Page 50 of Vengeance
Bowie grabbed Chloe and dragged her behind a thick oak as Doc collapsed at their feet. Chloe dropped beside him. Blood poured through his fingers as he pressed both hands against his stomach. “No,” she whispered. “No, no, no.”
Doc looked down as though mildly annoyed by the wound. “That’s unfortunate.”
“Dad, help him!” she shouted.
Bowie crouched beside them while continuing to scan the clearing. “Put pressure on the wound.” Chloe pressed both hands over Doc’s, and he winced.
“Harder,” Doc ordered.
“I’m hurting you,” she said.
“You’ll hurt me more if I bleed out,” Doc said. She leaned into him, putting more pressure on his wound as gunfire thundered around them. Doc’s face had already gone pale.
“You’re going to be okay,” Chloe said. He gave her a tired smile. “I’ve told that lie to a lot of people.”
“It isn’t a lie,” she insisted.
“Sweetheart—” Doc started.
“Don’t,” Chloe warned, sure that he was going to make some grand goodbye speech.
“Chloe,” he breathed.
“Don’t say goodbye.” His blood warmed her hands and tears blurred her vision.
“I have to get to Vengeance,” Doc whispered as he tried to get up from the ground.
“No,” Chloe said.
“He needs me.”
“He needs you alive,” she said. “He needs both of us.”
Doc smiled faintly. “That boy never needed me as much as he thought he did.”
“That’s not true,” she said.
“I gave him stitches and a place to sleep,” Doc said.
“You saved him,” Chloe cried.
“Savage saved him,” Doc insisted.
“You both did,” she said. Another burst of gunfire struck the tree, and Bowie leaned over them protectively.
“Ryder is moving toward the porch,” he said. “We’re getting into the cabin—one way or another.”
Doc coughed up blood, and Chloe’s panic became unbearable. “Please.”
Doc looked at Bowie. “Get them out.”
“I will,” Bowie promised. “Both of them.”
Doc turned his attention back to Chloe. “Tell Vengeance—” His breath shuddered, and Chloe pressed harder against the wound.
“You can tell him yourself,” she said.
“Tell him Savage was right,” Doc finished.
