Page 91 of Gunner
“Hang on,” Bailey whispered, then said. “How’s that?”
Opening my eyes again, I nodded. “Where am I?”
“Rosewood Memorial Hospital. You’ve been out of it for days.”
Raising my hand, I saw the I.V. attached to it and moaned.
“My head hurts.”
“It’s going to. You have a nasty concussion. When that shitbag knocked you out, you fell and hit your head on the concrete. You cracked your skull, sweetie.”
“The baby?”
“Perfectly fine.”
“Where’s Gunner?” I moaned, peeking through my eyelids to find only Bailey in the room. Before she could answer me, my mom and Dr. Claudia walked in, with my dad following.
“Good evening, Sarah,” Claudia smiled, walking over. “How are you feeling?”
“My head hurts.”
She nodded, reaching for her pen light and flashing it at my eyes, causing me to wince and look away. “You’re going to have a nasty headache for a few days, but I can give you something to ease the pain that won’t hurt the baby.”
“Where is Gunner?”
Claudia looked at Bailey, who shook her head. My mom rushed around the bed and took my hand, concern written all over her face. However, when my dad looked down at his feet, a frisson of fear seeped into my bones. “Daddy?”
“He’s next door, pumpkin. He’s on life support.”
“What?” I gasped, looking at everyone who still hadn’t told me anything.
“Someone tell me!”
“You’d be so proud of him, Sarah,” Bailey began, wiping her eye. I’d never seen her cry before. Didn’t know she knew how. She always seemed so tough and sure of herself. I knew what she was about to say was bad. I just didn’t know how bad.
“When you screamed, the entire club heard. We all came running. But Gunner was closest. He ran from the auto shop hell bent to get you. When he saw the fucker hit you, he lost it. I’ve never seen him like that before. He became someone different. He didn’t think. One minute he was running towards you, the next he was shooting, killing everything that moved. The men with that fucker saw him coming and fired back. But Gunner was the better shot. By the time he got his hands on the shitbag that hit you, he...”
“He what?”
“He beat him to death with his own hands, Sarah. None of the brothers could pull him off the guy. Gunner wasn’t Gunner anymore. I don’t know what he was, but he wasn’t the carefree, fun-loving man I knew.”
“He became her killer,” my father murmured.
Shaking my head, I gasped. “No. Gunner isn’t a killer, Dad. He isn’t like that.”
“That’s not what I meant, pumpkin. When a man sees the woman he loves in danger, or hurt, all reason flees. Our only concern is getting to our loved ones and ensuring they are safe. We will do anything, become anything she needs for that to happen. In Gunner’s case, he became your killer. Your avenger.”
“Is that how you feel about momma?” I asked as a lone tear fell down my cheek.
My dad slowly nodded. “I’ll kill the world to protect your momma, pumpkin.”
“When Gunner finally released the bastard, that’s when we realized he’d been shot. He took two bullets to the stomach. One lacerated his liver, the other splintered.” Bailey sniffed.
Shaking my head, I looked at Claudia. “I don’t understand. You said he was in the room next to me.”
“Sarah,” Claudia carefully said, pulling a chair closer to the bed, taking a seat. “His liver will be fine. It’s the other bullet. The one that splintered. It did a lot of damage, internally. But what I’m most worried about is the piece that came within meters of his heart. I lost him twice on the operating table. Only his stubborn nature refused to give up. Gunner is in a medically induced coma, so his body can heal.”
“But you’re still worried?”