Mad Gold (Providence Gold Series Book 2) Read online

  “I think Nick’s vehicle already took care of that,” I growled, looking into the side mirror, seeing roughly seven vehicles behind us. I knew that Parker was in one of them and prayed that his medical knowledge wasn’t needed when we found her.

  “Mother fucker,” Levi shouted, and slammed his foot down on the brake, making me fly forward in my seat with only the seatbelt stopping me from going head first through the windscreen.

  My head snapped up to look through the glass, and the sight in front of me made my heart fall out of my ass onto the seat underneath it. I was almost certain you would have been able to hear it if it wasn’t for the screeching sounds that the brakes of the other cars made as they carried out an emergency stop behind us and swung their wheels so they wouldn’t go into the back of our vehicle.

  Standing surrounded by tall blades of dry grass was a very agitated Nick holding a gun to Dahlia’s cheek. He was screaming at Rich who had dismounted from his bike, letting it drop down onto the grass, and was standing with his hands in the air. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I could see his mouth moving.

  I had a choice. I could sit here and pray that Rich got through to him, or I could get out of the car and try to get through to him myself.

  It was a no brainer.

  Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I pulled the handle of the door and slowly opened it. Just as I released my belt, there was a yell, and a gun fired, followed by the shattering of the window in my door.

  If I’d been moving to get out of the car, I’d have been hit either by the bullet, or by the shards of glass that went flying everywhere. As it was, I sustained a couple cuts along my right arm, but those you could recover from. Something which I wasn’t sure I could say the same for was my boxers. Or Levi’s considering he mumbled, “I just shit myself!” after it.

  Seeing exactly how unstable Nick was, I lowered myself down on my side, so I could slip out of the door – ignoring the fragments of glass scattered everywhere like dangerous confetti.

  “Dude, I was only kidding when I asked you to marry me,” Levi whispered, looking down at my head which was in his lap. “And if I wasn’t, now really isn’t the time.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” I hissed back, moving my right leg so that my foot was resting on the door. This meant all I had to do was lower my left leg and I could slowly move myself out of the truck.

  “I’m just saying,” he whispered again. “When Dahlia finds out what you were doing while she had a gun to her head…”

  “She isn’t going to find out shit,” I interrupted him. “Because there isn’t anything to find out. Now look at what’s going on and tell me while I try to get out without him seeing.”

  “He’s waving the gun around near her head and yelling at Rich,” he told me, not even blinking as he took it all in. “She looks pale, man. Like really pale. Is that… aw, fuck me!”

  “What? What?” I froze in place, which just so happened to be with my head above his dick.

  “Her knee is busted up really bad, Mad. It doesn’t look right at all,” he informed me, as he slowly reached into his pocket which involved lifting his crotch up, putting it in closer proximity to my face. It only took seconds for him to remove his cell and lower it back down to the chair, but the whole time it had been so close that I’d stopped breathing just in case.

  “What do you mean busted up? Did that fucker shoot her in it?” I’d kill him if he’d hurt her. In fact, I was going to kill him anyway, but I’d do it twice if he’d hurt her.

  When he didn’t answer, I twisted my neck so I could see what he was doing and found him pressing the screen of his phone. I could hear when it was answered without him putting it on speakerphone and alerting the psycho with the gun to it.

  “Do you see her knee?” he whispered into it, keeping his eyes on what was going on. I could hear Parker’s voice confirming it. “I don’t see any blood and there aren’t any holes in her pants.”

  “Looks like her kneecap’s dislocated,” Parker muttered back, making me close my eyes.

  She had to be in agony.

  “Shit, and he’s dragging her around like… wait… what’s he doing?” Levi’s voice rose in volume suddenly and his entire body tensed tight, making me shoot up into a sitting position with my eyes facing forward in the direction I knew Dahlia was.

  Just as I got into a position to jump out of the door, a shot rang out and I saw Dahlia’s torso jerk forward as her head dropped backward before she fell to the floor.

