Tracy

I went about the day. Took care of Olivia, and became increasingly worried about Sarge. I realized I didn’t know how to contact him, or even where he might go.

They didn’t have to let me know what they had on planned each day, but I wished Maddox and Sarge would have told me if they were going somewhere together. They just weren’t used to having someone wait and worry about them these days I guessed.

I’d completed most of the projects I could for the day, including installing the accommodations in Sarge’s bathroom. I was rather proud of my proficiency with a drill. It would be safer for Sarge in there and that put a smile on my face.

It was nearly evening when the day turned chaotic.

Sarge and Maddox reappeared in the kitchen. And they both looked like hell.

“He needs to lay down.”

“Where have you been?”

They were a mess, both of them. But it was Sarge who looked the worst, without a doubt. Neither answered my question and there was an urgent health need for Sarge that superseded my need to know.

I took one side of Sarge and Maddox took the other, just like the night before, and we made our way to his room. I got Sarge settled and found his oxygen mask.

I worked as fast as I could to make him comfortable, get him water, and try to assess if this was something that required a trip to the E.R. I was an aid, a housecleaner, and a new one at that. I didn’t think I had the skills needed for the current calamity.

Maddox stayed out of my way for the most part and got me anything I asked for.

After Sarge had been on his oxygen for a good fifteen minutes and settled, I checked his vitals. For the most part he seemed okay. I wondered again what the hell happened to put him in this condition.

Then another new face entered Sarge’s room.

“Jesus Christ, Sarge, you look like shit.”

A tiny woman with a cap of white hair strode in with a medical bag and a strong sense of purpose.

“Well, you’re as bossy as ever.” He smiled weakly at her and that small action prompted a fit of coughing. The woman rushed passed me and to his side.

“Cool it, Sarge.”

She looked at me.

“Hi, my name’s Josie, I’m a nurse. You check his vitals?”

“Uh, Tracy. Yes, pretty good actually.”

Josie did her own check. And she listened to Sarge’s lungs.

She was maybe as tall as I was, if she was lucky, but she could handle Sarge and Maddox with one lithe arm tied behind her back. And she did it with humor.

“Still a black heart, you’ll be fine,” she said, Sarge smiled but was already starting to doze off.

“He looks comfortable now. His color is a lot better,” I observed.

“You’re a nurse too?” Josie asked, and I felt a little shot of pride that she would think so.

“No, home health aide, housekeeper.”

“Well, you’re doing a damn fine job. Best this house has smelled in a year,” Josie said as she continued to keep her focus on Sarge.

She kissed him on the forehead and then whipped around to turn her sharp eyes toward Maddox.

“Your next, Maddie.”

“Don’t call me Maddie.”

“Psh. I’ll call you Maddie ‘till your fifty. Let’s go up to your tower and get you fixed up.”

“What?” I knew Maddox looked rougher than when I’d seen him this morning, but I didn’t know what Josie was planning to fix.

“Yeah, Man of Steel here was shanked. Didn’t you notice? Word of wisdom with these guys, they always try to hide their injuries. It’s damned annoying.”

I hadn’t noticed, until she said it. Then I saw that his hand was caked with dried blood. I looked up and saw a rip in Maddox’s leather, near the collar.

“You’ve been fucking stabbed? What the hell?”

I walked up and grabbed the jacket to see what was hiding underneath.

“Let’s chat somewhere else, shall we?” Josie said in a whisper and pointed to Sarge who was finally resting. I piped down and nodded. I wanted to throttle Maddox myself.

“Yeah, fine, tower it is,” Maddox said. He was pointedly ignoring me.

Maddox led, Josie followed, and I tagged along. That was really the only way to describe my wide-eyed confusion over what was happening.

Josie helped Maddox get his jacket off. He winced as she pulled the sleeve down and off.

“Shit, Maddie, you may need a couple stitches.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“Sit.”

Josie had no problem handling Maddox or Sarge. I had to respect the hell out of that. I had a million questions about what had happened, but the questions could wait. I was Josie’s assistant in this strange triage situation.

“Hand me some alcohol, please.”

I looked around.

“It’s in the bag.” Josie’s bag was stocked with what looked like all kinds of field dressing and medical supplies. I found the alcohol and swabs and handed them to her.

She worked fast.

“You know Sarge is right? You’re being bull-headed.”

Maddox winced as Josie cleaned the surface of the wound. I looked over her shoulder to see how serious it was. It was less than two inches wide. That was good, I thought.

And it wasn’t crusted over, so maybe a stitch or two could do the trick.

“I learned from the best, didn’t I?” Maddox said, and his face didn’t change as the astringent hit his open wound.

“Touché, Maddie, touché. Honey, hand me that red pack there.”

I took the alcohol and swabs and then found the pack.

She opened a suture kit.

“This puppy is about five or so inches in. It’s not the width it’s the length. And no comment on that turn of phrase Maddie, got it? You got range of motion?” Josie took Maddox’s elbow and rotated his arm at the shoulder ball joint. He didn’t appear to even notice she was doing it.

“I’m fine, it didn’t hit anything important.”

“Your muscles are as dense as your brain so I’m going to say you’re right on that. The blade is probably bent. But this is going to be sore.” She pierced his skin with her needle. I winced. Maddox didn’t.

“You really don’t need to stitch this,” Maddox protested but he stayed still for Josie. He did not, however, make eye contact with me.

“Shh. I’m concentratin’.” Josie put in four stitches that I could count and then turned to me again.

“Here, he needs this covered.”

