Tuck Read online

  “You’re still so stupid. You would walk around the club, and the hospital like you owned the place, that you were better than everyone else. It will be nice to see you taken down a few notches. Have fun trying to save him, I’ve done my very best to make sure he didn’t survive, so the next few days should be interesting,” Misty laughed manically.

  Tuck heard the door open and close again, and he’d had enough. Opening his eyes and gathering what little strength he had, he got out of the bed and grabbed Katie’s arm, turning her toward him.

  “What the fuck are you doing here!” he asked softly through gritted teeth. “And why the hell would you push them like that?” Damn, he had always thought Katie was beautiful, but she had changed over the last few years. Gone were the signs of innocence and youth, leaving behind a devastatingly beautiful woman. Her light brown hair was a mess, falling out of some kind of fancy bun thing, and her face was red, blotchy, and bruised but still gorgeous. He couldn’t help letting his eyes wander, just a little, and just as he had expected, she was even curvier than before, and the extra weight looked damn good on her. He felt his dick twitch and groaned when she licked her pouty pink lips.

  “Holy Shit!” Katie whispered yelled. “Get back in bed. Jesus, you scared the shit out of me. Damn,” Katie said shaking her head a little, her eyes looking down at his body.

  Tuck realized he was standing in front of her, completely naked with a half chubby. That was the only reason he let her lead him back to the bed and help him to lay down. There was one moment when he had thought she was actually looking at him with some type of appreciation. That was short lived when she immediately started removing his bandages and palpating his stomach, spurting out several curses, a few he wanted to use with all the pain she was causing him. Grabbing her hands, he stopped her.

  “Katie! Answer me!”

  “Damn it, Tuck, stop,” Katie said, jerking her hands away from him. He was so weak, he couldn’t stop her as she continued to check out his wounds. When she was done, she finally said, “Okay, listen, this is bad, really bad. All of your wounds are infected, and you have several streaks starting which means the infection is starting to go into your bloodstream. If they get me what I need, I might be able to help, but Tuck,” Katie said, clearing her throat a couple of times before forcing the words out, “I don’t know if I can do it here, at the hospital yeah but…”

  “Stop, Katie,” Tuck said softly, taking her hand again and squeezing it, “I promise it will be okay. I’ll figure out a way out of this for the both of us, I just need to build up more of my strength.” Tuck heard the footsteps outside the door, and the key in the lock. He started to let his body shut down. It was even more important now that these fuckers thought he was weak. He should have warned Katie because she started chanting, “No,” over and over again. He felt the frantic movement of her hands as she tried to find his pulse and check his breathing. He had purposely made it shallow and slow. He heard Bender growl, “You better not lose him” before the door was slammed shut again, then he felt her soft full lips on his. He knew she was going to start doing CPR, but he didn’t need it, and he wasn’t a good enough man not to take advantage of this opportunity.

  Tilting his head to the side, he pushed his tongue into her mouth and kissed her like he had always dreamed. Taking his hand, he ran it through her hair, dislodging more pieces from her bun and pulled her closer. He would have continued if she hadn’t hit his chest so hard, it took his breath away, and he had to release her.

  “Asshole! Don’t you ever do that to me again,” Katie screamed quietly as she continued to hit him. Then she started to cry. “I thought I lost you.”

  “Babe, listen,” Tuck started, but she never let him finish.

  “No, I get it, I understand why you did it, but damn it, Tuck, you could have warned me,” Katie said, wiping her eyes. Tuck didn’t know how long it lasted, but Katie changed before his eyes. She was in professional mode, not talking to him at all while she walked around the room and gathered stuff. He watched her every move, but she refused to make eye contact with him, her indication she wasn’t willing or ready to talk about the kiss or anything else at the moment. When she had piled everything she wanted next to the bed, she snapped on some latex gloves and started talking at him, her eyes only on his chest which Tuck hated.

  “Okay, listen, I’m going to clean you up, and it’s going to hurt like hell. If Misty gets what I asked for, I might be able to give you some relief, but I’m not counting on it. I asked for high-grade narcotics and antibiotics.”

  “No!” Tuck said emphatically.

  “What do you mean no, Tuck? If she gets them, I’m using them, and trust me, by the time I’m done, you’ll be begging for them.” She was looking at him now which was a bonus, but there was no light in her beautiful blue eyes, only determination.

  “You can’t dope me, Katie,” he tried to explain. “I need to know what’s going on. I can deal with the pain, dealt with it before, just do what you have to do. I wouldn’t trust a damn thing that bitch brought, anyway and neither should you.”

  “Yeah, we will see about that after I get started, tough guy,” Katie said but wasn’t really talking to him. She hadn’t been kidding—once she got started, he wanted to yell out in pain or jump off the fucking bed. He had been shot before, stabbed even, but it felt like she was pouring a mixture of bleach and salt into every single one of his wounds, and she hadn’t even gotten to his stomach yet where the worst ones were.

  It didn’t take him long to pass out from the pain.

