Torn (23 page)

Nothing.

With my back against the exterior wall, I
checked my gun, looked back at Drew then spun and ran into the
building. The open room was as large as an airplane hangar and had
steel drums scattered about. Scanning the space, I noticed a pair
of legs behind a set of barrels. Gun raised, I sprinted toward the
familiar black Rocky boots. I heard the guys hitting the building
behind me as I ran. I skidded to a stop and from my knees peered
around the drum.

Fuck.

“Viper.” I moved closer to him. His chest was
covered in blood and he was barely conscious. “Motherfucker. V,
talk to me.” I grabbed his hand and squeezed then looked up and
screamed, “Get me a medic. One down.”

Drew was the first one to get to me as I
ripped V’s shirt open to find the gunshot wound. Dropping my gun, I
ripped my shirt over my head and jammed it in the gaping hole in
his chest. “V, man, you gotta hang on. Medics will be here, just
stay with me, buddy. Please fight, man.”

“Fuck, Jax, it’s bad,” Viper coughed and
sputtered.

“I got you, man, I’m not lettin’ you go so
easy, man. Medic,” I screamed ’til my throat burned.

Paramedics got there a few minutes later,
scooped him up and took off to MUSC. As they loaded him, I jumped
in the back, explaining he was my partner. Gorden was arresting
Mark as the ambulance sped from the warehouse.

We finally pulled up to the emergency room
bay door after what felt like the longest ride of my life. Along
the way Viper’s heart stopped twice, but by the grace of God, and a
great medic, we got V back. They rushed him out past me and the
nurses refused to let me follow no matter how many times I screamed
he was a federal agent and I was his partner. Throwing Leila’s name
out there didn’t help either.

Drew and Tommy pulled up with lights and
sirens going, jumped from the Tahoe and trotted in. “He’s in the
back but they won’t let us through.”

Tommy shouldered past me and stomped to the
nurse’s desk. Drew threw me a black t-shirt with SWAT spelled out
across the back. “Thought you might need this.”

“Thanks, man.” I pulled the shirt down over
my head.

“Jax, I need to call Barb. It’s Wednesday.
She might be working. I don’t want her to find out inadvertently.”
I handed him my cell phone, he turned and called Barb.

Tommy was coming back over as Drew finally
got Barb on the phone after the second try. “They will only allow
me back right now because I have my credentials on me. I tried,
Jax, I really did.” He patted my shoulder and turned to follow the
nurse to the back.

I walked over to the chairs and dropped,
telling myself V would be fine. It looked worse than it was. Hell,
I was in far worse shape and I was still here. He would be fine. He
had to be.

“I talked to Barb, she’s back there. She’ll
be here in a minute, hopefully with an update.” Drew took the seat
next to mine and we watched for Barb or Tommy.

It was close to ten p.m. before Barb came
out. I knew it was bad when I saw her face. “They are taking him up
to surgery now, but they are not optimistic. I snuck in for a
minute to see him.” She bit down on her bottom lip as it quivered
and tears streamed down her face. Drew pulled her to his chest and
held her while sobs wracked her tiny body.

My cell phone started vibrating around
eleven; looking down, I saw it was Leila calling. She must be
worried since I hadn’t called or been home. Hesitantly, I answered.
“Hey, babe.”

“Hey, honey, is everything okay?” She sounded
sleepy.

“No, baby, everything is not okay, but I am.
I’m not gonna be home for a while. I’m at the hospital.” She
gasped. “Babe, I’m good. It’s Viper and it’s bad. Barb and Drew are
here.”

Before I could finish she asked, “What the
hell happened, Jax? Are you sure you are okay?”

I fought back the guilt until I couldn’t any
longer. “I fucked up. I sent him when I shouldn’t have. He got shot
because of me. It was my call to send him over there and I
should’ve just waited until we were all there. It’s my fault,
Lei.”

“Jaxon, I don’t know what happened, but I
know that you would never intentionally get him shot. Are y’all at
Shock Trauma?”

“Yeah, but, babe, please, just stay home.
I’ll call you when I know more. Lei?” Silence. I pulled the phone
from my ear and looked at my call log. She hung up on me. Which
meant she was on her way over here. “Drew, we got a problem.”

