Rafe—
Yanking my shirt off, I press it to my brother’s side and stare into his eyes. “You’re gonna make it, Kyle. You hang on, you hear?”
He nods, but his teeth are chattering. He’s stretched out on the bottom of the boat, his head in Tori’s lap.
Bev has the throttle pushed all the way, and we surge across the bay, wind whipping in our faces, and water churning behind us.
“When we pull up to the dock, I need two of you to grab those lines at the bow and stern and jump across and pull us in.”
Billy and TJ move to grab the lines and stand at the ready.
Bev guides us in and jams it in reverse, easing us into place like a pro. Billy and TJ jump to the dock and pull the pontoon alongside, tying her off.
Marcus gets under Kyle’s legs, and my dad and I get under his torso and we carry him off the boat and up the dock to the bar. Once we get inside, Bev becomes a whirlwind, shoving four-legged tables together and clearing off napkins and condiments with a swipe of her arm.
“Oh, my God.” Fiona holds her hand to her mouth, her gaze following the men carrying a much paler Kyle.
“Wendy,” Bev barks, “bring me some clean tablecloths. The ones we use for Christmas. They’re in the supply closet, top shelf.”
The waitress hurries off to get them and returns a few seconds later. Bev and her spread them out.
“Okay, set him here, boys,” Bev says.
The place is empty of customers, and a closed sign hangs in the window.
We’ve barely got Kyle on the table when we hear two car doors slam and turn to see an elderly man fast walking to the door, a big leather doctor’s bag in his hand.
“That’s my Uncle Bill. Dr. Bergstrom. And the lady chasing behind him is my Aunt Yolanda,” Bev says.
When they clear the door, Bev waves them over.
“Okay, everyone. Step back,” the old man says, setting his bag down and checking Kyle’s pulse. Then he pulls the clothing up and examines the wound. Meanwhile, the woman sets down a long metal pole on wheels and begins rigging up an IV kit.
“Give us room, please,” she says.
“She was an army nurse in Vietnam,” Bev says, leaning to me and my father who stand by helplessly. “She’s no stranger to gunshot wounds. Relax. She’s got this.”
I nod, feeling a little better about the situation.
“It’d be better if we move over here,” Bev says, herding everyone toward the bar.
The good doctor and nurse work on him. Their faces are serious, and I can tell it’s not good. The nurse hooks him to a heart monitor and then takes his blood pressure.
“His blood pressure is dropping, Bill, and his heart rate is increasing. He’s lost too much blood.”
My gaze drops to her feet, where several wads of gauze lay soaked in red.
While her husband is busy cleaning and closing the wounds, she looks over at us almost apologetically, and I feel my heart stutter.
“What do you need?” I step forward.
“Blood. But I don’t know his type or any of yours.”
“I’m his twin. We have the same type.”
She nods and looks at her husband.
“Hook him up,” the doctor snaps as he continues to work on the wound.
Like the former war-zone trauma nurse she was, she goes into action, and it's not long before I’m sitting in a chair next to Kyle and an IV stretches from my arm to his.
The married medical pair work for almost an hour, before they bandage Kyle up and the doctor pulls off his bloody gloves with a snap. His wife injects something into the IV line.
The doctor turns and looks at us all. “Who do I talk to?”
My father steps forward. “I’m his father.”
He eyes Wolf up and down, then extends his hand.
“I’m Dr. Bergstrom. He lost a lot of blood, but his heart rate and blood pressure have stabilized, and he’s getting his color back now that he’s got an extra pint in him.
He needs his blood pressure monitored and might need another pint, but Rafe’s already given as much as he safely can right now.
It was a through-and-through wound. The bullet came out, so I didn’t have to remove it.
That’s good. It didn’t hit anything vital.
It just went through the fleshy part of his abdomen.
The kid got lucky. I cleaned and closed the wound, and loaded him up with antibiotics, but he’s gonna need to see someone for follow-up care, understand? ”
“Yes, sir. We’ve got a club doctor. We already called him. He’s waiting for us back in San Jose.”
“Good. I’ll make a list of what I gave the patient for you to pass along. He has any questions, here’s my number.” He passes my father his card.
Wolf shakes his hand. “You saved his life, Doctor. I’m eternally grateful. If there’s anything you need…”
Dr. Bergstrom waves him off. “Glad to have a little excitement. Retirement can be boring as hell.”
