Surprised, but in a perplexed way.
“For her?” Crush said.
“Anything for her,” I said angrily.
Gunfire got closer. Crush looked outside. He looked back at me, then at Callie.
“I’d do anything for her because she loves me and would do anything for me,” I said. “Would King do anything for you? Would anyone in the MC? Or do you only do things because you’re told to?”
Unsurprisingly, Crush never gave an answer. He sprinted away. But I’d seen enough confusion to know that seed of doubt I had planted was germinating and growing larger. Even if he fought it off, it wouldn’t uproot so easily.
I turned to face Callie. For the first time since before I’d left her, I smiled. Seeing her face, even in the state she was in—that we were in—made me feel just like the good old days.
The simpler days.
“Callie,” I said, putting a hand on her face. “I…”
But the blood loss and pain were getting to be too much. I could barely keep my hand up.
The world…
Went…
Dark.
Callie
“Ash!”
I screamed as I sat over to his body. The gunfire had all but subsided outside. But even if it hadn’t, I doubt I would have heard anything. All I could look at was my man, a bullet wound on his chest, lying in my arms.
I buried my head into his chest, sobbing out of control. He couldn’t have died. No. No. No! Not after everything we’d been through. Not after what today had brought. Not after going so far apart, coming so close…and now having this.
I felt an arm tugging on me. I ignored it. It tugged harder.
“Callie!” a familiar voice said.
Finally, I looked up.
It was one of the bikers from the apartment. Sonny, I think.
“We’re gonna get him to medics. He’s going to be OK.”
“Hurry!” I shouted.
A flurry of bikers sprinted into the room with an appropriate level of speed, considering Ash was dying in my arms. They grabbed him, gently carried him, and then sprinted off. Sonny gave me a spot in the front seat of the van.
I could only hope that we’d make it to the hospital in time.
* * *
Except we didn’t go to the hospital.
We went to my apartment.
“What the hell—”
“King will have men crawling in all of the hospitals here,” Sonny explained as we missed the turn to the hospital. “We’ve got enough old ladies in our network who have medical experience. They’ll work on Asher and get him well.”
