Page 79 of Red's Peril: Part 1

“He’s fought, Brother.” Approaching, I rest my hand on his shoulder. “He’s fuckin’ fought this. Battled on until there’s no fight left in him anymore. Let him go in peace.”

“His choice,” Twister agrees, making me wonder if he, too, questioned the DNR letter Brick had signed.

“He’s come to the end of the road,” Fox adds, sagely. “It’s his time.”

“Well, it’s not fuckin’ ours.” Cobra copies Joker and puts another hole in the wall. “What the fuck are we going to do now?”

“We wait.” I start, in my best VP tone. “We’ll be here until he’s gone. Then we take Rosa and the boys back and make sure they’re comfortable. After that, we’ll raise our glasses to him and trust him to find his way safely on whatever journey he’s on now. Only then will we think of ourselves and the club.”

“We’ll ride on,” Crash offers, in his reasonable tone. “Might not be the same route as we thought we were taking, but the destination remains the same. Satan’s Devils will ride on, together. We’ve got the VP to guide us.”

I give him a chin lift. Yeah, if I have my way, this is the man I want riding beside me. Crash would make a fine VP, as long as the brothers vote the way Brick had planned.

If they don’t, who the fuck will steer this club in the right direction?

Minutes, hours, days later, time seems to have stood still, but also speeds by too fast, Rosa appears with her arms around two sobbing boys.

She waits by the doorway, looking stoic, but I see her shivering, though the room isn’t cold.

She doesn’t have to tell us, the atmosphere already seems heavier. Tiff pulls away from Fox, and somehow envelopes the trio in her arms.

I don’t need the words to know, Brick is gone.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Losing Brick is, in many ways, like losing my father all over again. Since I took the VP slot, he’d been my mentor, and I couldn’t fault him in any way. In some things we hadn’t seen eye to eye, but I’d gotten where he was coming from. It had been the education I’d needed to slip into the top spot, assuming I’d be voted into it.

Over the past months, he’d reminded me of Manny, subtly grooming me for a role which in those days I hadn’t wanted, and which never once have I regretted not taking. Now though, it’s different. Prez of an outlaw MC is not where I thought I’d ever be but know I won’t turn down the chance if it’s offered to me.

I’d never have wished to receive such an honour this way. I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut by the events of today, never having expected losing him so quickly and with such little warning. Fuck, I thought he’d spend weeks fading away, but it had happened in hours. Brick must have been hiding his suffering, and for that he had my admiration. It was love of the club, of his wife and his boys that had given him the strength to carry on for so long.

Now it’s down to me to take care of his family, both blood and those linked by patch. Whatever the outcome of the vote, until it’s taken, I’ve got responsibility for this club.

I drive the truck back to the compound with Titch seated beside me, and Rosa and the twins in the back. Glances in the rearview see the boys looking like they’re in shock. Trist has tears freely flowing down his cheeks, and Tom’s face is blank. My soul hurts for them. They’d gone to bed last night expecting to get up and wake to a normal school day. Instead, they’ve witnessed the death of their father. It’s something I can relate to and wouldn’t wish on anyone. At least I had been older and better prepared, not fuckin’ eight years old.

Tom and Trist can be pests, let’s be straight about that, but I’m determined to do the best I can for them, as a surrogate dad.

As for Rosa, well, I’ll be there with a shoulder for her to lean on.

Seated in the middle, she has one arm around each of her boys. Her mouth is fixed, and her eyes are staring. I wonder what she wants to do now.

“You want to go to your house, Rosa? Or come to the compound?”

“Home,” she states, as though her mind is already made up. “But I won’t be staying there, not without Brick. I’m taking the boys to their grandparents.”

It’s probably a good idea, but I’d expected her to stick around. Rosa organised Rainman’s funeral, and I’d expected her to do the same for her old man.

Her eyes meet mine in the rearview, and she must see the question written on my face. “I can’t, Red. I just can’t. You do it on my behalf. Tell me where and when and I’ll be there. I can’t liaise with other chapters, can’t get in the food Brick would have liked… Not yet. I just can’t.”

I totally understand it. “Leave it with me, Rosa.” It’s an easy promise to make. “I’ll give him a send-off he’ll be proud of.”

“I know you will, Red. He told me if our boys grow up to be half the man you are, they’ll be doing okay.”

I swallow to get down the lump that’s risen into my throat. That’s high praise indeed and coming from beyond the grave. Or the steel coffin in a hospital mortuary if I’m to be exact. Whatever, it’s good to know Brick thought of me that way.

I drop her off, going inside to make sure she’s going to be okay. It breaks my heart when I see her look around her home as if suddenly realising her husband will never be there again.

“Go check the boys. Maybe get them to pack a couple of bags?” I suggest to Titch who’s followed me in.

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