Reaper's Stand(94)

The girl who’d been sitting next to him joined us.

“I’m Kelsey,” she said, looking me over. Her face was tight and strained, and her entire body radiated leashed tension. “I’m this *’s sister, which makes Em my sister, too. Thanks for what you did. That took balls.”

I shrugged.

“Let’s just hope they can help her.”

As if summoned by my voice, a doctor stepped into the waiting room and we all looked up, trying to read his expression.

“You the family?”

“Yeah,” Reese said, standing to face him. “What’s goin’ on with my girl?”

“She’s through surgery and it went well, all things considered. You already know she lost a lot of blood. We transfused her in the ER and again on the table, and I think we turned it around. Unfortunately there’s no way the fetus can survive in an ectopic pregnancy like this one. Wouldn’t matter how early we caught it and there’s nothing she could’ve done to prevent it. Sometimes it just happens.”

“Did you see if it was a boy or a girl?” Hunter asked, his voice anguished.

“It was a girl,” he replied. “She was about fourteen weeks old. I’m very sorry for your loss. We’re very lucky to have saved the mother—it was close, maybe a matter of minutes that made the difference. The next few hours will be critical, but I’m hopeful she’ll make a full recovery.”

Horse threw his arm around me and squeezed me tight.

“Thanks for rescuing our Emmy girl,” he said softly. Ruger nodded at me, and I wasn’t sure what to do or say. Reese seemed lost in his own world and Hunter’s eyes had turned red.

“How soon until we can visit her?” Kelsey demanded.


“She’s in recovery right now,” he said. “It’ll be a while before she’s ready for company, and I’d like her to get as much rest as she can. Immediate family only, and the rest of you can visit tomorrow or the day after.”

“I’ll stay here tonight,” Hunter said. “Unless that’s a problem?”

The doctor smiled, although the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“The waiting room is all yours,” he replied. “We’ll keep you posted.”

He turned and walked out, his mind obviously already on the next patient.

“So now what?” Ruger asked slowly. “This is f*cked, but we got three hundred brothers travelin’ down to Cali for a major offensive. We gotta make a plan, because we can’t just leave them hanging.”

“I’m out,” Hunter said bluntly. He gave his friend a quick glance. “Skid can step up and take over for me. I already told Burke what’s happening.”

I looked at Reese, wondering if he’d say the same thing. Nobody could blame him if he decided not to go to California—but there was no way in hell I’d get a chance to save Jessica without him there. He looked at me and sighed, reaching up to rub the back of his neck.

“I’ll go,” he said to Hunter. “You take care of my girl for me, and I’ll make sure we got your club’s back.”

Hunter seemed surprised, and I saw Ruger and Horse exchange a glance I couldn’t interpret.

“Appreciate that,” Hunter said, turning toward Skid. “You need anything more from me?”

“Naw, I got it.”

“I’ll head back to the house,” Reese said slowly, although I could see it was killing him to leave Em. “Call me when she wakes up? I’ll come back and see her before we take off.”

“Sounds good,” Hunter said. “And Pic?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll take good care of her. I promise.”

“Gonna hold you to that.”





CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


The plane touched down at eleven that night.

I’d fallen asleep on top of Reese, which was comfortable and wonderful and probably more than I deserved, but I figured I’d take advantage while I could. He seemed to want me with him, and I even felt a slight stirring of hope at one point. Maybe I hadn’t killed everything between us when I pulled that trigger?

Then I wrestled my head out of my ass, because I couldn’t afford to let hope distract me.

Still, there was a noticeable change in attitude toward me after we got back from the hospital. Nobody had been at Em and Hunter’s place initially—apparently they’d cleared out in anticipation of a police raid.

A raid they’d expected because of me.

The combination of my silence and the fact that I’d saved Em had gone a long way toward rebuilding the club’s goodwill, and nobody bitched when Reese announced I’d be coming with. That meant everything, because if they found Jessica, I needed to be there for her. If they didn’t, I had other, less pleasant work ahead of me.

Now it was one a.m. and I was sitting in the dark. Waiting. We’d gone to a warehouse in the middle of bumf*ck San Diego, which was apparently very similar to regular San Diego, but with more shootings and gang activity. It’d taken quite a bit to convince Reese to let me join them for the actual attack—I think he’d planned for me to hang with the women at someone’s clubhouse or something.

Fuck that.

We’d compromised when I swore to stay outside in one of the vehicles (an anonymous-looking cargo van—something I was starting to think was MC standard issue) unless they called for me. Puck stayed, too. During the time we’d been stuck out here, he hadn’t said anything to me. Not. One. Word. I hunched down in the darkness, praying for something to happen. Anything.