“We would have gone to the emergency room if we could,” Ryan said, his voice barely civil as he tried not to growl at Axel. “We are pinned down here and we have to move soon. Doctor, I need your skill, or I would not have gone to the trouble of finding you.”
“No.” Axel shook his head. “I will not help you.”
“Wrong answer,” Ryan said and pulled out a gun from a holster inside his black suit jacket. He pointed the gun at Axel’s forehead and fear returned. Ryan’s gaze was different from the man he met earlier. Ryan looked like he might pull the trigger and move on to the next solution.
“I’m sure my men explained everything earlier. I truly do not want to hurt you, Dr. Graysen. All we need is your skill then you can return to your quiet life. Are you willing to help?” Ryan demanded, blocking Axel’s view of the man on the stretcher.
A severe frown on Ryan’s forehead grew as Axel hesitated with his answer.
“I thought doctors are supposed to be empathic to the injured. What kind of bedside manner is this?”
“You people broke into my apartment, pulled me out of my bed with a gun on my head, and dragged me out here with threats of death. Excuse me if I can’t pull up an ounce of sympathy,” Axel said, hating the fear in his heart.
Axel turned to see the door behind him closed. The two men standing by the door stared at him, arms folded. The one on the right shifted, and his fingers flexed near his weapon too. He was the one who woke Axel, his voice so calm even as he made deadly threats.
Axel swallowed hard and tried not to lose his mind from fear. He did not want to die. His chest tightened, and he took in several breaths, feeling like he wasn’t getting enough to fill his lungs.
“Dr. Graysen.” A gentle voice came from a distance.
Axel bend over, sucking in air as he clung to the sound of that voice like a lifeline. Taking in a deep breath, he focused on the familiar voice when it said his name a second time.
“Axel.”
Axel looked up, and stared at the man sitting up on the stretcher, his right hand clamped over heavy bandages on his upper left arm. A gasp escaped his lips when he recognized Jeha.
Jeha, his mysterious knight on the rooftop, the man with a devastating smile and keen blue eyes, was the patient on the stretcher.
Axel pushed Ryan away and rushed to the foot of the stretcher, stopping to stare in shock at Jeha’s bleeding left upper arm.
Jeha wore a white shirt, the sleeves stained with blood. The collar was opened, his tie long gone. Streaks of mud covered his dark slacks. His dark hair was a mess, and there was a scratch on his left jaw. The bandages on his left upper arm were soaked with blood. His blue eyes studied Axel with concern.
“Axel, are you okay?” Jeha asked, his voice strained with clear pain.
What had happened to him?
“Am I okay?” Axel asked, hurrying around to Jeha’s left side. He reached out to steady Jeha when he swayed on the stretcher, threatening to fall back too fast. “What about you? How did you end up like this? Why are you bleeding? Were you kidnapped too?
Axel was surprised by the dark chuckle that followed his questions.
“I’m sorry Ryan’s men treated you so harshly. I had hoped they would have a gentle conversation with you. Kidnapping was not my intention,” Jeha said, wincing hard as he tried to keep sitting up, but he ended up falling back on the stretcher.
Axel tried and failed to make the fall back softer on the wound on Jeha’s left arm. He winced when Jeha bit back a painful moan.
“Axel, I need you to stop the bleeding on my arm. I—”
Jeha groaned as he tried to shift so that he could settle his upper left arm. He closed his eyes, clearly in pain, and let out a shaky breath.
“I don’t think the bullet is in my arm. There is an exit wound. I’m worried about bleeding out,” Jeha said. “We don’t have much time before we have to move again.”
“Why don’t we have time?” Axel asked, pressing his fingers to Jeha’s neck to check his pulse. It felt steady, but that could change anytime. He didn’t like the look of the bloody bandages on Jeha’s left arm.
“The people who shot Jeha are on a mad search for him,” Ryan said, his voice filled with urgency. “If they find us here, I can’t guarantee your life, Dr. Graysen.”
“Stop scaring my doctor,” Jeha said, sounding tired, even as he admonished Ryan. “Axel—”
“Why didn’t you go to the emergency room?” Axel asked. “Why are you joking around with your life? The emergency room has the equipment and qualified doctors who will know how to deal with a gunshot wound. You have a better chance of fighting off infection in the hospital. What if you bleed out here?”
“Axel, can’t you fix me up first? And then I promise to answer all your questions,” Jeha said with a soft pained chuckle, directing a pleading gaze at Axel.