  If the hand that grabbed me by the neck of my t-shirt hadn’t done it, one of the bullets from the five weapons that discharged probably would have hit me, if not more.

  As it was, they all hit their target making Nick’s body jerk like Dahlia’s had, before he dropped backwards onto the grass behind him.

  With a roar, I launched myself forward, ripping the material of my t-shirt and allowing me to run toward my woman who wasn’t moving, even with Rich crouched down beside her, yelling her name.

  All the hopes and dreams, the discoveries I’d made, everything lay on the ground with a bullet hole in her leaking her blood out onto the ground.

  That thought made me grind to a halt about six feet away from her body, allowing Parker to overtake me with a bag in his hands as he yelled at Rich to lift her shirt up. When he skidded to a stop beside her and dropped to his knees, the first thing he did was check her pulse. Gulping in oxygen now, dreading the head shake I was sure he was going to give me, my world narrowed down to this one moment. It was all I could see, all I could think about, all I knew.

  It felt like I waited hours as he frowned and moved his fingers around, still searching. Then he stopped and his eyes shut as his head dropped forward and I stopped breathing. Nothing in, nothing out.

  Just as black dots started dancing around, he lifted his head and grinned, allowing me to take a deep breath in, making my lungs scream with relief. When he nodded his head, my knees stopped holding me up and I would have fallen flat on my face if two hands hadn’t taken my arms either side.

  “She’s alive, Madix,” Cole said from my right, saying the words I needed to hear, even though Parker’s face had said it all.

  When my left arm was squeezed, I looked over and saw Levi glaring at the other body lying on the ground. When his eyes cut to mine, a lot was said between us, none of it verbally. Then, at the same time we stalked over to where Nick was lying and started kicking him.

  It wasn’t big to kick someone when they were down, or in this case dead, but the bastard deserved it. Before we could land another hit though, arms pulled us back and dragged us away from him.

  “You’re done, dude,” Cole warned me.

  And that’s when it hit me – man I was a melodramatic bastard. In the last five minutes, I’d had the most dramatic thoughts of my life. Then again, I’d been in the worst position of my life too.

  “Your woman’s awake,” another voice told me, and I turned around to see one of the other cousins, Ren, looking in Dahlia’s direction.

  Sure enough, she was talking to Parker who was working on her and grinning as he put a needle in her hand. Doctors were freaky fuckers!

  Walking over to her, I took in her pale face and watched as she caught sight of me. She tried to smile but her lips were trembling too much for it to be convincing.

  “I’m tying you to the bed and never letting you go outside ever again,” I warned her, my expression assuring her how serious I was.

  “Kinky,” Levi chuckled as he walked closer to Dahlia and then leaned down and tapped her nose. “If you need help, blink once. If you want me to help you disappear, blink twice.”

  I’d never been more relieved in my life to see her smile, even if it was shaky and weak. But sure enough, as her lips tipped up either side and her beautiful smile graced her face, I did something I’d never done before and thanked the big man above.

  Jesus Christ, could I get more melodramatic?

  And there I was taking the Lord’
s name in vain when I’d just thanked him for saving Dahlia’s life.

  Sorry, Jesus!

  Twenty

  Madix

  “A re you saying he shot my fat?” I heard Dahlia screech as I got close to the room she was being treated in.

  We’d been held back to answer the Sheriff's questions, but seeing as how I hadn’t fired my weapon, I was allowed to leave before the others. This had meant an uncomfortable drive to the hospital in Dahlia’s car – this time with the roof closed because it had started raining. When I’d pulled into a space, people had stared at me in humor and horror as I’d pried my body out of the tiny tin can on wheels and walked awkwardly toward the entrance of the building. I was sure I looked like I was drunk or something seeing as how I was walking slightly at an angle because I’d lost some of the feeling in my legs and they weren’t all working how my brain was telling them to. Even now, after I’d walked about a hundred miles to find her room, I still couldn’t feel my feet.

