Bash (Diablo Disciples MC #6)

FOUR

Charlotte

“Prince. Come and get your second breakfast.” She rattled the treat box and heard the thud of her beastly cat jumping down from his throne.

Her silver Maine Coon padded into the kitchen with a haughty glance as he gave her a pity rub against her leg so she’d dole out the treats.

Lottie was such a spoiling cat mom and grinned at him, then fed Prince one of his favorite kitty chews. He nibbled it between his teeth and sauntered off. Lottie was ignored once more. He loved her, really. She was twenty-six percent sure he wouldn’t feast on her innards if she ever dropped dead in the hallway.

Though indifferent to his owner, Prince followed Lottie into the lounge room, his fluffy silver fur shifting in the air. Probably following only in hopes of more treats. When none appeared, he sprawled out on the entire length of the light gray couch.

“It’s my last late shift for a while, Prince, yay. I bet you’re excited to have mommy home at regular hours again,” she said. She was not insane talking to her cat. She’d read it was good stimulation for them. But Prince looked uninterested, his large, pointed ears twitching.

Such a cutie-pie was her evil Prince.

And she was only eighty-five percent sure he was a descendent of Beelzebub.

“Now, what do you want to watch today? Are you in the mood for some Disney? No? Okay, fine. We’ve discussed how you don’t like the sweet stuff, but it wouldn’t hurt to give UP a second chance. I know you hate dogs, but it’s a good plot, and you like balloons. Ah, here we go. I found a bird-watching channel. Try not to lunge at the TV.”

With his water fountain filled with fresh water and his electronic feeder set to disperse his food at a specific time, Lottie grabbed her lunch bag and purse, told the cat she’d see him later, and walked through the hallway, remembering to set the alarm. She loved her house. It was demurely decorated. She didn’t collect many knick-knacks, and the only photo frames she had were of Prince, but every piece of furniture was bought by her, in her choice of colors, and coming back each day felt like peace she knew she’d more than earned.

Whatever good mood Lottie felt as she started toward the hospital fragmented into adrenaline-fueled focus when she encountered a traffic accident. It was going toward an on-ramp before the freeway, a few miles from the hospital. Slowing immediately, she took in the scene. It looked like a car and bicycle collision. The driver was a stressed-out woman on the phone, and a kid was lying on the ground.

Lottie put her hazard lights on to alert oncoming traffic.

It might not be the safe environment she was used to. Still, Lottie’s triage instincts kicked in, and she took a visual of the boy, who was breathing and awake. However, he must have been thrown far because half of his clothes were torn.

The woman was freaking out on whoever she was talking to. “I’m trying to tell you I didn’t see him! He came out of nowhere, Frank!” She howled, tears pouring down her cheekbones.

“Ma’am, are you talking with 911?” Lottie had to repeat it several times before the woman looked over.

“No. My husband.” Un-fucking-believable . “He’s mad about the car.”

“You need to call 911 right now.” She snapped and went down to her knees in front of the kid. He looked to be around sixteen or seventeen. “Hey, I’m Lottie. I’m a nurse, and you’re going to be okay. Can you tell me your name?”

“Samuel.” The kid tried to move, and she placed gentle hands on either side of his neck to stabilize him. “Try not to move, Samuel. Help is coming.” From the ugly position of his knee, his leg was undoubtedly broken.

“How does my bike look?” he groaned. His forehead was bleeding, and his left arm was bleeding even worse.

“Your bike is toast. Can you tell me where it hurts?”

“Every…where. Fuck, is it wrecked? My dad will kill me. I only just got it. Shit .” He started coughing and groaning, and Lottie touched his shoulder to keep him calm. She turned her head to yell a reminder at the woman. “Call 911 now.”

“I’m on with my husband,” she snapped. “He needs to call the insurance company.”

The top of Lottie’s head nearly exploded, hearing the selfish woman.

“I don’t give a shit. Call the fucking paramedics right now and the police.”

The mention of police made the woman’s head snap up. Perhaps now she was understanding the severity of her situation.

Lottie removed her cotton jacket and attempted to stop the bleeding on the boy’s forearm, but he soon lost consciousness.

This was not good. She relied on her training and searched for a pulse, but couldn’t find one. Thankfully, she heard the woman speaking to the emergency services and promptly started CPR.

The woman tearfully described Lottie’s actions to the 911 operator, insisting it wasn’t her fault. Lottie needed her help. If he bled out, it’d be pointless trying to save him, but the woman was no help at all.

And then she heard the sweetest sound as the noise of a rumbling motorcycle engine loomed from around the bend. Please, god, let them stop . She only hoped the person saw her hazard lights before she had a second collision on her hands.

