Black Wings MC: The Novel (Motorcycle Club Romance) (6 page)

“
I’m not sure. We’ll have to check on them. You take the east side of the room and I’ll take the west.”

“
Ok…” I said as if I wasn’t too sure that I wanted to search through all of the dead bodies.

“
Here, take this.” Animal said as he handed me a pistol. “Have you ever shot before?”

“
No.” I gasped, hardly believing that I was holding a gun.

“
Just point, aim and shoot. Make sure you shoot to kill.”

“
Ok.”

And with that, we began our search for the rest of the MC. I found Stacie and Theresa huddled together in a corner of the east side of the room.

“
Are you guys ok?” I whispered to them.

“
Yeah, we’re ok. We knew that Animal was going to blow the place up so we took cover.”

“
How did you know? And why didn’t you tell me?” I asked in a shocked voice.

“
It’s not the first time something like this has happened. The guys created signals. That was what Animal signaled to Shadow right before it happened.”

“
Well, I’m glad you guys are ok but I can’t walk. Animal went to check on Shadow and to find the others. I’ll need help getting out of here and searching for the rest of the MC.”

Theresa and Stacie helped me up as I draped an arm around each of their necks. We began searching for the others. Skull was knocked out cold, lying just outside of the room that the explosion happened in. He had severe head trauma but when he finally came to, we helped him get out of the building and away from all of the smoke.

While we waited outside for Animal, Shadow and Doom, I couldn’t help but worry. Fear and panic began to set in as tears welled up in my eyes. I began to sit in an Indian position, drawing my knees to my chest as I started to rock myself.

“
Hey, it’s ok.” Skull said to me in a reassuring voice. “Everyone’s ok. You don’t have to cry.”

I wiped my tear-stained face. “But what if Shadow is really hurt? He sounded like he was in so much pain and, and….”

“
Hey,” he grabbed my chin to hold my head up so he could look me in the eyes, “this isn’t the first time shit’s hit the fan. Your old man is going to be just fine. Trust me on this one.”

My old man. So I wasn’t the only one who thought we were a couple. While I was afraid for Derek’s life, those words made me smile for just a second. We were a couple.

“
See, I told you everything would be ok. I even got you to smile.”

“
For just a second” I said as my thoughts returned to how bad Derek had been hurt. “What’s taking them so long?”

“
They’ll be out soon. If they’re not out in the next couple of minutes, I’ll go back in to look for them and make sure they’re ok. You gotta remember that it’s dark in there and there’s a lot of smoke and debris all over.”

“
I know. Please don’t let anything happen to him.” I begged as tears continued to roll down my cheeks.

Chapter Eight

Waiting to Find Out

Maybe it was because I was pregnant, but my mothering instinct was getting the best of me. Shadow was still inside with Animal, trying to find Doom and the rest of the MC. I had no clue what would take them so long but with each passing second, my heart raced even faster.

Within minutes, Animal and Doom were carrying Shadow out on a makeshift stretcher. His clothes were covered in blood; at least, the parts that were still intact. Most of his jeans and t-shirt had been shredded right off of him. He had some serious flesh wounds. Stacie and Theresa helped me hobble over to him as soon as he was far enough away from the building.

“
Shadow!?” I cried. I was happy to see that he was still alive but I was gravely concerned about his injuries. They looked pretty serious.

“
Hey baby doll” he said with a half-cocked smile on his face. He was trying to hide his pain and minimize his injuries.

“
I was so worried about you” I sobbed as I leaned over the best I could to try to hug him.

“
I’ll be ok. You look like you’re pretty banged up, too” he said with a look of concern in his eyes.

“
I’m not as bad as you. I’m so glad that you’re still alive.” I burst into uncontrollable tears.

“
Hey, hey. Don’t cry. We’re going to get ourselves taken care of. The guys will call for backup and we’ll be out of here in no time.”

I looked over at Animal as he nodded his head, indicating that Derek was right. He walked away from us and took his cell phone out of his pocket. A few minutes later, he was standing next to Derek and I, explaining that our rides would be there within the hour.

“
Within the HOUR?!” I exclaimed. Shadow couldn’t wait an hour. He needed medical treatment right now. Hell, looking around, we all looked like we needed some type of treatment.

“
What do you expect?” Animal asked me in an annoyed and angry voice. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, in another country. Did you think we could just call a taxi and get out of here right away?” he sneered at me.

“
That’s enough, Animal. She’s scared and worried. I’ll talk to her.” Shadow said through gritted teeth.

Animal walked away from us, leaving us to talk. I grabbed Derek’s hand and looked at him, hoping that he would tell me that we’d be out of here in minutes, on our way to a hospital.

“
Tara, I know this is difficult for you to understand. It might even be impossible for you to understand because you’re new to all of this but trust me, everything will be ok. Till the end, remember? I’m not going to let anything happen to either one of us. I promised you that I will protect you with my life, until the end.”

“
Well the end is going to be right around the corner if we don’t get out of here soon. Why can’t we just go? You need help.”

“
I’ll be fine. As soon as our rides get here, we’re going to get checked out at the hospital. It’s about two hours from here. When we get there, we will have to give them fake aliases. Do you understand?”

“
Derek! That’s three hours before we can get help! Animal said an hour!” I was becoming angry. Obviously, they either didn’t see or care how bad Derek was bleeding.

“
That’s the best we can do right now, Tara. Try to relax. Our rides should be here in about 40 minutes, then we’ll be on our way to the hospital.”

