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As the hours ticked by, I sat anxiously waiting for any news when Claudia walked in, looking tired. Jumping to our feet, we all crowded around her. “Frank is going to be okay. The branch pierced his liver. I removed the damaged part. Frank also suffered a concussion in the accident, along with some bruising from the seatbelt. But other than that, he’s going to walk out of here intact.”
“What about Skylar?”
“Skylar dislocated her shoulder in the accident. The same arm she used to hold on to Frank. She’s ripped several muscles and damaged several nerves that are delicately being repaired. That’s why she is still in surgery. The specialist is being very meticulous, knowing what she did to save Frank. He’s determined that Skylar gets full use of her arm. However, in the accident, Skylar hit her head pretty hard, causing a hematoma concussion, which caused her brain to swell. I’m keeping a close eye on that. If her brain swells more, the neurosurgeon is on standby.”
“But she’ll live, right?” Scribe asked, concerned.
“Look guys. You know me. I don’t like giving odds. Head wounds are tricky. The littlest thing can become a major problem, but if the swelling stays down and there are no other complications, I believe Skylar will be just fine. As soon as she’s in a room, I will come find you,” Claudia simply said before walking away.
“Chase?”
Shaking my head, I whispered, “She can’t die too. I won’t survive it.”
“She’s not dying. She’s strong,” King said, spinning me to face him. “I get you’re scared. We all are. Your woman did something inhuman and survived it. She’s fucking strong, Chase. Believe in her. She needs you to believe in her.”
Backing away from him, I muttered, tears rolling down my face. “It’s too much. I can’t do this again. It hurts. Oh God, Callum, it hurts. I can’t lose her too!” I gasped, trying to fill my lungs with air as my brother held me tight to him.
Two days later, I sat next to her, never taking my eyes off her, waiting for her to wake up. The specialist who workedon her shoulder said everything looked perfect and with therapy he expected her to have full use of her arm. The neurosurgeon was happy when the latest scans showed that the swelling had reduced on its own.
Now, if she would just wake up.
Frank was awake and chomping at the bit to be released. King had to order him to stay in bed until Claudia cleared him. That lasted for a whole five minutes before Frank demanded to see Skylar.
“She’s gonna wake up, Pyro. She has to,” Frank said, sitting in a wheelchair on the other side of her bed. “What your woman did for me? I can never repay her.”
“She will just be happy to see your face, man. Claudia said it could be a couple of days before she wakes up. Why don’t you go get some sleep?”
“Ain’t leaving her. She never left me. I can’t leave her now,” Frank firmly said.
“Pyro?”
“Yeah.”
“She really saved me, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, Frank, she did,” I whispered, looking at the big man, who had unshed tears in his eyes.
“I was ready to die, brother. I knew I wasn’t going to make it, but she could. I needed to save her for you. I wanted that to be my last act on this earth. When she reached for that crevice in the rock face, I just prayed she didn’t see me fall. Then, before I could blink, she reached for me. All one hundred pounds of her held me to her, refusing to give up. I should have died.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
I’ve never heard Frank talk so candidly before. While I didn’t know much about Frank’s past, I knew he served and seen shit that no one should ever have to see. Like King, Scribe and several others in the club that served, there were times their nightmares haunted them, rode them hard. While Frank always seemed happy and content, he preferred working at the distillery, alone, away from everyone else.
“I was on patrol one night. It was a simple assignment. There were no reports of insurgents in the area. I saw an abandoned car a few clicks ahead. I went to investigate. When I approached the car, I saw a young woman strapped to the steering wheel. She was crying, pleading with me to help her. I knew it was a trap, but I couldn’t leave her. She was no older than Skylar. She was young and had her whole life ahead of her and those sick fucks strapped a fucking bomb to her chest. I knew if I could disarm the bomb, I could get her out. I have never worked so fast in my life. I needed to save her. King tried to pull me away, but I couldn’t leave her. She kept pleading with me to help her. The seconds ticked by, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to disarm the bomb before it blew. I was okay with staying with her, but King had other plans. While he and the rest of the team dragged me away from her, I heard her screams, begging me not to leave her. When the car exploded, something inside me died. I still hear her in my dreams, begging me to save her.”
“You did, Frank,” Skylar barely said, her eyes filling with tears as she looked at him. “You were there with her at the end. She knew she was going to die, honey. You were there for her. You tried when others didn’t. She knew that. I’ve learned that no one can stop death. As much as we want to save everyone, in the end, death always wins. It’s what we do afterwards that counts. Don’t let her death stop you from finding your happiness, because Frank... you deserve that and so much more.”
Chapter Thirty- Four
Skylar
Standing in the Rosewood Elementary School gymnasium, I held my breath as Principal Kellerman announced the winner of the school’s science fair.
“First place goes to Cameron Hobbs for his still, showing how to convert horse manure into bio-degradable fossil fuel!”
Shouting and jumping up and down, I clapped and whistled loudly as the brothers hooted and hollered Cameron’s name, none more proudly than Frank, who was smiling from ear to ear.
The accident changed things with Frank. He slowly started coming out of his shell, spending more time at the clubhouse and with the brothers, but the big teddy bear still made time for Cameron. My brother adored Frank and looked forward to regaling the big man with what he learned from school.