“Don’t give me that look. Your people kidnapped me,” Axel said, his gaze accusing when he glanced at Ryan. “They woke me up with a gun pressed to my face.”
He still could not believe these people seemed to belong to Jeha. Was his mysterious knight a gangster? How sad! Just as he met an interesting man, he turned out to be a bad seed, a delinquent.
Axel started to glare at Jeha, but Jeha closed his eyes, biting his bottom lip hard to endure the pain.
Axel’s gaze softened and the need to help rose.
He hated how disheveled Jeha looked. Jeha’s dark hair was slick with sweat, and a deep frown creased his forehead. There were strain lines on the corner of his lips. He was doing his best to hide his pain levels.
“Who would shoot you?” Axel asked.
“Work while you talk,” Ryan said, waving his gun at Axel.
It set Axel’s heart skidding with fear.
“If he dies, you die too,” Ryan warned.
Jeha opened his eyes to look at Axel, his gaze was apologetic.
“I’m sorry. My best friend is scared I’m going to discover what the underworld looks like. Please help me,” Jeha said. “I promise to answer all your questions.”
Axel sighed, completely defeated by his knight, and looked around the equipped medical center. He spotted a sink on the opposite end of the room and started toward it only to have Ryan follow him, pressing his gun into Axel’s back.
“Stop threatening me with your gun!” Axel said turning to glare at Ryan. “Or you’ll send me into a panic attack and that won’t help Jeha.”
Axel met Ryan’s harsh brown gaze.
“We need to work together to make sure your friend comes out of this with a working arm. I need your help, so if you can put down the gun now. It’s just stressing me out. No one wants a stressed-out surgeon holding a scalpel. Move the stretcher closer.”
Axel hurried to the sink, hoping Ryan would follow his instruction. He started the water, and washed his hands with the disinfectant soap he found there. It looked like someone with experience had stocked up the place. Once his hands were clean, he reached for a box of surgical gloves sitting on the counter and turned to find Ryan had moved the stretcher closer to the sink counter.
Axel wore a pair of gloves and got to work undoing the bloody bandages around Jeha’s left upper arm.
“Who would shoot you?” Axel asked again as he worked.
“My cousin and his merry band of goons,” Jeha said, biting his bottom lip hard when Axel finally unwrapped his wound and started a thorough inspection of the flesh wound.
“Your family sounds tough,” Axel said. “Okay, you’re lucky the bullet did not cause critical damage on its way out. That is no reason to celebrate though. Your arm has a deep raw wound, Jeha. It’s going to be painful for a while. I’m concerned there might be complications from excessive bleeding. Ryan, push the medical cart closer. What is this place? Why do you have all this equipment on hand?”
Ryan pushed the medical cart closer and Axel thanked him with a nod.
“This is a small clinic run by a hotel,” Ryan said.
“Good, it will have the basics.”
Axel checked the medical cart and found the items he needed to clean Jeha’s wound and bandage it. He made sure there was no danger of excessive bleeding. When he was sure no major damage would lead to trouble, Axel disinfected and cleaned the wound. His actions were fast and practiced. When the wound was treated, Axel gave Jeha a tetanus shot, a pain reliever, and a shot of antibiotics. He bandaged Jeha’s wound, finishing with a pressure bandage.
Removing his gloves, Axel started opening compartments on the cart.
“What are you looking for?” Ryan asked, his tone laced with suspicion.
“A sling,” Axel said, irritated by Ryan’s distrustful attitude. “We need to immobilize his arm. I still think we should take him to a hospital. I would like to make sure the wound is truly clean. He needs X-rays to make sure there was no other damage and…and, we need to worry about an onset of infection. I am sure he will have a hard time later—”
“Axel,” Jeha said, his voice soft. “Your worries are scaring Ryan. Give him a break.”
“He needs a break? Don’t you think I need a break?” Axel asked, finally finding a sling in the bottom part of the cart. “I was sleeping quite well earlier before his men dragged me here to play cops and robbers with you. Now I have to worry about managing your vitals. Wonder how we are going to monitor your infection levels, and I know you’re not planning on moving for the next hour, right?”
“Wrong,” Ryan said, just as his cell phone started buzzing. He reached into his pocket and got his buzzing cell phone. “We need to move out of this place in the next ten minutes.”