“
I don’t think you’re going to make it that long. You’re losing a lot of blood.”

“
I’ll be fine. If I need blood, they’ll give me some.”

“
But we’re in Mexico! They’re standards aren’t like ours in the U.S.”

“
Tara, I’m too weak to argue right now. Just try to relax. Why don’t you lie down next to me while we wait.”

I lied down on the gravel pavement that Shadow’s makeshift stretcher was resting on. I looked up at the stars and begged God,
‘Please don’t take him from me. Make him stop bleeding. He’s losing so much blood right now. Keep us safe and let us have a safe trip.’
 

I must have dozed off for a few minutes. The sound of tires on the gravel parking lot startled me out of my sleep. I looked over at Derek, who appeared to be sleeping as well.

“
Derek, it’s time. Our rides are here. Wake up.”

His eyes didn’t move. “Derek! Wake up! Please wake up!”

With no response at all, I began to panic. “Help! Please help, he’s not waking up!”

Animal and Skull walked over to where Derek and I were lying on the gravel pavement. They tried their best to wake him but nothing worked. Immediately, the scooped him up on his makeshift stretcher and loaded him into the back of the cargo van that was our ride. Still unable to stand on my own two feet, the men came back over for me and carried me to the van with Derek.

“
Get them out of here first. He needs to get to the hospital right away! No stops, just drive!” Animal yelled out to the driver as he sat me next to my unconscious love. How I wished we were back at the old desert house, making love. Now I might not ever have the chance to do that again or tell him that I’m carrying his child.

The cargo van sped off down the dirt road. As we traveled across all of the back roads, I continued to talk to Derek, hoping that he might hear me and wake up. It was no use. He was out cold. I hoped that he was just unconscious from all of the blood loss and that none of his wounds were fatal. I could see bone in the deep hole that was in his leg.

The roads swayed and curved all the way to the hospital. I was finding it difficult to keep my eyes open but I knew that I had to stay awake for Derek. I was worried about him, and our growing baby. I silently prayed that everything would be all right.

I finally felt the tires of the van come to a final stop. I scooted my way over to the window and peeked out to see where we were. We were finally at the hospital! Panic and relief washed over me at the same time. Derek would finally be taken care of but I also didn’t know how serious his injuries were just yet.

The driver opened the back door of the van. An ER attendant accompanied him. They took Derek out first and placed him on an actual stretcher. Even though he was unconscious, he let out a slight moan as they jarred his body onto the hospital stretcher. I watched as they rushed him into the hospital. A second ER attendant came within moments to help me out of the van.

As the hospital staff performed testing on me, I asked about Derek and how he was. The staff spoke little English so it was hard to understand exactly what they were saying. It would be my luck that all of this would happen in Mexico, where language was such a barrier. I asked to see Derek but one of the nurses said that I needed to be treated before I could see him.

An x-ray revealed that my femur was fractured, the bones in my calf were broken and that I had a broken ankle. I also suffered a minor concussion and had shards of metal implanted into my skin from the bomb. I hadn’t even thought to tell them that I might be pregnant before the x-ray. My mind was focused on letting them do whatever they needed to so that I could be with my love.

I was placed into a private hospital room as they prepped the OR for surgery. They had to place pins and rods into some of my breaks so that they would heal properly. Before they took me back for surgery, I asked about Derek once more. I had to see him. The nurse could tell that I was very concerned about him and agreed to let me see him for just a moment before surgery.

As the nurse wheeled me down the hall, she patted my shoulder and said “ahhh, to be young again” and gave me a reassuring smile. I weakly smiled back at her, still concerned about Derek. When we finally reached his room, she wheeled me over to his bedside.

He was hooked up to monitors and was on oxygen. I asked the nurse how bad his injuries were. She glanced over his chart and said that he suffered major head trauma, had a broken clavicle and that his leg had a compound fracture. He was on oxygen since his oxygen levels were low due to all of the smoke inhalation. I watched him sleep while he was heavily medicated.

I tried to grab his hand, to give it a kiss, but the nurse stopped me.

“
He no need any extra citement.” She said in broken English.

I nodded at her, and then she wheeled me off to surgery. While I was glad that I had gotten to see him, I hated leaving him. He needed me at his side. We promised one another that we would be there for each other. I couldn’t be there for him if I was in surgery. Tears began to flood my eyes.

Before I knew it, the anesthesia knocked me out and the doctors began to treat all of my breaks and fractures. I remembered that the room was cold and white. They had asked me to count backwards from 10 but I don’t think that I made it past seven.

Chapter Nine

Waking Up

Much to my surprise, Derek was lying next to me when I awoke from surgery. They placed us in a hospital room together. When the driver dropped us off, he told the hospital staff that we were a married couple from the U.S. I will never be able to thank that man enough for telling them that.

“
Derek?” I whispered, not wanting to wake him if he was asleep.

“
Yeah, I’m here” he answered back.

I could tell by his voice that he was in a lot of pain. “How are you holding up?” I asked him.

“
I’ve been better. I feel so nauseous. I don’t know if it’s from losing so much blood or if it’s because they gave me some but right now, I could toss my cookies. I’d stay back.”

“
Do you want me to call the nurse? Do you need a puke bucket or a wash cloth?”

“
I have both. Don’t call the nurse.”

“
Ok, I won’t. I’m so glad that you’re still alive. If I could get out of this bed right now, I’d come give you the biggest hug and kiss.”

“
Me too” he said as he moaned through the sharp stabbing pains that was battling his Morphine.