Page 34 of Vengeance

"You make it sound normal that he keeps getting shot.” She looked at Vengeance.

The smile faded from Doc's face. "Normal's something he hasn't had much of." Doc reached into his medical bag and pulled out a curved needle. "This is going to hurt."

"I assumed,” Vengeance grumbled.

“Sorry, but I don’t have any anesthesia,” Doc said.

"I figured,” he said.

Chloe stepped closer. "What can I do?"

Doc looked at her. "Hold the flashlight." She nodded as she knelt beside Vengeance; the beam illuminated the ugly wound in his side.

She visibly paled. "That's?—”

"Worse than it looks?" Vengeance offered.

"No,” she breathed. Her eyes stayed fixed on the injury. "It’s exactly as bad as it looks." He chuckled and immediately regretted it. Doc didn't wait—the first stitch went in, and every muscle in his body tensed as pain exploded through his side. He refused to make a sound as Doc put in the second and third stitches. Sweat poured down his forehead, and Chloe seemed to notice. Without saying a word, she grabbed a clean cloth from Doc's bag and wiped it away, and the simple gesture nearly undid him because nobody had taken care of him in a very long time.

Doc noticed too. "Hmm."

"What?" Chloe asked.

"Nothing."

Vengeance shot the older man a warning look, but Doc ignored it. "As I was saying—" He tied another stitch. "Savage called me about twenty years ago."

Chloe looked up. "You really knew my dad?"

"Knew him?" Doc smiled faintly. "I owed that man my life." Vengeance closed his eyes because he knew what was coming. "He showed up at my clinic one rainy night carrying this scrawny kid over his shoulder."

Chloe frowned. "Vengeance?"

Doc nodded. "He was sixteen."

"Sixteen?" she whispered.

"I weighed maybe a hundred and forty pounds soaking wet," Vengeance muttered.

"You looked like you'd gone twelve rounds with a freight train." Doc's expression darkened at the memory. “His ribs were broken, he had a concussion, a knife wound, and burns all over his arms. He also had bruises that were so old they were already changing colors.”

Chloe slowly turned toward Vengeance. "That’s awful,” she breathed.

He shrugged carefully. "It wasn't a big deal."

"The hell it wasn't." Doc looked between them. "Savage laid him on my exam table and said to patch him up and ask questions later.” The older man smiled as though he could still hear him. A lump formed in Vengeance's throat.

"He stayed with Vengeance?" Chloe asked.

Doc nodded. "All night."

"He never left,” Vengeance said. "He sat in the chair next to his bedside."

Doc pointed to an imaginary spot beside him. "With a shotgun across his lap."

Vengeance smiled despite himself. "Sounds like Savage."

"It was,” Chloe said.