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“He’s in critical condition. We don’t know if he’ll make it through the night, let alone the next twenty-four hours. If he does, his chances are a lot higher. If he doesn’t, you’ll have to consider the chance that he won’t wake up from this. He was in a bad way. He had been shot eight times, yet only one of those shots hit his lung. We were able to repair that, but he had severe internal bleeding and serious damage to his body. He took a hard hit to the head, which has caused significant swelling. You need to be aware that the chances are incredibly high that he won’t come out of this alive. If he does, he may very well be a different man to the one you know.”
We stare at the doctor, hearts in our fucking throats.
It’s Samson. The man they just operated on. Alarick was able to look and confirm for them and give them some information on him.
It’s not looking good.
The doctor doesn’t believe he’ll pull through.
Fucking terrifying thought, considering he knows what he’s talking about.
Samson is a fighter, strong, and fucking determined, but can you fight past eight fucking bullet wounds?
I’ll find whoever shot him.
I’ll fucking kill them if they’re not already dead yet.
“Thank you,” Alarick says. “When can we see him?”
“You can see him one at a time, very briefly. He needs the rest.”
Alarick nods, and the doctor leaves, telling us he’ll keep us updated. Alarick goes in to see Samson first. Kendric and I sit, both of us staring at the fucking bland hospital walls, neither of us saying a damned thing. He’s our brother. He did the wrong thing by the club, betrayed our trust, but he’s our fucking family, and he didn’t deserve the shit he was put through.
I don’t fucking pray, but right now, I’m pleading with whoever is listening to let my brother live.
Let him see his daughter.
Let him piece his life back together again.
“He didn’t even fuckin’ get the chance to look into his baby girls' eyes,” Kendric murmurs, staring at his hands.
“Gotta believe he’ll get that chance, brother,” I say.
“If he doesn’t?”
He looks to me now.
“Then we make sure she knows him, we make sure she’s safe, we make sure she is always taken care of in the way he would want.”
Kendric looks away. “What the fuck was he thinkin’?”
“He was thinkin’ he wanted to get his baby out. He was thinkin’ he didn’t trust anyone else to do that. He was thinkin’ he owed it to everyone to be the person to go in and get her. He was tryin’ to fix his wrongs.”
“He didn’t have to fuckin’ do that,” he growls.
“Yeah, brother, he did. For himself, he did.”
“And now he might fuckin’ die! So what was it worth?”
I don’t say anything else.
Truth is, nothing I say will make him feel any better.
He’s fucking broken. We all are.
“All we can do is be here, brother,” I say carefully. “That’s all we’ve got left.”
Kendric nods and then goes back to sitting in silence.
Alarick comes out a minute later, his face hard, his body wound up tight. We both stand and walk over.
“How’s he doin’?” I ask.
“I don’t fuckin’ know how he’s alive. He looks defeated. Dead. Broken.”
“We need to get his girl in here,” Kendric rasps. “We need to get her talkin’ to him. She’s the only thing that’ll pull him out of this.”
“You’re right about that,” Alarick agrees. “Give her time to rest, and we’ll get her in here. Do you want to go in there? Not much to see, he’s got fuckin’ tubes comin’ out of him everywhere, and he’s pale as a ghost.”
“No,” I shake my head. “Let’s get the girl.”
“Agreed,” Kendric nods. “The girl.”
Here goes nothing.
~*~*~*~
“SHE HAS BEEN IN THERE for hours. Have we heard anything yet?” Aviana asks, walking towards me with a tray of coffee in her hands.
Waverly and Mykel come over and take a coffee before sitting back down. We’ve all spoken enough, talked enough, fucking cried enough. Now, we’re just waiting and praying that he’s going to wake up. It has been sixteen hours. The doctor said if it goes past twenty-four and he isn’t awake, the chances of him coming out of this get lower and lower.
We’re watching the clock.
Fuck.
Please wake up, brother.
“Nothin’,” I answer Aviana. “Nothin’ at all.”
“I hope this works,” she says softly.
“You and me both, babe. How are you holdin’ up? You haven’t rested for fuckin’ days, Aviana. You need to go home and sleep.”
“Without you?” She shakes her head. “No.”
“I’m good here.”
“So am I.”
Stubborn girl.
I fucking love her for it, though.
“Have you been watching the news?” she asks, sitting down on a squeaky chair in the hall.
I sit beside her, holding the hot coffee between my hands, liking how it gives me a feeling of warmth.
“Yeah,” I answer. “Been seein’ it all. Benedict was right, they took it as those men turning on each other and it ending in a blood bath. They’re braggin’ about bringing down one of the biggest operations in the state. Gotta love how they take all the credit.”
Aviana snorts. “Yeah, better them than us, though. I’m glad we weren’t there. It looked dangerous.”
“Yeah, it was. Has Alarick released Benedict?”
“Not until he knows Samson is going to pull through, and we can have him transferred back home. Then he’ll set him free. Zariah did say that Kendric’s lawyer has contacted him and told him they had received new evidence against Dax and that his charges were being dropped, which is incredible news. He has to go and deal with it when he gets home, but so far, it’s looking really positive for him.”
“That’s fuckin’ great news,” I exhale with relief.
Kendric never deserved to be done for that crime.
He took one for the team, but without Dax around, he was it.
I guess now they see that he wasn’t part of it at all.
“He was standin’ by the body, and he did confess. Is that going to affect him?” I ask her.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s what he’s got to go back for. It may still go to trial, but with Dax dead, there is a chance it won’t because, well, who will they convict? I guess Kendric has to come up with something to prove his innocence. I’m sure Zariah has that covered. Also, Benedict has his top men working on it, so we can almost guarantee they’re going to wipe the slate clean on that case.”
“Powerful man that one,” I mutter.
“Yeah, he really is.”
The doors open, and a doctor walks out with Lilian by his side. My heart leaps into my fucking throat, but when that beautiful girl smiles, I know she is about to share something pretty incredible.
“He’s awake,” she says, her voice soft and quiet. “He’s okay.”
“Doctor?” I ask, holding my breath as if that’ll make any fucking difference at all.
The doctor nods. “So far, it’s looking good. He is able to tell us his name and what happened. His vitals are strong, though it’s a long recovery he has ahead. I am confident now that he might very well make a full recovery.”
Aviana squeezes my hand. I didn’t even feel her grab it.
Waverly turns and hugs Mykel, and the two of them stand there like that for a while.
Bohdi smiles, small and weak, but a smile.
I’ve never even seen him get close to a smile.
“I’d like him to rest, but you can all see him in a few hours. Go home, get some sleep, and we’ll keep you updated.”
Aviana walks over and carefully hugs Lilian, who buries her face into her shoulder. That girl is a rock in all the ways it counts, and I fucking love her. Lilian is a little battler, and she’s going to go a long way with us by her side.
I guess things are working out after all.
Fucking finally.