  Chapter Six

  Katie worked for several hours cleaning, disinfecting, and stitching up the wounds she could, leaving the severely infected ones open for now. She had never been more thankful of anything in her life as when Tuck passed out. She hated hurting him, but there was no alternative. Misty had come back as promised with Bender at her side, bringing the supplies Katie had asked for. She had been surprised when all of them were medical grade and sealed. They watched her as she put in the IV and administered the first dose of antibiotics and painkillers. Katie knew Tuck would be mad she went against his wishes, but he needed as much time to heal as possible, and this would help.

  Bender asked several questions about Tuck’s condition and what she was planning to do about it. Katie kept her answers short and sweet. It didn’t take him long to leave but only after calling in a couple of his guys to remove anything from the room that could have been useful, not that there was much. He ordered Misty, much to her dislike, to come back and check on them every four hours, telling her to take the scissors Katie had used with her. Damn it! He had also ordered her to take the painkillers, syringes, needles, and any other sharps in the room.

  Katie had managed to stow several under the mattress when Misty was plastering herself all over Bender, but they wouldn’t do her much good without the drugs. One thing though, if Misty decided not to show up after four hours, she would at least be able to give Tuck his next dose of antibiotics, so she was taking that as a win. Relying on Misty for anything was a losing game. When they finally left, she was able to clean up the rest of Tuck’s body, thankful for the clean sheets and blankets. They had even brought a package of underwear and some gym shorts.

  Now, she just needed to wait and give the medicine time to do its thing and figure out a way for both of them to get out of there. Misty had come in once as planned during the next eight hours, high as a kite, and Katie had noticed the vial of pain med was a little emptier than before. The glossy look to her eyes and her slurred speech confirmed her thought. Misty had a major drug issue, and if she were mixing this medicine with whatever else she had been taking, there would be dire consequences. She had hoped she could get the woman to leave the meds, but Misty held on to them like they were her favorite candy she wasn’t willing to share. Hell, she had even questioned the dose she had given Tuck, thinking it was too much.

  When she didn’t come back after four hours, Katie was ecstatic she had the for
esight to stash those extra syringes, but her supply wouldn’t last forever. As it was, the pain meds would be wearing off pretty soon, and Tuck would be pushing himself and his body too far, once again. She had finally gotten his fever down and was just cleaning and rebandaging his wounds when there was a loud thump at the door. Walking over to it she put her ear against it to listen. Two men, voices she vaguely remembered from the van, were arguing outside the door. One of them wanted in, and the other one was telling him to cool his shit. When she heard another hit on the door, she jumped back expecting it to open any minute. It didn’t, but it didn’t stop Katie from being freaked out.

  She could hear a major party going on outside the door—loud music, yells, and grunts. Each and every time she heard footsteps coming near the door, she would sit straight up in the chair she was sitting in. She hadn’t gotten the nerve to get up and go toward the door again, but every single time that knob moved, she knew it. Trying to take her mind off the door, the men and the party going on, she started to try to make Tuck more comfortable. He looked so different in sleep, peaceful even. No stress lines were marring his forehead, and his lips were relaxed instead of a firm line. She liked seeing him this way and couldn’t resist cupping his cheek, brushing her thumb back and forth several times, just to feel the soft stubble of his beard across her thumb.

  She hadn’t missed the fact he had kissed her earlier while she was trying to “save him.” Now that she was a little calmer and could think about things a little more clearly, she wished like hell she would have just allowed the kiss to keep going. There were times in her life she would have begged this man for a simple kiss. She even remembered in her early teen years, practicing against her pillow to be ready if it ever happened. It didn’t, not until she was much older and was a way for him to say goodbye, get lost, and don’t look back. She had always resented that one kiss. But this last one hadn’t been all that bad—wrong place wrong time—but still amazing.

  Closing her eyes, she let her mind drift a little. She could still remember the first time she had ever laid eyes on Tucker Masterson. She had been ten years old, and he came up to her house, riding his big old Harley and even back then, Katie had been taken aback. The man even at eighteen had a way about him that screamed to her. He hadn’t paid her any attention, and it was like that each time he visited until she was about sixteen. She had been having a really crappy day. Things at school sucked, and the “pretty” girls had been giving her a hard time about being such a nerd. Tuck was fresh off the plane from overseas, Katie knew because she had made it her own personal mission to know everything about Tuck, asking her dad and all the RBMC brothers who came around about him. He was still in his uniform, waiting on the porch for her dad when she walked up, crying.

  Katie had almost turned around and gone to the back door when he stopped her and asked what was wrong. Katie had blurted out everything that had happened that day, and Tuck listened. When she was all done, he used his fingers to place some of her hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear and said, “Those girls are wrong, Katie, you are beautiful inside and out.” That was it, but it was enough for her to fall for him.

  Katie let out a breath through her nose and opened her eyes looked at Tuck.

  “I think I have to finally let you go.”

  No man had ever compared to him. She had dated even had a long-term relationship in her early twenties, but none of them could measure up to her fantasy of Tuck. So, they all ultimately failed. Looking at him now, she wondered what it was about this particular man that drew her so much, she couldn’t seem to let go. He had never been particularly nice to her, here and there occasionally, but mostly, he avoided her. It didn’t help that she followed him around like a puppy, making it awkward for the both of them. Misty hadn’t been all that far off in her observations.

