She grimaces and it guts me all over again to know that she’s hurting, but I will my strength into her.
“I…don’t think…I…”
“Fuck that shit, you listen to me Mama. I told you that you were mine. You aren’t getting away this easy. You asked for me and you got me. Now you have to stick around for the ride. Promise me Mama, we got a fucking life together to live. If you love me, you don’t give up on that.”
“Okay Dragon.” She says and I reach down and kiss her on the forehead.
“Shit hurry.” I look up at Bull and the pity in his eyes almost does me in. Nicole’s head falls to the side at a weird angle. Her eyes are closed and for a second my heart stops.
She’s slipping away from me. Tears fall from my own eyes. I don’t think I’ve fucking cried in my life. Yet, before Nicole I had nothing I really gave a fuck about. If she’s gone I don’t want to keep going either. She made the world bearable, when I didn’t even know how damned miserable it really was.
“Oh God Mama, don’t leave me. Don’t leave me here without you.” I say into her ear holding her closer.
I hear Crush and he somehow has got the ATV up here. I don’t fucking know how, but I’m glad he did it. Somehow Bull and I make it to the bottom of the hill. Crush and Frog took a separate vehicle and collected Dani. I couldn’t worry about any of that. Nicole was still breathing, but there was so much blood. I used my shirt to hold pressure, but it was soaked by the time we made it to the bottom. Doc took over and I’m not sure what he did, but somehow it slowed down. He had portable oxygen he also put on her. My heart wouldn’t stop jumping.
I’m standing, watching Doc work on her and she looks so pale and lifeless. Her words replay in my head.
I love you Dragon. I love you Dragon.
It’s like some fucked up song I have to keep listening too and can’t turn off. I’m holding her hand and kissing the top of her head. My coat is covering her as best it can--while still allowing Doc room to work. There’s so much blood, on her, me and Doc. I’m losing her. I had her and I didn’t take care of her. I didn’t keep her safe. She was precious and I let her be torn away from me. I should have known there were traitors in my club, I should have protected her.
The ambulance pulls up and the medics come over to put her on the gurney. They put her in the ambulance and I’m just about to get in when the monitor they hook her up to flat lines. IT FUCKING FLAT LINES!
I try to get into the ambulance and my men grab me to hold me back. The medics are working furiously on her and one is holding paddles above her heart.
“Mama you hold the fuck on! You promised me! Don’t you leave me woman or I swear to fucking Christ I will find a way to follow you and drag your fucking ass back here! NICOLE!!”
My body is shaking, I know I’m crying and I don’t give one good fuck if that makes me a pussy to my men. I don’t even fucking want them around right now. It’s because of my mother fucking club my woman…Jesus Christ she can’t die. I reach up and grab my head and pull my neck down so I’m staring at the ground and the tears fall and hit on my muddy boots. How the fuck did this happen? How did I not know that Irish was involved? How could I trust him with my woman?
Chapter 25
Dragon
We made it to St. Lutheran’s Hospital. We had been here for three fucking hours. Three hours of the most perverse hell I had ever been in. Crusher, Gunner, Freak and Striker were all here with me the whole time. Bull had just made it in, after delivering Irish to the Shed and having Frog and Nailer watching over him. I couldn’t deal with that motherfucker yet, but I would soon enough.
My woman had barely been hanging onto life when we got her to the hospital. I lied and told them I was her fiancé and only living relative, I had to give them permission to do emergency surgery.
They rolled her away from me and I haven’t seen her since. If she died…fuck I couldn’t even think that word.
“Mr. West?” A doctor comes out into the waiting area, and looks around.
I stand up immediately, my damn legs felt like rubber. I hear my brothers all come to a stand behind me. I’m not sure how I feel about that right now. Can I trust them? Are there more like Irish? I can’t let my mind go there, not right now. My focus has to be on my woman.
“I’m Dra.. Mr. West.”
“Mr. West your fiancé is still holding on. The next forty-eight hours are critical. She went into shock and she’s lost a lot of blood. A weaker person wouldn’t have survived that. She was shot twice on top of that. The one in her side hip will cause her some discomfort from here out, but all things considered not much else. The real damage and blood loss came from the shot she received in her kidney. The organ was hit and with the blood loss and the trajectory of the bullet, the damage was massive. The kidney was a total loss.”