Chapter 242: We Have Arrived...

Chapter 242: We Have Arrived...
Jasper's POV:

"Arrgh,..." I winced in pain as I turned to look back at Miles when Stefan exposed the exit wound on the front side of my right shoulder. I grunted when Stefan was handed a second handkerchief and placed pressure on this wound, causing me to groan as I continued when I said, "Guess I one-upped you this time, pal. Mhmm.... There's always next time. As for now, I don't want her to be injured if at all!"

"Sorry, Boss," Stefan said as he gave me a sympathetic look when he spoke up right then, as if trying to appease my sudden outburst of pain. "I'll try to be easy, but even then I still need to press down to slow the flow of blood."

"I don't know why the back side doesn't seem to hurt as much?" I asked Stefan as I glanced up at him this time.

He slightly tilted his head to the side a bit but remained silent, although still making an attempt to sport a sympathetic look in my direction before he turned to look back at Miles, who wasn't complaining at all.

"He's the one who was shot, not me," Miles spoke up right then in my defense. "He has every right to moan and complain."

"It's not that bad," I called out to the likes of their comments. "The sooner we get back to The Hochburg so I can have this assessed and dressed, the better I will be in the end. It should be better by morning for sure."

Stefan nodded in agreement with me, though he remained silent. He worked to maintain the pressure, and despite showing care and concern, I sensed he was probably enjoying some of this by causing me a little bit of pain. In the past, I have inflicted various kinds of pain on my men, much of which came from the tough trials we faced during training. Those trials were far from any random ordinary gym workout. Most of which, those particular workouts were extremely demanding, even in the best times.

As we got even closer to The Hochburg, I knew Stefan was checking for any other visible injuries. Periodically, he would pull his hand away to look at my wound, checking to see if it was still actively bleeding at all. It was those times that you could definitely tell there was a small hole on the front side of my shoulder. This would make a nice addition to my selection of present scars.

One particular time, when he pulled his hand away to examine the wound, I noticed the bleeding slowed but would still seep with no particular rhythm to the flow of blood. That would indicate it hit something more crucial if it flowed with rhythm. Flowing in rhythm continuously would indicate it struck an artery, but spurting in rhythm would indicate it hit a vein. That particular outcome would really be bad. Either outcome would determine that our destination of choice would definitely change to somewhere else I didn't want to go.

At one point, he even made sure to stick his finger through the small hole in the material of my suit jacket, which was lying over to the side. That hole indicated that the bullet went somewhere else. The question is where. The only thing I didn't want was for her to be injured in any way, shape, or form. I was fortunate that she only seemed to hit her head on my shoulder. I guess she passed out due to the slowing of adrenaline in her veins. A good rest would certainly be needed for her, for sure.

"Almost there, Boss," my other guard driving us called out for the first time.

As we continued along, I noticed it took us a good minute to get back, but I knew he had decided to take an indirect route just in case anyone else wanted to try to take us by surprise again. I don't know who was behind these various attempts, and when I find out who it is, they are certainly going to be dealt with, if I have to burn the entire city to the ground to do so. I was not going to put up with this much chaos for much longer.

Again, I winced in pain when Stefan relaxed his pressure on the front side of my shoulder. I glanced up at him, as he wasn't the only one pressing into my flesh.

"Here, Boss, I can give you a break as I am in a bit of an awkward angle and let someone else take over," Stefan said as he sat back, and at that, my other guard finally reached up to take over, holding the pressure on the front of my shoulder. "He can take over as he is directly behind you. The force of the trip is causing me to have to push at a slight angle, which I am sure isn't making it any easier."

Stefan let my other guard take over as he sat back in his seat and sighed when he leaned his head back on the headrest. No matter what, between the two of them, they managed to still hold pressure to both the front and back sides of my right shoulder.

"Boss, didn't you know that it always hurts more coming out than going in?" Miles asked, cutting into the silence of the atmosphere as we finally managed to pull into the parking garage of The Hochburg.

I cut my eyes over at him, wondering if this was a poor attempt at a humorous joke. When I turned back to look out the front window, I narrowed my brows as the driver was headed straight to the elevators. He was going to pull up right up in front of them, where Oliver, Dimitri, Garrick, and Devon were already waiting for us to arrive. I assume they didn't bother taking the indirect route, so they arrived before we did.

Once the vehicle pulled up and started to slow to a stop, Oliver didn't waste a moment as he approached the vehicle, reaching out for the front passenger door handle. I made sure to remove Kelly Anne's head from resting on the side of the door, as we weren't even completely stopped yet, when the door opened up.

"He's been shot!" Stefan called out as Garrick approached the open door, and the guard seated behind me was seen holding two handkerchiefs to the front and back of my shoulder.

"Here, I'll take her," Garrick said, reaching into my lap to help pick up Kelly Anne, knowing I was injured. She had been lying there the entire time without moving. When he picked her up in his arms, Dimitri helped to adjust her slightly when they both shared a concerning look. Garrick looked directly at me when he asked, "Wait, is some of this her blood?!"

"What?!"

I was quite unsettled by this shocking question. To be honest, I feared the worst as Dimitri helped lay her back in his arms, and Garrick helped support her in his. Together, they began to check the blood stain on her top.