She handed me a packet that contained a bandage to protect the site of his stitches.

“And don’t let him get it wet for twenty-four hours. Also, don’t let him lift anything heavy or he’ll pop out this nice bit of needlework I did.”

“Yes ma’am,” I said and marveled again at her ability to confidently just handle the situation as it was. To some degree it reminded me of the way Harlow was with Kade. Was this the key to being in love with a Dark Saint?

Love? I pushed that back to the recesses of my brain. I didn’t have time to analyze why that phrase had come to me unbidden.

“She’s nice and didn’t pass out while I stitched ya up. I’d be good to her,” Josie told Maddox and then indicated to me that I should put the dressing on his collarbone.

“I’m trying,” Maddox said as I worked on opening the adhesive strips in the kit Josie had handed me.

“The MC misses you. Come on back, Maddie. It’s not the same without you. And you know you’re not the same without us.”

Josie kissed Maddox on the forehead like she had Sarge. And then she ruffled his hair. I wondered if she’d known him his entire life? What was he like as a boy? Josie seemed like an Aunt or even a tough older sister. I had a million questions about her. And also about why Maddox wasn’t at his MC. Why had he stayed away?

“Check on Sarge one time before you go?” Maddox asked her.

“Yep, and your sleeping beauty too.”

Josie packed up her bag and looked at me. “Thanks for the assist. Nice to meet you, Tracy. Don’t let him scare you away. And get a nursing degree. The club is getting too big for this old gal. I could use a backup like you.”

I nodded as she walked out. How the hell had she read my mind?

Maddox tried to shoo me away as I approached with the bandage, but I was on a mission too.

“I don’t need that shit,” Maddox said to me.

“Josie told me to put the bandage on. I’m putting the bandage on.”

“Hrmph,” was the only reply. I carefully applied the bandage, mindful not to pull the flesh near his stitches. I finished and then inspected Maddox.

He had dried blood on his shoulder and his arm.

“Wait here.”

I found washcloth and ran it under the sink in his bathroom. I realized the previous cleaning staff hadn’t touched this place and it was surprisingly tidy. The beast was less beastly than I’d realized. Still, he’d been stabbed today. What the shit was happening to my life?

Maddox moved to his couch and was lying with his feet up and his hand on his forehead. I had a million questions but kept my focus on cleaning his arm.

I straddled over him to get to his injured left side.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes I do.”

I ran the cloth gently down his arm, his side, and anywhere there were traces of the day. Maddox lightly put his other hand on my hip. I stayed focused on my task but felt the air shift between us.

I’d been in awe, bewildered, and on the sidelines of something I didn’t understand when Sarge and Maddox had returned. Now I was in the center of his vision.

He pulled my hips into his and I had no choice but to lean down. He kissed me, and I felt a new wave of attraction for him kindle deep in my chest, and it radiated through my limbs.

I had no idea what had happened to him today, or why, but the idea that he was in danger shook me to my bones. I’d only just found him and losing him wasn’t a neurotic worry; it was a real possibility. The thought of what that might feel like nearly broke my heart.

Our kiss intensified.

I knew I should be asking my million questions. But he distracted me with his lips on mine and his hands were tugging at my jeans. They were an impediment. Getting closer was all I wanted. I also didn’t want to make the wound on his shoulder worse. Not moving, wasn’t that one of Josie’s orders?

“You’re hurt. You need to be still,” I said to him as he nipped at my lower lip.

“Fuck me, now. That’s what I need.”

No one had ever talked that way to me and I couldn’t have imagined how hearing him tell me what he wanted would affect me. It was powerful.

Maddox worked his hands around the waistband of my jeans. I obliged him and broke free from our kiss long enough to unzip them. I stood up and shimmied out of them then returned to what had become my new favorite place, on top of Maddox. When I did, he growled and roughly grabbed my ass cheek.

“Do the rest.”

I knew exactly what he meant. I leaned up and took off my t-shirt. Maddox’s eyes feasted on my breasts, still modestly covered with my least sexy bra. Sexy underwear hadn’t been my priority, until Maddox came into my life. It appeared that my t-shirt bra was just fine by him though. He leaned up and kissed my breast and then sucked on it hard, through the fabric. I felt his teeth graze my skin.

I reached behind me and undid the hooks. Maddox didn’t seem to be in too much pain as he ran both his hands the length of my body.

He pulled me down close to him and kissed me. His chest and mine rubbed against each other.

“I have questions. I – ”

He kissed me quiet.

“Later. Ask later.”

It wasn’t too difficult to convince me. Maddox, bum arm and all, maneuvered my panties off. Here I was again, draped over him awash in sensation.

“Let me.”

I unzipped his leather.

Shit, he was wearing leather? How did I wind up with a man who looked so good in leather?

I freed him, and he closed his eyes and sucked air in through his teeth. He was so damn sexy when he was with me like this that it was almost a crime.

I ignored whatever actual crime might have occurred today.

Maddox lifted me slightly and I felt the delicious almost painful filling of him to me. I made some sort of noise he liked, and a dirty smile spread across his lips.

My thoughts, questions, and concerns evaporated and the only thing that mattered was the moment we were in together.

I moved slowly at first, afraid to hurt him. His hands settled on my hips as they rocked forward and back. He was increasing the pace and I had to hold on to keep up.

I knew, in the back of my mind, that there were things I had to deal with.

I knew there were huge, scary parts of his life that were hidden from me.

But I also knew that we were supposed to be together.

How could there be any other man or any other path that didn’t have Maddox on it. With me?