But a higher being was on her side as she continued to push on the boy’s chest, mentally reciting the song Staying Alive because it has the number of beats needed for CPR. She couldn’t turn around to look, but she caught the bike stopping.

And then. “Fucking hell, Charlotte ?”

Lottie’s heart leaped in her chest.

There was no time to register her shock at seeing Bash striding fast, and then he crouched down right next to her, so close she caught drifts of his masculine cologne.

“Are you hurt, baby?”

“No, it’s not me. The boy was knocked off his bike,” she panted, winded from exertion. Her arms ached already, but she’d done CPR for much longer many times and could handle it. She kept repeating the same rhythm and then yelled to the lady. “How long are they going to be?”

“They’re four minutes out.”

“What do you need me to do, darling?” Bash asked, and she could have cried with relief at his steadiness as their gazes locked. She relayed how to staunch the bleeding arm with her makeshift tourniquet and then to elevate it. He did as instructed without bumbling.

Throughout the longest minutes of her life, Lottie worked on Samuel and willed him to breathe while a burly biker spoke encouraging words to her. Afterward, she wouldn’t recall the exact words Bash spoke, but she would recollect how he focused her with his kind voice.

Everything went by in a blur, and then there was the blessed relief of hearing the approaching sirens. The cops turned up first, followed by the paramedics, who took over before Lottie’s arms fell off. She sat back on her haunches, winded.

“Let’s get you over here, little hero,” Bash said. Helping her up from the floor. They were both stained with blood, and she cringed, seeing it on the front of Bash’s t-shirt. At least it would wipe off his leather jacket.

There was a pleased exhale when the boy made signs of breathing. It was only minutes before they had him stable with fluids and oxygen, then placed him in the back of the rig.

There were two cops. One spoke with the angry woman; the other, she noted, aimed the stink eye at Bash as he swaggered over.

“You cause this?” he asked, and Lottie’s eyes widened.

“No, I didn’t. As you can see, my bike is parked on the side of the road.” He answered calmly, like he’d expected to be blamed.

“It wasn’t him. He stopped to help me. It was the Escalade, which you can see tangled around the destroyed bicycle.” She snapped at the cop, and Bash covered his chuckle with a cough.

“Just trying to get the facts, ma’am.”

“The facts are I came upon the accident and stopped to help.”

He eyed her up and down, noting her bloody scrubs and hospital name tag. “You’re a nurse?”

“Yes.” She named the hospital. “And then Bash stopped to help. That woman was no help at all.” She informed, “She was more worried about her damn insurance.”

She felt a hand on the base of her back, and turned her head to clash gazes with Bash. He was smiling when he murmured. “Take it down a notch, little hero.”

The cop looked suspiciously at them. “You two know each other?”

“Yes,” she answered, angry that the cop was directing his skepticism toward Bash.

“Mind your fucking business,” Bash said at the same time, “and do your job where it’s needed. We’ve given you what we know, so we’re leaving now.” And then, just like that, he used that hand on the base of her spine to walk her away. She wasn’t entirely sure they wouldn’t be arrested for leaving the scene, before giving a detailed statement, but as she looked over her shoulder, the cop remained there with his hand on his belt, staring at Bash.

“Do you have some grudge going with the police officer?”

“Nah, darling. He hates us, though.”

“ Us ? What did I do?” she gaped.

He chuckled then, “Not me and you. The Diablos. He’d like to put me in cuffs right now and haul my ass to jail.”

Lottie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Cops weren’t vindictive, were they? “Are you kidding?”

Bash flashed a half-grin, and the sight of it tumbled butterflies around her stomach. It was just the adrenaline, that’s all. “Wish I was. It’s fine, nothing to worry about. You did well back there. I’ve never seen someone so in charge of a critical situation before.”

“You did your part, too.” She reassured.

“Do you think he’ll make it?”

“He has a better chance now. That woman was useless. She was more worried about the dent in her fucking car. I ought to slash her tires.” Scowled Lottie, glaring at the woman still talking with the police officers. It was a natural reaction to freeze during a crisis, but actively being a selfish twat was not.

That woman deserved to stand on all the Lego.

Beside her, Bash chuckled. “How did I miss you being a little vengeful demon?”

“Oh, shush. I’m not.” She blushed, smiling. “She was probably texting and driving, the careless jerk.”

“Babe,” groaned Bash, his head lowering. “You need to quit the menacing talk before it kills me. It’s so fucking hot.”

She might be covered in someone else’s blood, but hers surged through her veins, and Lottie’s breath ceased on an inhale.

Her anger was not hot. Was it?