  After her Dad had been killed, Katie left the safety of family and home and ran right for Tuck. He had tolerated her presence and allowed her the time to grieve, but just like all the times before, he had never once encouraged her to want anything more from him than friendship. No, she was the one with pipe dreams of love and romance. She wanted Tuck to sweep her off her feet like he would suddenly have an epiphany and realize she was the one for him. Katie wanted and dreamed of a happily ever after, but damn, everyone had to give up part of their dreams at some time in their life, right? Now, she just wanted to live until the next day and figure a way out of this mess, for both of them.

  Just as Tuck was starting to rouse, Misty came in, and after giving him another dose of pain meds, she had offered to take Katie to the kitchen for some food. Katie was reluctant, but it had quieted down outside, and she was starving, couldn’t even remember the last thing she’d eaten, so she followed her out of the room. It was just past five in the morning, and it looked like most of the guys had either gone somewhere else or were passed out on the numerous couches or chairs scattered in the center of the room. About five of them, including Bender, were sitting at a table off to the side, playing cards. None of them paid her and Misty any attention, something Katie was grateful for and put firmly in her win column for the day.

  When they got to the kitchen which was only three doors down, it was as she suspected, disgusting—takeout bags, pizza boxes, and other open containers littered every available surface. The sink was filled with dirty water and dishes that, if she had to guess, had probably been there for several days now. There was an industrial size garbage can in the corner, filled to overflowing and two bags of garbage right next to it. The room smelled worse than Tuck’s. Misty sat down at the small table with an exaggerated sigh, flinging her arm around.

  “Get what you want, I’m not going to serve you.”

  Katie almost asked to go back to the room, but this was an opportunity. Misty looked high as a kite, and sometimes, in her experience, people feeling good had a tendency to talk.

  She started opening up cupboards and found a tin of coffee, but looking at the coffeemaker, she realized she was going to have to clean it first. With trepidation and coffee pot in hand, she walked over to the sink, trying to figure out a way to clean it without having to touch anything in it, but there was no way. The dishes and garbage were piled too high. Gingerly setting down the coffee pot after flicking and flinging a couple things back to make a clear space, Katie opened the cupboard underneath the sink and was happy to see disposable gloves, dish soap, sponges, and garbage bags.

  Now that she had her supplies, she tried to figure out where to start. Misty was singing to herself, happy in her own little world at the moment, but Katie knew her mood could change swiftly, and she needed to act fast. Opening up a garbage bag, she started to pile stuff into it, giving her some counter space. Donning the gloves, she cringed as her hand went into the gross water until she found the plug. As the water moved, the smell got even worse, making her gag a little. Turning the hot water on, she let it run over the dishes, moving it side to side to make sure it got all of them, and the odor started to dissipate, at least some of it.

  When that was done, she still kept the water going, rinsing each individual item, and throwing away the garbage as she went. The room was more of a breakroom than a kitchen, the sink itself only had one basin and a small countertop next to it on either side. At one end was a refrigerator she was determined not to open and look inside. There was a small two-seater table next to the door where Misty was sitting with her head down on her folded arms, and the garbage can was across the room next to a window. Deciding to press her luck, Katie shoved more stuff into the garbage bag she had been using, taking a fresh one out of the box, and walked over to the garbage can. For all intents and purposes, it would look like she planned on changing the bag out, but what she really wanted to do is get a good look at that window and what lay beyond it.

  Mindful of Misty and the men in the other room, Katie took a deep breath and risked it, first placing her newly filled bag by the others, then going to the window, looking over her shoulder consistently, ma
king sure she was still safe. It was still dark outside, very early morning, but she could tell they were in the city. Street lights and office buildings ran up and down on either side, and early morning drivers packed the street. That was good information, but the best was a fire escape right outside the window, and from the looks of it and counting the windows in the building across the street, they were only on the third floor. It was a guess, but she figured it was as good as it was going to get.

  Checking one last time over her shoulder, Katie as quietly as possible unlocked the three locks on the window, having to stand on her tiptoes to reach them. This wasn’t a standard-sized window, the thing was just about as big as she was, and she was five foot seven. With her arms extended, she guesstimated it was about six-foot-tall and about four feet wide. Now for the big test and the riskiest part of what she was doing.

  First, she pushed down the garbage into the can and started to remove the bag, allowing several things to spill out onto the ground. She didn’t immediately pick the stuff up; first, she gripped the little window ledge and pulled. At first, it didn’t budge, not even a centimeter, but Katie didn’t give up. Tugging on it, she finally managed to get the window to move, but it squeaked loudly, and Katie panicked, ending her task. Standing up abruptly, she spun to check on Misty and make sure no one else had heard the squeak.

  No one came running, and Misty was still sleeping. For right now, she would consider that another win for today. Picking up the rest of the garbage, she pulled the window up a little further, only a crack, nothing that would be noticed beyond the bags but enough to give her hope she and Tuck had a chance. She had just finished washing the dishes and getting the coffee started when Misty decided to wake up.

  “That smells good.”