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Confusion and anger are all I’ve felt since the moment he told me the truth. Confused over my relationship with Gabriel and where to go from here and angry that my mom was taken from us before her time.
Angry that her killer is walking free and, most of all, I’m enraged by the thought of what could’ve been. King took that from me—from us. I want to help Gabriel burn everything King ever loved to the fucking ground.
Gabriel lost his parents, his brother, and his wife, but he still had me. I wish he could have seen that. We should've been grieving for Mom together instead of letting it rip us apart.
I’m lost in my thoughts as I ride down Main Street. Sunnyside Diner is sitting on the left and out of the corner of my eye, I spot Angel’s Ducati parked next to Gabriel’s bike beside the back alley behind the diner.
That’s strange, he’s supposed to be hiding out from the Reapers. If I can spot his bike from the main street, then so can anyone else. The flaming skulls down the side make it easy to recognize even from outer space.
Why’s he being so careless? If the Reapers catch him they won’t hesitate to put a bullet between his eyes.
I make a quick decision to turn around and find out what they’re up to. Parking my bike next to theirs, I jump off and walk down the alleyway. The first thing I see are two familiar bodies lying lifeless on the ground. My brain doesn’t even have time to catch up, my body is already taking off into a sprint.
Panic and fear creep up my spine as I reach for my phone to dial 9-1-1.
Before the lady on the other end can even finish her spiel, I’m shouting down the line. “I need an ambulance in the alleyway behind Sunnyside diner. Two people were shot.” I fall to my knees between the two of them.
Angel’s hand is stretched out towards my dad like she was reaching for him. My heart aches for them.
“Sir, I need you to calm down so I can help you. Can you check for their pulse?” I lean over Gabe’s body, placing two fingers on his neck, and praying I’ll feel even the slightest heartbeat, but I feel absolutely nothing. Quickly, I move over to Angel, checking for a heartbeat.
Thank fuck, there’s a faint pulse.
I tell the 9-1-1 operator, and she instructs me to start doing CPR on Gabe. I’ve never done this before, but she walks me through it. There’s so much blood everywhere, Gabe and Angel’s mixed together, but I can’t focus on that right now. I need them to breathe—to live.
On my third round of CPR, I blow another deep breath of air into his lungs and he starts coughing up blood. I roll him onto his side to clear his lungs just as two ambulances pull down the alley. Four EMTs hop out, gather the stretchers, then rush over to us. Reluctantly, I step away and let them do their jobs.
They carefully load them onto the stretchers and into the back of the ambulances. “Would you like to ride with us or meet us there?” one of them asks. Unsure of what to do and torn between who to ride along with, I decide to just drive myself.
“I’ll meet you there,” I reply as I turn and walk back down the alley to collect my phone.
My blood is pumping with adrenaline and fear as I reach down to pick up my phone off the ground, right next to the pools of blood. They’ve both lost so much I don’t see how they can survive it.
Did they even see it coming? No, they couldn’t have, because Gabriel is always strapped. He would’ve protected Angel if he could’ve. That much I know.
I close my eyes and tilt my head to the sky, saying a silent prayer.Please let them be okay. I need them to make it through this. As the ambulance takes off, two patrol officers pull onto the scene. Picking my phone up off the ground, I wipe the blood from the screen and dial Royal’s number.
“Where the hell are you? We’ve been waiting. I know you don’t wanna be here, but this is important, Dante!” he yells through the phone.
“Get to Imperial Beach Memorial Hospital and take the guys with you. Angel and Gabe have been shot. The ambulance just left the scene to take them there. Hurry.” I hang up the phone as the patrol officers rush over to me with their guns drawn.
“Hands in the air!” one officer shouts, so I do as I’m told.
They come over searching me for weapons, then question me. I’m covered in blood at a crime scene, both my dad and Angel’s, and these two knuckleheads are too late to help.
I quickly explain that I’m the one who reported the incident and need to get to the hospital. They take my statement, make a few calls, then release me a few minutes later.
I rush to the hospital, hoping to see them before it’s too late.
Chapter 2
Lucky
WhentheguysandI arrive at the hospital, Angel and Gabriel are already in surgery. They were rushed in before we had the chance to see them, leaving us gutted. Dante had been the only one to see how bad off they were, and he was in no shape to talk about it.
He was spooked by what he had seen and covered in blood. Royal wouldn’t let off with questions but even that didn’t seem to bother him. Dante was in a fog, hardly speaking two words to any of us until the doctors came out to give us an update.
Everyone’s gathered in the waiting room, both Sons and Reapers, along with our families. It’s a strange sight to see. Each club keeps a little distance from each other under the instruction of Zeke and Cruz. There’s an unspoken truce for the moment.
