Chapter Thirty-Two

R oam kissed Sprite and held her against him just for a moment. Roam was frankly glad that Sprite had stayed home with a couple of the kids because they were under the weather. He'd brought leftovers but lunch had been a shitshow.

Cannon finding out Jesse was pregnant with possibly his baby had involved yelling and a lot of anger. The sisters had rallied around Jesse and taken her with them. Flick, Speedy and War had spent some time with Cannon this afternoon trying to calm him down and talk through what was going on.

Flick had suggested an evening ride. Roam didn't really want to leave Sprite, but he also wanted to be there for his brother in this time. He had grown up with Jesse even though she was younger. She was a fantastic mechanic and an honorable woman. If she'd kept it from Cannon, Roam had to believe there was more going on than meets the eye.

He'd actually thought that they were heading into smooth sailing. Whiskey and his wife were back at their place after some upheaval. MacCuntzie, which is the only way Sprite referred to her now when they were alone, had opted for a plea bargain. With all the charges she'd ended up with due to her fighting and killing another woman being held at the jail with her, they wouldn't have to worry about her being out before Blake graduated high school.

Sprite had opted to wait for a Christmas wedding as long as Liam could get leave. Roam was fine with that because she'd accepted his cut. He hadn't done the big ceremony because they'd done everything so different from everyone else. He'd had a coffee waiting for her early this morning out on their porch. It had become their thing to stay up after Matthew's early morning bottle. Honestly, it was one of the few times beside bedtime they could have alone. They alternated between the front porch or the additional screened-in back porch they'd added on for the bunny.

He'd waited until she'd had a couple sips of coffee, then taken her face in his hands and kissed her, putting everything he felt into that. He'd handed her the cut and helped her slide it on over her camisole and shorts. She'd straddled his lap and shown him exactly how much she appreciated being his woman.

When he'd got back from the clubhouse, he'd come out on the porch to think for a minute before he left tonight. Sprite walked out, pushed his chest back and straddled his lap. She leaned close and kissed him, her hand over his heart. He could feel the stress leaving his muscles. She pulled away and stared at him.

"So an evening ride? You think it will help him?"

"I don't know. Maybe if we ride around for a little bit then we can stop and chat. I don't anticipate us being longer than a couple of hours."

Sprite nodded against him. "I'll be here when you're done. The kids and I are watching a movie after baths. My heart hurts for them. I can't believe she was able to hide it for this long."

Roam stood, saying a little thanks for his life. He wanted Cannon and Jesse to have what he and Sprite did.

He kissed Sprite goodbye and walked out to his bike and got on. Maybe the ride would help.

ROAM SLOWED HIS BIKE down and stopped. His heart was pounding. He couldn't see where Cannon's bike had gone. The truck had come out of nowhere, slamming into Cannon, then driving off.

Flick was already off his bike, running toward where Roam had last seen Cannon. Roam grabbed a couple of roadside flares. After the wreck of the originals, they all carried them. He set two out on the road, then ran toward where Flick had crouched down. Flick had his phone to his ear and his hand on Cannon's chest.

Roam knelt down as War skidded to a stop beside him. "What do we do?"

"Don't move him. Keep him still," Flick directed before resuming his conversation on the phone.

Roam caught the words: airlift to a trauma center and multiple compound fractures. Roam thought that must be what was going on with Cannon's leg. The bone was sticking out and Roam swallowed, holding back the bile.

Flick turned toward them at a moan from Cannon and then placed his hand on Cannon's chest. "Cannon, you were hit by a truck. I know it hurts but I need you to not move. Can you tell me where it hurts?"

"Leg, arm," Cannon groaned. "Oh fuck..."

"These are clean that I was taking to the shop," Rascal said offering, three small towels.

Flick took them and held one by the bone sticking out of Cannon's arm.

"None of them are bleeding too bad so I don't want pressure on them unless he starts losing a lot of blood."

"What about his helmet?"

Flick shook his head. "We're not taking it off. I called for an ambulance and for Cannon to be airlifted. He'll need a trauma center."

Sirens sounded in the quiet night as an ambulance pulled up, along with Beth's deputy.

"What do we have here," Kerwin asked as he sauntered over. Roam stood, ready to knock the smirk off his face.

"Deputy, we have a hit and run. A black truck hit Cannon and then headed south. We have flares set up but maybe you should do your fuckin' job and take care of the traffic. You don't seem to be in a hurry to help the victim," War yelled, saying exactly what Roam had been thinking.

"I think you misunderstood. I was gathering information. I'll set a couple more flares and I've called for backup to help direct traffic away from the wreck. Did you all see anything else about the truck? Tag, driver, any identifying marks?"

Roam put his hand on his brother's chest, holding him back. They didn't need War getting hauled in for hitting the deputy. They needed to concentrate on getting Cannon help. The EMTs had Cannon loaded and in the ambulance.

"Flick, you coming? We're meeting medevac at the airfield."

Flick nodded. "I'm going with him. I'll keep you updated."

Roam watched Flick and Cannon leave. They needed to get Flick's bike back to the compound and decide who all was heading to Wichita and who was staying to protect the compound. Cannon's bike would be towed to the garage. Right now, they didn't know if it was an isolated event or something more. Now they needed a plan for finding who had done this and why.