Page 21 of Cinder (MC Fables #2)

E lla

I’m just putting away the mop and bucket when Mrs. V. returns. Mya is sitting at the breakfast counter drinking another cup of coffee.

“Well praise be, the chores are done,” Mrs. V. says.

“That sounds awfully like you didn’t think I would get them done,” I say.

Mrs. V. gives me a stern look. “It’s day one, missy. We’ve got a long way to go before we’re dancing partners.”

“Go easy on her, Mrs. V. That’s my new best friend you’re talking to,” Mya says, giving me a wink.

“Mya, you’re best friends with everyone,” Mrs. V. says.

“True,” Mya says with a giggle. “But Ella is my new favorite. ”

Mrs. V. rolls her eyes before disappearing into the huge walk-in pantry.

A sudden burst of activity draws our attention to the doorway.

Two bikers rush in carrying a third biker by his arms, his feet dragging along the ground and leaving a trail of blood behind him.

A giant biker follows them into the kitchen, followed by Lars, and another biker whose name I don’t know yet.

“Put him on the counter,” the giant says. On the front of his leather cut is a patch that reads President . This must be Beast. The boss.

The two bikers do as he commands and haul the wounded biker onto the long kitchen counter. He roars with pain as blood spills from a hole in his thigh. There’s a belt used as a torniquet above it, but there is still a lot of blood dripping onto the floor.

Mya grabs my hand and squeezes it tight.

She’s not afraid. But she thinks I might be, and she’s trying to comfort me.

Little does she know I was there when my father put a knife into the neck of an Irish mob king who once threatened my mother.

And again, when he shot Vinnie the Viper in the face for betraying him to a rival crime syndicate.

Blood doesn’t scare me. Wounds don’t scare me. This doesn’t scare me.

“Bear, get Rev,” Beast demands.

“I texted him and he’s on his way,” Lars says.

Beast nods at the biker called Bear. “Then go see where the fuck he is and tell him to get here now. Stone is about to bleed out on the goddamn kitchen counter. ”

The biker called Bear disappears out the door.

The wounded biker, who I gather is called Stone, tries to sit up.

“You need to stay put,” the biker next to him says.

Stone looks up at them with gritted teeth. “Fuck you, Ryder. You take a bullet to the fucking leg. Give me your knife. I’m going to dig it out myself.”

“Stop behaving like a princess and stay the fuck on the counter,” Beast growls.

I think about the bottle of whiskey in the pantry and let go of Mya’s hand to quickly retrieve it.

Stone tries to move his leg and roars with pain again.

“Where the fuck is Rev?” Beast demands impatiently.

I return from the pantry and hand the bottle of whiskey to Stone. “This should help.”

Stone snatches it. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, lady, but I think I just fucking fell in love with you.”

As he chugs down the whiskey, Lars and I make eye contact, and I see his lips tug at the corners with a smile.

Bear returns with Rev who is… fuck, he’s beautiful. High cheekbones. Dark hair. Zac Effron blue eyes and long dark lashes. Tattoos crawl down his neck and along his forearms to his fingers.

“Who’s that?” I whisper to Mya .

She leans in. “That’s Rev. He’s the Knights’ tattoo artist and club medic. He left the club a few years ago to join the marines. He only came back a couple of months ago.”

Rev is carrying a small canvas bag which he sets down on the counter. He looks at Mrs. V. “Got any scissors?”

She nods and gestures to me. “In the drawer beside you.”

I quickly find them and hand them to Rev. But he doesn’t take them. Instead, he throws me a pair of latex gloves. “Congratulations, you’re my assistant,” he says, snapping on a pair himself. “Now cut open his jeans… ankle to thigh.”

While I cut into denim, Rev removes gauze from its protective packaging.

“Just go easy where you put those scissors, honey,” Stone slurs as the pointy end of the scissors gets closer toward his groin. “Bullets I can handle. Losing my dick, I can’t.”

“I assure you, I’m nowhere near your dick,” I say, focusing on what I’m doing.

“Then let’s remedy that after this is done,” he says, taking another swig. “You, me and my intact dick.”

I cock an eyebrow at him. “Is that how you invite a girl on a date, Stone?”

He grins and whiskey spills down his chin. “I’m a straight-to-the-point kinda guy.”

“And so romantic,” I say, tearing open his jeans. His skin is covered in blood, but I can clearly see the bullet hole in the center of his thigh .

“So what do you say, sweetheart?” Stone asks, trying to distract himself from what’s coming. “You could be my nurse.”

“How about you focus on not bleeding to death, motherfucker,” Lars growls.

Rev pulls a small vial of clear liquid and a syringe from his bag. “This will help with the pain, but it won’t erase it. You might want to keep chugging that whiskey.”

He wipes down Stone’s thigh with the gauze, then jabs the syringe into his skin.

Stone takes another big pull on the whiskey bottle as Rev retrieves a set of surgical tweezers from the bag.

He rips open the sterilized pack and looks over at Bear and Ryder. “You’re going to need to keep him still.”

“Just do it, Rev,” Stone rasps through whiskey-soaked lips. He makes eye contact with me. “I’ve got a date to get ready for.”

Rev positions himself in front of Stone and digs into his thigh with the tweezers.

Stone roars with pain and struggles against Bear and Ryder.

Obscenities rapid fire out of his mouth.

“The bullet is in deep,” Rev says.

“No fucking kidding,” Stone barks.

Another few digs, and Rev removes the bullet. “There’s another one for your collection,” he says, holding it up.

“You mean this has happened before?” I ask .

“Just another day in the clubhouse,” Ryder says.

“Sure, but couldn’t this have happened somewhere other than my nice clean kitchen?” Mrs. V. says.

“The kitchen is the most sterile place we’ve got in this clubhouse,” Lars says.

Rev patches up the bullet hole. Stone is so high on whatever Rev gave him, as well as the whiskey and adrenaline, he doesn’t even feel the sutures going in.

“You’re new,” Rev says. He’s talking to me, but his focus is on suturing Stone’s thigh.

“I only started working here today,” I say.

“Well, new girl,” he says, handing me the suture tweezers. “Thanks for your help.”

“Yeah, new girl. Nice work.” Stone looks up at me with glazed eyes. “Now, how about that date?”

His lips widen into a whiskey grin.

Then he passes out.