And as though it had just occurred to her how close she was to Bash, her skin became overheated, and her brain turned to mush.

“I, erm…” The words weren’t wording at all.

Bash was surprisingly normal, not like a lame-brained imbecile who’d scented lust for the first time. Bash stepped back to pull open her car door.

“Were you on the way to work?”

“Yeah. Crap , I’m so late.”

“They’ll understand. Maybe you should go home.” His brows fell over his eyes, a look of concern in them, and a surprised Lottie shot her left eyebrow high.

“I deal with this all day long. Not in this setting, but the same.”

If anything, her answer made him look even more concerned. “Your stress levels must be fucking high.”

Oh, my god, that was cute, and she couldn’t stop the smile or the slight touch she placed on his arm. She knew it was a mistake as soon as she did it when Bash grunted and glanced at her hand. She quickly took it back.

Undisguised, unfiltered, and raw desire looked back at Lottie.

He’d never been shy about wanting to date her. During all that time spent at the hospital with his two MC friends, he tracked Lottie like a missile every time she was on shift. He’d never been overly pushy, but she knew he had his eye on her. One day, he’d even growled for one of the other bikers to shut his fucking mouth when that man had tried to chat with her. Everyone quickly realized that he had claimed her, regardless of her consent.

But Lottie had never touched him before, and now her fingertips tingled. She quickly shoved that hand into her scrubs pants pocket.

“I should get going. And erm…Thanks for stopping to help. Few people would have.”

“People are self-centered shitfucks, Charlotte.”

Her name rolled off his tongue, and she had to force herself not to tremble. He never used the shortened version. Always Charlotte.

“You sure you’re okay to drive? I can drop you off.”

On the bike? Her eyebrows jumped higher. She would love that. But Lottie shook her head. “I’m good. Thank you for the offer, though.”

He remained in the middle of the road while she slid behind the wheel, and when she looked in the mirror, he was still there with his face oh-so-pensive.

Once at the hospital, her bloody clothes were excuse enough why she was late. She explained, quickly washed up, and changed into a spare set of scrubs.

And then the regular chaotic day started.

It wasn’t until much later, as she finished triaging a toddler with abdominal pains, that she came to a halt. A pair of hot blue eyes and long legs encased in denim jeans was sprawled in a plastic bucket seat.

Without thinking, Lottie rushed over to Bash. “Are you hurt?” her heart rattled in her chest, assessing him with a fast sweep over his body, searching for injuries. Like her, he’d changed out of the bloodied clothes. He wore a gray t-shirt beneath the leather vest, announcing him as a Diablo Disciples biker. It was pretty cool to look at. It made him more masculine, if that were possible. The scary three skulls and then the rockers on either end, saying their name and location. Beneath that, one patch said he was the secretary. Huh, she wouldn’t have expected that. Now, she wondered what a secretary did within the MC.

“No, darling, all’s good.” He rose to his height, and she nearly gulped as he grew nearer. “I was dropping this off for you.” It caught her attention that he had a white paper bag and a takeout cup in his hands.

Oh, wow, he’d brought her coffee.

She might swoon in her comfortable shoes.

All she could do was stare up at the man. Words wouldn’t form.

“You’ve had a rough day so far.”

And he’d brought her coffee and a snack. Talk about romancing her.

Flirting hadn’t gotten through her defenses all those months back, but the coffee held in his hand almost brought Lottie to her knees with a burst of affection for this man.

Around them, the waiting area continued to bulge, and she knew she couldn’t stare like an idiot at the blue-eyed biker.

He smirked, which snapped Lottie out of her ogling as she reached for the coffee. Their fingers brushed, and the jolt was like electricity had been fired from a Taser.

“You didn’t have to do that. But I will take it, thank you.” She smiled with gratitude. Ahhh, thankfully, it was still hot. She couldn’t stand lukewarm coffee. It had to be molten lava for her to enjoy it.

“Can you take a break?”

The question came out of the blue, and it flustered Lottie, and that was quite extraordinary for someone who didn’t get rattled by much. She realized she’d taken a minute to analyze how that felt as Bash stared at her. Oops . She glanced at her watch and realized she’d gone way over her time and not taken a break in hours.

“Yeah, I can for a few minutes. Meet me outside? There’s a bench just near the doors.”

She quickly went to tell her team she’d be taking fifteen minutes, and she went to sit outside with a biker. It was probably a massive mistake because her reasons for not getting involved with him still mattered.

But the coffee gift softened her.

The way he smiled when he saw her coming out of the electronic doors did more than soften Lottie; she knew she was in the biggest trouble of her life.

But her legs never stalled from carrying her forward toward that smiling man.