AllFreeNovel
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“You save any of that for me?” Banger startles me out of my thoughts.
“Fuck man, you scared the shit outta me! How are you feeling?”
“Pretty good, Doc. Can you sit me up?” I push the button on the side of the bed until Banger is about halfway up. “That’s good, man.”
“You want to eat something? I got some pudding right here. Remember, you need to go easy at first.”
I offer him a small spoonful from the cup Sophie brought when he woke up, and he takes it.
Banger takes a small bite, coughing a bit from the respirator and injuries. “You know what’s fucked up?” he says when he finishes swallowing. “That fucking gang.” He takes another bite. “They snatched me off the streets with the lure of money.”
I put my hand on his arm. “Slow down, buddy. Don’t wear yourself out.”
He nods, and I can see he wants to make up for lost time. “Like, do this, and you get paid,” he says, continuing his story. “Well, being a kid, I wanted money. I mean, who doesn’t?” He coughs again and says, “You got anything to drink?”
I push the call button. Hannah, my other nurse, answers. “Yes?”
“Hi, Hannah, it’s Dr. Bishop. Can you bring in some of that electrolyte soda for my brother? Let’s try lemon-lime. Bring a few. They’re small.”
“Sure thing, Doctor.”
Banger says, “Thanks, man. Anyway, they made me do things no kid should ever do. I killed people, man. Fucking killed ‘em. Robbed people and scarred them for life, man.”
Hannah comes in and sets four cold sodas on the tray table, and asks, “Anything else?”
“No, thank you.” She glances at Banger, probably surprised he’s awake, and leaves.
“Fucking Demon was impossible when he got something in his head, like burning down a house because the girl inside didn’t want to fuck him. A goddamn kid, and he burnt down her home, which in our neighborhood meant a helluva lot more than some of the rich pricks in Angel Harbor.”
He’s getting riled up, and I raise a hand to ease him back on the pillow. “I’m glad that mu-fucker is dead.”
“You need to calm down, brother. You’ve come a long way since that life.”
He nods, and when Banger turns to me, I’m reminded of how young he really is. Basically, a kid himself, at least compared to some of us.
“Demon’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Totally fucking dead, brother. It was your bullets that ended him. When we showed up, he was taking his last breath.”
“Good,” he growls angrily. “I know I’m not a hundred percent right now, Nova, but nothing, and I mean not one thing in this world, will stop me from getting Willow back. She’s my heart, my everything. I’ll die trying to bring her back to me. If that’s what it takes, it’s what I’m gonna do.”
I respect his words. Hell, the truth is that I’m jealous that he has someone he loves that much. Serving in the military and then the MC, and the only thing I would die for is my brothers in arms. Loving someone so completely is a foreign concept to me, but someday, I want to have that kind of love.Someday, I tell myself and turn my attention back to Banger. “The fuck you are,” I growl.
“Nova,” he starts, but I stop him.
“What I hear you saying is that you don’t trust the MC to get your girl back. You think we don’t all love Willow, or, fuck that, you think we don’t loveyouenough to get her back for you? She’s fucking family, man, and if we have to worry about you stompin’ off to do something stupid, then we’re not worrying about her.”
“Easy for you to say,” he grumbles and opens his mouth for another bite of pudding.
“Fuck you,” I spit the words at him, my anger growing at his insinuation. “I sat by your side this whole fucking time, working on you, cleaning your wounds myself, and willing you to just open your fucking eyes. You started healing almost immediately because you’re young and healthy, but you still wouldn’t wake the fuck up. Nothing I did, no combination could bring you back to us, and that was on me, Banger. Me! So don’t fucking tell me it’s easy for me to say.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Banger says after a long, tense silence. “It’s just, Willow means everything to me, and thinking of what those assholes might be doing to her? It doesn’t matter what happens to me.”
I nod because he’s right. I don’t have anyone I love like that.Except my brothers and this MC.
“It matters to me and Ace, Dix, and the rest of the MC. Willow is one of us, and we’ll tear them down to the fucking studs to find her. Believe that. You’ve been around long enough to know that’s the fucking truth.”
Banger nods, “You’re right, man. Now when the fuck can I get out of here?”
