Talkin' Trash (Bear Bottom Guardians MC 2)

All of us had drawn curious looks as we’d rushed inside—or at least Bayou, Brielle, and I had. Conleigh, in her no-nonsense way, had climbed her ass into the ambulance and rode with Hoax to the hospital.

The volunteers who came in the rescue truck had followed. The rest of us had departed in our personal vehicles—Brielle in her car, and Bayou and me on our own bikes.

When we’d arrived, Conleigh had Hoax’s cut and was holding onto it like she was holding something sacred.

The moment that Bayou got to her, she’d thrust it into his arms and had said, “He told me if I lost it or damaged it in any way, he’d kill me. I don’t think he was joking.”

“Well,” she sighed as we finally made it outside. “Do we pick my car up first, or do we go change and then go get my car?”

I walked up the front entrance and paused as I waited for the doors to slide open. Once they did, I threw my arm around her shoulder and tucked her in close to my side as we walked. “We don’t need to get your car. A couple of the guys went and got it. It’s at my place. They met the wrecker out at the ravine to show them where the bike was.”

She sighed. “That’s good. I was thinking we should probably get it now since I had to practically park halfway on the road, but I really didn’t want to get mud all over my seats. I just got the thing detailed when I got my oil changed last week.”

It wasn’t really that far in the road, but with the way the road curved right where she was, it might as well have been. It worried me enough that I was glad that they had moved it. I didn’t want anyone else hurt by running into it.

“I don’t think any of us have thanked you yet…but thank you.”

We both turned to see Brielle standing there, looking like she’d tasted something sour.

Conleigh grimaced. “I’d do that for anyone, but I’m really glad that I was able to find him. I’m just sorry he was hurt.”

Brielle smiled as if it pained her and walked away, heading back into the hospital.

“Nice girl,” Conleigh teased.

I snorted and hooked my arm around her neck to drop a kiss onto her head. “She’s thought she knew Hoax, and you just shattered everything she thought she knew about him.”

“What?” she asked, looking up at me. “Why?”

She had a smattering of mud on her cheek, and there was flecks of it in her hair.

“Hoax is normally a really serious guy. The fact that he was allowing you to poke fun with him, especially at a time like that when he was in pain, means he’s obviously extended a certain amount of trust to you. That, in and of itself, is huge for him. Women literally make him run in the opposite direction.” He paused. “Touching is a definite no-no. Not to mention you didn’t just do a little of the touching thing, but a lot of the touching thing. Something that Brielle has never, not ever, been able to do.”

“Well, shit,” she sighed. “She probably hates me. I thought it was because I touched your penis in front of her, and she had a crush on you.”

I chuckled. “Nope. I don’t think that’s it. Other than her cousin was laying there hurting, I think she was probably more relieved that you were fondling my junk and not his.”

She gasped. “I was trying to save you, not fondle your junk!”

I snorted. “That’s true, but she didn’t know that at the time.”

We reached my bike and both of us paused, staring at it. “What is that?”

My whispered question made her laugh. “That’s the snake. Hoax asked me to save it so he could stuff it.”

“How did it get there?” I continued.

“The medic put it there. We had it placed in a biohazard bag while I was getting the IV started since that was the first time he actually opened his hand to release it,” she explained.

“It’s still twitching,” I remarked with a curl of my lip. “And it’s huge.”

It really was, too.

It was huge in the water, and it was huge when he dragged it into the ambulance, but all rolled up like that, it was still bigger than a goddamn large-sized pizza box. We had to send a runner to surgery for one of their large body part biohazard bags.

“Goddamn,” I muttered, picking up the bag. “He so owes me for this.”

“He wants us to drop it off at the stuffing place, too,” she explained. “Can we do that in the morning? He made me promise.”

I just shook my head as I dropped the snake into one of the saddlebags. “Yeah, that’s fine with me. The only problem I can see is that I have to keep that shit with me until then.”