transport now,” Nerve calls out. He turns back swabbing gauze on her chest. I walk over and stand above her head, leaning down and looking into her eyes. My hands smooth down her cheeks to calm her.
“You’re gonna be fine, Chiquita. Nothing will happen to you. Believe me!”
A fat tear falls down her face. Her breaths are shallow as she struggles to breathe.
I take in the state of my clubhouse, the front portion of the bunker is demolished. Our wise one, Crow, is dead beneath the rubble. There are bodies everywhere. The Miami guys are gathered in the corner.
I’ll need to thank Hatch for coming to the rescue, but that will have to wait.
I lean down, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She’s pasty. I hate the fact that all I can do is stand here holding her. “I got you, Eva. I got you.”
I just need Spark to hurry the fuck up with the transport. “What’s the ETA on the fucking—”
That’s when I hear the tires screeching outside the bunker. I clench my eyes, relief flooding through me. I lean down, my eyes meeting Eva’s. “Help’s here, Chiquita. Just hold on.”
Spark rushes in with Whiskey at his side. They clear a path, pushing bodies out of the way to get to us. “The cage is ready for you, Nerve,” Spark advises.
“Your medical gear is all inside,” Whiskey adds.
Nerve pushes me out of the way as Whiskey hands Nerve some kind of medical machine. “Sorry, Prez, we need room to move.”
I stand back as they get to work. They hook the machine up to her, running tests as I stand back with Void and Ivy watching on helplessly.
“Fucking hell! I did this,” I murmur as they hoist her onto a makeshift stretcher.
Ivy wraps her arm around me. “You deflected the gun, Nycto. You couldn’t have known it would go off.”
“No, I brought this damn war down on us. If I didn’t give in to Eva and take her to the damn beach, we wouldn’t have been made. All these deaths, maybe even Eva’s, are on me.”
They begin moving her out of the clubhouse as Ivy and Void say nothing to defend my realization.
They say nothing because I’m right.
This is all on me.
We follow Nerve, Spark, and Whiskey out to the cage.
On the way out, the Miami guys are crowded around a body. Damn it all to hell, one of their men has obviously fallen, but I can’t do a damn thing. I need to keep going.
Hatch will have to wait.
Whiskey and Nerve load Eva, and Spark looks at me. “You coming with us?”
As much as I want to go, as much as I need to go, I’m a president, and there’s so much shit happening here that I need to deal with this first. Nerve’s a fully qualified doctor. I trust him with my life, so I trust him to make all the right decisions for Eva. And she’ll have Ivy right by her side, I will make sure of it.
“Ivy, you need to be there. Nerve, I trust you to make all Eva’s medical decisions. I’ll meet you guys at your clinic. I have to make sure everything is okay here, then I’ll be leaving as quickly as my ass will carry me.”
Nerve exhales. “You sure, brother?”
“No, but it’s for the best. I have to make sure shit’s okay here. Then I’ll get on my bike and head over. Nerve, you watch her. I’m trusting you.”
He grips my shoulder. “I got her, brother. Don’t worry, everything will be okay. I’m gonna make sure she gets the best. Ivy, let’s go,” he commands.
Ivy mouths ‘thank you,’ then they both turn jumping up into the back of the cage. I stand at the back looking in as they work on her. “I’ll be with you soon, Eva. Hold on.”
Spark edges past me closing the door, shutting her from my view. My stomach rolls in nerves. Every part of me wants to be in there with her. It’s killing me, but I need to be a president right now. I’ve failed on that front, and I need to make sure things are taken care of before I can do anything.
The cage takes off, and I kick into gear. The quicker I get this shit done, the quicker I can be by her side. Problem is, right now I need to think of my club and wear my patch with pride. As I hurry back inside, walking past the rubble, Crow catches my