Page 37 of Bring Me Back
“Let’s not make any rash decisions, okay?” I say, lowering my gun to the floor and holding my hands up in surrender. If I can get within an arm’s length of him, it’d be easy to disarm him. But he’s right, I don’t want his shaking fingers to slip. The man on the floor groans, blood pooling around his lower half.
“Is that your buddy? He needs help. That’s a lot of blood. I’m not sure he’s got much longer to last.” I say, hoping to distract him so I can inch closer.
“He’s a fucking traitor. He deserves whatever he gets.” Cooper snaps back without breaking eye contact.
“Why don’t you tell me what you want here, Cooper?” I ask, watching the fear and anger boil in Willow’s eyes.
“I want my fucking son delivered to me. And I want this cunt to tell him the truth about why she left me. That she couldn’t hack it as a wife, and I deserved better. She’s gonna turn me into a fucking white knight in his eyes, and then we’re gonna leave. Maybe I’ll send her back, whenever the rest of the club is done with her.” Cooper replies, his delusions even more ridiculous than I expected.
“Do you think I don’t remember?!” Jaxon’s voice comes from behind me, and I turn to see him walking towards his father, the pistol I gave him trained on Cooper’s head.
“Jaxon! No!” Willow cries, and Cooper squeezes her throat tighter.
“Well, hello there, son. Long time no see. Look at you all grown up and shit!” Cooper laughs.
“You think I don’t remember the way you beat her, the way you lied to her and manipulated both of us into believing we wereluckyto be chosen by you?!” Jaxon shouts, his grip on the pistol shaking as the emotion wells in his voice.
“I don’t think you know what you’re talking about here, son,” Cooper replies, his eyes shifty and scared. “You were young, always so far up your mama’s ass. You don’t know what was really going on.”
“I was 13, Cooper! I remember everything! I remember the way she cried, pulling glass shards out of her back that night. I remember the way she tried to cover every black eye you gave her, making excuses for every broken bone. And I never understood why she protected you. But I get it now. It was never about you. She was protectingme.” Jaxon says, and Willow releases a broken sob.
“You two really do deserve each other, don’t you?” Cooper spits back at him.
“You think being feared made you a man? It just makes you pathetic. You hid behind anger because you were too weak to be a decent fucking human begin. You weren’t my father. You were a fucking bully with a drinking problem and a loud mouth, poisoningeverything you touched. I didn’t grow up with a man, Cooper. We survived a mistake that called himself one.” Venom drips from Jaxon’s tone, and I see the moment Cooper snaps.
He pulls the gun from Willow's head, training it on Jaxon. I don’t think, I just react, the need to protect him like second nature. Shots ring out, some sounding close and some far away. Willow screams as I tackle Jaxon to the floor, landing on top of him. Before I can think, Willow is next to us. Looking across the warehouse, I see Cooper on the ground, deep red pooling beneath him. Megan is kneeling next to him, holding her hands over what I assume is a gunshot wound in his chest. She looks like she’s screaming, but I can’t hear anything. The door behind us slams open as Breaker and Eli move through the space. They shout familiar commands to each other, but I can’t force my mind to zero in on where they are. I try to take a deep breath, but the force immediately burns.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Willow chants, rolling me onto my back. Something throbs on the left side of my body, but I can’t focus on the pain. I can’t focus on anything. Her voice sounds so far away even though she’s only inches away.
“Jax? Is Jax okay? Is he okay, Will?” I ask, my voice strained. Adrenaline floods my system, my heart pounding in my chest.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I swear I didn’t mean to!”Jaxon cries, and I’m oddly relieved by the sound of his distress. At least I know he’s alive. Someone consoles him, maybe Everett? Everything seems to move in slow motion, blurred and shaky.
“Lily, I called 911. They’re at least a half hour away, and that looks like it could’ve hit his lung.” The man with the injured leg has made his way across the space, leaning on a pallet close by. Eli kneels next to him, assessing the damage to his leg.
“He doesn’t have half an hour!” Willow cries, and it guts me.
“Will, he’s gonna be okay. It’ll be alright.” Breaker says, dropping his med kit on the ground next to me.
“Hey, I’m okay, pretty girl.” I try to sit up, but the pain radiates through my body so intensely.
“You’re not okay! There are holes in your body!” Willow sobs.
Holes? As in multiple? Well, fuck. That definitely doesn’t sound good. I touch my chest where the throbbing seems to be coming from, and my hands come away soaked in blood. How did all of this unfold in a matter of minutes?
“Break, I ca-can’t-” I wheeze, my lungs burning with each breath. Searing pain radiates through my chest. I cough, the copper taste of my own blood flooding my mouth.
“It’s okay, don’t talk.” Break’s gruff voice is oddlycalming. I’ve put my life in the hands of these men dozens of times over.
Willow’s eyes are glued to my face, her fear and concern pouring into me. She squeezes my hand harder and harder, and I’m honestly shocked I can still feel it. My fingers tingle, movement getting more difficult. I wish I could tell her everything’s gonna be okay. I want to tell her I love her, but the words won’t make it out of my mouth. Pleading for her understanding with my eyes, my vision starts to tunnel, darkness creeping in at the edges.
“Why does he look like that?” Willow says, sounding so far away.
“That ambulance needs to hurry the fuck up,” Breaker replies.
Cold creeps in further and further until I can’t hold it back anymore. Finally, the weight is too much for me to hold, darkness pulling me under.
twenty-five