  Getting to her door, I walked in and peered around the curtain that was hiding her from the rest of the world. She was lying with her leg in some sort of bright orange brace as Parker and another man assessed her bullet wound. Ariana was sitting beside her head, holding her hand and whispering quietly to her.

  “It was a through and through,” Parker told the other man who was nodding as he looked too. “But it was definitely through the fatty tissue.”

  “Could you stop calling it fatty tissue, you insensitive bastard,” Dahlia snapped as Ariana glared at him. “You could call it flesh. Or just skin. Or perhaps my dove flaps.”

  “That last one’s disgusting,” Ariana muttered, screwing her face up and sticking her tongue out. “Dove flaps.”

  “They could be called dove flaps,” Dahlia insisted indignantly. “Beautiful little bird wings.”

  “It sounds like you’re talking about your vagina,” Ariana told her. “I’d rather have angel wings.”

  I noticed that Parker had stopped moving completely and was staring at Ari while the other man worked on Dahlia. Ariana was blatantly avoiding looking back at him, unless it was to glare at him or, on the odd occasion, with a blank look on her face.

  “I’ll bet you have a Jabba-The-Hut vagina,” Dahlia snorted, then burst out laughing at the look on Ari’s face.

  “I’ll bet it’s perfect,” Parker muttered, most likely to himself, but because everyone had suddenly gone quiet, we all heard it.

  “You’ll never know,” Ari replied, looking and sounding more serious than I’d ever heard her sound in all the months I’d known her.

  Figuring that now was the best time to make myself known, and much to the relief of the other doctor in the room, I cleared my throat and focused on Dahlia who was looking between the two… lovebirds? Enemies? Would-be-shaggers (something I’d heard Luna call a couple on a reality TV program she was watching recently)? Wanna-shag-a-lots? Who knew what to call them, but it all fit.

  “How are you feeling, baby?” I asked her softly, leaning down and resting my head on the bed beside her.

  I’d been told she would be okay, but it’s one thing hearing it, another thing actually seeing it for yourself. Now that I was, I felt the weight lifting off my shoulders.

  Until she winced, and then it all came back.

  “Would it kill you to be careful with her?” I snapped at the doctors, giving them my best glare.

  The unknown one paled and gulped when I stood up to my full height, but Parker just snorted and went back to cleaning out the wound.

  “Calm yourself, Harambe,” he chuckled, making me glare at the two women who were now looking anywhere but in my direction.

  “You told him?” I crossed my arms and watched as they went from picking at the sheet, to admiring each other’s nails.

  “Indeed, they did,” Parker nodded, picking up a syringe and moving it toward Dahlia’s back.

  I couldn’t watch this bit. I wasn’t squeamish, but anything to do with needles was a hard no for me.

  “Ouch,” Dahlia snapped, trying to turn to glare at him. “Warn a bitch, will ya?”

  “You’ve got metal in your nose, tongue and belly button,” he deadpanned. “And you’re pissed off about an anesthetic which, incidentally, will stop you from feeling the next needle that goes into your body.”

  “It’s not the same,” she huffed and then turned back to me.

  Taking her time, her eyes scanned my entire face and then moved down my body. I’m not gonna lie, I was willing my dick not to respond as her eyes passed over it, paused, moved away, and then moved back to it before looking back up at my face. Once she’d found what she was looking for, she gave me a beaming smile – a miracle considering everything she’d gone through today – and then winked.

  That was when the weight truly left me, and I breathed a sigh of relief. All the melodramatic feelings from before were gone (and totally forgotten. No way was I revisiting that shit ever) and all that was left was relief.

  “You okay?” I asked her, needing to just hear her say it even though I could see it.

  “Yes, it was just a flesh wound.”

  “He shot her fat,” Parker spoke up from behind her with an evil grin on his face.

  “Whatever, you little twat,” she snapped, really turning this time and letting out a whimper. “I’m glad I have fat, okay? If he’d shot you, you’d probably be peeing into a bag for the rest of your life. Me? No, because I have padding. Well, thank you cake, thank you donuts – y’all saved my life. Go eat some quinoa and spinach!”

