Chapter Thirty-Six
RICHARD ‘DEEKS’ TWEEKS
ORIGINAL
Patched Hound
I’d lived long enough to sense real fear in a room.
Half the men were staring at their dead leader, wondering what the hell to do next.
The other half were staring at their leader, wondering if he was dead, too.
I glanced around the men, tearing my eyes away from the desperate way Ayda was clawing at the love of her life: angry, desperate, and so lost it made my chest ache, wishing my Autumn was here to help her.
Kenny’s face was pale.
Slater’s eyes were filled with unshed tears.
Moose had his head bowed, in respect as well as fear of the unknown.
And Jedd… he had his eyes closed, his hands behind his head, and his chin tilted up to the ceiling.
Thiswas real fear.
All the battles we’d fought. All the times we’d gotten lucky. The men we’d lost. There was no amount of fist-swinging thatcould save us now. A change was coming. I could feel its return like a long, lost ghost, feeding its way through the cloying air around us.
The memories and dread were crashing into every Hound around me, leaving each man breathless and weary, too scared to accept what they were seeing.
When I turned back to Drew, he still hadn’t moved, and Ayda’s body hung over his, her head pressed to his temple as her tears fell in rivers of distress. Her cries of agony made even the strongest of ATF men lower their guns as they stood over her, unable to help, yet unable to stop themselves from the onslaught of sympathy they clearly felt.
They were lovers torn apart, and Ayda was the one left wailing at the skies as her heart cracked wide open for everyone to see.
Howard Sutton was screaming something into his receiver, his arms flailing everywhere, and his mouth moving quickly, but all the words he was shouting were being drowned out by the constant ringing in my ears.
The sense of dread that made me old heart freeze.
And the way my eyes had focused in on Drew’s unusually pale skin—paler than I’d ever seen it.
Blood.
Sweet Jesus, there was so much blood.
“Please, Lord,” I whispered to myself. “Take me instead. Take me. Let him live. Let Drew live for Ayda. For all of them.”
