Blacklisted (Loveless, Texas #3) - Jay Crownover Page 0,3

wasn’t my fault things with my job were so uncertain. They’d offered me a promotion, which had set in motion my former best friend’s break with both sanity and reality. Jealousy over my advancement had pushed her over the edge. After all her evil and illegal misdeeds came to light, the ME’s office had apologized for doubting me and assured me the promotion they initially offered was waiting for me. Only I wasn’t ready to go back.

After these last few months, I’d had enough of death and destruction to last a lifetime. Which might have been why I was determined to make sure the biker pulled through, regardless of what side of the law he fell on.

After assuring Kody I would be fine and telling her I would call her as soon as I was on my way back home, I let the bikers sweep me out of the bar and into the back of a plain white van with blacked-out windows. I knelt on the floor of the large vehicle, next to the still unconscious biker. Without understanding why, I reached for one of his hands, immediately noticing how rough it was beneath the slippery coating of blood. I also took note of the skull face tattooed across the entire back of it. He was alarmingly cold to the touch, which made me frown and press my hand to his forehead. It wasn’t exactly a professionally medical move, but one I was compelled to do as a human hurting for another human.

“He’ll pull through.”

The rough words were barked by a huge man in a leather vest with patches all over it. He had one that read VICE PRESIDENT on one side, and TOP HAT on the other. He was issuing most of the orders, so I assumed that meant he was in charge while the president was incapacitated.

“He’s going to need surgery.” I had no idea what kind of damage the bullet had done internally, but he was still bleeding and his breathing still gave me cause for concern.

The second-in-command nodded and dragged a hand over his tired-looking face. “I told you, we have a guy who will take care of it. The prez was in such bad shape we panicked and brought him to Kody’s, figuring we’d call him out. But she told us you were closer, and we weren’t going to take any chances with Shot’s life on the line.”

“Top Hat,” I tried out the unusual name and cringed when I received a lifted eyebrow and a smirk in return. Regardless, I plowed on with my warning. “He needs to be in an actual medical facility. If you try and do any kind of major surgery in an unsanitary environment, the chances of him getting an infection and dying are higher than him dying from the wound itself.” I knew I sounded cool and clinical, but I couldn’t help it. I was nervous. Nervous to be heading off into the unknown with a bunch of strangers, with men who very well could be involved in some serious criminal activity. Nervous that my patient would die and I would be blamed. Nervous I would let Kody down and the tentative bond I was building with my new family would be broken.

“I go by Top, Doc.” Soft snickers went around the van and I got the distinct impression I was being laughed at. The man who called himself Top gave me a look. I could tell he was tense and worried for his friend, and he wasn’t thrilled to have me along for this ride. “Our clubhouse is an old ranch that used to be owned by a vet. The barn is outfitted as a big animal hospital, complete with an operating room. It doesn’t see much use for livestock, but we’ve benefited from having access to it more than once over the years.”

He swore and rubbed his eyes. He still had his president’s blood smeared on the back of his hands but didn’t seem to notice. “If we get Shot to the property, the chances we can save him are pretty high.”

I cleared my throat and went to pull my hand away from the injured man’s head. I had a lot of questions and a million concerns but decided it was best to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t know how to deal with bikers, or really anyone who had need of their own operating room on the regular. I was so far out of my comfort zone,