My father grins, and it’s the first one I’ve seen all day.
The nurse disconnects the IV line she put in me, and I stand, but I have to wait a minute when a wave of lightheadedness sweeps over me. She touches my arm. “Sit down a minute, son. Bev, can he get some juice?”
“Here, drink this.” Bev slides a tall glass of orange juice on the table next to me. “Sugar always helps after a blood donation.”
“Thanks.” I take a big gulp. When I finish it all, I move to a bar stool.
Tori steps closer to me, and I put an arm around her. “Are you sure you’re okay, Tori? You want the doctor to check on… anything?”
“I’m fine. I just need to go to the bathroom before we leave.” She hurries away, a hand over her stomach.
“Maybe she should ride home in the van with me and Kyle,” Fiona suggests, sidling up to me. “Maybe you should, too. Cole said the prospect who drove the van out can ride your bike back, and I can drive the van.”
“You may be right.” I don’t like it, but I see her point. Still, I was looking forward to Tori being on the back of my bike, where I can feel her arms around me and know she’s safe. To me, that’s heaven.
The nurse comes over. “My name’s Yolanda, by the way. Are you feeling better now, son?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“It’s gonna take about thirty minutes for the rest of that IV bag to finish, then you’ll be able to move your brother. By then, you should be good to drive, unless you don’t feel up to it.”
“Thanks. I would rather ride my bike if I can.” I reach out to shake her hand. “You were amazing. I hear you were a nurse in Vietnam.”
“Yes, sir. Saved as many as I could.”
“Well, you saved my brother today, and I’ll never forget you.”
“Glad to do it.” She nods and walks away, and Jake and Shane come and stand next to me.
“You okay, brother?” Shane asks.
“Yeah, I’ll be all right.”
Fiona tugs on my arm. “Rafe, I need to ask you something. Did you get any texts from Tori? She told me she called and texted you a million times and you never responded. And she said she never got a call or text from you.”
I turn to her with a frown. “How is that even possible?”
Jake holds out his hand. “Open your phone and let me see it.”
I pass it over, and his thumb moves over the screen, pulling up my settings. “She’s blocked.”
“What? I never blocked her.”
He shows me the screen. “Right there, man. If you didn’t do it, then someone got their hands on your phone and did it behind your back. I’m guessing it’s the same with Tori’s phone.”
I frown. “That fucking day they tried to set me up for arson. I was cuffed and bent over the hood of the squad car. They emptied my pockets on the hood, including my phone, then fucking Alex Powers came over, and knocked it onto the ground, then walked off. He came back a minute later and claimed he mistakenly laid his phone back on the hood instead of mine, and he switched them back.”
“Gotta be him. It only takes a minute.”
“But how did he get into your phone?” Fiona asks.
“Facial recognition. He held it to my face and asked if this was my phone. I thought he was just being an asshole. He had it all planned out. Motherfucker.”
When thirty minutes pass, Yolanda removes the IV from my brother, and the boys load him into the back of the van.
“Come on. Let’s go,” Cole barks from the door.
I wait for Tori by the bathroom, and when she comes out, her face is damp, and she’s pressing a paper towel to it.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“You want to ride on the bike with me, or in the van with Kyle and Fiona? She’s gonna make sure he’s comfortable on the drive back.”
She nibbles on her bottom lip. “Do you want me on your bike?”
It's then I realize she’s not sure about how I feel about her. I turn her to face me, tugging on her hands. “I never got your calls or texts. That son-of-a-bitch Alex Powers got a hold of my phone and blocked you. I tried calling you and texting you a bunch of times, and you never responded.”
“I never got any of them. I tried so hard to reach you.”
“I’m betting he got his hands on your phone, too, and blocked me.”
“I’m so sorry, Rafe. I never wanted him. Never.”
I cup the back of her head and pull her forward, kissing her forehead. “I believe you, baby. And I’m so sorry for everything you went through. To think you paid this price because of what I did to that asshole. I should have killed him that day.”
“No. I don’t want that on my conscience.”
“It wouldn’t be on yours, baby. It’d be on mine.”
“That’s worse. I just want to go home. And I want to ride with you.”
I smile. “Nothing I want more. Let’s go home.”