Page 107 of Rigid

I’d been through a lot, and suspected it might even take months for me to recover from the trauma.

“Uhhm. Can you slow down? I want to see those bikers again.”

“Do you think one of them might be your boyfriend?”

“I don’t know.”

We were only a few feet ahead of them, and when he slowed down, they promptly caught up with us.

I turned, pressed my hands to the glass, and stared.

Illuminated by what little light came from behind them, I could clearly see the back of their kuttes. One said Hells Angels, and the other three said Filthy Fuckers.

My heart raced. I unbuckled my seatbelt and slapped my hands against the glass.

Oh my God.

“It’s him!”

My heart surged.

I waved my hands frantically. After a moment, the Hells Angel, who was closest to me, looked in my direction.

“Smokey!” I screamed.

I was sure he couldn’t hear me. Nonetheless, I yelled again. And then, again.

The Hells Angel decelerated. Beside him, on a shitty motorcycle, was Smokey.

I filled with emotion, and within a few seconds, tears streamed down my face.

The Hells Angel gave a hand signal, and Smokey glanced toward me.

I grinned, pointed at the road ahead, and mouthed the word hospital.

He nodded and fixed his eyes on the road.

“I won’t need to call Smokey now,” I said. “He’s beside us. Can we uhhm. Can we just stay right here? Beside them?”

He nodded. “Sure. We’ll be there in five minutes.”

They were the longest five minutes of my life.

THIRTY-TWO

Smokey

The bond between a parent and their child is beyond compare. Flat on her back with her head wrapped tight in bandages, there was no doubt that Eddie was in pain.

She couldn’t tell me how much she was hurting.

Therefore, the pain I felt for her was excruciating.

My knee was bouncing up and down at an impossible rate.

Side by side, Sandy and I sat on a small loveseat beside the bed. After a moment, her hand rested against my thigh, and, at least for that instant, the bouncing stopped. I looked at her and did my best to smile. She did the same, but she couldn’t hide her fear. Neither of us could.

Eddie’s operation was cancelled after a specialist reviewed her condition. All we could do was wait for the swelling to go down. In a drug-induced coma, the only sign of life she provided were the consistent beeps from the overhead monitor, each of which fueled me to draw my next breath.