Page 79 of Chaos & Carnage

“Suzy! Suzy!” someone shouted behind me. “What’s happening? Are you ok?”

A shiver ran down my spine, a sudden draft as people moved around me, rushing towards the little blonde woman now doubled over on the bench to my left. Magnet hurried to her side; his usual nonchalant cockiness gone.

“Let me see.” I tried to push through the mass of bodies crowding her. “Please, let me see.”

“She’s a vet!” Caleb shouted over my shoulder.

“Suzy’s not a fucking dog, Carnage,” Fury shouted back, as more people joined the crowd.

“No. But I know enough to help. Everyone stand back, please.” I barked. The men I was becoming more and more familiar with looking at me carefully before parting like the red sea. “Magnet, stay with her.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked me.

I ignored him, speaking only to Suzy.

“Where does it hurt?” I asked.

“Here,” she showed. “My stomach feels like someone is pulling it out,” she winced again, sucking in a sharp breath.

“This was hurting earlier too, wasn’t it?”

Suzy nodded, tears falling down her cheeks. “I’m pregnant,” she murmured.

“Have you had any spotting?”

“A bit.”

“Recently?” I asked again, keeping my gaze from Magnet because I knew he was looking even more shocked, and I didn’t have time to deal with him as well.

Suzy nodded again. “I’ve had on and off spotting all the way through.”

“You’re pregnant?” Magnet asked, his brain only just able to process what he was hearing.

She bit her lip again, the nod stopping mid-movement as another pain wracked her body.

“Magnet. Suzy needs an ambulance.” I turned back to the woman I was kneeling in front of. “This could be a miscarriage.”

She nodded. “I think so too. I’ve had them before. Just not like this. This really hurts.” She gasped loudly, and I felt the tension rise around me.

“Then we need to get you to hospital. You could be having complications.”

Beside me I could hear someone on the phone and in front of me the devastated woman sobbed, the man at her side gripping her. He looked at me once, eyes filled with sorrow, too proud to let the tears fall, but I could see he held on to them tightly.

Indie moved through the crowd, a careful, calm presence, squeezing the man’s shoulder in wordless support.

*****

The band in the main tent played one last song, most bikers long gone, a few scatterings left swaying on the dance floor. The Kings were still up, some talking, no one dancing, the mood much quieter after the ambulance had taken Suzy and Magnet from the field.

For a while I had been warm, or warmer now I’d found an excellent position under the hottest of the heat lamps in the tent. But with every second my eyes closed just a little more and either my bed or hypothermia were calling for me.

Cade wandered over. Or at least, I thought it was Cade. I studied his face, trying to find some difference between the brothers. Some sort of tell which could help me know which was which, so I didn’t mistake Caleb for Cade again.

“Al?” he muttered.

It was his voice that was different. The same sound, but something about the tone softer. ‘Al’ he called me. I’d never heard Caleb call me that.

“Al?” he asked again. “You ok?”