  After she finished her rant, she turned with a huff back to her original position, leaving us all staring at her in shock.

  She had a fair point…

  “You, uh…” the other doctor mumbled. “You ripped the two stitches we put in so far. We’re going to have to do them again.”

  “I’m not asking for an embroidery pattern,” Dahlia mumbled, still in a snit. “Just sew the damn holes up.”

  “We’re also going to have to put your kneecap back into place,” he warned her, going back to working on the hole in her back while Parker lifted the bandage over the one on her front and brought out another syringe.

  Tearing my eyes away, I looked around the room for a bucket knowing the chances of me needing it would be high. Spotting one in the corner behind me, I edged slightly closer to it.

  “I didn’t ask you for a dance, did I?” she growled as Parker skewered her with the needle, making me gulp. “Just give it a wiggle and put it in already.”

  That was when the other Townsends arrived. Of course!

  “Is that all it takes?” Levi asked, walking in and winking at Dahlia. “All Mad-dicks has to do is give it a wiggle and it’s in?”

  “Apparently size isn’t relative,” Tate snorted, following behind his brother.

  “Shut up, Taint,” a voice yelled from outside the door, making him growl.

  “I do not like that woman,” he warned us, but his expression as he looked in the direction the voice had come from was what I suspected I looked like when I looked at my sister. We’d all heard about Tate finding his cousin's wife when she’d been kidnapped and when he spoke about her, it was definitely like he was talking about a sibling. So, him not liking her was complete bull cookies.

  “You love me, Taint,” she shouted again and then started singing Tainted Love.

  The doctor helping Parker out joined in as he finished his side of Dahlia’s gunshot wound, and then, once he’d cleared away all the stuff he wasn’t going to need, he moved down to look at her knee.

  “We’re probably going to need an orthopedic consult on this too, but I think we can pop it in relatively easily. The x-ray showed a fragment of bone had chipped off the top of the patella, but surgery isn’t required.”

  Nodding his head as he worked, Parker’s arm continued moving doing something I couldn’t see because I’d deliberately placed myself behind him for that reason.

  “Give me five and then we’ll give her
the jungle juice and do it. After it’s in, we’ll get an MRI done and make sure there’s nothing else going on.”

  “I’m right here you know,” Dahlia hissed at him. “Stop talking about it like it’s a big deal. Have you seen Die Hard? Mel Gibson pops his shoulder out and then rams into a wall and it’s back in place. It isn’t that hard.”

  “That’s Lethal Weapon,” Ariana offered helpfully from where she was still sitting, getting a glare in return from Dahlia.

  Roughly ten minutes later, they’d given Dahlia the painkillers they’d discussed, and they were going to try to put her kneecap back where it should be.

  Standing shoulder to shoulder with Cole and Levi, we all stood watching over her as the other doctor held Dahlia’s leg still, and Parker moved so that his thumbs were braced under the kneecap.

  “Ready?” he asked the doctor, getting a nod in return. “Here goes!”

  There was a dull thud and then all three of us were swaying and gulping while we frantically searched for something to throw up into. I already had the location of the bucket, so I headed in that direction. Cole just managed to reach the sink in time and was holding on for dear life as he tossed his cookies. Poor Levi could only grab the little kidney dish which had been holding some of the shit the doctors hadn’t needed. Dumping it out, he aimed as best he could, but I’d later find out he missed it completely.

  “What a bunch of pussies,” Dahlia mumbled from the bed. “My kneecap was in my butt cheek and they’re the ones throwing up? You should try being shot.”

  “In the fat,” Parker added helpfully, doing his best not to laugh.

  “I will gut you like a fish,” Dahlia hissed at him. “The only thing holding me back at this moment is the fact I don’t want to rip your beautiful embroidery holding my body together and risk my kneecap bursting through my body and taking up residence in my left tit.”

  Apparently she was a terrible patient.

  And I gave not one fuck. I was only too happy to play doctor for her.