face. “It ain’t all getting shot and beat up and alligators and shit, I promise. This has just been an off month.”
She laughed at that and found his hand under the sheet. Giving it a squeeze she said, “I sure hope it’s not. And I hope these ‘off months’ are few and far between.”
He grinned but didn’t confirm or deny that. Instead he said, “Hey, can you do me a favor?”
“Sure, I can try.”
“My friend Chance...Chauncey Leblanc...he was brought in with me. He was in pretty bad shape and I’m worried about him. Can you find out how he is?” Gabe heard Blackheart talking to the cops while he was being loaded into the ambulance. They’d found a lead pipe with blond hair and blood stuck all over it. They’d beaten his friend with a lead pipe before he got there...the thought of it made him want to throw up, especially because he’d gotten there too late to stop it.
“Yeah. Is he why you were out there in that swamp?”
“He needed my help, and he’d have my back in a heartbeat.”
She squeezed his hand again and nodded. “Alright, I’ll see what I can find out. Don’t go anywhere while I’m gone.”
“Hell, they won’t even let me up to pee. I was pressing that buzzer for a while before you got here.” He grinned then and said, “You could help me with that too...”
She laughed. “Huh-uh, not my job. I’ll send in the male attendant with the urinal.”
“Fuck that,” he said, curling his lip. No guy was touching his junk, ever. Then jokingly he said, “I can’t believe you won’t help me out. I mean...I’ll bet you snuck all kinda peeks when I was recuperating from that gunshot. Ain’t like you never seen the equipment before, huh? Admit it. It’s what keeps you coming back.”
She loved the way his green eyes twinkled when he laughed. She threw a wink at him and said, “Of course I saw it, why the hell else would I still be here?” She could hear him laugh as she walked away. That shot of adrenaline she’d gotten when she heard he was hurt was receding, but it had left her body shaky...and she still didn’t like the fact that he never really told her the truth about what had happened to him. She didn’t know a lot about MCs, but she knew enough to know if she got involved with a man who belonged to one, that would probably be her life. She also knew enough about herself to know that she needed to do a lot of long, hard thinking about whether or