He sat next to Barb, still holding her hand.
“What’s up?”

“Just got hung up on by your sister.”

“Shit. You told her I guess?”

“I had to. She would’ve noticed when I didn’t
come home. I didn’t want her worrying about me.”

“Great. You know she’s on her way,
right?”

“Yeah, I know, but I don’t know how to stop
her,” I let my head drop back to rest on the back of the chair.

Thirty minutes later, through the sliding
doors came the sexiest pregnant chick ever. My woman. Even while I
sat here and waited to find out if my best friend was going to live
or die, she mesmerized me and for a moment made me forget
everything else.

“Jaxon.” She rushed over and wrapped her tiny
arms around my waist. Calmly she asked if there was any update.
When I shook my head, she pulled back and looked at Barb sitting
with Drew. The moment their eyes met they both lost it.

“I’m here, Boo. I got you.” She opened her
arms as Barb stood and walked into them. “Shh, it’s going to be
okay.” They stood there in the waiting room and cried, rocking back
and forth in each other’s arms.

The doors opened again and in walked my
favorite ex-boyfriend.

Drew walked over and whispered to him, then
they walked back out front. Barb and Leila sat and held each
other’s hand. I couldn’t just sit there any longer, so I paced the
waiting room until Drew and Tommy came back.

Drew sat down next to Barb, leaving the chair
next to Leila empty. She looked at me and I could see her need to
comfort me, but I didn’t deserve it. So instead of sitting next to
her I walked. I needed to be alone right now. Finding myself out
front, I ran into Commander Gorden in the parking lot.

“Hey, any news?” he asked.

“Nothin’ yet. He’s in surgery. Tommy is in
the waiting room.”

“This isn’t your fault, Jaxon. I know that
look. It’s the same look he had when you got shot a while back.
That was no more his fault than this is yours,” he called out as I
walked away from him.

Fifteen minutes later, I found my way back
into the ER waiting room. Leila’s beautiful brown eyes met mine and
broke down my wall. I rushed over and pulled her to me. “He’s gotta
be okay.”

“He will, we just have to stay positive and
pray,” she whispered. Dropping to my knees, I kissed her stomach,
grateful she was here with me.

Sometime close to three in the morning, a
pair of doctors in green scrubs came out the doors from the back
and asked for family for Cole Ellett. We all stood as they
approached. Viper didn’t have any family that I knew of. We were
it.

The tall, older doctor greeted Barb and Leila
then introduced himself to the rest of us.

“Mr. Ellett had a single gunshot wound that
hit his right lung, ricocheted off his ribs and lodged near his
heart. We performed a sternotomy to try to remove the bullet but
I’m afraid that the damage was irreparable. I’m very sorry, we
tried everything we could.”

It felt like someone had swung a pickaxe and
landed it right through my chest. “What?”

“Oh God,” Barb cried as her legs gave out and
Drew caught her.

Tommy stepped up and pulled the doctors
aside. Leila wrapped her arms around my waist and sniffled. “Jax,
why don’t we sit down? Jaxon.”

“He’s gone.”

“Jaxon, I need to sit down.” Leila let go of
me and sat down a few seats away from Barb and Drew.

“Lei, babe, are you okay?” Looking at her, I
noticed that all of the blood had drained out of her face.

“I’m okay, I’m just tired. I’ve been on my
feet a lot. I’m gonna go get a drink, maybe a little sugar will
help.” She scooted to the edge of the chair and stood.

“Babe, sit, I’ll get you a drink.” I didn’t
want her passing out or pushing herself into exhaustion. Retrieving
a Pepsi from the vending machine, I came back to find Tommy and
Gorden had left. That was when it hit me: We didn’t have any reason
to stay here and wait.

Viper was gone.

Chapter Thirty

Leila

The night Viper died we all finally left the
hospital around four a.m. and came home.

Barb stayed with us that night and Jax, being
the world’s best fiancé, didn’t balk when I told Barb she would
sleep with me in the master bedroom. He just smiled and took Ruger
out one last time before setting the alarm, followed us up to our
bedroom to change then went back to the second-floor guest room.
Drew had dropped us off and went home to bed.

The next two days Jaxon spent the majority of
his time back and forth between the Federal Complex and police
station answering questions, giving statements, and turning over
evidence.

