Page 22 of The Riders’ Reign

Hope lights her pretty face. “He is?”

“Of course he is,” I tell her. “I’ll take you in, and bring Jack up to speed, too.”

“What about the recording and the phone call?” she asks anxiously. “Shouldn’t we be here for that?”

“We’ve got our best guys working on it. We don’t need to be here. Rook and the others can handle it. We can’t just go racing off, though. We don’t know who might be watching the compound. We’re all vulnerable right now, so let’s all make sure we take a breath before we do anything rash.”

I give Rook a nod, making sure everything I’ve just said checks with him, and he returns it. Camile shoots him a smile, too, before allowing me to lead her out of the office and the clubhouse. I hope Mike and Cash will get rid of the cops before we need to leave so we don’t have to answer any of their questions. I call to a couple of hardened, long-serving bikers, including Tank, who are hanging around near the clubhouse, smoking.

“Come with us. We’re heading to the hospital again. I want you armed.”

I take Camile’s hand and squeeze it. She nibbles at her lower lip as we cross over to my bike. “I wonder if Ivani will ever forgive me.”

I pull her in for a hug. “Of course she will. I’m guessing Jack’s probably had a word with her, if she’s passed on the message that he wants you there. She knows he doesn’t just want you as a friend.”

“I hope she understands that we’re serious about each other, you know? This isn’t only a physical thing. I love him, Ace.” She stares up at me with a world of emotion in those deep brown eyes.

“I know you do, Princess.”

She smiles. “And I love you, too.”

My heart balloons. “I love you. You’re my everything. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”

It seems crazy that not so long ago I didn’t have her in my life. How dull my days must have been. Now, she’s the sun my world revolves around, and I wouldn’t change it for a second. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest that I’m not the only man she feels this way about. The MC are my brothers, and I completely understand how they can feel the same way I do. How could they not? How could any person have her come into their lives and not fall deeply and madly in love with her?

9

JACK

The stern nurse is back, bustling around me, checking all my monitors and the drips in the back of my hand. I still hurt like fuck, and every move has me hissing in pain. I want to get the hell out of here, so I can help the club, and protect Camile, but I know there’s zero chance of that happening. Besides, I remember what Ivani said about me taking risks that will make me worse, and I know she’s right. As pigheaded as I am, even I can tell I’m not in any fit state to be heading back to the club right now.

A knock comes at the door, and a different nurse sticks his head around. “Sorry to interrupt, but the sheriff is here to speak to Mr. McGrath.”

I stiffen. What the fuck?

“I don’t want to speak to the sheriff.”

“He’s been back a couple of times now, waiting for you to wake up and be in a suitable condition to speak to you about what happened. I can’t turn him away again.”

The strict nurse fusses with my pillows.

“I’m sorry,” she says, “but we must report anyone coming in with gunshot wounds. It’s the law.”

Fuck. The last thing I need right now is dealing with the cops. It doesn’t look like I have much choice.

I huff out a breath. “I don’t even know what happened to me,” I growl. “I have little memory of the incident, none of you will tell me where I was shot, or what surgery I had, and I still haven’t seen a doctor. Damn it.”

The nurse purses her lips and holds my stare. She’s got balls, I’ll give her that.

“Fine, send him in. Let’s get this over with.”

The nurse leaves the room, passing by the sheriff on her way out.

Sheriff Busby is in his early sixties and must be heading for retirement right now. He has more hair on his eyebrows and in his ears than he does on his head, and any muscle he might once have had has turned to fat on his belly. He’s a reasonable man, and we’ve had a mutual understanding that so long as neither of us cause trouble for the other person, we stay out of each other’s way. He turns a blind eye to plenty of things, assuming none of the local residents get hurt or swept up in any of our dealings, but it’s not so easy for him to turn his head when he’s been called directly to the hospital. That shit starts up a paper trail, and things do not easily vanish once in the system.

He’s joined by a uniformed officer from the local police department, but the uniformed cop seems to be there purely for decoration rather than anything useful and hangs back.

“Hey, Jack,” Sheriff Busby greets me. “Can’t say I’m happy to see you laid up in bed. Though I had a feeling you’d end up here before long.”