“Ryan, your friend needs rest,” Axel insisted, pressing his fingers to Jeha’s neck to check his pulse. “We’re not out of the woods yet. I don’t know how long Jeha was sitting in here with only bloody bandages covering his wound. He could have caught an infection when your people came to rudely kidnap me.”
Ryan gripped Axel’s left arm, making him turn so that they were looking at each other.
“Just so you have all the information needed to keep Mr. Wook healthy. Mr. Wook was shot fifteen minutes before my men showed up at your apartment to get you. The trip to bring you here took ten minutes. In short, Mr. Wook was shot roughly thirty minutes before you arrived. Is that a clear timeline?”
“Yes,” Axel said, fighting the shakes as he held Ryan’s fierce brown gaze.
“Good. Mr. Wook’s life is very important,” Ryan said. “We need to keep him out of danger. Now, we are going back out into the SUV and driving to a safe house. Can he walk?”
“Will you carry him if I say no?” Axel frowned, glancing at Jeha who looked thoroughly amused. “Will he carry you?”
“He will if you insist. Don’t encourage him. Ryan will really put me on his back,” Jeha said, shaking his head. “I feel steady enough to walk with help.”
“Alright. I’ll move everyone around to confuse Moon. He’s looking for our location. Dr. Graysen, please help Boss get up on his feet.”
Ryan answered his buzzing phone and moved away from them.
Axel stared at Jeha for a full minute and then turned to the sink to wash his hands.
“I’m sorry.”
Axel finished washing and grabbed paper towels to wipe his hands dry. He faced Jeha then, feeling as unsteady as ever, and met Jeha’s piercing gaze.
“Which part are you sorry for?”
“Pulling you out of bed,” Jeha said with a wan smile. “Bringing you out here to play cops and robbers.”
“Ryan’s people pulled me here,” Axel said. “I still need various answers from you.”
Axel slipped his right arm under Jeha’s back and helped him sit up, keeping him steady. He helped Jeha wear the black medical sling he had found, making sure Jeha’s arm remained immobilized against his chest.
Axel adjusted the sling on Jeha’s left arm and then helped Jeha shift his feet to the side of the stretcher. They paused long enough to give Jeha a moment to catch his breath.
Jeha used his right hand to grip Axel’s left arm, making Axel look into his eyes. Their faces were so close, Axel could feel Jeha’s breath on his cheek.
“I got careless today, trusting my cousin in good faith when we met. He shot me when I least expected it. Ryan got you for me out of panic,” Jeha said, sounding apologetic. “Yesterday, I saw you at the hospital and told him that if I was shot, I would like you to take care of me.”
“It sounds like excessive loyalty to me,” Axel said, glancing at Ryan who was pacing by the locked doors. “Why would he kidnap me to help you? All you would need to do is show up at the hospital. I would have treated you without question, Jeha.”
“You’re off for a week at the hospital from today,” Jeha said.
“How do you know that?” Axel asked, frowning at Jeha.
Jeha chose that moment to stand, so Axel had no choice but to help support him until he was steady.
“I discover everything I need to about the people I like,” Jeha replied.
“Like a stalker?” Axel asked. “Are you—?”
“I’m a well-intentioned stalker,” Jeha cut in.
“How did Ryan’s people enter my apartment?” Axel asked.
“Axel, if I tell you that, you’ll run away,” Jeha said, with a heavy sigh. “I need you, so I can’t let that happen.”
“I should run away on principle,” Axel said, noting that Jeha was swaying.
Jeha needed to lie down and rest.
The blood loss was probably more severe than he expected. Damn it.
“We should go now,” Axel said to Ryan when Jeha swayed again. “It will be good to have him pass out in a place you’re comfortable having him stay for at least twenty-four hours.”
“Let’s go,” Ryan said, opening the doors and his two men hurried ahead as Ryan waited for Jeha and Axel. “Boss, we are making it look as though we’re heading back to the usual penthouse.”
“I trust you,” Jeha said, sounding tired. “If anything happens, protect Axel, as you would me.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Axel asked.
Jeha glanced at Axel, his gaze conflicted.
“Ryan will keep you safe,” Jeha said.
Axel missed the chance for more explanations as they hurried out of the clinic, entered a dim corridor, and into an elevator. They rode downstairs in silence and headed out to a waiting black SUV. Axel had no time to ask more questions because a race to their unknown destination started and he was more occupied with making sure Jeha remained stable.
***
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