Mark had been arrested the night Viper was
killed but eventually all the charges were dropped because the
evidence of money laundering pointed to Drill and Axel and there
was no physical proof that he ran drugs. Sure, Jax could have
testified, but the DA said it wouldn’t have been enough and Jax
would have been outed. Somehow, some way, through everything, his
cover was not blown. I believed it was God’s grace that spared
him.

Barb and I put off our girls’ night until
Tuesday. The MC had taken over and planned all of Viper’s funeral
arrangements since he had no next of kin. Everything had come
together quickly and the services were today.

I hated funerals, they always reminded me of
my mom and how much I missed her.

Standing in the closet, I had just put on a
long black dress and was putting my earrings in when Jaxon came in
from the bathroom. He still had the towel wrapped around his waist
and his hair dripped down his face and chest. He looked so
distraught and I wasn’t sure how to help him. I tried getting him
to talk to me, but he’d pretty much closed himself off.

“You look nice, babe.” He dropped the towel
and pulled on a pair of gray boxer briefs that accentuated his taut
ass. That’s all it took for me to be turned on and ready to knock
him down. He caught me staring at him. “What? Why are you staring
at me?”

“Just admiring my beautiful view.”

He burst out laughing and came over to me.
Hugging me to his sculpted chest, he kissed the top of my head.
“You always know exactly what to say to get me out of my own head.
Thanks, babe.”

Oh, he thinks I am just
teasing him to lighten the mood.
“Anytime, honey. I’m going
take Ruger out while you finish getting ready. I’ll wait for you
downstairs.”

I had to get away from him. My need for him
was ravenous. Today he was burying his best friend and here all I
could think about was jumping his bones. Damn these pregnancy
hormones.

A knock at the door pulled me from my
thoughts as I made my way down the second-floor stairs. Ruger flew
down in front of me. Looking through the front door glass, I saw
Drew and Barb dressed in black. Barb shouldered past Drew and
opened the door.

“She’s not gonna care Drew. See, there she
is,” she nodded up the stairs at me. “I told you she was probably
still getting ready.”

“Barb, do you remember what happened the last
time you barged into the house?” Drew chuckled.

“Oh God, Drew, do not remind me. I’m still
having nightmares about that.” Barb had a flair for the
dramatics.

Rolling my eyes, I climbed down the rest of
the stairs. “Drew’s right, you wouldn’t see people having sex if
you knocked and waited.”

“If said people weren’t fucking all over the
house like rabbits then I wouldn’t see it either, now would I,
hooker?” She smirked and followed me to the kitchen.

“Drew, would you please let Ruger outside? I
have to eat something before we go or the baby is going to revolt,”
I asked as I opened the fridge and pulled out leftover cold pizza.
Yum, Hawaiian is left, my favorite.

“You know they are havin’ a wake with food
afterwards at Magnolias?” Barb asked as she pulled out a stool at
the bar.

“Yeah, but that’s going to be hours away.
Have you ever been to a funeral where they were in the military?”
She shook her head. “It’s crazy long. I’ll be starving by the time
it’s over.” I took her hand. “How are you doing? Really?”

“Okay. I mean we weren’t planning to get
married or anything, but I don’t know, I cared about him. A lot.
More than I realized until it was too late.” Her eyes shined.

“I really am sorry, Barb.” I wasn’t sure what
else to say to her. Quickly, I inhaled the pizza and went in search
of Drew and Ruger out back.

*****

Jaxon

Catching the last part of Barb and Leila’s
conversation, I walked into the kitchen. Barb must not have heard
me because she jumped and let out a squeal when I touched her
shoulder.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay, you didn’t scare me. I was just
thinking.” She picked up her phone from the counter. “It’s almost
eleven thirty. Think we can go soon? I want to get to the church
early.”

“Sure, but first I want to just say I’m
sorry. I didn’t realize how close you two were until just now,
listening to you talk to Lei.”

She looked down at the granite and took a
deep breath. “Thanks, but he was your best friend so you don’t need
to apologize for anything.”

“Did he know that you were in love with him?”
Barb’s head whipped around to face me and even though she probably
fooled everyone else, including Leila, I knew. “I can see it, Barb.
You don’t have to worry, I won’t say anything.”