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I may not be able to turn back the hands of time and take the bullet out of her right now like I want to, but I can be damn sure I do everything I can to make sure she’s not going to blame herself for anything.
“Baby girl, don’t you do it. This isn’t your fault. There’s no way for you to have known that this was going to happen.” I do my best to soothe her, and she cries harder.
“Hold on, baby girl. I’m here. I got you,” Hammer says, and his elbows buckle as his head falls forward onto his daughter’s chest. “Please, God. Please,” he begs, and I want to hold my brother, but I’m too scared to move my hands from the wound.
“We need to move right now,” Breaker says from behind us, and it’s only then that I realize that, for the most part, everyone has been cleared out, and the door is open to the clubhouse. Chains is already in the car.
“Dad, it hurts. It hurts,” she says, and her voice is so weak.
“Breaker.” Hammer turns and looks up at the man who is supposed to lead the Satan’s Raiders MC for an answer he doesn’t have. I see tears in my brother’s eyes, and I pray that it’s the last I’ll see. We can’t lose Oakleigh now. He won’t make it.
Shiloh is right behind me, and when I turn around to see her, her face is pale, and she’s crying just as hard as I am. Even though she’s not Oakleigh’s mother, she knows how much my brother values this girl and how much her life means to him. Her love for Oakleigh is not limited to her role as a stepmother. We all love her so much. As if by magic, Oakleigh crept into all of our lives like a fucking tornado, and now that she is in our lives, we can’t imagine life without her.
“Come on, man. We’re ready. We need to move,” Fury says, and I realize that they’re trying to get Oakleigh in the car so they can get her to the hospital.
“Hammer, brother! Look at me!” I call for him, and his eyes snap to mine. Confusion and helplessness tangled in his gaze.
“We need to get up. You guys are going to carry her to the car, so we can go to the hospital,” I say, and he nods, finally understanding what we have to do.
“Oakleigh, baby girl. This is going to hurt, but just stay with us, okay? We need to move you. The boys are going to lift you up. They’ll go slow.” I keep my voice even, trying to be the only calm voice in the room.
“Okay. I’m ready.” She takes in a few deep breaths, and I move my hand while Fury and Hammer get into position to lift her up.
They raise her off the ground, and she screams out in agony. My hands dart out to help her, but I know there’s nothing I can do right now. I have to let them take her away.
“Hurry up, Hammer. Hurry,” I plead with him, my voice catching in my throat.
Within seconds, they’re rushing her out of the clubhouse, leaving me standing there watching them. The SUV squeals off before Hammer can even get his door closed.
My entire body feels numb, and even though I can still hear Breaker yelling out orders, I can’t focus on that right now. I can’t focus on anything but the red blood on my hands and forearms. That’s my niece’s blood.
A hand lands on my shoulder, and I jump out of my daydream.
Armor.
“You okay?” he asks, and part of me wants to scream and hit him. How the fuck can I be okay right now? How can any of us be okay? We just had a madman come into our home and shoot at us. They took our safe place and made it into a war zone. I open my mouth to speak, but the words don’t come out. Armor grabs me and pulls me into a hug, and I crumble into his embrace, crying my eyes out as I replay the scene of my niece getting shot over and over in my mind.
“Sssh, we got her in time, they’re going to get her to the hospital, and she’s going to be okay. Chains is the best driver we got. He’ll get them there safely. She’s going to be fine,” he murmurs in my ear, and I nod at his words. They have to be true. I can’t think of the possibility of it not being true.
What’s going to happen to us if she doesn’t make it? How we’ll we bounce back from this?
He takes his shirt and wipes the blood as best he can from my hands and arms, but it’s like the liquid has stained my skin. No matter how much he rubs, I can still see it there. I can still feel the warmth of it.
“They’re all fuckin’ dead! Come into my fuckin’ house! Dead!” Breaker roars in the background, and when I look over Armor’s shoulder, I see people gathering their weapons. They’re going after the 17 now. They’re out for blood.
Armor looks over his shoulder, and I can feel the indecision in his hold. He wants to stay here with me, but the club has work to do. They all need to be ready for what they aim to do to the 17.
“We need to go be with Oakleigh right now. Family is more important than war,” I say, and even though it’s not my place, I watch Breaker’s eyes cloud over. Armor steps back a little bit and waits for his Prez to tell him what to do.
I’m never going to forgive myself if, God forbid, Oakleigh doesn’t make it, and I’m not there for her. I know Breaker, and the rest of the people in the club feel the same way I do. They love her.
Breaker lets out a pained sigh, “She’s right. We need to head to the hospital. Hammer needs us. Oakleigh too. The 17 aren’t going anywhere, and even if they try to, we’ll hunt them down to the ends of the Earth to make sure they pay for this. Let’s go see about our girl,” Breaker says and then opens his eyes to look at everyone else.
In that same instant, I rush upstairs and pull a shirt on over my costume. There’s no way I can go out with all this blood on me. I don’t have time to change completely, though. When I get back downstairs, the guys are already putting their weapons away and pulling up the trucks so we can all get ready to go.
I grab hold of Armor’s hand, not giving a damn who sees us. We all rush to the vehicle. I need to feel Armor’s hands on me in some way right now. Now that the clubhouse isn’t safe, Armor is my only safe harbor right now. I need him. And when he squeezes my hand, I know he needs me just as badly as I need him.
CHAPTEREIGHT
