Page 83 of Pirate

As if she sensed his gaze, Sophia looked up. Their eyes met. Sophia threw the blanket off her shoulders and bolted out of the ambulance, running right for him.

Pirate wished he had such speed, but his leg wouldn’t cooperate. His right boot dragged more than lifted as he fought his way through the throng of people to get to her.

They collided together with a wetsplat!and Pirate had never felt such peace as he did in that moment. The fear of knowing he was going to watch her die was unprecedented. To finally feel her in his arms, to know she was alive and safe…

Fuck. It was hard to breathe. He couldn’t seem to draw in enough oxygen to satisfy his lungs. The pain in his chest was twofold. The echoed memory of thinking he was going to lose Sophia and the knowledge that hehadlost Scar.

And the guilt.

Because, as painful as it was to know he’d failed to save Scar, he would not have been able to survive it if their roles had been reversed. If Sophia had been the one to fall…

That knowledge tore him up inside.

Carlos suddenly streaking past where Sophia and Pirate embraced caught his attention. Still gripping Sophia tightly to his chest, Pirate turned them slightly to see Carlos body slam Bulldog down to the ground. Bear and Lucky came to a skidding halt just before the brothers now on the wet pavement. Pirate hadn’t seen what happened before that moment but could take a guess.

Fletcher Montague, now cuffed, was being escorted to a police cruiser. Bulldog broke free or had already been free of Lucky’s and Bear’s hold on him. Seeing Fletcher, Bulldog made a running charge at the man who’d shot his best friend. Lucky and Bear had given chase at the same time that Carlos must have seen his brother going for the prisoner, taking him to the ground before Bulldog could reach his intended target.

The rage Pirate felt at seeing Fletcher was all consuming. The bullet that had hit Scar, after all, had been intended for Sophia. There were no words for how much Pirate wanted Fletcher to suffer for his actions.

Bulldog thrashed and fought under Carlos’s weight. Bear and Lucky looked torn between helping Carlos or going after Fletcher themselves. The two deputies who had hold of Fletcher, who even now was spouting bullshit about how his father would have the deputies’ badges for daring to arrest him, were frozen in place. As if they didn’t know what to do while their sheriff wrestled with his brother on the pavement.

Carlos bent and whispered something in Bulldog’s ear. Pirate couldn’t hear whatever he’d said, but it must have had some effect on Bulldog. The man stopped struggling. More calmly, the SAA nodded to Carlos.

Cautiously, Carlos stood back up. He slipped slightly on the wet road, but Bear steadied him with a hand on his elbow. Everyone was as drenched as Pirate and Sophia by now. Bulldog got to his feet. He turned his murderous gaze on Fletcher, who lost some of his bravado at the sight. He actually looked like he would willingly go into the police cruiser now to get away from Bulldog.

The whirl of an ambulance’s sirens rose up on the night, dragging everyone’s gaze to the bottom of the bridge. An ambulance sped away in the direction of the hospital. Pirate could see two sheets on the ground over the bodies of the gunmen. He could only hope that the ambulance held Pumpkin and was speeding away in an effort to save his life.

Pirate pulled away from Sophia just enough to look her over. He moved her sodden hair out of her face. “Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital too?”

Sophia shook her head. He could see tears down her face mixed amongst the raindrops. “That man?” she asked. “Who was he?”

It occurred to Pirate then that Sophia might not know who Scar was or his importance to the club. Scar had left the club a year ago last month. Jasmine and Jumper had only started dating officially in June of last year. Neither Jasmine nor Sophia had been around the club when Scar had been a member. Though they had occasionally gone toDemon’s, the club’s bar where Scar used to be a bouncer, Scar wasn’t someone they would have talked to or socialized with.

Would not have been, Pirate morosely corrected his thoughts to past tense. Fuck, that was painful.

“Scar,” he answered reluctantly. Sophia might not know Scar at a passing glance or have seen enough of him tonight to place the telling scar on the man’s face, but she would know the road name. Scar was often brought up amongst the ol’ ladies.

Her eyes widened. “Oh God… And he…?” She turned her head towards the river. “Pirate, he stepped in front of abulletfor me. Who the hell does that?”

Scar does—or did. Bulldog had once said that none of the club truly understood Scar, that they would be shocked if they knew how much Scarcaredabout them.

Pirate was sickened by the knowledge that he’d never taken the time to get to know Scar. He was always such a mystery, and the club had made a joke of it. The fact that Scar didn’t speak but Bulldog insisted that hecould. Or how they’d say he was like a ninja, just popping up randomly in places. The club kids talked about Uncle Scar visiting them in their homes, especially Scotty. If it was anyone but Scar, the parents would be unnerved and terrified that a man had randomly shown up in their kid’s bedroom. But not Scar. It was like a part of him. The way helooked out for everyone, even when he was no longer a club member.

Pirate still remembered the look of horror on Bulldog’s face when Scar had given Steel back his cut and walked out of Church.

Bulldog and Scar had a history. That much was clear to the club. Bulldog wouldn’t have chosen Scar to be his Enforcer otherwise, but no one knew the extent of their history. And, again, they’d made a joke about it. Calling Bulldog and Scar ‘BFFs’ like they were little girls.

Pirate recalled the pain in Bulldog’s voice as he’d shouted the nameJulianover and over again. With a jolt, Pirate realized that he’d just learned Scar’s real name.

Julian.

How fucked up was it that it took the man dying for Pirate to finally learn something about him?

Pirate closed his eyes and buried his face into Sophia’s hair. The others might have hope, but Pirate knew the truth. He’d seen the gunshot, seen the blood… All the first responders searching and even Jumper and Ghost in the water, they might find him, but it would be too late. Pirate knew it down to the marrow of his bones.

Time started to play tricks on him again. Pirate couldn’t tell how long it had been since he’d let go of Scar’s hand as he hung precariously over the edge of the bridge.

A paramedic came to bandage his hand and to look at his ear. All the while, his leg continued to throb but he refused to move from his spot where he held Sophia. He was fairly certain he was never going to let go of her again.

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