Bending back in, and making the short sundress she was wearing ride up almost to her panties, Nell then straightened, holding a bag in her hand. I didn’t see Rider walking up to her, until he met her as she rounded the back of the car and smiled up at him.
That was a smile I’d seen aimed at me many times, but one I probably wouldn’t ever get again, and that knowledge fucking hurt!
With his hand on the small of her back, Rider walked her toward us, his head tipped down to look at her as she talked about something he found amusing. My eyes dropped to take in the lack of distance between them, my fists clenching at how close he was to her, and the fact I didn’t have the right to punch him in his face when I saw it.
The front of her dress wasn’t flat under her tits like it’d been before. I knew they’d fill my hands and then some, so it was possible they’d make the dress hang differently depending on the cut of it.
But that wasn’t what was responsible for it.
No, it was the considerable bump at her waist that was stretching the material and causing it.
Nell—my Nell, and the woman I was fighting my way back to—was pregnant.
The stabbing feeling became so intense I was struggling to breathe, but just as they got halfway between where we were and where she’d parked up, there was a deafening noise. It felt like a wall of heat hit me, and then I was flying backward from the force of the explosion.
My head hit the tarmac as I landed, and the wind was knocked out of my chest. But the second I could, I rolled onto my knees and lifted my head to look at where she’d last been standing.
“Nell!” Hunter screamed, trying to get to his feet as he shook his head to clear it.
Bruce was more successful, and unsteadily stood up at the same time as I did, and started running toward where she was lying on the ground with Rider on top of her.
“Fuck!” he roared, turning his head to look at the group of club members now appearing out of every direction. “Find out what the fuck just happened and get Doc.”
The men split up, shielding their faces as they got closer to the burning wreck, and two guys pulled their cells out to make the calls.
I skidded to a halt near where Rider was now patting Nell down and frantically asking her questions.
“Are you ok? Fuck, you’ve got four cuts on your back,” he growled, trying to move her dress near one of the bleeding areas to check. “I think you got hit by debris. Where does it hurt?”
She was now up on her hands and knees, her head still facing the ground beneath her. “My back, my knees, and my hands,” she panted, trying to get to her feet. He must have accidentally pressed on an area that was bleeding, because she screeched, “Stop!”
Pushing in front of me, Bruce put his arms around her waist and helped her to her feet, his arm supporting her until he was sure she was steady. That should have been my job—it should have been my job to protect her—and fuck me, it killed me that I wasn’t doing it.
I was able to see her clearly when he shifted to the side. Her knees were bleeding badly, and I could see bits of gravel in the wounds. Then, when she twisted her arms around to look at them, the palms of her hands were scratched up and raw.
“Let me see your back, Nell,” Bruce demanded, gently turning her around, and I sucked in a breath when I saw big patches of red on the back of the pretty white sundress. “Jesus Christ, baby, we need to get you to the hospital.”
Opening her mouth to say something, she suddenly stopped and bent over with a gasp, her arms wrapping around her stomach.
“I think something’s wrong,” she whimpered, reaching out and grabbing Rider’s hand, then visibly squeezed it tight enough to turn her fingers white and the tips red.
“Rider, get her to the hospital now,” Bruce barked. “We’ll deal with the fire marshal and Renton,” he told him, talking about the Detective who dealt with all of the MC’s problems. “After I’ve passed it all over, we’ll come down and meet you there.”
Nodding, Rider didn’t waste a second as he scooped her up in his arms, and walked quickly to where one of the MC’s GMC Yukon was sitting undamaged, having been parked on the other side of the parking lot.
The pain from the blast teamed with not being the one to help her felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest.
And through all of this, she hadn’t even known I was there.