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Chapter Forty-One
Doc came and looked over Hadley, and with the adrenaline beginning to wear off, I could tell that she was in more pain than she was letting on.
The grazes around her wrists would heal, she may be left with a few small scars. The proof that she had fought back. Her shoulder was dislocated from where Slider had dropped her and had to be popped back in. We’d filled her with enough drugs to try and numb the pain without killing her, but I could still hear her cries in my head as Doc had popped it back into place.
I closed the bedroom door softly behind me, bracing my hands against the door frame and hanging my head between my arms. She would be out for the next few hours, the painkillers hopefully giving her body time to relax. I could tell that the guilt was already beginning to eat her up inside. Slider had told her that the doctor had only given him a short amount of time left to live, that the cancer had progressed too far now for him to survive through it.
I can’t imagine what he’d been feeling. Being in the military, I knew the feeling of walking into a situation, knowing that there was a chance you wouldn’t make it out alive. It was scary, it made your heart race, and you did whatever you possibly could to fight for your life. You made sure your shots were perfect, you made sure that you had your head in the game. You relied on your men to stand by your sides and fight with you, knowing that you had them at your back was empowering.
But what would I have done if someone had told me, look, you won’t make it out of this alive? It’s over. You’ll be killed with complete certainty, and it will be slow and painful. Your body will be pushed to its limits and tortured until it can’t take it any longer, and your heart just gives out. All this will happen while your family stands to the side and watches. They’d want to help, but nothing they do would change the outcome. You’ll see the pain in their eyes every day as they watch you wither away to nothing, and you’ll wish that there was a way to ease both of your heartache.
Slider found a way.
Hadley had said that’d he’d used her as an out.
He hadn’t. He’d only done what any of the men in this club would have done. He protected her with his life. Whether he was dying or not, he would have done the same thing. Whether he would have survived if his body had been stronger, and he’d had the will to live through it all, we would never know.
He was gone and right now, we were all feeling his loss. Tears brushed my cheeks and dropped down onto my heavy boots.
A hand touched my shoulder, and I spun to find Eagle staring at me, his face filled with devastation just like mine. I didn’t try to hide my tears. I wouldn’t pretend like I didn’t feel any sadness about what had happened. I knew everyone here was feeling it too, and our tears showed just how much Slider was loved in our family.
They were an ode to him and how much he would be missed.
“How’s Hadley?” Eagle asked, stepping back and allowing me some space to breathe as I forced my body upright.
“Sore, but she’s okay,” I answered, my voice thick with emotion.
Eagle nodded. “She’s strong. She’ll get through this.”
We shared a look that said we both understood how hard she would find this. Eagle and I had lost friends, almost our entire team. Before that we’d watched more than our fair share of men killed, some we knew well, some we didn’t. It never got any easier.
“After I lost Kim, I never thought I’d feel that kind of pain again,” I told him, leaning back against the wall, using it to support my exhausted limbs. “But seeing her lying there, covered in blood, it was like I’d lost Kim all over again.”
“She’s alive, Leo,” he assured me.
“But it could have so easily been her,” I said quietly.
“You love her.”
I looked up, meeting his eyes. “Yeah, man. I love her.”
“Then she’ll be fine. She’s already strong, but with your love behind her and the support of the club, she’ll be able to make it through the dark and find the light.”
I breathed in his words. He was right. She was going to struggle with what had happened, but we wouldn’t let her fall.
“Thanks, man.”
The roar of motorcycles alerted us both to the return of my brothers. We headed for the staircase without another word. The women were waiting downstairs with their arms open for the men.
It was never easy, but Eagle was right. Our family rallied together in times of distress, and we lifted each other off the ground when it threatened to swallow us whole.
I’d felt it first-hand.
I stood back as both the old ladies and the club girls offered the men comforting embraces and quiet words. Optimus broke away from Chelsea, and just like the first Old Lady she was, she began to make her rounds of the boys, patting their shoulders and checking to make sure each of them were all right.
“Doc is going to take his body and clean him up before we see him,” Op said as he leaned against the bar. “We’ll start making funeral arrangements tomorrow. Wrench is looking to see if there’s any family we can contact.”
“Slider always said he had no one. He’s been here since he was a teen, and he’s never mentioned any family.”
